Rockingham Motor Speedway is in danger

Rockingham Motor Speedway has been sold, kick-starting lots of rumours about its future. Recent uncertainty forced the British Touring Car Championship to drop Rockingham from its 2019 calendar, a move which may prove to be the beginning of the end for the UK’s only active bowl circuit.

Indeed, it was the first banked oval track to be built in Britain since Brooklands. The Northants facility may not be the UK’s best-known circuit, but it’s a unique proposition to drive, its fast oval supplemented by a rather fun infield section.

While Rockingham may not feature on many race calendars – especially so, since it’s fallen out of favour with the BTCC – it’s a fun one to drive, and it hosts numerous trackdays as well as drag and drift events and truck racing.

“We would reassure all customers that these changes will not impact any aspect of events scheduled to run during 2018, nor the opportunity to stage further events this year,” says a Rockingham statement.

“Until the end of the year, the Rockingham team will remain 100 per cent committed to delivering the venue and associated services as professionally and proudly as ever before.”

That ‘until the end of the year’ is the cryptic part, as it certainly leaves open the possibility that this year will be Rockingham’s last, depending on what its new owners wish to do with the site. Our fingers are firmly crossed that it isn’t…

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