Hydrex

Thruxton
Andover
Hants
SP11 8PN

Tel: 01264 882200
Fax: 01264 882233

Website: www.barc.net

Lap Record: 1m14.890s
Lap Record Holder: Gregorio Lavilla, Ducati

Directions: Thruxton is situated five miles West of Andover on the A303, some 60 miles west of London and 35 miles north of Southampton.

Track Info: Like many race circuits Thruxton was originally a wartime airfield. Commissioned in 1941 the airfield was host to both the RAF and USAF and played a major part in the D-Day landings as a base for troop carrying aircraft and gliders.

Declared surplus to requirements in 1946, motorsport started in 1950 with motorbikes on a track comprising both the runways and perimeter roads. Cars joined the bikes in 1952 for only one year as the deteriorating wartime tarmac was breaking up badly. Amazingly bikes continued racing until 1965, but by then plans were under way to redevelop the site and motor racing returned on a new track in 1968.

The new layout ignored the old runways and followed the lines of the perimeter road with the inclusion of the chicane and further round the track three tight corners in succession: Campbell, Cobb and Segrave, commonly referred to as the complex. Even with these tight corners Thruxton is the fastest race circuit in the UK, with Formula Renaults averaging well over 100 mph in race conditions. Thruxton soon gained a reputation as a real drivers circuit with its seemingly never-ending high speed corners around the back of the track where success required total commitment.

Thruxton's fame grew from the Easter Monday Formula 2 meetings where Formula 1 drivers of the day battled with up and coming talent. Household names like Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart and Jochen Rindt all thrilled the crowds in the early races. Since then Thruxton has seen all our recent Formula 1 drivers race regularly at the track at some time in their career. In 1993 Damon Hill Formula One world champion drove a demonstration run in the Williams FW15C, recording an incredible 57.6-second lap of the 2.4-mile circuit, an average speed of 147.25 mph.

It is now the high-speed rounds of the British Touring car championship and superbikes that regularly bring in capacity crowds. If you follow this series you may have seen Thruxton on the television or even lapped the circuit on the Playstation Touring Car game, but as always there is nothing like doing it for real.

It might be a flat, airfield circuit but Thruxton is fast with some demanding corners. The variety and speed at which they are taken poses plenty of problems for competitors. Good vantage points are in the grandstands overlooking the tight chicane, just prior to the start-finish straight and then at the 'complex' with its right-left swerves. Speeds in the lap records tell the story eloquently – the fastest track in the Championsh