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VENUES ABINGDON. This is probably the best spectator venue we go to. There is a car park for a small charge, the special spectator area part of the stage is quite spectacular. Located at RAF Abingdon Dalton barracks, just a couple of miles west of Abingdon in Oxfordshire. As an RAF base, it was opened in 1932 and closed for service in 1992. Sporting two concrete runways, it is now the home of The Royal Logistic Corps, 612 volunteer gliding school. With many buildings and ammunition dumps and narrow gated roads, it is an ideal venue for rallying providing the fast high speed straights, cornering and man made chicanes on the runways to the precise twisty roads through the buildings. The fenced spectator area is close to the action with toilet facilities and our championship sponsors supply first rate refreshments as in all the venues.
LONGCROSS. Longcross is an MOD owned test track near Chertsey and runs alongside the M3. It’s a non spectator venue but the rallying is spectacular whether from the side of the stage or in the car. Currently MOD owned and formerly military vehicle and primarily tank testing. Famously , the stages have the banked track, the Snake which is a very fast left right complex with adverse cambers. (not for the feint hearted. Lift or touch the brakes half way through and you are in big trouble). Finally it has the famous “Longcross Slopes” which make for spectacular viewing or photographing but is also one of the best laxatives available! Wonderful facilities.
COLERNE. Similar to Abingdon with good visibility for the driver and good viewing for spectators. Opened in 1940, and located 6 miles north east of Bath it was an RAF fighter command unit with 3 tarmac runways. Extremely good testing as it is quite open with very wide tracks with a small section of semi loose/broken concrete to catch out the unwary. Famous for its long long high speed hairpin turns. And the demise of one of our engines.
KEEVIL. Again as with all airfield venues, it offers good testing with the good overall visibility in the corners, along with open areas to test the handling. Though not permanently manned, opened for active service in 1942 and closed in 1965 Keevil is still MOD owned. It is located 4 miles east of Trowbridge in Wiltshire, The 3 runways are used by the Army Air Corps for Apache and RAF for Hercules night training. Typical of venues in open flat areas it can give extremes of temperatures depending on the time of year.
ROCKINGHAM. Speaks for itself really. Location is Corby in Northamptonshire and is a purpose built motorsport facility with good services and visibility. Apart from the famous banked circuit, it has many service roads which make for ideal tarmac rallying. Not competed there yet as it is a new venue to the rally world. We’ll let you know in due course.
MILLBROOK. Situated near Luton in Bedfordshire, Millbrook proving ground was originally built in 1968 for the GM Vauxhall group being close to the Luton factory to test the characteristics of their cars with its huge pressure dips, crests and adverse cambered corners. It was given over to a privately managed consortium in 1993 following the sale of the Lotus sports division. In recent years it has been used for a lot of filming by the likes of Top Gear and was featured in 2006 when it was used for many of the high speed chases and jumps in the James Bond film Casino Royale. It is not open to the public on rally events.
SMEATHARPE. The last of the typical airfield venues with similar characteristics to Colerne. Located 6 miles north of Honiton in Devon, it opened in 1944 serving mainly U.S troops and closed for active service in 1948 where it served mostly as RAF storage. Post war years it became famous for the book “Band of Brothers” by Steven Ambrose, telling the story of the Screaming Eagles who flew from Smeatharpe to Normandy on D-Day. AND even more famously if was the venue where Carrie won her first trophy. Good viewing areas on the raised bank at the start/ finish area.
Enthusiastic!! And, The famous Longcross slopes from left to right 1in4 1in3 1in2 and 1in1!!
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