Northampton International Raceway
Northampton International Raceway also known as Brafield, is located 4 miles south east of Northampton between Brafield-on-the-Green and Horton on the Horton Road, Northamptonshire, England. It hosts BriSCA F1 and F2 Stock Car Racing from March through to November. The Tarmac Oval and Figure of 8 track is 396 metres (1,299 ft) in length and surrounded by a steel plate fence. Brafield was originally built in 1949 by Dave Hughes who promoted Skirrow Midget Racing. The track was purchased by John La Trobe in 1955 and the first Stock Car event was held on August 15, 1955. The track was concrete surfaced in 1959. The track was sold to Tom Blissett in 1989, who also owned the Lydden Hill Race Circuit . The track was then sold on to John Heynes in the winter of 1996/97. He got sick of all the politics involved in the sport and leased the track to Incarace.[1] The track is used for BriSCA F1 Stock Cars, BriSCA Formula 2 Stock Cars, V8 Hotstox, and various other forms of oval motor sport including National Hot Rods, Banger racing, Saloon Stock Cars, Ministox and Rebels.
Stock car racing
The BriSCA Formula 1 Stock Cars World Championship has been held here twice, in 2005 the first time it was held it was won by Frankie Jnr Wainman, and in 2011 by Paul Harrison. Since 1994 the European Championships have been held at Northampton, usually over a weekend in July, and includes a large influx of Drivers and fans from the Netherlands. The BriSCA F2 World Championship Race has been held at Northampton 7 times. First held in 1966 - Steve Bateman, 1969 - Ron Innocent, 1971 - Dave Brown, 1981 - Bill Batten, 1996 - Rob Speak, 2001 - Daz Kitson, and 2005 - H24 - Willie Peters (the Netherlands). The F2 European has been held here over the same weekend as the F1's since 1997.
Speedway
Brafield first staged Speedway in 1954. The Brafield Flying-Foxes, lined up in the Southern Area League. This league was essentially the equivalent of today's Conference League. The Flying-Foxes also appeared in that league the following season and finished in 3rd position, collecting twelve of the available twenty-four points. And that was it at Brafield until the circuit reopened in 1966. This time the circuit was granted an open licence and concentrated on providing opportunities for youngsters and older riders that couldn't quite hold down British League places. The team was renamed the Brafield Badgers and interspersed individual meetings with matches against reserve sides from British League tracks. The Speedway closed for good at the end of the 1967 season.
References
- Notes
- ↑ BriSCA Formula One - The first 50 years 1954-2004 Keith Barber p 170-171