ROCKINGHAM

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Rockingham Motor Speedway is a modern motorsport venue in England and Europe's fastest racing circuit,[citation needed] hosting corporate driving days, driver training, conferencing & exhibitions, vehicle manufacturing events, track days, testing, driving experiences and motorsport. It is also the only intermediate oval in the UK and unique in its quadrilateral shape being 1.479 miles/2.380 km compared to 2.560 miles/4.120 km for the road course. The circuit is a permanent road.

Located in Northamptonshire, Rockingham falls under the control of two local authorities. The main entrance is in Corby but the actual track is situated in East Northamptonshire.

Rockingham is easily accessible from the A1, M1, A14, A43 and A6116, and is located 30 minutes from Leicester, Peterborough and Northampton.

The nearest railway station is Corby, which is two miles from the circuit and runs an hourly direct service to London St Pancras International.

THE CIRCUIT(S)

Rockingham has 13 configurations of track, which can be used for anything from touring cars to motorcycles to rally cars. The circuit is overlooked by the 6280 seat Rockingham Building, a steel-framed, glass-fronted grandstand building containing suites, offices, bars and kitchens, and by four grandstands. Together the building and grandstands offer a total seating capacity of 52,000. The inner pit and paddock complex is accessed from the Rockingham Building via two pedestrian tunnels and there is a further spectator viewing area on top of the pit garages.

The Oval Circuit

The 1.48 mile American-style banked oval circuit is 18.3 metres wide and has a maximum bank angle of 7 degrees and comprises four very distinct corners. Rockingham's oval is unique in the UK and one of only two speedways in Europe. The oval circuit can also be converted to a road course layout for events by positioning temporary chicanes and curves both on the main area and apron of the circuit.

Over the weekend of 20–22 September 2001, the fastest racing series in the world made their debut at Rockingham Motor Speedway – the Champ cars came to England for the first time to contest the Rockingham 500, a round of the CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams) Fedex Championship Series. For various reasons the race distance was shortened to 300 km and victory was snatched on the exit of Turn Four of the last lap by Gil de Ferran driving the Marlboro Team Penske Honda –powered Reynard 01i at a race average speed of 153.41 mph from Kenny Bräck at the wheel the Team Rahal Lola-Ford Cosworth B1/00, and the Newman-Haas Racing Lola-Toyota B1/00 driven by Cristiano da Matta. The fastest lap, and therefore outright lap record was set by Patrick Carpentier in 25.551secs (210.59 mph) in the Player’s Forsythe Racing Reynard-Cosworth. Carpentier became for first Canadian to ever hold the outright lap record at an English circuit.

The US-based series returned in September 2002. This would be last time Champ Cars raced at this facility. This time ran over the full distance of 500 km, Scotland’s Dario Franchitti took the chequered flag in his Team KOOL Green Lola-Honda, beating Cristiano da Matta by just 0.986 of a second .

The International Super Sportscar Circuit (ISSC)

The ISSC is 1.94 miles long and between 18.3 and 11 metres wide, with a maximum bank angle of 7 degrees at turn 1. Rockingham's International Super Sportscar Circuit is used by the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship as well as for most other car race events. The circuit combines long straights, sweeping high-speed bends (including the infamous Turn 1 and Gracelands) with a lower speed, highly technical infield layout. Average lap speeds around the circuit range from 1m 24s in the BTCC to 1m 12s in British F3.

Wet Handling Facility

The site has a wet handling area with a kick plate which is used to simulate a variety of driving conditions including ice, rain and slippery wet leaves. These different road conditions are simulated at much slower speeds than in normal driving and in a fully controlled environment. The area is designed to give drivers a greater understanding of the latest ABS, traction control and crash mitigating technologies, and the way that they affect vehicle control.

EVENTS 2014

The 2014 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship is a multi-event motor racing championship for production based touring car racing cars held across England and Scotland. The championship features a mix of professional motor racing teams and privately funded amateur drivers competing in highly modified versions of Family cars which are sold to the general public and conform to the technical regulations for the championship. It is one of the most popular domestic motor racing series in the United Kingdom, with an extensive program of support categories built up around the BTCC centrepiece. It will be the 57th British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season.

This will be the fourth season that cars conforming to the Next Generation Touring Car (NGTC) specification will be allowed to compete, and the first season that S2000 specification cars will not complete in since their introduction to the BTCC in 2004. The Jack Sears Trophy, which was introduced in 2013 for the top S2000 finisher over the duration of the season, will instead be awarded to the Independent driver who achieves the greatest improvement from their respective grid positions over the entire season. The start and finishing positions of all Independent drivers will be logged for all 30 races and the driver with the highest total number of positions gained over the season will become the Jack Sears Trophy champion.

The Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship has (18 March 2014) confirmed a huge 31-car grid for the forthcoming 2014 season. Announced at its annual Season Launch at Donington Park, all BTCC machines will run to NGTC (Next Generation Touring Car) specifications for the very first time.

Allocation of the newly introduced TOCA BTCC licences (TBLs), required for teams in order to guarantee participation for the next three seasons, has exceeded the original allowance of 30, with TOCA approving 31 entries for the new season. All TBL holders are obliged to contest every round while TOCA has retained one final TBL, which it may loan to a suitable entry at any stage during the year.

FATHERS & SONS

Advertised widely for 2014, is an event billed as one hundred years after Sir Malcolm Campbell first took to the track in a Blue Bird racecar. According to many website articles the world famous name in motor racing and speed records is returning to the racetrack with a new electric racecar design.

Sir Malcolm’s grandson, Don Wales, is now leading the charge back onto the track, following 10 years of development into pioneering the use of electric technology in racecars.

Back in the 1920s Sir Malcolm Campbell broke a number of speed records in Bluebird cars and boats before his son, Donald, continued the family tradition, achieving double world records on land and water in 1964. Bluebird is now continuing its father and son heritage with the Bluebird Charity Trophy for Father/Sons at Rockingham.

The new unique format of fathers and sons racing together was developed by Rockingham who also decided that the event would be a great fundraiser for deserving charities. To make the Charity Race happen they have partnered with Bluebird. [Note: Not Bluebird Marine Systems Ltd]

With six celebrity pairings and 24 Pro-Am Father and Son teams, the charity event will help raise funds for a number of good causes.

Don Wales, Sir Malcolm Campbell’s grandson, has been the driver and Team Principal of the electric Bluebird land speed record car since its inception in the 90s.

He commented: “Electric car technology is central to everything we are doing at Bluebird and this is another opportunity to demonstrate our engineering and motorsports development. Creating the Bluebird Trophy for fathers and sons is a great way of showcasing our advancements whilst raising funds for good causes.”

Chief Executive of Rockingham, Peter Hardman is quoted as saying: 

“We are delighted to see our idea become a reality in the Bluebird Charity Trophy for Father/Sons and look forward to making significant sums for some very deserving charities. Moreover, to mark the race with the return of Bluebird to the track in what will be the first electric car race in the UK just makes it even more special for Rockingham”.

This is also a real success for Electric Corby to help bring Bluebird and electric racing to Rockingham and is another demonstration of Northamptonshire being the leading county in motorsport and high performance technologies.

The race is part of the 2014 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Rockingham Motor Speedway (that's the UK's Rockingham, not the one in North Carolina). Bluebird will enter an electric vehicle in a race that will feature six celebrity teams as well as two dozen father-son racing teams. The family bent makes sense, since Bluebird is named for a car Sir Malcolm Campbell, Wales' grandfather, who raced a century ago. Campbell set a number of land speed records, as did his son Donald Campbell.

Last summer, Bluebird said it was preparing to make 50 Bluebird DC50 electric sports cars that would have 360 horsepower and a 200-mile single-charge range. The company was also readying its GTL electric race car designed for the Formula E all-electric racing circuit set to debut later this year in Beijing. By last September, though, Bluebird's plans were delayed indefinitely, so this announcement is good news. Check out Bluebird's press release below.

PRESS RELEASE: BLUEBIRD TO RETURN TO THE RACETRACK WITH PURPOSE BUILT ELECTRIC RACECAR

- New electric Bluebird car to race 100 years after Sir Malcolm Campbell first raced in a Bluebird at Brooklands

- The Bluebird Charity Trophy for Father/Sons at Rockingham has been created to run 30 Bluebird racecars on the 6th - 7th September 2014

- Father and son format will see a mix of professional and semi-pro pairings raising money for charity

100 years after Sir Malcolm Campbell first took to the track in a Bluebird racecar, the world famous name in motor racing and speed records is returning to the racetrack with a new electric racecar design.

Sir Malcolm's grandson, Don Wales, is now leading the charge back onto the track, following 10 years of development into pioneering the use of electric technology in racecars.

Back in the 1920s Sir Malcolm Campbell broke a number of speed records in Bluebird cars and boats before his son, Donald, continued the family tradition, achieving double world records on land and water in 1964. Bluebird is now continuing its father and son heritage with the Bluebird Charity Trophy for Father/Sons at Rockingham.

The new unique format of fathers and sons racing together was developed by Rockingham who also decided that the event would be a great fundraiser for deserving charities. To make the Charity Race happen they have partnered with Bluebird to manage the event as part of the Rockingham round of the 2014 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship on 6-7th September.

With six celebrity pairings and 24 Pro-Am Father and Son teams, the charity event will help raise funds for a number of good causes.

Don Wales, Sir Malcolm Campbell's grandson, has been the driver and Team Principal of the electric Bluebird land speed record car since its inception in the 90s.

He commented: "Electric car technology is central to everything we are doing at Bluebird and this is another opportunity to demonstrate our engineering and motorsports development. Creating the Bluebird Trophy for fathers and sons is a great way of showcasing our advancements whilst raising funds for good causes."

Peter Hardman, Chief Executive of Rockingham, said: "We are delighted to see our idea become a reality in the Bluebird Charity Trophy for Father/Sons and look forward to making significant sums for some very deserving charities. Moreover, to mark the race with the return of Bluebird to the track in what will be the first electric car race in the UK just makes it even more special for Rockingham".

This is also a real success for Electric Corby to help bring Bluebird and electric racing to Rockingham and is another demonstration of Northamptonshire being the leading county in motorsport and high performance technologies.

Full details of the race and cars will be revealed at a launch event to be held at Rockingham in the spring.

For further updates on Bluebird please visit: www.bluebirdspeed.com or follow them on: Twitter @bluebirdspeed or on: Facebook Bluebird Speed Records.

All driver enquiries to Rockingham Raceway: www.rockingham.co.uk

Electric Corby, Corby Enterprise Centre, London Road, Priors Hall Park, NN17 5EU

E: info@electriccorby.co.uk  T: +44 (0) 1536 560222

Enterprise House, 30 Billing Road, Northampton, NN1 5DQ.  Tel: +44 (0)1604 609 393 Fax: +44 (0)1604 627 401  E: info@northamptonshireep.co.uk

ROCKINGHAM - THE BLUEBIRD TROPHY FOR FATHERS AND SONS AT ROCKINGHAM

Make history by being part of the first ever electric car race for fathers and sons.

The opportunity to team up and race the new Bluebird electric race cars to raise money for our nominated charities.

Qualification will be through pre-race events at Rockingham on 12th or 19th August 2014. The top 20 driver pairings will qualify for the final race and join 6 legendary father and son pairings.

Final race (with practice & qualifying) at the Rockingham round of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship on 6th and 7th September 2014.

Brands Hatch played host to the traditional curtain raiser in March as the 2014 season really gets underway. With the Kent track less than a mile from the Airwave team’s workshop, the Motorbase-run outfit is going all out for podiums with returning two-time BTCC champion Fabrizio Giovanardi and Mat Jackson spearheading the Airwaves Racing squad’s assault on the 2014 championship title.

CONTACTS

Rockingham,
Mitchell Road,
Corby,
Northamptonshire NN17 5AF
Phone: 01536 500 500
Email: marketing@rockingham.co.uk

LINKS

Bluebird-electric-racer-debut-september Posted by João Corrêa Journalist 3-4-2014 at 8:55pm

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http://insideevs.com/bluebird-electric-racer-debut-september/   Canali

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockingham_Motor_Speedway

http://www.rockingham.co.uk/bluebird/

http://www.rockingham.co.uk/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodwood_Circuit

http://www.oultonpark.co.uk/calendar/2014/june/btcc-7-8-june-op.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_British_Touring_Car_Championship_season

http://motorsport-events.knockhill.com/british-touring-cars-btcc.php

http://www.kentsportsnews.com/airwaves-set-for-season-opener-28-03-2014/

http://www.brandshatch.co.uk/calendar/2013/october/btcc-1213october-bh.aspx

http://www.silverstone.co.uk/events/dunlop-msa-british-touring-car-championship/

http://www.btcc.net/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snetterton_Motor_Racing_Circuit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aut%C3%B3dromo_Hermanos_Rodr%C3%ADguez

http://www.autodromohermanosrodriguez.com/app/h

http://www.goodwood.co.uk/home.aspx

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