martinmauger 584 Posted February 20, 2019 (edited) No not another speedway track as we know it (Jim) but Rockingham Motor Speedway. Someone at work asked me if a speedway track had recently closed, I asked of the sad list of 3 (or 4 Coventry at Leicester) "What Buxton, Lakeside or Workington ?", I was told "no, somehere in Northampton". Frustratingly I can't get links to copy & paste or work but type Rockingham Speedway and info & links should appear. A shame and is oldish news and hardly relevant to the sport of speedway, except the site is to be some kind of 'vehicle hub complex', whereas I'd have bet money on it being sold for housing or retail. Always thought the place was a bit of a white elephant TBH as with many existing, established race circuits (Brands Hatch, Donington Park, Silverstone, etc) there didn't seem to be a demand for a large 'stadium-type' facility, albeit with a large Indy Car-sized tarmac oval.... Edited February 20, 2019 by martinmauger usual spelling, sigh Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ray Stadia 1,065 Posted February 20, 2019 Looking at an article it seems the track was underused for the big money making events.The article I read, said there are many industrial units on the site, many involved in motor sports and the track will probably still be used for testing, auctions and de-fleet car storage etc. The new owners have said the use will still be automotive. I imagine the area has never been thought of as a motorcycle speedway prospect or we would have heard rumours? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adonis 1,454 Posted February 20, 2019 That Indy loop was once destined to be built round the outside of Brandon . mr kirimaa a german businessman bought into Coventry with that as the plan , sadly that was the beginning of the end ,because when he moved on he sold his share to Sandhu , the rest is history 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dave Jones 2,124 Posted February 20, 2019 26 minutes ago, adonis said: That Indy loop was once destined to be built round the outside of Brandon . mr kirimaa a german businessman bought into Coventry with that as the plan , sadly that was the beginning of the end ,because when he moved on he sold his share to Sandhu , the rest is history I hope no one is" taken in" by this rubbish. 2 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iris123 20,959 Posted February 20, 2019 Adonis posting bull rubbish shocker ???? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tsunami 10,219 Posted February 20, 2019 4 hours ago, Dave Jones said: I hope no one is" taken in" by this rubbish. Well I know a lot of people who were taken in by the same Mr Sandhu in 2010 and onwards. Where is his alternative track at these days ????. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adonis 1,454 Posted February 20, 2019 (edited) 27 minutes ago, Tsunami said: Well I know a lot of people who were taken in by the same Mr Sandhu in 2010 and onwards. Where is his alternative track at these days ????. And I know that there was once a plan to put a half mile banked oval round the outside of brandon , the proposal meant taking the backstraight terracing out . and the track extending out of each end of the stadium to the end of the stadium footprint , the speedway would then be on the infield and the only viewing would be from the main grandstand . there was an outline plan displayed at the time . sounds mad Don't it ? , well thats what everybody thought at the time . and the penny must have dropped with with the promotion because MR Kirimaa the investor disappeared almost as fast as he arrived , there must be plenty of folk who remember the proposal , so Ill just wait until someone else posts . at least I wont be waiting with my foot in my mouth ,like somebody else is Edited February 20, 2019 by adonis 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dave Jones 2,124 Posted February 20, 2019 1 hour ago, adonis said: And I know that there was once a plan to put a half mile banked oval round the outside of brandon , the proposal meant taking the backstraight terracing out . and the track extending out of each end of the stadium to the end of the stadium footprint , the speedway would then be on the infield and the only viewing would be from the main grandstand . there was an outline plan displayed at the time . sounds mad Don't it ? , well thats what everybody thought at the time . and the penny must have dropped with with the promotion because MR Kirimaa the investor disappeared almost as fast as he arrived , there must be plenty of folk who remember the proposal , so Ill just wait until someone else posts . at least I wont be waiting with my foot in my mouth ,like somebody else is That "Indy loop" at Rockingham as you describe it is almost 1.5 miles round, to fit that outside the Brandon track would have required the land from half the village. I can't imagine how you expected that might happen. The plan to build an oval around the shortened speedway circuit at brandon was only ever intended to accommodate the quirky little mini-sprint cars that Hans Kirimar promoted for a short period . It was never going to be an alternative for the Rockingham Race Track. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chris116 756 Posted February 20, 2019 The cars Hans Kirimar designed are called "Rebels" and they race on both shale and tarmac tracks around the country. Their 2019 fixture list has 23 dates including dates at Stoke and Mildenhall. The Rebels would never have been run on a track bigger than a quarter of a mile as with 750cc Reliant engines they would run out of revs long before the end of the straights. They are a contact class which are probably more fun to drive than watch although I have seen some very good races from them. 2 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dave Jones 2,124 Posted February 20, 2019 39 minutes ago, Chris116 said: The cars Hans Kirimar designed are called "Rebels" and they race on both shale and tarmac tracks around the country. Their 2019 fixture list has 23 dates including dates at Stoke and Mildenhall. The Rebels would never have been run on a track bigger than a quarter of a mile as with 750cc Reliant engines they would run out of revs long before the end of the straights. They are a contact class which are probably more fun to drive than watch although I have seen some very good races from them. Thanks for the info, i had Austin7 engines in my mind but couldn't be too sure. I saw some demo races at Brandon around that time but the racing didn't appeal that much. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adonis 1,454 Posted February 20, 2019 (edited) 2 hours ago, Chris116 said: The cars Hans Kirimar designed are called "Rebels" and they race on both shale and tarmac tracks around the country. Their 2019 fixture list has 23 dates including dates at Stoke and Mildenhall. The Rebels would never have been run on a track bigger than a quarter of a mile as with 750cc Reliant engines they would run out of revs long before the end of the straights. They are a contact class which are probably more fun to drive than watch although I have seen some very good races from them. and he was also involved with a v8 stock car series ,that rivalled formula 1 and eventually merged with Brisca F1 . I stumbled on that this afteroon while i was looking for the press release about the plan for the banked oval aT brandon . sods law I cant find it when i want it . but Ill keep searching . managed to find this on Wiki , Kirimaa was also a championship wiining driver over many years , No mention on his bio of Rebels cars though ,strange that A letter from BriSCA had been sent to the Hotstox drivers informing them that BriSCA no longer wished to be involved with the Hotstox as long as Kath Lomax was part of the organisation. Whether this stance was in support of Phil Haigh or as a direct reply to Kath Lomax's continued requests for proper treatment of the Hotstox at various tracks or because she resisted joining BriSCA is unclear. The Lomax's regrettably resigned from a formula they had been involved with for nearly 10 years. The whole committee then stood down and BriSCA requested that the Hotstox form a Board of Control to enable an easier integration into BriSCA. Plain and simply, BriSCA did not wish to work with Kath Lomax any longer and Kath honorably stood aside. The new committee was led by Hans Kirimaa. Edited February 20, 2019 by adonis because o found it Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gemini 4,894 Posted February 21, 2019 14 hours ago, adonis said: That Indy loop was once destined to be built round the outside of Brandon . mr kirimaa a german businessman bought into Coventry with that as the plan , sadly that was the beginning of the end ,because when he moved on he sold his share to Sandhu , the rest is history So Linda and Martin Ochiltree selling to a known property developer get no criticism, just Sandhu? I'd say the beginning of the end was when that happened. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Humphrey Appleby 13,947 Posted February 21, 2019 19 hours ago, Ray Stadia said: Looking at an article it seems the track was underused for the big money making events. They hoped to get some of the big oval racing events, like Indycar and NASCAR, and I remember going to the first race there some years ago. Don't think those lasted long though. I've been back a few times since for test days, but whilst its a great facility, it always seemed woefully underused. There only seemed to be 2 or 3 cars driving round the track at any given time during the week. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adonis 1,454 Posted February 21, 2019 9 hours ago, Gemini said: So Linda and Martin Ochiltree selling to a known property developer get no criticism, just Sandhu? I'd say the beginning of the end was when that happened. you can hardly blame them , when Sandhu arrived he was going to invest money which the stadium badly needed , but only once he was in did he reveal his true intention . and all his subsequent promises to ensure the bees had somewhere to race came to nothing , he never even looked at a single site , because he never had any intention of seeing the bees keep running . Only complete idiots believe he ever intended to see anythiung oithers than houses and money Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adonis 1,454 Posted February 21, 2019 6 hours ago, Humphrey Appleby said: They hoped to get some of the big oval racing events, like Indycar and NASCAR, and I remember going to the first race there some years ago. Don't think those lasted long though. I've been back a few times since for test days, but whilst its a great facility, it always seemed woefully underused. There only seemed to be 2 or 3 cars driving round the track at any given time during the week. BSB used it but the tarmac shredded their tyres so nobody wanted to ride there , Share this post Link to post Share on other sites