History of Thruxton

Thruxton is the site of the British Automobile Racing Club (BARC) but what is there to know about its history?

(Image credit to Josh Price Racing)

Thruxton Circuit is located in the village of Thruxton in Hampshire and the circuit opened for racing in 1950, where motorbike races took place on the runways and perimeter road. The circuit itself however which follows the line of the airfield’s perimeter road was established in 1968. 

It was in 2000 that Thruxton was resurfaced and this meant that lap times dropped considerably from the year before and further safety developments were completed as Church (one of the fastest sections of the circuit) - this was done in 2020.

Due to planning restrictions associated with the circuit, there can only be 12 days of motorsport run per year. Three of are currently devoted to motorbike racing where a weekend is dedicated to the BSB (British Superbike Championship).

The remaining days were dedicated to car and truck racing with weekends seeing racing action from the TOCA British Touring Car Championship, the British Truck Racing Championship and Thruxton Retro. Thruxton also currently hosts a BTCC and British F4 weekend.

(Image credit to Wikipedia)

The lap record on the Main Circuit (3.793 km) which has been active from 1968 to the present day was set by British driver Earl Goddard in 2000 with a time of 1:01.960. Furthermore, Thruxton used to host major racing events which included - British GT, British F3, TCR UK and Boss Formula.

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