Scandal in England at least among lovers of motors and speed for the just made official destiny of the Rockingham Motor Speedway, the fastest oval in Europe, built in the county of Northamptonshire, 150 km north of London. A name that probably will say nothing to many but that concerns a racing monument, an experiment to bring the races of the American ovals to Europe, an initiative evidently failed and which now becomes the largest European depot and logistics platform for used cars of the Gran Brittany.
Construction of the Rockingham oval began in 1999 and was inaugurated two years later, by Queen Elizabeth II on May 26, 2001. The circuit was supposed to be the bridgehead to promote US speedway racing in Europe but was prudently designed as a multifunctional circuit with 13 configurations, so that it can be used for any type of race from racing cars to rallying, from tourism to motorcycles, with a main track (the oval one) 1.48 miles (2.37 km) long, 18 miles wide , 3 meters and with a maximum angle of seven degrees, as well as four stands for 52,000 spectators and a building for services, catering and hospitality. In short, a state-of-the-art circuit that has probably focused on a sport that has not taken root in the Old Continent.
And in fact, after the first Rockingham 500 which was held on the weekend of 20-22 September 2001, an official stage of the CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams) with the US teams that moved to this side of the Atlantic but with the The attention of Europeans and Americans entirely directed to the 9/11 attacks, which had just occurred, was not a great success. Indeed, there were also problems for the transfer of cars and teams but in the end the race was disputed. Indeed, on that occasion Tony Kanaan in his Lola-Ford Champ Car set the European lap record, at an average speed of 346.648 km / h. In September of the following year, the CART returned to the circuit for the second edition which in fact was also the last. And since then, the circuit born for a sport that has not made it to the old continent has survived until November 24, 2018, the day of the last official races held in the circuit.
Now for the fastest circuit in Europe, a new less sparkling story opens up. For 80 million pounds, the facility and its surrounding area of over 80 hectares was purchased by Constellation Automotive which controls the used car sales sites Cinch and WeBuyAnyCar. The new owner is not aiming for any relaunch but will use the space and facilities for its new logistics center and for the platform where all the used cars purchased by the operator will converge to be overhauled and fine-tuned for sale on the two sites. According to the numbers that Constellation has provided, the facility will be able to accommodate up to 50,000 vehicles simultaneously and 500 jobs will be created. For lovers of motor racing, however, what has been, albeit for a short time, a monument of speed ends definitively.
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