Arena Essex Raceway
 Arena Essex Raceway | |
| Location | Purfleet, Essex, England |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 51°29′39″N 0°16′58″E / 51.49417°N 0.28278°ECoordinates: 51°29′39″N 0°16′58″E / 51.49417°N 0.28278°E |
| Operator | PRI |
| Opened | 1ST May 1978 |
| Major events |
Rods Stock cars Bangers Demolition derby Speedway |
| Oval | |
| Length | 0.252 km (0.156 mi) |
| Turns | 4 Turns |
Arena Essex Raceway is a stock car and speedway racing track located near Purfleet, Essex.[1] The Lakeside Shopping Centre was built alongside the venue.
The stadium
The Arena-Essex Raceway Complex was the idea of local businessman and racing driver, Chick Woodroffe. It was built in the remains of an old cement works overspill site. The new circuit was a quarter mile long with the first stock car race meeting held on 1 May 1978 which was infamously ruined by a heavy downpour. The track originally had a post and rope fence, which caused some colossal crashes and wrecks in the banger formula, and caught a few of the hot rods out. In the late 90's the track swapped the post and rope for an Armco barrier, catch-fences were also put in place to protect spectators. Every September, the track hosts the oldest National World Final Championship. It's been running for over 40 years. Just over 40 cars, plus qualifiers from the wild card race, compete in the world final. 125 to 175 cars compete in the race meeting. The winner from the previous year starts the final in last place. On Sunday the 4TH of November 2018 will be the last meeting ever. After 40 years Arena Essex Raceway will be closing its gates for the last time.
Banger Racing
Banger Racing is an event that takes place on Sunday afternoons and Bank holiday Mondays between second week of March to the first week of November. They race and crash into other drivers to smash up cars when they are racing. There are different types of banger meetings such as Rookie Bangers, 2L Bangers, National Bangers, Team Bangers, Big Van Bangers, Caravan Race and Unlimited Bangers. All cars are fitted with roll cages and a drivers door plate. The oldest car raced at Arena Essex Raceway is a 1928 Dodge Standard Six which started at the back in Firecracker XIII 2004. someone nearly got the car on the first turn but it got away until the driver lost it on turn four and hit a smashed car and was wrecked.
National Banger World Final
The PRI National Banger World Final is the longest running world final in banger racing. It was first staged at Arena Essex Raceway in 1980, at the time it served alternate years with the Crayford stadium until 1984, at which point the Arena circuit became the sole venue for the event. In the early years, the race was dominated, as was much of the PRI banger scene, by cars from the BMC stable. 13 of the first 15 PRI world finals were won by a BMC vehicle, most often in the form of an Austin Cambridge or Morris Oxford. However, as the sport progressed it was the Ford manufacturer which became extremely dominant, indeed the following 33 world finals have been won by either a Cortina (1984), Granada (1985-2008) or Mondeo (2009-2017.) The first PRI world final was also won by a Ford in the shape of a Consul, whilst the only other winner has come in the form of an FSO 125p in 1982.
Champions:
1971 Kevin McAuley
1972 John McGirr
1973 Peter Miles
1974 Peter Miles
1975 Brain Boulton
1976 Brain Boulton
1977 John Govier
1978 Bill Smith
1979 Terry Betts
1980 Tony Wise
1981 John Govier
1982 Dave Sanderson
1983 John King
1984 Trevor Jones
1985 Les Mapp
1986 Tony Wade
1987 Steve Taylor
1988 Dennis Whiteman
1989 Steve Taylor
1990 Kevin Wilsher
1991 Steve Taylor
1992 Gray Sheldon
1993 Chris Whiteman
1994 Vince Wolf
1995 Ian Cadman
1996 Mark Boulden
1997 Alan Trickett
1998 John Harris
1999 Phil Hudson
2000 Richard Ahern
2001 Andrew Davies
2002 Brett Ellacott
2003 Andrew Davies
2004 Wayne Cotterill
2005 Matt Fuller
2006 Billy King
2007 Paul Whiteman
2008 Carl Overy
2009 Matt Fuller
2010 Lee Hughes
2011 Lee Hughes
2012 Billy King
2013 Jason Jackson
2014 Scott Cornish
2015 Georgie Lee
2016 Jason Jackson
2017 Adam Hitchcock
Firecracker
Firecracker was founded in 1991 and is still by far one of, if not the most popular event at Arena Essex. Firecracker (up until 2008) was a banger racing only meeting; the main attraction to this event is the specific car rulings in place which outlaws more 'common' bangers such as the Ford Granada. The meeting originally allowed all types of unlimited bangers to race (which was fairly popular), but when reason the ruling on banning specific cars from racing was enforced, the meeting took off in popularity. The banning on specific cars naturally made it 'THE' meeting for drivers to race their rare classics meeting is so special is that only unusual, rare, or expensive cars are allowed to enter. There is also a firework display at the end of the meeting. This event normally attracts a crowd of around ten thousand people. In 2008, due to banger numbers falling, stockcars were introduced as a support formula, in 2010 Reliant Robin's were swapped as the support formula, which proved a popular move.
Speedway
Speedway was introduced in 1984. They were founded (as the Arena-Essex Hammers) by promoter Wally Mawdsley and stock car promoter Chick Woodroffe. The team were nicknamed the Hammers after the West Ham Hammers team that closed twelve years earlier.[2] The speedway team was renamed the Lakeside Hammers in 2007. The Hammers race at the Arena Essex Raceway on most Friday evenings between March and October and compete in the SGB Championship, the second tier of Britain's speedway leagues. The Hammers were crowned Elite League Knockout Cup champions in 2009.