Hethel Circuit (Lotus Cars), Racing CircuitTraining Ground

Hethel is the private test circuit at the Lotus Cars factory, set on a former airfield about eight miles south-west of Norwich in Norfolk. The site originally served as a base for squadrons of the United States 8th Air Force during the Second World War, from 1942 to 1945. Group Lotus moved its headquarters to Hethel in 1966 and has been based there ever since, developing portions of the old runways and taxiways into a circuit used to test and develop its cars. Over the decades the track has been used by leading Formula One drivers including Jim Clark, Jochen Rindt, Emerson Fittipaldi and Ayrton Senna to fine-tune their race cars. The whole complex was completely refurbished in 2011, reopened by Nigel Mansell, and is now a state-of-the-art FIA-specification test facility with concrete surfacing and kerbs throughout. The circuit runs to roughly 2.2 miles in length and is around 40 feet wide, combining a series of bends, a hairpin, fast and technical corners, straights and a turning circle designed to put high-performance cars through their paces. Today it is used for testing, track days, driver training and the Lotus Driving Academy.

Operated by: Lotus Cars (Geely Group)