Oulton Park, Racing Circuit

Oulton Park occupies mature parkland near Little Budworth outside Tarporley in Cheshire, on the former estate of Oulton Hall, the Egerton family seat destroyed by fire in 1926. Wartime army roadways crossing the grounds gave the circuit its starting shape when racing began there in August 1953, and the lap was extended over the following year into the parkland course familiar today. Frequent, fast elevation changes and tree-lined sweeps have long drawn comparisons with the Nürburgring, with signature sections including Old Hall, the dive through Cascades to the lake, Island Bend and the Shell Oils hairpin. From 1954 the circuit staged the Gold Cup, once a fixture for contemporary Formula One cars and now run as a major historic meeting; the shorter Fosters layout, created in 1975, served as the principal club-racing circuit for close to two decades. Oulton Park today offers three configurations — the full International circuit (2.69 miles), the Island circuit (2.26 miles), which bypasses the Shell Oils hairpin, and the Fosters circuit (1.66 miles) — and is part of Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision group, which runs a year-round programme of car and bike track days alongside British Touring Car Championship, British Superbike and British GT rounds.

Operated by: MotorSport Vision (MSV)