Lydden Hill Race Circuit (formerly known as Lydden Circuit) is a motorsport venue in

Denton with Wootton Denton with Wootton is a civil parish in the Dover District of Kent, England. The parish contains the settlements of Denton and Wootton, apart. In 2011 it had a population of 372. Denton with Wootton is approximately east-southeast from th ...

, about half-way between

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

and

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, England. The mile-long circuit is mainly used for Rallycross, Drift, Saloon and Sports car racing as well as

Motorcycle racing The motorcycle sport of racing (also called moto racing and motorbike racing) includes motorcycle road racing and off-road racing, both either on circuits or open courses, and track racing. Other categories include hill climbs, drag racing and ...

. It is the shortest road racing circuit in the United Kingdom. The track was previously owned by the McLaren Group and is one of two motor racing circuits in the county of Kent, along with

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hosts ...

History

View of Chessons Drift on Lydden circuit race track

Lydden was founded in 1955 by Bill Chesson with the help of the

Astra Motor Club Astra (Latin for "stars") may refer to: People * Astra (name) Places * Astra, Chubut, a village in Argentina * Astra (Isauria), a town of ancient Isauria, now in Turkey * Astra, one suggested name for a hypothetical fifth planet that became t ...

. From 1957, they promoted stock-car racing and grass-track racing for motorcycles. By 1962, Chesson wanted to progress and laid a tarmac track in order to promote motor and motorcycle road racing. The original plan was for a 1-mile circuit, but this scheme had to be put on hold when the tarmac ran out at what is known as the Devil’s Elbow; the result was the short circuit. In 1965, tarmac asphalt was laid for hosting car racing up to

Formula Three Formula Three (F3) is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. History Formula Three (adop ...

. On 4 February 1967, the sport of

Rallycross Rallycross is a form of sprint style motorsport held on a mixed-surface circuit (racing), racing circuit using modified production touring automobile, cars or prototype racing cars. It began in the 1960s as a cross between rallying and autocross ...

was born at Lydden, thought up by TV producer Robert Reed and race organiser Bud Smith in co-operation with Chesson. Combining tarmac and non-tarmac elements, the inaugural race was won by

Vic Elford Victor Henry Elford (10 June 1935 – 13 March 2022) was an English sports car racing, rallying, and Formula One driver. He participated in 13 World Championship F1 Grands Prix, debuting on 7 July 1968. He scored a total of 8 championship poin ...

in a

Porsche 911 The Porsche 911 model series (pronounced ''Nine Eleven'' or in ) is a family of German two-door, high performance Rear-engine design, rear-engine sports cars, introduced in September 1964 by Porsche, Porsche AG of Stuttgart, Germany. Now in it ...

. Since 1973, Lydden Circuit has seen rounds of Embassy/ERA European Rallycross Championships and

FIA European Championships for Rallycross Drivers The European Rallycross Championship (former abbreviation ERC, now Euro RX or ERX) is a rallycross competition held in Europe, organised under the auspices of the FIA. History The predecessor championship began in 1973 as the Embassy/ERA Europ ...

, the first 23 were all organised by the Thames Estuary Automobile Club (TEAC). To this day, Lydden, as the so-called "Home of Rallycross", still holds British Rallycross Championship racing. On 9 September 1968, then-unknown English driver

James Hunt James Simon Wallis Hunt (29 August 1947 – 15 June 1993) was a British racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "the Shunt", Hunt won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with McLaren, and wo ...

recorded his first race win driving a Russell-Alexis Mk14

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single-seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world have historically been an important step for many prospective Formula One dri ...

car. Hunt would return on 5 May 1969, this time driving a Motor Racing Enterprises entered Merlyn Mk11A, and recorded his second ever win. By 1986, the

RAC RAC or Rac may refer to: Organizations * Radio Amateurs of Canada * RATCH-Australia Corporation, electricity generator * Refugee Action Collective (Victoria), Melbourne, Australia * Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, US * Rent-A-Cent ...

Motor Sports Association Motorsport UK (MSUK), formerly known as the Motor Sports Association (MSA), is a national membership organisation and governing body for four-wheel motorsport in the United Kingdom. Legally, it is a not-for-profit private company limited by guar ...

(MSA) was pressurising Bill Chesson to erect

Armco AK Steel Holdings Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in West Chester Township, Ohio. The company, whose name was derived from the initials of Armco, its predecessor company, and Kawasaki Steel Corporation, was acqui ...

barriers, but he refused to do so, on the grounds that they would be dangerous to the motorcycle-racing fraternity. When RAC MSA threatened to refuse him a new circuit permit, he put it up for sale. Tom Bissett bought the circuit. From 2008 the new lease holder was the British Rallycross Champion Pat Doran. On 24–25 May 2014, Lydden Hill played host to the newly formed

FIA World Rallycross Championship The FIA World Rallycross Championship (official abbreviation is World RX) is a rallycross series organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA in conjunction with series promoter Rallycross Promoter GmbH (founded by Red Bull G ...

. The event was run under similar principles to the FIA

European Rallycross Championship The European Rallycross Championship (former abbreviation ERC, now Euro RX or ERX) is a rallycross competition held in Europe, organised under the auspices of the FIA. History The predecessor championship began in 1973 as the Embassy/ERA Europ ...

in the previous few years, but with the likes of

Petter Solberg Petter Solberg (born 18 November 1974), nicknamed "Mr. Hollywood" is a Norwegian former professional rallying, rally and rallycross driver. Solberg debuted in the World Rally Championship in 1998 and was signed by the Ford World Rally Team, For ...

and Liam Doran being notable drivers competing in the championship. The American

Nitro Rallycross Nitrocross is an American rallycross racing series. Created by rallycross driver Travis Pastrana and the ''Nitro Circus'' production in 2018, its inaugural season began in 2021. The championship is sanctioned by the United States Auto Club. Hist ...

series raced at Lydden Hill to begin the 2022–23 season on 18–19 June. Lydden Hill is the first track to host Nitro RX outside North America.

European rallycross returns

The opening round of the 2009 FIA European Rallycross Championship (ERC) brought top flight Rallycross back to Lydden Hill. The last European Rallycross event at Lydden Hill Race Circuit was hosted in 1996. As all kind of things can change over a period of 12 years time, at least one thing didn't change ... After being declared winner of the 1996 European event at Lydden in the main Division, multiple champion Kenneth Hansen (

Citroën C4 The Citroën C4 is a car produced by Citroën, part of Stellantis. It was positioned to be the successor to the Citroën Xsara. The first generation production started in September 2004. For its first two generations, the C4 was a compact car/s ...

) cruised to victory again in Division 1 on Easter Monday (13 April). When ERC returned at the end of May 2010, Norwegian

Sverre Isachsen Sverre Isachsen (born 11 November 1970) is a Norwegian rallycross driver. Career Isachsen started with motorsports in 1989 and became the Norwegian Rallycross Champion in 1999 and 2000. In 2009, 2010 and 2011, he became the European Rallycross ...

( Ford Focus ST), celebrated his first victory in the European Championship as he beat multiple champion Kenneth Hansen (Citroën C4) and local guy Liam Doran (Citroën C4) in the Division 1 'A' final. About 13,500 people spent Easter 2011 at Wootton, attending the opening round of the 2011 ERC. Specially for the Norwegian fans among them it was a great weekend as the victories in all of the three racing categories went to Norway. Sverre Isachsen (Ford Focus Mk2) was on the highest step of the SuperCars podium on Monday afternoon. Before already Andreas Bakkerud ( Renault Clio Mk2) and Lars Øivind Enerberg (Ford Fiesta ST RWD) did the same in the Super1600 and Touring Cars classes. There were no first qualifying heats on day 1 of the opening round of the 2012 ERC as problems with the start systems made the Clerk of the Course decide to run the first heat on Monday. Therefore, the 2012 championship started in a similar way as previous year's championship ended when at Sosnová in the Czech Republic during the final round the first heats also had to be postponed until the other day. With the absence of defending champion Sverre Isachsen the door is now open for last year's runner-up

Tanner Foust Tanner Lee Foust (born June 13, 1973) is an American professional racing driver, stunt driver, and television host. He competes in rally, drift, ice racing, time attack, hill climb and rallycross with multiple podium placements, national cham ...

( Ford Fiesta Mk7) to start the season with a victory. The opening round of the 2013 FIA European Rallycross Championship was held over the Easter holiday, at Lydden Hill, with victory going to the American Tanner Foust in his Ford Fiesta for the second year running, only after reigning ERC champion

Timur Timerzyanov Timur Renatovich Timerzyanov (; born 31 January 1987) is a Russian rallycross driver who previously competed in the FIA World Rallycross Championship. He has won the European Rallycross Division 1A Championship in 2010 with SET Promotion and the E ...

for dropped back with a punctured tyre.

World Rallycross Championship

In 2014, the FIA World Rallycross Championship arrived in Kent for Round Two. Ford Olsbergs MSE driver Andreas Bakkerud won, after a near perfect run. Robin Larsson claimed the runner’s-up spot in his Audi A1 Supercar, with Britain’s Andrew Jordan ending the event third in front of his home crowd. In July 2023, the FIA World Rallycross Championship was due to race for the first time since 2017. On the eve of the first heat, The garage caught the massive blaze and the Special ONE Lancia Delta RX1e's are destroyed instantly. They had to cancel the event. Sebastien Loeb and Guerlain Chicherit had to withdraw from the championship.

Rallycross track records

Martin Schanche Martin Schanche (born 1 January 1945), nicknamed ''"Mr. Rallycross"'', is a Norway, Norwegian former racing driver and politician. Biography Schanche was born in Trondheim, as the son of a German WW2 airplane pilot, who lost his life in a plan ...

, ( Ford RS200 E2) drove 3 ½ laps (1 lap = 1,400 m) in 2:28.8 Minutes during the 1990 FIA ERC round *

, ( Ford Focus T16 4X4), drove 4 laps (1 lap = 1,400 m) in 3.13.344 minutes during the 2009 FIA ERC Round

Current events

Major events

*FIA

*MSA British Rallycross Championship *Lord of Lydden, the revival in 2013 *BHP Performance Show (until 2023) *Lydden Hill Truck Festival *

Local meetings

*South East Motor Sport Enthusiasts Club (SEMSEC) *Tunbridge Wells Motor Club (TWMC) *Rochester Motor Club (RMC) *British Automobile Racing Club (BARC) *Vintage Motorcycle Racing Club (VMCC) *Classic Racing Motorcycle Club (CRMC) *Car, Bike & Drifting Trackdays

Major race results

European rallycross

+ ran in conjunction with the British Rallycross Grand Prix

FIA World Rallycross

References

External links

Lydden Race Circuit home page

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