New bosses at Mallory Park are on a charm offensive as they relaunch the venue as one of the country’s premier ‘go-to’ racing circuits.
Directors of Real Motorsport Ltd are planning an open day for Saturday March 1 with free entry and a host of classic, vintage and famous bikes and cars on show.
Racing outfits are being urged to secure a place for the showcase event to launch their new season teams while vehicle enthusiasts’ clubs are expected to turn out their finest models.
Among the high-profile speed demon machines on display will be an F1 racer driven by James Hunt and a superbike ridden by Mike ‘The Bike’ Hailwood.
Eddie Roberts, a former championship motorcycle rider who is now running the circuit withsuperbike team owner Stuart Hicken, said they hoped local people would embrace the event.
He added: “The idea is to get people along to see what we are doing here and reassure them we are here to run the track the way it should be run.
“Obviously there has been contention in the past with noise but we are going to be enforcing a zero tolerance policy on excessively loud vehicles and we are doing all we can to address noise escape issues.
“We are trying to make life easier for everyone. We’ve installed drive-by sound recording here and are establishing noise monitoring points in Kirby Mallory.
“When we’ve found out where the problems are we’ll do all we can to provide acoustic defence.”
The circuit’s renaissance has also stepped up a gear with the formation of Mallory Motorsports Club Limited which will trade as Club Mallory and is aimed at uniting enthusiasts, riders, drivers and marshalls. Membership is available at an introductory price of £25 a year and fans can email
[email protected] or sign up on the open day.
The revival comes after previous operators Mallory Park Motorsport Ltd went bust, falling foul of legal action over residents complaints of ‘intolerable’ noise and excessive number of meets.
Until then the circuit had a relatively troublefree history officially opening as a motorsport race track in 1956 after initially hosting pony-trotting events on grass in the late 1940s.
Its heyday was in the 1960s and 70s when it hosted almost every major British car and superbike championships and also European competitions.
Famous names to have graced Mallory include the legendary Mike Hailwood, Barry Sheene, Nelson Piquet, Emerson Fittipaldi, Niki Lauda and Jackie Stewart
Mr Roberts, boss of Complog a leading worldwide retailer of motorcycle tyres, and Mr Hicken, who runs the Hawk Superbikes team, took over the site in December last year.
Both have links with the circuit and are well known in the motorcycle racing world.
Mr Roberts added: “We have had so much support from people since taking over. More than 38,000 people signed a petition to save the circuit and we get members of the public coming along every day offering to help.
“Stuart and myself are businessmen but we are passionate about motorsport and about Mallory Park. This place has got soul, it’s unique. That’s what we want to highlight during the open day.”
Actual racing is pencilled in for mid-March
. I hope they have a very successful open day.
You gonna give us the story Diagro ?
