End of an era - Rockingham (UK) to close

[bella]

Originally Posted by backfire

I think that the outer stands have never had a single spectator in them. The dreaded Health and Safety said they had to fully man any grandstand with any spectators at all, so they were always closed to save money.

they were open for the first champcar race at least. official excuse for closing all four eventually was subsidence.

[Alfaholic]

Certainly the open grandstand at Turn One was in regular use for the major meetings up to around 5 years ago. In recent years they've even fenced off some of the Turn Four end of the main covered stand.

I rather like the place - mostly due to the viewing from the main stand allowing you to see virtually the whole circuit and I've gone to BTCC, British GT & clubbie races there every year since attending the opening meeting and both Champ Car visits.

It wasn't without its drawbacks however - mostly due to the main stand facing east which means it was in shade for most of the day and never really warm plus the PA system wasn't up to the job.

[Greem]

If enough entrants can be found, there's going to be an open all-comers meeting running the last full weekend in November. Could be an exceedingly eclectic set of grids, if some of the social media around it turns up entries rather than just talk

[Alfaholic]

Sounds interesting - may have to get my thermals ready for that one.

https://rockingham.co.uk/supersendoff/

[Greem]

It's now a one-day meeting on Saturday 24th. Provisional timetable:

https://barc.blob.core.windows.net/b...k-v1-fqf94.pdf

[Alfaholic]

Thanks for the provisional timetable Greem - I was just looking around the Rockingham & BARC websites yesterday for an update.

Tickets are only £10 from Rockingham (don't know if this will also be the gate price) so it seems like a bit of a bargain priced send-off.

[Greem]

It's looking to also be the best attended meeting in terms of marshals in years, perhaps unsurprisingly. Having spent several meetings a year since 2009 with only myself and a radio to talk to (and the occasional driver!), we're looking like having multiple people in every role on every post round the circuit

[Alfaholic]

Entry list now released for the meeting. Not bad for the saloons, sports/GTs and one hour race, but only 8 for the single seaters.

https://barc.blob.core.windows.net/b...ogam-lx52c.pdf

[OVERSTEER]

Any word on what cars are being demonstrated?

[Alfaholic]

Not a bad turnout for the last meeting, both of spectators & marshals despite the cold & wind. The last grid of the era...

I'll miss Rockingham, but I certainly won't miss climbing all the staris to get to the top of the grandstand!

[Greem]

There were over 100 names on the sign-on sheets yesterday morning! I was out at post 15, where the Steel Straight starts to head to Gracelands.

It was cold, it was damp, the track was greasy as anything in the morning but the drivers put on a good show and (on my post at least) we spent the day laughing our heads off, making jokes about the "last X in the last Y at the last meeting at Rockingham"

In the end, the last car to cross the line in the last race was a BRSCC Clerk of the Course - he wasn't trying to be last but he did have basically the slowest car of the that session, so winning definitely wasn't on the cards.

Emotions spilled over as we signed off, there were a lot of tears and a lot of people walking off to have quiet time on their own.

Tata, Rockingham, it's been fun.

[snailpace85]

Nicely said, thanks Greem -

Originally Posted by Greem

There were over 100 names on the sign-on sheets yesterday morning! I was out at post 15, where the Steel Straight starts to head to Gracelands.

It was cold, it was damp, the track was greasy as anything in the morning but the drivers put on a good show and (on my post at least) we spent the day laughing our heads off, making jokes about the "last X in the last Y at the last meeting at Rockingham"

In the end, the last car to cross the line in the last race was a BRSCC Clerk of the Course - he wasn't trying to be last but he did have basically the slowest car of the that session, so winning definitely wasn't on the cards.

Emotions spilled over as we signed off, there were a lot of tears and a lot of people walking off to have quiet time on their own.

Tata, Rockingham, it's been fun.

[The Fat Clerk]

Emotions spilled over as we signed off, there were a lot of tears and a lot of people walking off to have quiet time on their own.

Tata, Rockingham, it's been fun.[/QUOTE]


We're @ this weeks rally and I guess that'll be the same.

[Razor]

You've got to be joking right? I used to race this track on the old TOCA Playstation games.

Such a shame another track is relegated to the pages of history.