New UK Drag Racing Venue

[Roscobbc]

For those of us living further south in the UK may be interested in a new 'bare roots' drag racing venue starting-up at former RAF Manston (nr Broadstairs in Kent). This is approx. 62 miles from the M25 QE2 Dartford Crossing.
Very early days currently but seems like it will start with 'no prep' 1/8 mile racing, perhaps followed by 1/4 mile if the demand is there.
See Autodragster - European Drag Racing News

 

[Chuffer]

For those of us living further south in the UK may be interested in a new 'bare roots' drag racing venue starting-up at former RAF Manston (nr Broadstairs in Kent). This is approx. 62 miles from the M25 QE2 Dartford Crossing.
Very early days currently but seems like it will start with 'no prep' 1/8 mile racing, perhaps followed by 1/4 mile if the demand is there.
See Autodragster - European Drag Racing News

Good to hear of a venue opening rather than closing . I must try my best to get there one day .

 

[Roscobbc]

For me the 'Pod is a 100 mile journey.......however you never know what issues you'll face on the M25 and M1. Surprisingly Manston for me is about 75 miles......so not a lot of difference mileage=wise as compared to the 'Pod.......however there is the Darford Crossing to contend with.....murder on bank holiday weekends and also days like today where the bridge is closed due high winds and you have to use the old tunnel.........and then we have the M2........not the place to be if there's an issue with ferry/chunnel crossings with HGV's queueing for miles and miles.......

 

[Chuffer]

The Pod is only 23 miles from me but haven`t been there for ages . I used go quite a bit in the early days with my mates but watching drag racing often results in 15 seconds of frantic activity punctuated by half an our or more of nothing going on . Especially with our unreliable weather resulting in a wet strip and having to wait dry out , or clearing up oil after some motor spills its guts ! I prefer going to Silverstone only 9 miles away to watch motorsport .

 

[teamzr1]

To speed races up, some drag strips here in the USA have doubled the width of the track and races 4 vehicles at the same time

Seeing your track is 1.75 miles long, they should add some standing 1-mile events as people really rather do that
and be able to see how their vehicle does as to top end speeds

 

[Oneball]

That’d be great if they pull it off but it’s the arse end of the country!

 

[Roscobbc]

That’d be great if they pull it off but it’s the arse end of the country!

I like your physiological description of the location - thing-is 'any' location will be inconvenient to someone, somewhere........more importantly one has to wonder about the future longevity of Manston as a long term location for drag racing - I seem to recall lots of talk about this becoming a 'new' London airport? - perhaps Southend Airport now fits that requirement? - not so many years ago that Shoreham airport held a few drag races (until a 'situation' occured).

 

[Oneball]

I like your physiological description of the location - thing-is 'any' location will be inconvenient to someone, somewhere........more importantly one has to wonder about the future longevity of Manston as a long term location for drag racing - I seem to recall lots of talk about this becoming a 'new' London airport? - perhaps Southend Airport now fits that requirement? - not so many years ago that Shoreham airport held a few drag races (until a 'situation' occured).

The in laws live down there, like you mentioned earlier the moment you have to get on the M25 it’s a pain, plus if you look at a map, Essex and Kent do look like England’s bottom

They’re supposed to be starting commercial cargo flights from next year. There is a bit in the press release that says it’s not the main runway.

 

[Roscobbc]

"The in laws live down there, like you mentioned earlier the moment you have to get on the M25 it’s a pain, plus if you look at a map, Essex and Kent do look like England’s bottom "
Perhaps not totally inapropriate.........I'm only about 10 miles off the Dartford Crossing but always avoid the A13/M25 routes leading to it. There is generally at least one road 'incident' daily (usually two or three), generally involving one or more HGV's and load/liquid spillage. Not quite so bad going through the crossing north to south (unless there are high winds or some unfortunate being trying to jump-off the bridge)......but south to north can be a real issue with huge queues on all approches........my big block Vette is generally fine re. overheating even in the heaviest traffic.......but the return journey from Speedfest and other events for me in Kent, Surrey and Sussex can be somewhat unpleasant.
As the the proposed 'relief' crossing - all that does is move part of the north/south flow to exit/entrances a few miles along the A2 south and M25 north.......recipe for major blockages during holiday periods. The south east corner of the UK is not a great place to be at times........

 

[Forrest Gump]

As the the proposed 'relief' crossing - all that does is move part of the north/south flow to exit/entrances a few miles along the A2 south and M25 north.......recipe for major blockages during holiday periods. The south east corner of the UK is not a great place to be at times........

And it’s only going to get worse with houses being built around every corner at the moment.
It’s hard to imagine that at one time Dartford was just one tunnel with single lane two-way traffic. Now four lanes in each direction, no toll barriers anymore and it’s still gridlocked a lot of the time.

 

[teamzr1]

IF there will be housing close to the track, it could end up like the mess the NCM did as they designed and built their
racetracks never discussed it with many homeowners

NCM never cared about the amount of exhaust noise and once track opened the homeowners found the hard way as exhaust
noise was as high as 109 Dba :-(
NCM ignored the complaints causing lawsuits which NCM dragged on for years and finally the law mandated NCM do what was needed to lower the allowed Dba level but in the end all those homes values dropped do to even some lowered Dba but still loud enough :-(

Posted News

Dateline October 2015:
With all the back-and-forth going on between the National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park, the City-County Planning Commission, the Code Enforcement Board, and the neighbors near the track, we figured the disagreement would wind up being settled in court.
Thursday night, the Warren County City-County Planning Commission voted unanimously to join the Residents Against Motorsports Park Noise in their lawsuit.

The planning commission was going to consider a revised detailed development plan for the park at its Thursday night meeting, but the NCM withdrew that plan from the agenda Wednesday after hearing about the lawsuit filed by the neighborhood.

“Because of this action, we are withdrawing our application for the Revised Detailed Development Plan that was on the agenda for the Oct. 15th Planning Commission meeting,” Strode told Planning Commission Executive Director Steve Hunter in an email obtained by the Bowling Green Daily News.

Let’s hope a compromise can be reached allowing the Motorsports Park to remain open, but we have a feeling this has the potential to get nasty.
Chris Davenport, attorney for Residents Against Motorsports Track Noise LLC, told the Daily News Wednesday that the residents want their day in court and have lost patience with county officials working out a solution.

There will actually be two days or more in court, however.
The first case will be heard by Warren District Judge John Brown about the NCM Foundation’s appeal of the Warren Code Enforcement Board’s unanimous decision Sept. 11 to levy a $100 a day fine for noncompliance with the planning commission.
The NCM filed the appeal last week.

The second case will be heard by Warren Circuit Judge John Grise, who has been asked by Clark Circle residents to shut down the facility and consider monetary damages for the residents.
Clark Circle residents Janet Jent and Sara Buckley are named as plaintiffs, along with the residents’ group.

Residents Against Motorsports Track Noise LLC, Jent and Buckley are seeking legal action against the NCM Foundation, the planning commission and the county code enforcement board.
Strode told WBKO TV in Bowling Green that the Museum has been working hard to comply with the agreement and lower the noise levels.

“That included building the berm that is now complete,” the NCM executive director said. “That included building some trees that’s now complete. That included putting up some noise abatement near the edge of the property that is now complete.”

No court dates have been set for either case.
The National Corvette Museum and neighbors to their motor sports park have come to an agreement stemming from a lawsuit filed in 2015 regarding noise complaints.

The conflict was settled today in front of the City Planning Commission.
The surrounding "Clark Circle Neighborhood" filed the lawsuit in October 2015 citing high levels causing problems in the area.
Both parties came to an agreement Thursday night that set maximum decibel levels permitted to come from the park.

A monitor will be set up in the Clark Circle Neighborhood to detect the level of sound that reaches the houses near there.
Both parties hope the agreement reached Thursday will serve as a mediator to satisfy both sides.

"The agreement that we reached with those folks tonight," says Aaron Smith, the attorney representing the NCM, "which was accepted by the planning commission tonight, will allow us to continue to be a world-class facility, but at the same time be a good neighbor to those around us."
The man representing over forty residents near the park says there were a few things he hopes this agreement will accomplish.

"One of our goals was to give the planing commission and their staff as many enforcement tools and vehicles as possible to make sure the restrictions are in fact lived up to," says Chris Davenport. "Hopefully those enforcement procedures are never necessary. I think that's what we all hope for."

The NCM and racetrack will be given what the planning commission called, for lack of a better term, "loud days", which will give them 8 days to exceed the agreed-upon decibel level.
There are still limits to how much over that decibel level they can be.

 

[Roscobbc]

In the UK noise is certainly an issue with most motor racing venues with many having to post DB limits at certain times of the day - but it goes much further than that.
With the demand for housing always at a high any race venue that wasn't originally designed specifically as a race track and therefore in a location where housing perhaps is sparce shouldn't have a major issue.
It's the former WW2 airbases originally selected for the flat landscapes on requisitioned former farm land that are targetted by developers for new housing.
Many of these airbases being flat with long runways were ideal for drag racing and speed trials......and so many of them over the last 50 or 60 years have held drag racing events......OK none of them were ideal in terms of facilities or track surfaces but it was all we had.
The only one to survive and flourish was the former RAF Poddington - now Santa Pod. All of the other venues (and there have been a few) have ultimately failed.......generally due to noise and complaints by NIMBY's and aquistion of the sites for future housing or light industrial development.
The status quo generally in the UK is that someone will move in to a house (perhaps backing on to a school) - fully aware beforehand the school exists and the potential for noise at term times during the school year. These people then complain to the local councils about the 'noise' and inconvenience of all the cars taking/collecting the kids from school. Often the householders are 'connected' and actually manage to get their way re. noise 'pollution' etc.
We used to have have drag racing (thinly disquised as 'Test and Tune') two or three times a year locally at the former WW2 airfield at North Weald.
Great location (lousy surface) always a few Warbirds flying around and only 10/15 miles from East London. There is a steam 'heritage' railway running on the disused District Line railway track that once passed very close to the airfield. Local authority sold off perimeter land to housing developers that cut the railway line in two. They now get complaints from residents if the trains are run too close to the houses - seemingly they want to have their windows open in summer but don't like the smoke from the engines if the wind is blowing in the wrong direction.......yet they all would have been aware of the railway before buying their houses.
The drag racing was finally curtailed due to a local weathy landowner who had significant 'influence' with the local authority and the events were forced to stop.
This is the same local authority who have sold-off a hugh chunk of the land to Google for their new warehousing location.
Now even the sprint events have to find a new venue.
Google paid £88.2m for North Weald Airfield land - money doesn't just speak......no it shouts at hundreds of decibels!

 

[Chuffer]

And it’s only going to get worse with houses being built around every corner at the moment.
It’s hard to imagine that at one time Dartford was just one tunnel with single lane two-way traffic. Now four lanes in each direction, no toll barriers anymore and it’s still gridlocked a lot of the time.

That`s precisely why I avoid that corner of the country like the plague !!

 

[Roscobbc]

That`s precisely why I avoid that corner of the country like the plague !!

Kent has some beautiful scenery and wonderful drives........but now perhaps only easily accessible if you live in the county. With exponential increases over the years of channel tunnel traffic and housing 'illegals' etc in coastal town B & B's in Kent and adjoining East Sussex plus the endemicly high unemployment levels............

 

[Chuffer]

It certainly does . I relented a couple of years ago and had a few days away in Canterbury as we had never visited before . Being in no hurry I took the `scenic` route from Northamptonshire to avoid M25 etc . Went down the A34 and then east via Farnborough , Guildford & Maidstone just using A roads . It was a beautiful drive . Needless to say I dropped in on the Kent & East Sussex Railway and the Romney , Hythe & Dymchurch Railway .
A sea front hotel in Hythe was totally spoiled by being a holding centre for illegal immigrants complete with security guards at he front door . Machine Gun posts along the beach would be a better deterrent !!!