Cristal Palace to host sprint event

July 7, 2014

After an absence of a decade, motor sport will return to Crystal Palace with a two-day sprint event over the Bank Holiday weekend of May 30/31.

Organised by Sevenoaks and DMC, with the support of the London Borough of Bromley, the sprint will bring motor sport back to the famous South London track more than 37 years after it closed for racing. The last sprint at the venue was held in 2000 and the planning for this year’s event started in ’06.

The 800-metre course will follow a new layout featuring a section of the old track, incorporating Pond Hairpin, Big Tree Bend, Terrace Straight and North Tower Crescent.

Car racing started at Crystal Palace in April 1937 when Pat Fairfield’s works ERA won the Coronation Trophy. To celebrate the venue’s motor sport past, a field of modern and vintage cars will be competing in May and some of the older cars will have period Crystal Palace history. There will also be a category for electric and alternative-powered cars. Sunday will be given over to club competitors while Monday’s action will focus on historic cars. It is the only authorised motor sport event held within the confines of Greater London.

Martin Chinnery of Sevenoaks DMC said: “We’re very pleased to announce the return of motor sport to Crystal Palace. Thanks to a lot of hard work, and the support of the Ancaster Group, we’re delighted that fans will again be able to experience racing at the Palace.”

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Paul Lawrence

Here is a man who goes racing every weekend from March to October. Paul’s passion for the sport goes back to when he was a child of the 1960s. He has organised, competed in and marshalled on scores of events, and has written about the subject for 20 years. He is as at home in the paddock at Brands Hatch as in a Welsh forest or at Shelsley Walsh.

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