Church Corner - Further safety developments now completed

We've continued in our efforts to ensure the highest levels of safety with the completion of further improvements made to the run-off of Church Corner, often referred to as the fastest corner in British motor racing.

The planned development work was originally intended to take place during the upcoming winter months however the suspension of motorsport due to the coronavirus pandemic allowed the work to be brought forward.

Having carried out a number of upgrades to the infamous corner in recent years, including the levelling of the ground and moving the barriers further back, recent months has seen extensive labour take place.

Manoeuvring more than 150,000 cubic metres of earth to create a gradual incline, a total of 580 metres of armco has been

newly put in place around the corner; made up of 173 posts and 652 car tyres.

Whilst the work has been substantial, the characteristics of the corner and challenges that it presents have crucially remained the same, much to the delight of competitors and spectators.

Pat Blakeney, Thruxton Operations Manager, said: “I’m delighted that we’ve now completed this vital safety enhancement to the circuit. This work was originally planned to be done over this winter but when the country went into lockdown this spring it gave us an ideal opportunity to do this with the virtual guarantee of some decent weather.

“In conjunction with our Landlord and their landfill contractors the work was completed on time and this in turn enabled us to run our first race meeting of 2020 at the end of July.

“At present Church Corner looks very different from a drivers perspective but the corner remains the same and I’m sure that by the time the grass grows and we’re a year or two down the line, nobody will remember what it used to look like.

“Thruxton is now in it’s 52nd year of operation, with the track layout totally unchanged so it was important to us to both improve driver safety but to also preserve what has to be one of the most iconic corners in the country.”