29-415: Arena Essex Raceway was a stock car and speedway racing track located near Purfleet , Essex . It opened in 1978 and closed in 2018. The Lakeside Shopping Centre was built close to the venue. The Arena-Essex Raceway Complex was the idea of local businessman and racing driver, Chick Woodroffe. It was built in the remains of an old cement works overspill site. The new circuit was a quarter-mile long with
58-625: A Mini branded car. The cars resemble both senior closed wheel stock car classes in their build, but the speeds reached are generally lower to reduce risk levels. Drivers are encouraged to learn the racecraft and tactics that the senior drivers use in the 1300cc and 2-Litre Nationals. Together with the Ministox, there are several formulae that cater for junior drivers interested in progressing up contact formulas. Classes include;- Junior Micra Stock Cars, Junior Bangers, Junior Stoxkarts, Micro F2 Stock Cars There are also several non-contact classes for
87-564: A Kevlar body which mimics a production car. Other Hot Rod categories do make use of standard production body/chassis. Classes include;- National Hot Rods, 2 litre Hot Rods, Classic Hot Rods, Stock Rods, Lightning Rods, Rookie Rods, MASCAR Other non-contact categories which might be included as Hot Rod classes are Legends, Midgets Bangers are production cars that are raced with modifications for safety such as reinforced drivers' doors, H-Frame Roll Cages added and all glass removed. The racing can be either Full Contact or Limited Contact. Full Contact
116-482: A further six seasons until 1971 when they were informed that the stadium was being sold by the Greyhound Racing Association to make way for building development. The Romford Bombers moved into the stadium for the 1972 season, racing under the name West Ham Bombers. As the original West Ham team folded in the speedway British League Division One, at the end of the 1971 season, the prospect of racing at
145-448: A popular move among fans. Stock Cars were re-introduced in the 2-Litre format from 2015 onward, due to a further drop in Banger and Robin numbers. The final meeting in 2018 featured neither Reliant Robins or Stock Cars in support, as the stadium's closure boosted the Banger turnout above and beyond any meeting in the stadium's history. Speedway was introduced in 1984. They were founded (as
174-459: A steel chassis with 'retro' plastic panels designed to give the look of a scaled down post-war Ford Popular. Hot Rods are a non-contact race formula where each vehicle is based on a road car, or made to resemble a road going counterpart. The concept for the National series is similar to that of NASCAR . The cars that race resemble production cars, but are in fact purpose built space frame chassis with
203-510: Is also offset. Large bumpers are mandatory and contact is encouraged to push opponents out of the way. The Smaller BriSCA Formula 2 Stock Cars are also very popular. They are essentially a downsized version of the Formula 1 Stock Car, being powered by a 2-litre Ford engine. V8 Hotstox are a third BriSCA formula that race. They are a much cheaper class to race and use the Rover V8 engine . This class
232-556: Is often used as a stepping stone to the Formula 1 class. Licensed and promoted by Spedeworth are the Superstox . Superstox are similar to BriSCA Formula 2 Stock Cars with the main visual difference being a smaller wing on the roof. These cars are also powered by the 2-litre Ford Pinto engine. Spedeworth also run V8 Stock Cars, which are similar in design to the BriSCA Hotstox, but use small-block 5-litre Chevrolet engines. Stoxkarts are
261-523: Is when wrecking usually takes more importance than the racing with drivers some times having head on crashes to take out opponents. Limited Contact on the other hand only allows some lighter crashing and spinning of cars with the racing aspect still being a key focal point. That said, this sport is not a Destruction Derby , although some banger meetings do end with one. Ministox are one of the most popular routes for junior drivers to progress into senior stock car classes. Every car racing in must be derived from
290-865: The ASCAR Racing Series was formed and ran until 2008, the series was a " NASCAR " style racing series that was predominantly run at Rockingham Motor Speedway as well as briefly on the continent. The first season was won by John Mickel . Other notable champions were Nicolas Minassian and Ben Collins who also played as The Stig on Top Gear . The field was usually populated by professional or semi-professional stock car drivers, however notable drivers who were famous from other areas of motorsport either took part in single races or for one complete season, they included Colin McRae , Jason Plato , Matt Neal , Darren Manning , Max Papis , John Cleland and former NASCAR drivers Brandon Whitt and Randy Tolsma . Another one of
319-890: The Arena-Essex Hammers) by promoter Wally Mawdsley and stock car promoter Chick Woodroffe. The team were nicknamed the Hammers after the West Ham Hammers team that closed twelve years earlier. The speedway team was renamed the Lakeside Hammers in 2007. The Hammers raced at the Arena Essex Raceway on most Friday evenings between March and October and competed in the SGB Championship , the second tier of Britain's speedway leagues. The Hammers were crowned Elite League Knockout Cup champions in 2009. Stock car racing in
SECTION 10
#1732859069148348-731: The Crayford stadium until 1984, at which point the Arena circuit became the sole venue for the event. In the early years, the race was dominated, as was much of the PRI banger scene, by cars from the BMC stable. 13 of the first 15 PRI world finals were won by a BMC vehicle, most often in the form of an Austin Cambridge or Morris Oxford. However, as the sport progressed it was the Ford manufacturer which became extremely dominant, indeed
377-714: The United Kingdom Stock car racing in the United Kingdom covers a number of different oval racing formulas. Contact is allowed in UK stock car racing, that is, if you are unable to pass an opponent using speed alone, you are allowed to push or hit your opponent in order to pass. The degree of contact allowed varies between categories. Stock car racing was brought to Britain at the New Cross Stadium, London on 16 April 1954. Taking place on existing greyhound or speedway tracks,
406-474: The cars were mostly road cars from the 1930s with locked rear axle differentials and added armour for contact racing. After the first couple of years custom-built cars began to appear eventually making the 'stock' car name something of a misnomer. Since the early days of stock car racing in Britain the sport has developed into many different classes. In addition, non-contact oval racing became known as Hot Rods , while
435-530: The control of Johnnie Hoskins . The track opened in 1928 and staged a few meetings during the early war years. Meetings were staged in 1945 but the Hammers re-opened in 1946 and ran until 1955. However dwindling crowds saw the promotion close. It did not re-open until 1964. The West Ham team were the inaugural winners of the British League in 1965, under a promotion fronted by former rider Tommy Price. Dave Lanning became promoter in 1966, and West Ham ran for
464-453: The famous Custom House Stadium, albeit with a "nomad" team, delighted the local populace, and attendances at Custom House for the Bombers were very healthy. However, uncertainty dogged the promotion, with always the prospect of the stadium being sold from underneath them at short notice, and after just 6 home meetings (with the Bombers maintaining a healthy league position), the plug was pulled and
493-417: The first stock car race meeting held on 1 May 1978 which was infamously ruined by a heavy downpour. The track originally had a post and wire fence, which caused some colossal crashes and wrecks in the banger formula, and caught a few of the hot rods out too. In the late 80's the track swapped the post and wire for an Armco barrier and catch-fencing was installed to further protect spectators. Every September,
522-487: The following 33 world finals have been won by either a Cortina (1984), Granada (1985-2008) or Mondeo (2009-2018.) The first PRI world final was also won by a Ford in the shape of a Consul, whilst the only other winner has come in the form of an FSO 125p in 1982. Following the closure of Arena Essex in 2018, the title was transferred to Mendips Raceway, near Cheddar in Somerset. It was won by Ashley Garrod Champions: Firecracker
551-548: The juniors, which are often cheap and accessible steps towards the senior rod formulas. Classes include;- Ninja Karts, Junior Rods, Junior Productions, JASCAR West Ham Hammers The West Ham Hammers were a speedway team, first promoted by Jimmy Baxter in 1929. They operated from the West Ham Stadium until the outbreak of the Second World War under several different promotions, most successfully under
580-448: The last speedway meeting at West Ham Stadium was held on 23 May 1972, with West Ham .v. Hull. The West Ham Bombers lost the match 38-40, with the last league race (heat 13) won by Hull's Tony Childs. West Ham's Kevin Holden was the winner of the last race, the second-half Finale, to finally complete a long and sad disintegration of the sport at one of the world's most famous venues. The stadium
609-499: The most popular forms of UK stock car racing are the 2-Litre National Saloon Stock Cars, regulated by the Saloon Stock Car Association. This formula is typically based on heavily armoured Ford Sierra , Ford Mondeo , Vauxhall Vectra and Audi A6 models, purposely reconstructed for this full contact class. The 1300cc Stock Cars hold very similar build specification to the 2-Litre Nationals, with cars being armoured all
SECTION 20
#1732859069148638-601: The original kind of armoured road car used in the 1950s developed into saloon stock cars and unarmoured cars raced in full contact banger racing . Stock car formulas are largely split into two organisations broadly based in the north and south, BriSCA and Spedeworth. BriSCA Formula 1 Stock Cars are the most sophisticated stock car formula. Each vehicle races with a race-tuned V8 engine developing approximately 650 bhp. The cars are also fitted with quick-change axles, roof-mounted aerofoils, cambered wheels and brake setups for constant left turning. The chassis of each vehicle
667-760: The raceway. It shut its gates for the last time after being offered £80 million for the site by housing developers. Demolition work on the stadium began in November 2020. The stadium was further sold in July 2023 to a hyperscaler and the subsequent plans for housing were withdrawn. Banger Racing took place on Sunday afternoons and Bank Holiday Mondays between the second week of March and the first week of November. There were different disciplines of bangers at Arena, such as Rookie Bangers, 2L Bangers, National Bangers, Team Bangers, Big Van Bangers, Caravan Destruction Derbies and Unlimited Bangers. The oldest car raced at Arena Essex Raceway
696-491: The smallest and probably the cheapest formula, running 13 hp Honda engines. This formula is one of the only where more than one driver can use the same car in the same meeting. At the budget end of the racing spectrum is the rapidly growing Modstox formula. Visually similar to Formula 2 and Superstox, the formula is limited to the 850cc Reliant engine with other prescribed budget components, making it an ideal starter or 'last chance' formula for more senior drivers. In 2001
725-407: The track hosted the oldest National World Final Championship, which ran for over 40 years. If possible, just over 40 cars, plus qualifiers from the wild card race, competed in the world final event. Banger turnouts varied between 35 and 174 cars at the world final meetings. The winner from the previous year started the final in last place. Sunday 4 November 2018 was the last meeting ever to be held at
754-477: The way around. The major difference between the two are the different cars used. The smaller engine capacity means cars are a lot smaller and lighter. Most are front-wheel drive like the Vauxhall Corsa , Vauxhall Tigra and Honda Civic , however the class does allow the rear-wheel drive Toyota Starlet . Rebels are a one-make purpose built formula also using the 850cc reliant engine with slight modifications, in
783-421: The year where drivers could race their rare classics and bigger vehicles that were not suited to normal Banger events. At the conclusion of the meeting, there was also a firework display put on by the local 'Shellshock Fireworks' company. In 2008, due to banger numbers falling, 1300cc Stock Cars were introduced as a support formula, however in 2010 Reliant Robins were swapped as the support formula, proving to be
812-460: Was a 1928 Dodge Standard Six which started at the back in Firecracker XIII 2004. It is said to be one of the oldest Bangers ever raced and after the meeting, was later sold to be used in a movie about damaged cars. The PRI National Banger World Final is the longest running world final in banger racing. It was first staged at Arena Essex Raceway in 1980, at the time it served alternate years with
841-528: Was founded in 1991 and was by far one of, if not the most popular event at Arena Essex. Firecracker was a Banger racing only meeting; the main attraction to this event is the specific car rulings in place which outlaws more 'common' Bangers such as the Ford Granada . Originally, the meeting allowed all types of unlimited Bangers to race, but when the rule banning common cars was enforced, the meeting took off in popularity. The landmark ruling made it 'THE' meeting of
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