Had some great times at Arena Essex watching speedway. Such a shame it went to the wall. To outsiders it was just a place that made traffic jams around their trips to the shopping centre but to some it was not only their fix of sport (be it the bangers or the bikes) but also there chance to be with friends and have social interaction. So sad to see these venues closing down.
What happened to the speedway team? Did it find a new home? They used to always beat my team when they came up to Glasgow. It would be a pity if they didn’t exist anymore.
Arena Essex Raceway is my local home track just a mile away from my home going every meeting filming banger racing and uploading videos it still hurts me today just looking at it. It still makes me feel heartbroken. This was my place to get out on weekends and bank holiday mondays but now my place i go to gone.
If the Cowdenbeath Racewall up here closed I'd feel exactly the same, mate. No wonder there's a mental health crisis when so much of what we value makes way for profit.
A awesome track that will never be forgotten. The Granada meeting was awesome 🏁. There's another abandoned track Coventry stadium another track we won't for get is well.
In about 2003, I drove there on two separate occasions on test days. A group of us were testing Baby Grands, 2/3 size NASCAR-style stock cars imported from the states. Spaceframe chassis with a one-piece fibre-glass body that fit over the top, a bit like a massive R/C car. We couldn't run with any of the other cars as they were left-hand drive, so we had to run anti-clockwise, whereas the local stock cars (mainly Sierras at the time) were obviously right-hand drive and ran clockwise. The stand-out thing I remember about the track was that there is a sunken grid at the far (A13) end, right up against the inner kerbing, slap bang in the middle of the turn - apparently a lot of drivers used to drop a wheel into it to help pull the car round the turn. You can make it out on the drone footage. I had a fun time there and it was where I got to experience what driving on the 'marbles' was like in real life - bloody scary as the car heads towards the outer wall with full lock :O
Naughty......NO mention of the Arena Essex/Lakeside speedway team that raced there!!!! Speedway always mentions other sports that are held within the same venue whether it's defunct or still in operation. We all work together to try to keep venues viable & this mustn't be forgotten. Sad to see the land laying dormant after all the years that it provided entertainment for people including myself.
Yep, I visited once, as a very young King's Lynn fan! Glad to see his more recent video about Coventry's Brandon Stadium does indeed mention, and show clips of, the speedway!
I was sad when Arena Essex closed; I remember many good days out there, and watching the Caravan demolition derby at Easter was brilliant. The venue had a great mixture of those sort of last man standing events, as well as the more "sensible" circuit racing in the Minis and saloons. Sadly missed.
Went there for many years as it hosted the National Street Rod Association’s swapmeet which was, still is, the UK hot rodding scene’s traditional opener. Always a pain to get in and out of, dusty, scruffy, steps everywhere, bitterly cold even on a sunny day but we loved it anyway.
I live just across the Thames in Dartford. When I was a kid, I used to ride my BMX down to the tunnel crossing and get a free lift to the other side and take myself to the Arena more or less every weekend. That was my 1st taste of motorsport and the obsession never left.
A great video to watch thank you, brings back very fond memories of watching speedway and bangers over the years. Also to the Southend-Basildon cruise scene, it really was something special 👍
I spent many happy weekend at Arena Essex as a child. Both my dad and uncle raced there, and my uncle even worked there and lived on site in Chick Woodroffe’s old bungalow after he passed away. I can close my eyes and still smell the mixture of oil and rubber, and feel the dust from the pit area. Thanks for the video. It brought back some lovely memories 👍
Had some great memories at Arena, bit depressing looking at those images now. The first time I ever went to arena essex was in 2001, firecracker 10. I remember it so well. me, my mum and my dad had missed the first race so we waited for the second race and we were astonished how many classic cars were coming in the track; limos, hearses, American muscle cars etc… My jaw dropped to the floor when I saw an american limousine getting buried by four other cars, it was insane. Great memories. Nice video. 👍
I first heard of Arena Essex because of Top Gear. Specifically, it was where Richard Hammond got a group of (at the time) established Touring Car drivers, and James May, to race various motorhomes against each other
Was my local track ( man and boy) Sunday Banger Racing with good old Rob who told us about the drivers , a life time or Crashing fun just a distance memory, thankfully some peeps recorded the races to be viewed again on UA-cam 👍🏻
Also a new sub , good topic of content , and yes I miss the car days of the early 2000s lakeside Basildon Southend , type r/ skylines supras so many people , what on earths gone on as I look out the window now it’s dead on the road Romford town Saturday night ? Everything’s dead now
I'm shocked ! I work half a mile away from this place & had no idea it had closed, use to go there a LOT in my youth. 8 million !!! Yeah someone deff got shafted
Well Done! great little documentary, yes Arena essex was Legendary, the videos from the track will always live on. How about a film of the now closed Birmingham oval?
My friend, forgotten Face Tracks! What about Crystal Palace in South London? In the 50s to 60s I used to live in Beckenham, about 1 to 2 miles from the Park, on race days, I could hear the cars and bikes going the track! As I was born in '48,, so I was very young but managed to persuade my dad or elder brother to take me to watch the racing, both cars and bikes. Drivers who frequented the track were Sir Sterling Moss, Graham Hill, my favourites being Ian Raby and Alan Stacy who used to race their sports cars neck and neck race long never giving a quarter! On bikes you had Surtees, Hailwood, Geoff Duke et al. In the 70s it was closed when the GLC built a swimming pool right across the track!
Arena Essex and Wimbledon Stadium. Lost. Gone forever. So sad. The relentless demand for land for housing and property development is absolutely disastrous for our Assets of Community Value (ACV) which suffer and disappear as a consequence.
@@AutoShenanigans Another deciding factor was lots of the racing drivers were deterred because they still have old tow vehicles and coaches and their diesel engines didn't, and still don't, comply with the London anti-pollution zone rules so travel expenses rocketed with the inclusion of the prohibitively expensive surcharge/penalty/whateverthedamnthingiscalled 'anti-pollution' fee.
I’ve never been to that race track but it makes me sad how it’s abandoned. I go to Hednesford Hills raceway it reminds me of arena essex a bit because of its red and white barrier colours and it’s oval
Fond memories of racing there back in the 80, with the likes of Barry wilsher, Chalkie Douglas, Steve putcher to name but a few RIP Barry Wilsher, Shame the place had to close,
I used to park my truck at Thurrock services for the night and walk to watch the speedway at Arena Essex raceway. It wasnt a great circuit for good racing, the corners were far too tight with no outside racing line to speak of.Its still a shame that there is no speedway there anymore.
Sadly gone :( Most Friday evenings with my Dad and Grandads was spent watching the Speedway. Was genuinely heartbroken when it closed as it was a massive part of my childhood.
I think you should make a video on the B2215 (between A3 & A247) a Dual Carriageway that only goes one way (North), the southbound just loops back onto the northbound.
Cheers John for another great episode, I remember watching London Bus racing back in the 80’s going on in there with old DMS buses as a bus w@nker child (now adult), Ensign a local operator and bus sales company providing them. I think it even made it onto the tv, I’m sure someone will correct me on that. The sheer delight when the hit each other. Now a distant rose tinted memory.
i live in Essex County in Ontario Canada lol i so want to vist Windsor Essex UK, we have Essex, Colchter, Windsor, old Casale, and more. its cool knowing our towns and cities are named after others
Spent most Sunday's and Bank holiday Mondays there in the 80s/90s/00s. Even built Cortina's for a friend. Sad it's gone but now living in Skegness I'm not far from Skegness raceway..
Skeg Vegas, that stadium has come a long way in the last 5 years, I think it was the first stadium I went to and I believe it was shale back then...not been yet this season but seen most of this years improvements as drive past it fairly regularly. Not seen the new sign yet though, only in pics.
My dad took me there when it first opened. The last time I went was about 1997 with my son. Did you know they used to have banger racing at Brands Hatch in the 1970s? By the way you should take a trip to Crayford Stadium. It used to hold Greyhound, Speedway and Banger racing until 1985. The site was redeveloped into a Greyhound only track.
Arena Essex will never be an Abandoned forgotten Race Track. Just like Wimbledon. It fell to the property Developers. But the Great memories live on. Oh for a Euro millions win. Lol
Was a great track, you could walk the pits and meet the teams, which wasn't possible at a lot of tracks, spent many a Southern Swap Meet there during the '90s and '00s, always marked the start of the car calendar for us. Someone is obviously maintaining the site, otherwise it would be far more overgrown than it is.
Yes, it closed, though the actual fate of the site was actually sealed in 2017 as PRI only ran the 2018 season to see if the season could be successful. The buyer said that they didn't need the site for at least 3 years and with the whole Covid thing a couple of years after Arena closed, some might say that PRI got out at the right time. For the period around Covid, the site was used to handle lorries stopping for vaccination and the like but is now completely unused. It is patrolled though so don't go there unannounced! Seriously though, it was a bit of a shock when I got the email that said that the circuit had been sold not long after the end of the 2017 season and it was sad when I heard that all was shutting after the last Firecracker meeting. I wrote my last programmes and retired from the whole scene after that. I still make occasional visits to places like Kings Lynn (Adrian Flux Arena) and Mildenhall (no longer RDC but Spedeworth - never did find out what a Spede was worth!) and one trip made up to Skegness but I'll always remember the 30 or so years I spent trackside or on the circuit at The Action Track, Arena Essex! - CJ, PRI and Proud!
Raced my national hot rod there in the 80’s,first world championships qualifier of the season I think,my car went really well there until getting wrecked in final! Good times!
Spend many a times at arena raceing and mechanicing for mates what can I say like many of us drivers and spectators gutted this place has closed so so many great memories from this place went to the last race ever there and like lots of us that went very sad and emotional weekend and ending your never be for gotten Arena Essex🏁🏁
@@AutoShenanigans definitely good times had there with raceing and makeing new mates just wished something could of been sorted with the place but when it was said it was sold for 8 million then what can be said such a sad sad shame really there,s a website on Facebook with so so many sad comments about arena you would thought something might of been done 😕
@@Tabazan The karting track is separate to the speedway track, owned by completely different people. Karting is still going strong but the speedway track has been closed for several years now
Developers got it for a song, with covid almost driving lakeside into bankruptcy i don't think it will end up as a retail estate, it will probably be over priced housing.
I went to the very first meeting there back in the day, a bit rough rather than ready but that's Essex for you! Later on they tried to add a MotoX circuit that I tried to ride my CZ 250 around but got stuck halfway due to a lack of ground clearance. Later still there was a Kart track built but I guess the costs outweighed the income and it went to the wall.
Should never of sold this was a great place used to go all the time generations of family , stared with my grandad when I was 4 in the early 90s then all the way to closure , miss it a lot on the sundays, can’t beat the arena sun with that breeze in late July august sept
Had a few visits there for major banger events while I lived in London, somehow I never liked it as much as Cowdenbeath Racewall where I learned to love the various Stock Car formula. Racewall was tighter and a faster track, but Arena the banger drivers were simply insane in the hard hits they went for. In terms of costs to make the arena meet modern standards I can understand the issues. Modern rules on toilets, accessibility etc are fine, but for the majority of the crowd, probably not needed... The race promoter at Cowdenbeath bought the football club who's football pitch they raced around, and stadium they used to protect the racing investment. (Club sold of 1/2 the land the "pits" were on)... Oddly 5,000 fans on a Sat evening for racing brought in more than 500-1000 on an afternoon for a match.
First oval track I raced at. At 14 my dad let me have a go in his hot rod. which I ended up mounting on the raised infield! Then went on to build my own and went to many practice sessions at arena to turn it into a championship winning car. Absolutely gutting to see what has become of it. I don't think the property developers managed to get planning permission due to it being located over a main sewer. Let's hope we get a rich oval fan who can buy it back, get the brisca's and national hot rods lighting it up with the smell of castrol R in the air. Here's hoping.
What a great experience as a teenager to have! I did not know about the sewer situation.. interesting and explains why so far there's not much happening!
I had a very enjoyable summer evening there once watching a speedway match between Arena Essex and Trelawny, another defunct track somewhere in Cornwall. In fact you could do a whole channel about defunct speedway tracks because unfortunately that's most of them. You could have a whole subsection on ones that have now supermarkets stood on top of them.
surprised you didn’t mention the speedway track, the pic you showed of the track with a busy crowd was even from a speedway meeting as the safety fence was up!
Sounds abit like what happened to the old Ashby ville stock car track in Scunthorpe the council made it unsustainable to continue as they wanted to sell the land to developers which they did and unfortunately we got the hideous lakeside retail park
@@AutoShenanigans find cliff en Howe road and about halfway down on the north side looking just below i the large wood in that large grass area near some static caravans and you you can make out the track. There are some downloads here on UA-cam of the racing that went on
We went all the way from Manchester to watch the Bexley Suicide Squad v Custard Creams team race and the big Fire cracker unlimited meetings Well worth it
Oh wow. I was a girl racer back those days. Southend 🎉 I've tried to buy cars that slow me down over the years, buy toy never lose the drive to push the car to ours limits 😅
I went there once as a child, to see the motorcycle speedway. It's always a huge shame to see a speedway track close down... although as far as speedway tracks go, this wasn't a very good one.
Not sure what the state of the site is at the moment but I assume that as the footage of the track was captured by drone, there is no access to it 'on foot'?
Came as a shock to come across this video..I always thought that the oval scene was the most popular Motorsport for the masses. Strange how things so popular come and go We were involved in Cadet /Junior and Senior Karting mostly at Bayford Meadows and within FORMULA 6 MSA club racing from 2000 till 2009 and that as far as know if all done for. Liked the description at the start about "I am a .... ..So true!
It is still very popular. It is just the simple fact that the owners where looking to sell and no-one in the motorsport industry had the money to rival the offer made by the housing developers. If it was located anywhere else it likely would still be operaing as it was still profitable but land in London is just too expensive nowerdays for motorsport.
The problem was and still is that short circuit racing in the UK is done on a shoestring budget. That was as true for Arena Essex as anywhere else and contrary to what was said here, PRI actually sold the circuit at the end of 2017 but were allowed to continue racing meetings beyond that as the buyer needed a few years to set up the whole project to clear out and rebuild but PRI decided to test the waters, so to speak, during the 2018 season to see if there was any future in it. By July 2018 they found that the attendance on both sides of the catch fence wasn't enough to keep going so at the start of August they made us (the folk that worked there) aware that the circuit would close permanently after the Firecracker that year. We all met up a week later for the staff party but other than a couple of occasions including the funeral procession of the former lapscorer, there were no further meetings. The metal catch fence was the first bit to be removed along with pretty much all the vehicles in 2018. In 2020 the site was part of an operation surrounding HGV users coming through the area but once that was all done, the Raceway Tavern complex was demolished as you saw here. If anything, PRI timed it just right to avoid the whole Covid business which has had a drastic effect on more than one circuit since then. Arena Essex, however, was only one of a number of high profile circuits that were hit at the end of the 2010s, also including Coventry and Wimbledon. PRI did sell the rights for the ORC/PRI World Championship to Bristol (now defunct as well so I heard) and the Firecracker appears to have gone to Mildenhall (I went to last year's version. A good meeting in general but it lacked the punch of the original!) Oh yes, and before I forget, the biggest meeting Arena ever had was NOT the final Firecracker, though it was a big meeting. For the absolute biggest blow out of bangers Arena ever saw, you need to go back a few years to a charity event organised by Paul Whiteman - the first Maya Ford Memorial. Held over 2 days featuring well over 200 cars (we couldn't fit them all in the pits and anyone who was there will know exactly how capacious the Arena pits were!) I think you can still get DVDs of it from Impact Video (the same folk that do Kings Lynn now). CJ, PRI and Proud.
Had some great times at Arena Essex watching speedway. Such a shame it went to the wall. To outsiders it was just a place that made traffic jams around their trips to the shopping centre but to some it was not only their fix of sport (be it the bangers or the bikes) but also there chance to be with friends and have social interaction. So sad to see these venues closing down.
For me the car scene will always be about that social interaction. It's indeed a shame but I suppose there just wasn't enough money in it :(
What happened to the speedway team? Did it find a new home? They used to always beat my team when they came up to Glasgow. It would be a pity if they didn’t exist anymore.
Good morning @@AutoShenanigans
Arena Essex Raceway is my local home track just a mile away from my home going every meeting filming banger racing and uploading videos it still hurts me today just looking at it. It still makes me feel heartbroken. This was my place to get out on weekends and bank holiday mondays but now my place i go to gone.
To hear that from a local is really sad.
If the Cowdenbeath Racewall up here closed I'd feel exactly the same, mate.
No wonder there's a mental health crisis when so much of what we value makes way for profit.
A awesome track that will never be forgotten.
The Granada meeting was awesome 🏁.
There's another abandoned track Coventry stadium another track we won't for get is well.
I have my eye on that ;-) Thanks for watching mate
In about 2003, I drove there on two separate occasions on test days. A group of us were testing Baby Grands, 2/3 size NASCAR-style stock cars imported from the states. Spaceframe chassis with a one-piece fibre-glass body that fit over the top, a bit like a massive R/C car. We couldn't run with any of the other cars as they were left-hand drive, so we had to run anti-clockwise, whereas the local stock cars (mainly Sierras at the time) were obviously right-hand drive and ran clockwise. The stand-out thing I remember about the track was that there is a sunken grid at the far (A13) end, right up against the inner kerbing, slap bang in the middle of the turn - apparently a lot of drivers used to drop a wheel into it to help pull the car round the turn. You can make it out on the drone footage. I had a fun time there and it was where I got to experience what driving on the 'marbles' was like in real life - bloody scary as the car heads towards the outer wall with full lock :O
Thanks for sharing.. thats awesome!
Naughty......NO mention of the Arena Essex/Lakeside speedway team that raced there!!!!
Speedway always mentions other sports that are held within the same venue whether it's defunct or still in operation.
We all work together to try to keep venues viable & this mustn't be forgotten.
Sad to see the land laying dormant after all the years that it provided entertainment for people including myself.
Yep, I visited once, as a very young King's Lynn fan! Glad to see his more recent video about Coventry's Brandon Stadium does indeed mention, and show clips of, the speedway!
I was sad when Arena Essex closed; I remember many good days out there, and watching the Caravan demolition derby at Easter was brilliant. The venue had a great mixture of those sort of last man standing events, as well as the more "sensible" circuit racing in the Minis and saloons. Sadly missed.
Went there for many years as it hosted the National Street Rod Association’s swapmeet which was, still is, the UK hot rodding scene’s traditional opener. Always a pain to get in and out of, dusty, scruffy, steps everywhere, bitterly cold even on a sunny day but we loved it anyway.
I live just across the Thames in Dartford. When I was a kid, I used to ride my BMX down to the tunnel crossing and get a free lift to the other side and take myself to the Arena more or less every weekend.
That was my 1st taste of motorsport and the obsession never left.
I didn't realise you get a lift! Mind you, im not known for my bmx or cycle riding.
@@AutoShenanigans When the Dartford Tunnel first opened there was a bus, converted to take bicycles, ran back and forth...
Many good times there takin my kids over the water from kent . Smuggling them in to see all the action . Many good memories...
What a beautiful song to end with.
Absolutely loved going to Southend sea front 20 years ago, those were the good old days 💙 nothing like it these days!
I used to go down their regularly in my red Ford Escort, complete with massive rear spoiler!
@@bincident6428 probably saw you down there! 😄
A great video to watch thank you, brings back very fond memories of watching speedway and bangers over the years. Also to the Southend-Basildon cruise scene, it really was something special 👍
I made these videos for that reason... to hopefully trigger a few memories for some. I spent a lot of time in Basildon... remember Paycocke road?
Property developer might have had a heart attack when they found 4 million tyres to dispose of at £2each
Haha.
I spent many happy weekend at Arena Essex as a child. Both my dad and uncle raced there, and my uncle even worked there and lived on site in Chick Woodroffe’s old bungalow after he passed away. I can close my eyes and still smell the mixture of oil and rubber, and feel the dust from the pit area.
Thanks for the video. It brought back some lovely memories 👍
Had some great memories at Arena, bit depressing looking at those images now.
The first time I ever went to arena essex was in 2001, firecracker 10. I remember it so well. me, my mum and my dad had missed the first race so we waited for the second race and we were astonished how many classic cars were coming in the track; limos, hearses, American muscle cars etc…
My jaw dropped to the floor when I saw an american limousine getting buried by four other cars, it was insane. Great memories.
Nice video. 👍
Fantastic memories... thanks for sharing!
I first heard of Arena Essex because of Top Gear. Specifically, it was where Richard Hammond got a group of (at the time) established Touring Car drivers, and James May, to race various motorhomes against each other
Same. Surprised that wasn’t mentioned.
This track exists in a lot of games through community mods, such as r-Factor and Wreckfest.
It's definitely not forgotten by the racing community!
Was my local track ( man and boy) Sunday Banger Racing with good old Rob who told us about the drivers , a life time or Crashing fun just a distance memory, thankfully some peeps recorded the races to be viewed again on UA-cam 👍🏻
Also a new sub , good topic of content , and yes I miss the car days of the early 2000s lakeside Basildon Southend , type r/ skylines supras so many people , what on earths gone on as I look out the window now it’s dead on the road Romford town Saturday night ? Everything’s dead now
Use to visit for bangers and Stock in the day. Shame its gone.
I'm shocked ! I work half a mile away from this place & had no idea it had closed, use to go there a LOT in my youth. 8 million !!! Yeah someone deff got shafted
Will be missed, spent a lot of my child hood there, sad to see it gone
It’s almost sad seeing these abandoned tracks. Wonderful series .
Gone but never forgotten
Well Done! great little documentary, yes Arena essex was Legendary, the videos from the track will always live on. How about a film of the now closed Birmingham oval?
Another thing you can also mention about Arena Essex is that the song 'Cry' by Take That was filmed there back in 2016. :)
The All Wheel Drive Club and Essex Land Rover Owners used to race in the cement quarry behind it. Tons of fun
I have happy memories of this track. I particularly liked the rollover competitions.
My friend, forgotten Face Tracks! What about Crystal Palace in South London?
In the 50s to 60s I used to live in Beckenham, about 1 to 2 miles from the Park, on race days, I could hear the cars and bikes going the track!
As I was born in '48,, so I was very young but managed to persuade my dad or elder brother to take me to watch the racing, both cars and bikes.
Drivers who frequented the track were Sir Sterling Moss, Graham Hill, my favourites being Ian Raby and Alan Stacy who used to race their sports cars neck and neck race long never giving a quarter! On bikes you had Surtees, Hailwood, Geoff Duke et al. In the 70s it was closed when the GLC built a swimming pool right across the track!
Arena Essex and Wimbledon Stadium. Lost. Gone forever. So sad.
The relentless demand for land for housing and property development is absolutely disastrous for our Assets of Community Value (ACV) which suffer and disappear as a consequence.
And Walthamstow. It was the equivalent of Old Trafford or Lords shutting.
It's a shame but the costs vs profit was the big issue from what I understand.
@@AutoShenanigans Another deciding factor was lots of the racing drivers were deterred because they still have old tow vehicles and coaches and their diesel engines didn't, and still don't, comply with the London anti-pollution zone rules so travel expenses rocketed with the inclusion of the prohibitively expensive
surcharge/penalty/whateverthedamnthingiscalled 'anti-pollution' fee.
I’ve never been to that race track but it makes me sad how it’s abandoned.
I go to Hednesford Hills raceway it reminds me of arena essex a bit because of its red and white barrier colours and it’s oval
Now that's a gem of a track... completely hidden away!
Fond memories of racing there back in the 80, with the likes of Barry wilsher, Chalkie Douglas, Steve putcher to name but a few
RIP Barry Wilsher, Shame the place had to close,
I used to park my truck at Thurrock services for the night and walk to watch the speedway at Arena Essex raceway. It wasnt a great circuit for good racing, the corners were far too tight with no outside racing line to speak of.Its still a shame that there is no speedway there anymore.
Sadly gone :( Most Friday evenings with my Dad and Grandads was spent watching the Speedway. Was genuinely heartbroken when it closed as it was a massive part of my childhood.
These sort of places are full of memories aren't they.
I think you should make a video on the B2215 (between A3 & A247) a Dual Carriageway that only goes one way (North), the southbound just loops back onto the northbound.
I like that. Shall see what the story behind it is.
Cheers John for another great episode, I remember watching London Bus racing back in the 80’s going on in there with old DMS buses as a bus w@nker child (now adult), Ensign a local operator and bus sales company providing them. I think it even made it onto the tv, I’m sure someone will correct me on that.
The sheer delight when the hit each other. Now a distant rose tinted memory.
I know what this reminds me of! It's a life-size version of the nearly circular "oval" slot-car (Scalelectrix) tracks in the beginner's sets.
i live in Essex County in Ontario Canada lol i so want to vist Windsor Essex UK, we have Essex, Colchter, Windsor, old Casale, and more. its cool knowing our towns and cities are named after others
It’s really sad to see so many places that where once thriving with enjoyment and excitement now just abandoned
Spent most Sunday's and Bank holiday Mondays there in the 80s/90s/00s. Even built Cortina's for a friend. Sad it's gone but now living in Skegness I'm not far from Skegness raceway..
I seem to recall watching monster trucks at skeggy raceway as a child.
@@AutoShenanigans They have the monster trucks most Bank holidays still.. Enjoyed watching your videos 👍
Skeg Vegas, that stadium has come a long way in the last 5 years, I think it was the first stadium I went to and I believe it was shale back then...not been yet this season but seen most of this years improvements as drive past it fairly regularly. Not seen the new sign yet though, only in pics.
Went twice, both on firework nights each year. Was a good show. Didn't even realise this place had closed
My dad took me there when it first opened. The last time I went was about 1997 with my son.
Did you know they used to have banger racing at Brands Hatch in the 1970s?
By the way you should take a trip to Crayford Stadium. It used to hold Greyhound, Speedway and Banger racing until 1985. The site was redeveloped into a Greyhound only track.
Bangers at brands hatch! I had no ida.
I think Crayford Stadium was redeveloped around 1986 when the Sainsbury's adjacent was built, but am not too sure. Thank you anyway!!
Arena Essex will never be an Abandoned forgotten Race Track.
Just like Wimbledon. It fell to the property Developers.
But the Great memories live on.
Oh for a Euro millions win. Lol
Was a great track, you could walk the pits and meet the teams, which wasn't possible at a lot of tracks, spent many a Southern Swap Meet there during the '90s and '00s, always marked the start of the car calendar for us.
Someone is obviously maintaining the site, otherwise it would be far more overgrown than it is.
Yes, it closed, though the actual fate of the site was actually sealed in 2017 as PRI only ran the 2018 season to see if the season could be successful. The buyer said that they didn't need the site for at least 3 years and with the whole Covid thing a couple of years after Arena closed, some might say that PRI got out at the right time. For the period around Covid, the site was used to handle lorries stopping for vaccination and the like but is now completely unused. It is patrolled though so don't go there unannounced!
Seriously though, it was a bit of a shock when I got the email that said that the circuit had been sold not long after the end of the 2017 season and it was sad when I heard that all was shutting after the last Firecracker meeting. I wrote my last programmes and retired from the whole scene after that. I still make occasional visits to places like Kings Lynn (Adrian Flux Arena) and Mildenhall (no longer RDC but Spedeworth - never did find out what a Spede was worth!) and one trip made up to Skegness but I'll always remember the 30 or so years I spent trackside or on the circuit at The Action Track, Arena Essex! - CJ, PRI and Proud!
My brother used to be a regular there. Now living in Welsh Wales, He will be devastated when I tell him it is no more.
I used to spend many a Sunday afternoon there back in the 80's
Raced my national hot rod there in the 80’s,first world championships qualifier of the season I think,my car went really well there until getting wrecked in final!
Good times!
Spend many a times at arena raceing and mechanicing for mates what can I say like many of us drivers and spectators gutted this place has closed so so many great memories from this place went to the last race ever there and like lots of us that went very sad and emotional weekend and ending your never be for gotten Arena Essex🏁🏁
Good times I bet! Thanks for watching.
@@AutoShenanigans definitely good times had there with raceing and makeing new mates just wished something could of been sorted with the place but when it was said it was sold for 8 million then what can be said such a sad sad shame really there,s a website on Facebook with so so many sad comments about arena you would thought something might of been done 😕
I used to play/truant there, in the early to mid-seventies!
You chose perfect music for this video, IMO.
Thank you for this.
☮
You cant forget when Top Gear went there a couple of times
Arena Essex. Never Forgotten.
Got to love the fact that property developers have bought a sandpit which you can’t build on
Bet its retirement homes that go bust after 5 years.
They'll simply put piles in and build on concrete platforns
Would be great to see an episode on Rye House Speedway, whilst it's still there.
Looks like they still use it for racing? At least it's open.. that's a good start!
@@AutoShenanigans It was used for training for a while, but the speedway track was torn up in January
Ah that's a shame.
The Speedway went but, I think, the Kart track is still there?
@@Tabazan The karting track is separate to the speedway track, owned by completely different people. Karting is still going strong but the speedway track has been closed for several years now
Fantastic upload. Cheers
Thanks for watching!
Christ, I live 5 mins away and didn't know it closed.. the karting track next door is still going strong
It ain’t forgotten and it never will be so change that title mate.
Developers got it for a song, with covid almost driving lakeside into bankruptcy i don't think it will end up as a retail estate, it will probably be over priced housing.
I went to the very first meeting there back in the day, a bit rough rather than ready but that's Essex for you! Later on they tried to add a MotoX circuit that I tried to ride my CZ 250 around but got stuck halfway due to a lack of ground clearance. Later still there was a Kart track built but I guess the costs outweighed the income and it went to the wall.
Wow... back in it's prime no doubt. It would seem that the Kart track is still open and running!
That's kinda weird because it's actually featured in the popular demolition racing videogame wreckfest
On wreckfest, its called Kingston Raceway
It’s a tribute to Essex with the garnarda, hearse and Brisca v8 stock car
Should never of sold this was a great place used to go all the time generations of family , stared with my grandad when I was 4 in the early 90s then all the way to closure , miss it a lot on the sundays, can’t beat the arena sun with that breeze in late July august sept
Had a few visits there for major banger events while I lived in London, somehow I never liked it as much as Cowdenbeath Racewall where I learned to love the various Stock Car formula. Racewall was tighter and a faster track, but Arena the banger drivers were simply insane in the hard hits they went for.
In terms of costs to make the arena meet modern standards I can understand the issues. Modern rules on toilets, accessibility etc are fine, but for the majority of the crowd, probably not needed...
The race promoter at Cowdenbeath bought the football club who's football pitch they raced around, and stadium they used to protect the racing investment. (Club sold of 1/2 the land the "pits" were on)... Oddly 5,000 fans on a Sat evening for racing brought in more than 500-1000 on an afternoon for a match.
First oval track I raced at. At 14 my dad let me have a go in his hot rod. which I ended up mounting on the raised infield! Then went on to build my own and went to many practice sessions at arena to turn it into a championship winning car. Absolutely gutting to see what has become of it. I don't think the property developers managed to get planning permission due to it being located over a main sewer. Let's hope we get a rich oval fan who can buy it back, get the brisca's and national hot rods lighting it up with the smell of castrol R in the air. Here's hoping.
What a great experience as a teenager to have! I did not know about the sewer situation.. interesting and explains why so far there's not much happening!
Castrol R. Now that's a very pleasant memory.
My family used to own arena essex used to love watching cars get destroyed as a kid good times.
Was a speedway track too! The shale track on the inside.
Hope you took a quick drive around the track
I had a very enjoyable summer evening there once watching a speedway match between Arena Essex and Trelawny, another defunct track somewhere in Cornwall. In fact you could do a whole channel about defunct speedway tracks because unfortunately that's most of them. You could have a whole subsection on ones that have now supermarkets stood on top of them.
Indeed I have many great memories of drift nights and it was home to Propper Droppers the ultra low bass compertition.
I presume you won whatever "sound off" comp there was? :D
Had some good Hotrod races at this track. Another one lost . . . Broken Britain
surprised you didn’t mention the speedway track, the pic you showed of the track with a busy crowd was even from a speedway meeting as the safety fence was up!
Sounds abit like what happened to the old Ashby ville stock car track in Scunthorpe the council made it unsustainable to continue as they wanted to sell the land to developers which they did and unfortunately we got the hideous lakeside retail park
Pott row in Norfolk had a grass track oval and it's where Martin Brundall learnt his racing trade
Lovely part of the world... I cant see where the grass oval is/was?
@@AutoShenanigans find cliff en Howe road and about halfway down on the north side looking just below i the large wood in that large grass area near some static caravans and you you can make out the track. There are some downloads here on UA-cam of the racing that went on
Raced there once in a 3 wheeler a year before it closed. Had a brilliant time
The footage I've seen of 3 wheels looks hilarious! Thanks for watching.
what a shame. someone needed to round up clarkson, mays, & ham..d to get a fundraiser, or rules relief going
No mention of speedway?
Probably doesn’t know what speedway is 😂
We went all the way from Manchester to watch the Bexley Suicide Squad v Custard Creams team race and the big Fire cracker unlimited meetings Well worth it
Looks like a good scale model with the drone
It's a bit wrong to call it forgotten. We all remember it, and are quite bitter.
That's fair, its perhaps more abandoned than forgotten.
It's so small! There seems to hardly be a straight section.
Did many proper droppers bass comps there
Was there at the last meet never forgotten
Yes did the Sowffen (Southend) car cruise in my Alpine Turbo.
"This is Essex Raceway.... in Essex."
Just breaks a stock car fans heart
I guess Buxton and Kings Lynn are the "nearest" now... It's always a shame to see tracks consigned to the history books
cant watch wants to make me cry
What a sad end and a piss take to be fair i love this place had some of the best banger racing meetings I raced load of times GUTTED 😥
It's always sad to see a venue close :( I've made far more episodes than I thought I would!
Another Great video, was that also the speedway track as well for Arena Essex?
Yes it was.
Ah, another one of those property developer sites which are bought and then they let it rot!
So sad to see it like this used to go most weekends
You must have had a blast!
Oh wow. I was a girl racer back those days. Southend 🎉
I've tried to buy cars that slow me down over the years, buy toy never lose the drive to push the car to ours limits 😅
I live a couple of miles away from this track. I thought it was gone years ago.
It always was A good race track God bless arena Essex always to be remembered kind of like a roof coat coat raceway
My Grandad race at the roof coat raceway his race number was 421 his name was Shauna Everton and race for Team V
I lived in bulphan I could hear the cars every Sunday and loved it
I thought it went years ago when the A13/M25 junction was remodelled
It's always sad to see a raceway/circuit close.
you forgot to mention the speedeway thay raced there for meany years
I went there once as a child, to see the motorcycle speedway. It's always a huge shame to see a speedway track close down... although as far as speedway tracks go, this wasn't a very good one.
Didn't realise it had closed. Know they used it for a time for boarder control for the foreign travelling
It was used during the 2020 pandemic for that sort of thing as well as vaccination and so forth for HGVs coming through the area. That's all gone now.
Rare "pre beanie" footage.
Not sure what the state of the site is at the moment but I assume that as the footage of the track was captured by drone, there is no access to it 'on foot'?
With all the equipment we carry etc. it's not always possible for us to get in on foot.. but it's certainly not impossible ;-)
I used to go there and do Scalextric/Slot Car racing
Came as a shock to come across this video..I always thought that the oval scene was the most popular Motorsport for the masses.
Strange how things so popular come and go
We were involved in Cadet /Junior and Senior Karting mostly at Bayford Meadows and within FORMULA 6 MSA club racing from 2000 till 2009 and that as far as know if all done for.
Liked the description at the start about "I am a .... ..So true!
It is still very popular. It is just the simple fact that the owners where looking to sell and no-one in the motorsport industry had the money to rival the offer made by the housing developers. If it was located anywhere else it likely would still be operaing as it was still profitable but land in London is just too expensive nowerdays for motorsport.
The problem was and still is that short circuit racing in the UK is done on a shoestring budget. That was as true for Arena Essex as anywhere else and contrary to what was said here, PRI actually sold the circuit at the end of 2017 but were allowed to continue racing meetings beyond that as the buyer needed a few years to set up the whole project to clear out and rebuild but PRI decided to test the waters, so to speak, during the 2018 season to see if there was any future in it. By July 2018 they found that the attendance on both sides of the catch fence wasn't enough to keep going so at the start of August they made us (the folk that worked there) aware that the circuit would close permanently after the Firecracker that year.
We all met up a week later for the staff party but other than a couple of occasions including the funeral procession of the former lapscorer, there were no further meetings. The metal catch fence was the first bit to be removed along with pretty much all the vehicles in 2018. In 2020 the site was part of an operation surrounding HGV users coming through the area but once that was all done, the Raceway Tavern complex was demolished as you saw here.
If anything, PRI timed it just right to avoid the whole Covid business which has had a drastic effect on more than one circuit since then. Arena Essex, however, was only one of a number of high profile circuits that were hit at the end of the 2010s, also including Coventry and Wimbledon. PRI did sell the rights for the ORC/PRI World Championship to Bristol (now defunct as well so I heard) and the Firecracker appears to have gone to Mildenhall (I went to last year's version. A good meeting in general but it lacked the punch of the original!)
Oh yes, and before I forget, the biggest meeting Arena ever had was NOT the final Firecracker, though it was a big meeting. For the absolute biggest blow out of bangers Arena ever saw, you need to go back a few years to a charity event organised by Paul Whiteman - the first Maya Ford Memorial. Held over 2 days featuring well over 200 cars (we couldn't fit them all in the pits and anyone who was there will know exactly how capacious the Arena pits were!) I think you can still get DVDs of it from Impact Video (the same folk that do Kings Lynn now).
CJ, PRI and Proud.