Thruxton’s 50 th   & BSCC 60 th   anniversary

This year is the 50th anniversary of the Thruxton race circuit as we know it today. It is also the 60th anniversary of the British Saloon Car Championship, which later morphed into the British Touring Car Championship. When Thruxton opened its gates in 1968, it was bang in the middle of a golden era of motor racing and as far as the British Saloon Car Championship was concerned, it was a period when mighty Mustangs, ferocious Falcons and curvaceous Camaros slugged it out for victory at the head of the pack. Happy days.

At the end of the Second World War, many of the airfields which had been hastily constructed for the war effort became redundant. Quite a few found a new lease of life as motor racing circuits, including Silverstone, Goodwood, Castle Combe and Thruxton.

Situated five miles south-west of Andover, Thruxton, which had played host to the RAF and the USAF, was declared redundant and sold off in 1946. It carried on as a private airfield, but from 1950 it also became a makeshift race circuit, utilising the tarmac runways and perimeter road. It was mainly motorcycle races which were held there until 1965 when the surfaces became too badly broken up to be safe.

The south’s