Cadwell Park Lincolnshire - Where to stay near Cadwell Park

Cadwell Park

History 1934 - 2007

Lincolnshire was a key location in the development of British motor sport, both as a venue for race meetings and in the manufacture of racing cars.

The county’s most important motor racing circuit is Cadwell Park, near Louth, which opened in 1934. The course originally consisted of a chalk track, which ran through the former landscape park of Cadwell Hall.

The land on which the circuit stands was originally purchased in 1926 by Mr. Mansfield Wilkinson, who bought the land for shooting upon. However, his son Charles persuaded his father to let him run a motorcycle meeting on the land in 1934, and this was the first circuit used at Cadwell. The offices for Cadwell Park where situated at 140 Eastgate in Louth where Charles Wilkinson carried out administration of the motor racing circuit.

For 1952, the circuit was extended to one and a quarter miles with the addition of Mansfield Corner. Some of the motorcycle meetings also featured Formula 3 races. However, regular car meetings didn't take place until May 1962, after Charles Wilkinson purchased some adjoining land and extended the circuit length to 2.176 mile/ 3.49 km.

Charles later rented out 140 Eastgate to the department of transport where it was used as the driving test centre. The test centre was closed after Charles Wilkinson passed away and his son Chris Wilkinson sold 140 and 142 Eastgate for conversion to the award winning holiday apartments "All Seasons". The circuit was then purchased by Grovewood Securities, before becoming part of the Brands Hatch Leisure group.

The Wilkinson legacy lives on with all three of the Wilkinson family featured in the track names on Cadwell Parks circuit - Mansfield, Charlies and Chris Curve. SEE MORE on this story

Another popular motor racing venue was established at the former RAF Dunholme Lodge shortly after the Second World War. The circuit attracted a number of future stars, including Stirling Moss and John Surtees, but motor racing came to end at Dunholme in the late 1950s, when the site was reopened as an active RAF station.

The most ambitious scheme for a motor racing venue in Lincolnshire was a plan launched in the early 1930s to construct a speedway on land reclaimed from the Wash. The proposed track would have stretched approximately 15 miles from the mouth of Boston Haven to Gibraltar Point and the project would have involved the construction of a seabank enclosing 10,000 acres of foreshore.

The project was probably too grandiose for a country in the depths of a depression and, although the speedway had the backing of Sir Malcolm Campbell, it was never built.

Lincolnshire also has a long history of building racing cars. The industry grew up in the quiet market town of Bourne, which was once the home of BRM (British Racing Motors). Raymond Mays founded BRM in 1945 and the company entered its first Grand Prix in 1951. The firm’s early cars were too unreliable to win championship races, but the breakthrough finally came in 1959, when BRM won the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.

The highpoint of BRM’s history was the 1962 season, in which Graham Hill won four Grand Prix victories and the World Championship. The company enjoyed great success over the next three seasons, but began to lose its way in the late 1960s. BRM’s last Formula One victory came in the Monaco Grand Prix of 1972. It finally withdrew from competition in 1977.

Lincolnshires most famous motor racing circuit is and always will be Cadwell Park . Whilst the circuit has proved to be challenge to riders and racers for over 70 years spectators have been the real winners with some fantastic racing and big names to boot.