Bedford Autodrome
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 Thurleigh , Bedfordshire , England
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| Route type: | permanent test track (without racing approval) |
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| Owner: | Jonathan Palmer | ||
| Operator: | MotorSport Vision | ||
| Opening: | 1994 | ||
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| http://www.bedfordautodrome.com/ | |||
Coordinates: 52 ° 14 ′ 1 ″ N , 0 ° 28 ′ 20 ″ W.
Bedford Autodrome is a test track in Thurleigh north of Bedford , England . It belongs to the former Formula 1 racing driver Jonathan Palmer . It was completed in 1994.
history
RAF Thurleigh
Today's Autodrome is located in the northern area of a former military airfield of the Royal Air Force , which was called Royal Air Force Station Thurleigh ( RAF Thurleigh for short ) during the Second World War .
The first to use the 1941 opened station was in the first weeks of the same year the Bomber Command assumed with B-24 Liberator -equipped 160th Squadron .
In June of that year, Thurleigh was chosen as one of 28 bases to be used by the US 8th Air Force . After the RAF machines had withdrawn, the runway was initially reinforced and from September 1943 to June 1945 Thurleigh was the headquarters of the 40th Combat Bombardment Wing , part of the 1st Bomb Division . The 306th Bombardment Group (Heavy) , which was equipped with four squadrons of B-17 Flying Fortress , had been here as a flying formation since September 1942 .
The group flew their last bombing raid on April 19, 1945, it was their 342nd mission; only the 306th Bomb Group flew more B-17 missions. The group dropped 22,575 tons of bombs in 9614 enemy flights and lost 171 machines. On the northwestern edge of the autodrome there is a small museum about the 306th group.
RAE Bedford
The field was converted into the Royal Aircraft Establishment Bedford ( RAE Bedford for short ) from 1946 , the runway was extended so that the then new Bristol Brabazon could be tested here. The RAE Bedford existed until shortly after the end of the Cold War .
The Defense Evaluation and Research Agency (later QinetiQ ), which emerged from the RAE, gradually relocated the Bedford-based test facilities to Boscombe Down in Wiltshire , starting in the 1990s . The airfield was de-dedicated as such in 1997 and the last military activities ended at the end of the first decade of the 21st century.
The Autodrome
The Autodrome is located in the northern area of the former airfield. (The southern part of the former military site is now home to the Thurleigh Business Park .) It took five years to convert the site into a racetrack.
The route consists of five sections with large run-off zones , but without guard rails or other safety devices, so the route is not intended or approved for races. The parts of the route are called North, West, South and East, and there is also an off-road route.
Olympic Games 2012
The Bedford Autodrome has been selected as the official training facility for the 2012 Summer Olympics . The cycling teams are mainly supposed to train there on the route.
Web links
- www.bedfordautodrome.co.uk Website of the circuit
- Homepage about the museum of the 306th Bombardment Group
Individual evidence
- ↑ Official route description ( memento of July 12, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), English website, accessed on February 2, 2010.
- ^ "Bedfordshire to host Olympic training camps" (bedfordtoday.co.uk on March 3, 2008)