Closed-road motorsport is on its way
Events in the Midlands, Essex and Wales are currently leading the charge
Closed-road motorsport will be coming to a city near you soon, as regions in the UK sign up to host events.
MotoFest Coventry will stage time trialling at this year’s event, giving the go-ahead for the return of competitive motorsport to a UK city centre for the first time in almost 30 years.
A series of time trial events – which will be drawn from the British Automobile Racing Club’s (BARC) championship series – will take place on 2-3 June on the unique city centre sprint circuit carved out of Coventry’s ring road.
James Noble, MotoFest Coventry’s festival director, says: ‘The classifications of the races haven’t been confirmed yet, but we’ll be running a sprint in a similar format to Goodwood Festival of Speed. Expect to see the like of historic British touring cars, Group B rally cars, and single-seaters, too.’
The Motor Sports Association (MSA) has been calling for a change in the law to allow local authorities to suspend the Road Traffic Act for authorised motorsport events, without requiring individual Acts of Parliament, since 2010. Primary legislation providing the framework for closed- road motorsport was passed in the 2015 Deregulation Act and since then the MSA has worked closely with the Department for Transport on the secondary legislation required to make this framework available to event organisers.
Birmingham is also being tipped to host closed-road motorsport on its streets soon. An all-electric type of single seater racing series called Formula E is currently considering the city to host a race. If that’s accepted, then it could pave the way for classic-related closed road motorsport in the city centre.
Wales will also welcome closed road motorsport to its streets from 2 February. Previously, an act of parliament would be needed, however, now, like in England, responsibility to grant a closed-road event will be held by the MSA. Wales Rally GB organisers have expressed an interest in running street events, and will be looking to take advantage.