Oulton Park
Oulton Park
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Oulton Park

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Oulton Park

Oulton Park is a hard surfaced track used for motor racing, close to the village of Little Budworth, Cheshire, England, 5-mile (8.0 km) from Winsford, 13 mi (21 km) from Chester city centre, 8 mi (13 km) from Northwich and 17 mi (27 km) from Warrington, with a nearby rail connection along the Mid-Cheshire Line. It occupies much of the area which was previously known as the Oulton Estate. The racing circuit is owned and operated by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation.

The track is characterised by rapidly changing gradients, blind crests and several tight corners, characteristics which have earned it comparisons with the Nürburgring's Nordschleife circuit. The full circuit is 2.692 mi (4.332 km). The highest part of the course is Hill Top. Paddock facilities are reasonable in size with large areas of hard-standing and some power points.

The race track can be adapted for shorter courses. The "Foster's" Circuit, which is 1.660 mi (2.672 km), comprises half of the "Cascades" corner followed by the "Hislop's" chicane, it then heads onto Knickerbrook and up the 13% gradient of Clay Hill to work its way round to the start/finish straight. The British Touring Car Championships uses all of the Cascades Corner and Lakeside but then forks off into a hairpin before Island Bend. This hairpin cuts out all of the Island section of the circuit and takes the cars straight back over Hill Top.

Beginning in 2007, all the circuit's marshalling stations were redesigned with protective cages. This was to prevent incidents similar to those seen in the 2006 season when cars had collided with marshalling posts. A cage-protected marshals station was also built at the bottom of the back straight near the chicane preceding Knickerbrook.

The corner is named after an event that occurred when the British demolition expert and raconteur, Blaster Bates, was removing tree stumps with dynamite close to the corner with a colleague. After the first detonation, a courting couple were seen to run off at speed and in some disarray from a nearby bush or bank. On closer investigation, the pair discovered some ladies underwear in the brook and this resulted in the naming of the corner.

Despite its colourful name, it was a notorious corner on circuit because of accidents and driver fatalities. The death of Paul Warwick in 1991 led to a chicane being added at the entry to the corner. Before Warwick's death, the bend had a reputation as a "racers' corner" because it demanded a driver's full commitment and total courage. Originally it was a fifth gear, off camber right-hand bend at the end of a downhill straight called Hilltop. Deep kerbing on the inside of the corner combined with an off camber could easily affect a cars' handling causing it to veer to the outside of the circuit. As an Armco barrier on the outside of the corner eventually intersected with the grass verge, there was a significant lack of run off area for drivers forced wide on the bend.

Since 1991, a right-left chicane (named Hislop's) was installed about 135 m (443 ft) before Knickerbrook to reduce the speed of cars coming down Hilltop.

In the early 18th century the Oulton Estate comprised a manor house and a formal garden surrounded by Cheshire farmland. By the end of the century this farmland was converted into a park, which now is the site of Oulton Park. Some buildings that were part of the estate still exist; the entrance gates, lodges and screen designed by Joseph Turner. During the Second World War, Oulton Park's grounds were used as one of the staging camps for US Army units under the command of General Patton (he stayed at nearby Peover Hall) before the Normandy landings in 1944. American World Heavyweight Champion boxer Joe Louis put on several exhibition bouts for the troops garrisoned at Oulton Park. The fights were staged within the vicinity of the Deer Leap section of the modern circuit. After the war, much of the estate remained unused. The estate's original house had been destroyed by fire in 1926 leaving vacant parkland.

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