# Snetterton Circuit

Snetterton Circuit is a motor racing course in Norfolk, England, originally opened in 1953. Owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, it is situated on the A11 road 12-mile (19 km) north-east of the town of Thetford and 19-mile (31 km) south-west of the city of Norwich. The circuit is named after the nearby village of Snetterton to the north-west of the circuit, although much of the circuit lies in the adjoining civil parish of Quidenham.
The circuit hosts races from series including the British Touring Car Championship, British Formula Three Championship and British Superbike Championship. From 1980 to 1994, the track hosted the UK's first 24-hour race, the Willhire 24 Hour. From 2003 to 2013 the Citroën 2CV 24 Hour Race was held at Snetterton on the 200 Circuit. After a short stint racing at Anglesey the 2CV 24Hr race has again returned to Snetterton and is usually held around the August bank holiday weekend.

## Pre-racing history

Snetterton was originally an RAF airfield, RAF Snetterton Heath, later used by the United States Army Air Force. The airfield opened in May 1943 and closed in November 1948.

## Racing history

After its use as a USAF base, in 1948 Snetterton Heath was returned to the local landowner, Fred Riches. Oliver Sear and Dudley Coram of the Aston Martin Owners Club (AMOC) approached Riches in early 1951 to suggest using the defunct airbase roadways as a circuit for club racing. Riches agreed, but, being a local churchwarden, only on condition that there was no racing between 10:45 am and noon on Sundays, and that all racing stopped before Evensong started, to avoid disturbing church services. The AMOC held the first open meeting on 27 October 1951, for what were dubbed "speed trials", but were actually a series of one lap sprint races. The first meeting was described by Motor Sport magazine as "an excellent event over an interesting new course." Fastest time of the day was set by Ken Wharton, driving ERA R11B, who averaged 82.4 mph (132.6 km/h).
The circuit was first used for motorcycle racing in 1953, organised by the Snetterton Combine, an association of clubs in Norfolk and Suffolk.
The track was used by both Team Lotus (Formula One) and Norfolk Racing Co (Le Mans) to test their racing cars.
In the 1960s and early 1970s the circuit was 2.710 mi (4.361 km) in length. Sear corner was 87 yd (80 m) further from Riches corner and led onto the "Norwich Straight" clearly visible in satellite maps and currently used by a Sunday market. The straight ended in a hairpin bend leading to Home Straight, which joined the existing track at the Esses, and is now a main access road for the circuit. Russell bend was added in the 1960s and named after Jim Russell who ran a racing drivers school at the circuit. Initially added to improve safety by slowing vehicles as they approached the pits, Russell bend was the scene of many accidents and was later altered to its present configuration.

### Snetterton 300 Circuit corner names (2011–present)

| Corner | Name | Namesake |
| — | Senna Straight | Ayrton Senna |
| 1 | Riches | Fred Riches |
| 2 | Montreal (2011–2016) Wilson (2016–present) | Circuit Gilles Villeneuve Justin Wilson |
| 3 | Palmer | Jonathan Palmer |
| 4 | Agostini | Giacomo Agostini |
| 5 | Hamilton | Lewis Hamilton |
| 6 | Oggies | Peter Ogden |
| 7 | Williams | Frank Williams |
| — | Bentley Straight | Bentley |
| 8 | Brundle | Martin Brundle |
| 9 | Nelson | Lord Nelson |
| 10 | Bomb Hole | Elevation change in the track surface |
| 11 | Coram | Dudley Coram |
| 12 | Murrays | Murray Walker |

### Layout history

* Grand Prix Circuit (1951–1964)
* Grand Prix Circuit (1965–1973)
* Club Circuit (1974)
* Club Circuit (1975–1979) & Grand Prix Circuit (1980–1989)
* Grand Prix Circuit (1990–2010)
* Comparison between 2010 and 2011 layouts
* Snetterton 100 Circuit (2011–present)
* Snetterton 200 Circuit (2011–present)
* Snetterton 300 Circuit (2011–present)

## Circuit developments

In October 2005, Jonathan Palmer of MotorSport Vision, the owners of Snetterton Circuit, announced that the circuit would undergo extensive rebuilding work, in order to lengthen the circuit and improve its facilities.
On 23 September 2010, MSV announced that construction of the new infield section and track improvements would be finished in time for the 2011 motorsport season. The main development was the addition of a new one-mile infield section, after Sear Corner, which was replaced and renamed Montreal, in deference to it being modelled on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve hairpin. The final chicane before Senna Straight was also removed and replaced by an extension to Coram curve coupled with a new, tight, left-hand corner named Murrays. In addition to the track work, the redevelopment also improved spectator viewing and increased safety.

### Snetterton 300 Circuit

The 300 Circuit is 2.969 mi (4.778 km) long, Snetterton's longest layout and the second longest racing track in the country. The track incorporates much of the previous circuit with the infield section that was completed in 2011. The 300 track has been designed to bring international levels of racing to the circuit by gaining an FIA Grade 2 Licence. The layout also hosts major British motorsport championships. The British Formula 3 Championship and British GT Championship were the first of these to visit the new layout on 14 and 15 May 2011. The British Touring Car Championship with its ToCA support package also uses this layout, as does the British Superbike Championship. In 2016, ahead of Justin Wilson's 38th birthday, the Montreal hairpin was renamed Wilson, in memory of the Yorkshire IndyCar driver killed at the 2015 Pocono 500.

### Snetterton 200

This layout is closest to the pre-2011 layout. The main differences between the original layout and the 200 layout are the re-profiled Justin Wilson, Coram, and Murray's corners, which have been designed to provide better opportunities for overtaking. This 2.000 mi (3.219 km) layout is mainly used for club and local racing.

### Snetterton 100

The 100 layout is made up solely of the new 0.980 mi (1.577 km) infield section and is mainly used for testing and as a race school. Both the 100 layout and the 200 layout can be used simultaneously.
The first event which both events were used simultaneously was the BRSCC meeting held on the 29 and 30 May 2011. There was club racing on the outer circuit (VW Fun Cup, Saker Challenge, TVRs and Mighty Minis) and two rounds of the British Sprint Championship on the inner circuit.

## Lap records

Prior to the introduction of the 300 circuit in 2011, the official lap record stood at 0:56.095 (125.27 mph (201.60 km/h)) set by Klaas Zwart [de], during a BRSCC meeting in August 2007. During the qualifying of this meeting, he set an unofficial lap record of 0:54.687 (128.50 mph (206.80 km/h)).
The current 300 circuit lap record was set by Felipe Nasr from Brazil driving a Carlin prepared Dallara F308 in the 2nd race of the 2011 British F3 meeting. The lap was 1:39.933 at an average speed of 106.95 mph (172.12 km/h). As of July 2024, the fastest official race lap records at Snetterton Circuit are listed as:
| Category | Time | Driver | Vehicle | Event |
| Snetterton 300 Circuit (2011–present): 4.779 km ||||||
| Formula Three | 1:39.933 | Felipe Nasr | Dallara F308 | 2011 Snetterton British F3 round |
| GB3 | 1:41.280 | Alex Dunne | Tatuus MSV-022 | 2023 Snetterton GB3 round |
| GT3 | 1:46.116 | Marvin Kirchhöfer | McLaren 720S GT3 Evo | 2023 Snetterton British GT round |
| Superbike | 1:47.079 | Tarran Mackenzie | Yamaha YZF-R1 | 2022 Snetterton BSB round |
| GB4 | 1:47.081 | Cooper Webster | Tatuus F4-T014 | 2023 Snetterton GB4 round |
| Formula 4 | 1:48.072 | Noah Lisle | Tatuus F4-T421 | 2023 Snetterton British F4 round |
| Supersport | 1:51.092 | Tom Booth-Amos | Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R | 2023 Snetterton BSS round |
| Porsche Carrera Cup | 1:51.186 | Will Martin | Porsche 911 (992) GT3 Cup | 2022 Snetterton Porsche Carrera Cup GB round |
| Ferrari Challenge | 1:52.739 | Han Sikkens | Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo | 2022 Snetterton Ferrari Challenge UK round |
| NGTC | 1:54.871 | Ashley Sutton | Ford Focus ST | 2023 Snetterton BTCC round |
| TCR Touring Car | 1:56.027 | Joe Marshall | Audi RS 3 LMS TCR (2021) | 2024 Snetterton TCR UK round |
| GT4 | 1:56.159 | Mike Simpson | Ginetta G56 GT4 | 2023 Snetterton British GT round |
| Sportbike | 1:57.324 | Richard Cooper | Triumph Daytona 660 | 2024 Snetterton British Sportbike round |
| BMW F900R Cup | 1:59.336 | Richard Cooper | BMW F900R | 2023 Snetterton BMW F900R Cup round |
| Moto3 | 2:02.011 | Evan Belford | Honda NSF250R | 2023 Snetterton British Talent Cup round |
| Snetterton 200 Circuit (2011–present): 3.219 km ||||||
| Formula Three | 1:06.572 | Chris Dittmann | Dallara F312 | 2017 Snetterton F3 Cup round |
| TCR Touring Car | 1:25.084 | Chris Smiley | Honda Civic Type R TCR (FK8) | 2022 Snetterton TCR UK round |
| Snetterton 100 Circuit (2011–present): 1.577 km ||||||
| British Sprint Championship | 1:16.210 | Colin Calder | Gould GR37 | 2011 Snetterton British Sprint Championship round |
| Grand Prix Circuit (1997–2010): 3.141 km ||||||
| Formula One | 0:56.095 | Klaas Zwart [de] | Benetton B197 | 2007 Snetterton EuroBOSS Super Prix |
| Formula Three | 1:01.200 | Adriano Buzaid | Dallara F308 | 2010 Snetterton British F3 round |
| GT1 | 1:03.393 | Tim Sugden | McLaren F1 GTR | 1999 Snetterton British GT round |
| Formula Palmer Audi | 1:04.396 | Felix Rosenqvist | Formula Palmer Audi car | 2009 2nd Snetterton Formula Palmer Audi round |
| Superbike | 1:04.688 | Ryuichi Kiyonari | Honda CBR1000RR | 2006 Snetterton BSB round |
| Supersport | 1:07.587 | Tom Sykes | Suzuki GSX-R600 | 2006 Snetterton BSS round |
| GT2 | 1:08.563 | Geoff Lister | Porsche 911 (993) GT2 | 1998 Snetterton British GT round |
| Super Touring | 1:09.011 | David Leslie | Nissan Primera GT | 1999 Snetterton BTCC round |
| Formula BMW | 1:09.849 | Henry Surtees | Mygale FB02 | 2007 Snetterton Formula BMW UK round |
| Super 2000 | 1:11.711 | Darren Turner | SEAT León TDI | 2008 Snetterton BTCC round |
| BTC Touring | 1:12.249 | Matt Neal | BTC-T Honda Integra Type R | 2005 Snetterton BTCC round |
| Grand Prix Circuit (1990–1996): 3.137 km ||||||
| Formula 3000 | 0:59.470 | Luiz Garcia Jr. | Reynard 95D | 1996 2nd Snetterton British F2 round |
| Formula Three | 1:06.550 | Kelvin Burt | Dallara F393 | 1993 Snetterton British F3 round |
| GT1 | 1:09.570 | Ian Flux | McLaren F1 GTR | 1996 Snetterton British GT round |
| Group 4 | 1:11.660 | Thorkild Thyrring | De Tomaso Pantera | 1995 1st Snetterton British GT round |
| Super Touring | 1:13.130 | Rickard Rydell | Volvo 850 20V | 1995 Snetterton BTCC round |
| Group A | 1:14.020 | Robb Gravett | Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth | 1990 Snetterton BTCC round |
| Group 5 | 1:15.080 | John Greasley | Porsche 935 K3 | 1993 Snetterton British GT round |
| GT2 | 1:24.470 | John Morrison | Porsche 911 (993) GT2 | 1995 2nd Snetterton British GT round |
| Grand Prix Circuit (1974–1989): 3.085 km ||||||
| Formula 3000 | 0:55.370 | Andrew Gilbert-Scott | Reynard 88D | 1989 Snetterton British F3000 round |
| Formula One | 0:56.530 | Rupert Keegan | Arrows A1 | 1979 Budweiser Trophy |
| Group C2 | 0:59.510 | Tim Harvey | Spice SE89C | 1989 RAC Championship Car Races Snetterton |
| Formula 5000 | 1:00.000 | Teddy Pilette | Lola T400 | 1975 2nd Snetterton F5000 round |
| Group A | 1:07.500 | Robb Gravett | Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth | 1989 Snetterton BTCC round |
| Grand Prix Circuit (with Russell Bend Chicane added) (1965–1973): 4.361 km ||||||
| Formula 5000 | 1:18.400 | Brett Lunger | Trojan T101 | 1973 1st Snetterton F5000 round |
| Group 4 | 1:26.200 | Brian Redman | Lola T70 Mk.IIIB GT | 1969 Guards Trophy Snetterton |
| Sports 2000 | 1:27.200 | Guy Edwards | Lola T290 | 1972 Anglia Television Trophy |
| Formula Two | 1:28.200 | Jackie Stewart Graham Hill Jochen Rindt | Matra MS5 Lotus 48 Brabham BT23 | 1967 Guards 100 |
| Group 6 | 1:35.200 | Jeremy Lord | Astra RNR1 | 1970 Snetterton MN GT round |
| Original Grand Prix Circuit (1951–1964): 4.361 km ||||||
| Formula One | 1:32.600 | Jim Clark | Lotus 18 | 1960 Lombank Trophy |
| Group 4 | 1:35.600 | Innes Ireland | Lotus 19 | 1963 Snetterton Sports Car race |
| Formula Libre | 1:38.200 | Brian Naylor | JBW-Maserati | 1959 Snetterton Formula Libre race |
| Group 3 | 1:39.200 | Roy Salvadori | Ferrari 250 LM | 1964 Scott-Brown Memorial Snetterton |