Oulton Park

Once the grounds of Oulton Hall, which burned down in 1926, Oulton Park sits within a beautiful parkland setting as the most picturesque motor racing circuit in the UK. Loosely following the route of the former estate’s access roads, the circuit follows the natural contours of the Cheshire countryside as a superb natural driving and riding challenge.

During the war, the land was used as a staging camp by the US Army, and notable residents during that time included General Patton and Heavyweight Champion boxer Joe Louis. Thereafter, it managed to secure permission to run motor racing events from 1953, with the circuit quickly evolving into something closely resembling today’s layout.

The circuit’s signature event, the Gold Cup, was established a year later and quickly attracted the leading lights from the sport’s world stage. Stirling Moss won the first of his five Gold Cups in 1954 as the event rapidly established itself as a popular non-championship event on the Formula 1 calendar. Other Grand Prix legends who enjoyed success at the event included Jack Brabham, John Surtees, Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart.

The Gold Cup remains a well-attended highlight of the north west’s motoring calendar, running today as a historic meeting in homage to those earlier events. The circuit regularly attracts big crowds for Britain’s major championships on two and four wheels too, with fixtures on both the British Superbike Championship and British Touring Car Championship calendars.

The British GT Championship’s traditional Easter Weekend season opener is another annual highlight, and the circuit has even hosted the World Rally Championship and British Rally Championship in recent years, in addition to the Neil Howard Stage Rally and Fireworks spectacular, which takes place each November. On top of all that, there is a busy calendar of club and historic events each season, with racing on most Saturdays through the summer. 

Hundreds of individuals flock to Oulton Park to sample the undulating tarmac themselves too, through a busy calendar of track days and driving experiences. And you can now stay onsite in a charming fragment of the circuit's history, with the Oulton Park Lodge, the iconic entrance arch building to the original Oulton Hall estate, now available for rental.

The circuit continues to flourish under MSV's guidance and remains one of Europe's most revered racetracks.