#abandoned #essex #arenaessex
Arena Essex was perhaps the “Essex Car Enthusiasts” venue of choice for all things racing. Over its 40 year lifespan, the race track has seen plenty of action from Banger racing, stock cars, demolition derby to drifting.
A place that no doubt has provided many wonderful experiences and memories but a place that has, like many others, been sold off for development and racing discontinued.
We take to the Air with our DJI drone in this episode to explore what remains of this infamous race venue.
If like me, you enjoy motorsport, history and looking at pieces of tarmac… you’ll love “Forgotten Race Tracks” where we take a look at some of the old and abandoned race tracks around England.
From Drag strips to Formula 1 circuits, in this short series, we’ll be investigating what remains of Britain’s motor racing history.
Twitter – @JonShenanigans
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I used to park my truck at Thurrock services for the night and walk to watch the speedway at Arena Essex raceway. It wasnt a great circuit for good racing, the corners were far too tight with no outside racing line to speak of.Its still a shame that there is no speedway there anymore.
Another of our rapidly disappearing ovals gone.
A great video to watch thank you, brings back very fond memories of watching speedway and bangers over the years. Also to the Southend-Basildon cruise scene, it really was something special 👍
Came as a shock to come across this video..I always thought that the oval scene was the most popular Motorsport for the masses.
Strange how things so popular come and go
We were involved in Cadet /Junior and Senior Karting mostly at Bayford Meadows and within FORMULA 6 MSA club racing from 2000 till 2009 and that as far as know if all done for.
Liked the description at the start about "I am a …. ..So true!
Fond memories of racing there back in the 80, with the likes of Barry wilsher, Chalkie Douglas, Steve putcher to name but a few
RIP Barry Wilsher, Shame the place had to close,
If only some YouTube car nerd would have bought it and turned it into a "Freedom Factory UK"
Is this actually Jago Hazzard?
Sounds abit like what happened to the old Ashby ville stock car track in Scunthorpe the council made it unsustainable to continue as they wanted to sell the land to developers which they did and unfortunately we got the hideous lakeside retail park
This track exists in a lot of games through community mods, such as r-Factor and Wreckfest.
It's definitely not forgotten by the racing community!
My dad took me there when it first opened. The last time I went was about 1997 with my son.
Did you know they used to have banger racing at Brands Hatch in the 1970s?
By the way you should take a trip to Crayford Stadium. It used to hold Greyhound, Speedway and Banger racing until 1985. The site was redeveloped into a Greyhound only track.
I used to go there and do Scalextric/Slot Car racing
I used to spend many a Sunday afternoon there back in the 80's
Would be great to see an episode on Rye House Speedway, whilst it's still there.
what a shame. someone needed to round up clarkson, mays, & ham..d to get a fundraiser, or rules relief going
I used to ride at the MX track (which you can see to the left of the arena on the Google Map shot). It was called the Milk Run. It was a great track for its compact size. I believe when it shut down they bulldozed the track so people couldn’t ride it illegally.
Such a shame and waste forcing car fans back out onto tue roads to enjoy theor cars to to the max
Just like EVERYTHING now days the Government "Regulated" it out of existence. Meaning the greedy bureaucrats raped the place to death!!
What a beautiful song to end with.
My family used to own arena essex used to love watching cars get destroyed as a kid good times.
Sounds like the land is absolutely useless to build on and the cost of making it so is prohibited so it may stay that way for a lot more years
Developers got it for a song, with covid almost driving lakeside into bankruptcy i don't think it will end up as a retail estate, it will probably be over priced housing.