30-441: Pembrey Circuit is a motor racing circuit near Pembrey village, Carmarthenshire , Wales. It is the home of Welsh motorsport , providing racing for cars, motorcycles, karts and trucks. The circuit's facilities have also been used for a single-venue rally . The stimulus for the creation of a racing circuit at Pembrey was the closure of the motor racing facility at Llandow near Cardiff . Port Talbot Motor Cycle Racing Club were
60-405: A GP Masters car. These F1 cars are likely to have set times faster than the official lap record, and indeed locals at the circuit still talk of the sensational unofficial lap record set by Ayrton Senna. However, convention dictates that the official lap record is the fastest lap set under racing conditions, so that honour goes to Argentine Formula 3 driver, Brian Smith, who in a Dallara F397 set
90-439: A Jacobean manor house and then a farm, is now derelict. The le Boteler (Butler) crest can be seen in the village church of St. Illtud , established during le Boteler's lifetime with its saint's name connected to his other estate of Dunraven, Southerndown , near Llantwit Major , Bridgend . St Illtyd's is a grade II* listed building. Most of the village was created during the 18th and 19th century coal mining boom, when Pembrey
120-460: A drivers favourite. Formula One teams have tested at the circuit including McLaren and their drivers Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in the late 1980s. Arrows , Benetton , Jordan and Williams all tested at Pembrey in the early 1990s with BAR being the last Formula One team to test at Pembrey in 1998. The Seat and VX Racing BTCC teams have tested there in previous years, as has Nigel Mansell in
150-659: A move to Burry Port . Today, the village has lost most of its former sources of employment and is largely a dormitory for the nearby urban areas of Llanelli and Carmarthen . Tourism has been successfully developed at the Country Park, along the Millennium Coastal Path and at nearby Burry Port although accommodation is limited to caravanning,a few bed & breakfasts and the Ashburnham Hotel. In August/September 2006, Court Farm appeared in
180-574: A number of Luftwaffe raids over the village during World War II . One airman based and living in Pembrey, Wing Commander Guy Gibson , went on to lead the Dambusters . Flying ace Robert Stanford Tuck was at Pembrey with 92 Squadron in 1940. An attempt to establish a munitions testing range in Pembrey was made during the 1960s but was resisted by villagers, who mounted a SOS (Save Our Sands) campaign. The opposition proved successful, leading to
210-479: A number of vessels were certainly lost around Pembrey, including "La Jeune Emma" bound from the West Indies to France and blown badly off course in 1828. 13 of the 19 on board drowned, including Adeline Coquelin, the 12-year-old niece of Napoleon Bonaparte 's divorced wife Josephine de Beauharnais . She is buried at St. Illtyds Church, Pembrey. The last large ship to be lost was the four-masted windjammer,
240-451: A racing circuit at the venue. The first race meeting was held on 21 May 1989, and the winner of the first race at the circuit was Nigel Petch in an MGB. In 1990 the BARC signed a 50-year lease to operate the circuit on behalf of Carmarthenshire County Council. The circuit is popular for testing, mainly due to its variety of fast sweeping corners and tight hairpins. It is often referred to as
270-424: A time of 50.079 seconds in 1997. Senna's lap time in testing was 44.43. In recent seasons the circuit has been a popular venue for GT and F3 teams to test at, not only because of the quality of the circuit, but also due to the less stringent noise restrictions in place than at other British circuits. The circuit has two different sections, an all tarmac race circuit and a rally cross circuit utilizing some of
300-671: Is on the West Wales line with regular services to Milford Haven and Manchester via Cardiff as well as twice-daily to London . Between 1909 and 1953 Pembrey station on the Burry Port and Gwendraeth Valley Railway served the village. The village is served by bus on routes from Carmarthen and Swansea . The nearest motorway is the M4 . Pembrey Airport has no scheduled services but provides facilities for visiting private and corporate aircraft, including executive jets, Pembrey Airfield
330-616: Is one of the most military active civil airports in Britain so PPR is often needed, Pembrey Airfield does offer facilities for passenger aircraft but only as charter flights. British Motorcycle Racing Club The British Motorcycle Racing Club (BMCRC), informally Bemsee , is the largest motorcycle racing club of its type in the UK and organises a range of championships including Clubman and Supersport 600, Thunderbikes , Superstock 1000 , Formula 400s and sidecars . Founded in 1909, it
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#1732786879293360-549: Is one of the village's two main thoroughfares and the Ashburnham Hotel one of its hostelries. Military connections include the past use of areas of the Ashburnham estate as a firing range. In the 20th century, a RAF station, RAF Pembrey was situated in Pembrey and played a role in Britain's defences as home to both fighter and bomber aircraft. Close by, a Royal Ordnance Factory , ROF Pembrey , provided high explosives for Britain's war effort. Both these facilities attracted
390-728: The European Rallycross Championship in 1997 and 1998. Top-level Superbike racing has also been hosted at Pembrey, in 1990 and 1994. Over the winter of 2005/06 a new pit lane was constructed. Highlights on the current calendar (2018) include rounds of the British Rallycross Championship and two rounds of the British Truck Racing Championship, organized by the BTRA. The circuit serves as the main venue for
420-492: The SS Paul , carrying a cargo of timber and grounding in a storm in 1925. From the days of le Boteler to the early 20th century, Pembrey was generally dominated by at least one leading family. Latest of these was the Ashburnham family ( Earl of Ashburnham ) who lived until the 1920s at Pembrey House, lost to fire some 50 years ago. The Ashburnham Golf Club championship course is the area's main sporting attraction, Ashburnham Road
450-595: The Welsh , Pen-bre . "Pen" is a Welsh word meaning head or top, and "bre" is an old Celtic word for a promontory . The coastline began its retreat from the foot of Pembrey Mountain some 6,000 years ago, revealing land which shows human occupation since the Iron Age , with hill forts dating from around 400 BC. The population of the region was known to the Romans as Demetae . Roman pottery remains have been unearthed in
480-795: The Welsh Sports and Saloon Car Championship , which has been particularly successful in recent years attracting a wide range of cars and averaging grids of over 20. In addition, the British Motorcycle Racing Club , the British Drift Championship and two single venue rallies, amongst others, were held in February and October. Following an incident at the 1989 San Marino Grand Prix, the Alain Prost / Ayrton Senna war began to build up speed after
510-498: The Frenchman said that McLaren had a pre-race agreement that whoever led into the first turn should stay there, which was ironically suggested by Senna. In Prost's view, Senna had broken this agreement by passing him partway round the first lap after the restart. The following week McLaren were testing at Pembrey, and Ron Dennis (team principal) summoned both drivers to attend, as he was determined to re-establish law and order. Senna
540-531: The Pembrey Circuit are listed as: Pembrey Pembrey ( Welsh : Pen-bre ) is a village in Carmarthenshire , Wales, situated between Burry Port and Kidwelly , overlooking Carmarthen Bay , with a population of about 2,154 in 2011. The electoral ward having a population of 4,301. It is in the community of Pembrey and Burry Port Town . The name Pembrey is an Anglicisation of
570-480: The building; an in-principle Cadw grant of 40% has been awarded for consolidation works to start the restoration project. Pembrey Burrows and Cefn Sidan are now part of extensive leisure areas run by local authorities. Attractions include the Millennium Coastal Path, Ski Pembrey, an artificial ski centre and toboggan ride, St. Illtyd's Church and village square, mountain walks and picnic areas,
600-635: The country park, several abandoned bunkers are visible, these being the remains of the former Royal Ordnance Factory that closed in 1965. The woods and bunkers provided a focus point for an episode of Living TV 's Most Haunted , which was aired in April 2008. The village's name has also been applied to Pembrey, Delaware , in the United States , a short drive from Philadelphia . Actually located in Burry Port, Pembrey and Burry Port railway station
630-460: The establishment of Pembrey Country Park instead. Royal Air Force training continues on a bombing range to the west of Pembrey Country Park near Kidwelly . The RAF Red Arrows aerobatics display team performed over Kidwelly's carnival, with many of their stunts taking place over the village of Pembrey itself. Pembrey had a RNLI lifeboat station from 1863 to 1887, succeeding a station at Llanelli , when accumulation of sand at Pembrey forced
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#1732786879293660-585: The first organisation to put on racing events at this circuit. In 1981 the Welsh Race Drivers' Association (WRDA) was formed with the expressed intention of developing a new race circuit in Wales. At the same time the former RAF airfield at Pembrey , which had been used as a chicken farm, was acquired by Llanelli Borough Council. Following a representation by the WRDA the decision was taken to construct
690-492: The first round of BBC2 's Restoration Village programme. Experts agreed that the building mainly requires a new roof and could be restored to form a cultural centre. The manor did not progress through the competition and has subsequently been passed to the Cadw Sir Gaerfyrddin Cyf. (Carmarthenshire Building Preservation Trust) who, along with The Friends Of Court Farm, are actively seeking funds to restore
720-468: The oldest parts of the village. Later, the village was part of the Welsh principality of Deheubarth . Evidence of an early Norman motte-and-bailey castle has been suggested close to the village square and buildings remain in the village from later Norman times. The village was home to Arnold le Boteler , a Norman squire of the 12th century. His manor, Court Farm, Pembrey , subsequently extended into
750-546: The race circuit with an addition off-road surface. The circuit is operated by the British Automobile Racing Club (BARC) under the terms of a 50-year lease from Carmarthenshire County Council. A third configuration was also used in 1996, which was that of a short oval. This followed the race circuit from the Start/Finish straight, through the first two corners of the track, before turning left at
780-659: The third corner and returning to the Start/Finish straight. There were plans to include a quarter mile drag strip, but this never came to fruition.The proposed Drag Strip never got off the ground. The circuit has hosted the British Touring Car Championship twice, in 1992 and 1993 at which time the championship was the most popular motorsport series in the UK outside Formula One . Formula 3 races have also been run at Pembrey Circuit, and indeed many recent Formula 1 drivers including Jenson Button raced at Pembrey in their early F3 days. Pembrey twice hosted
810-562: The traditional links golf course, Pembrey Old Harbour, Pembrey Country Park , the Pembrey Circuit - the National Motorsport Centre of Wales, horse-riding, a working airfield and flying club at Pembrey Airport , and St. Illtyds Church. The Carmarthenshire Land Sailing Club is allowed to use the beach for wind traction activities, including Land sailing , kite buggying and Kite landboarding . On entering
840-876: Was a port. Pembrey Mountain ( Welsh : Mynydd Penbre) was thoroughly mined by both Welsh and English companies for about 100 years and some reserves are said to remain underground. Pembrey's harbour was prone to silting and was abandoned in favour of Pembrey New Harbour - soon renamed Burry Port Harbour, just a mile further upstream on the Burry Estuary . The original harbour is now known as Pembrey Old Harbour. Pembrey's mountain and beach Cefn Sidan are reputed to have provided some villagers with careers as wreckers, known locally as Gwyr-y-Bwelli Bach (translated as People with Little Hatchets) - attracting sailing ships with fires purporting to be beacons, then raiding them when they foundered. However, no firm evidence of wrongdoing such as booty has ever been discovered. Nevertheless,
870-753: Was originally based at the classic Brooklands circuit near Weybridge in Surrey . During the 1960s the offices were at Kingston , Surrey and are now located in Romford , Essex . It is the oldest motorcycle racing club in the world. Many champions have emerged from starting out in the homemade Aprilia Superteens championship for example: In 2019, the BMCRC had classes available, based on machine type and rider age. Some classes also had sub-classes determined by various factors such as rider licence level (such as Clubman and National) or machine configuration: BMCRC leased
900-403: Was refusing to apologise, and Jo Ramírez even heard that “he’d apparently said that the deal had been not to actually pass Prost by slipstreaming before that the move was allowable!” He really only apologised because of the pressure under which Dennis put him at Pembrey, and for the good of the team but he wasn’t happy about it. As of November 2010, the fastest official race lap records at
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