The Place

Hi Folks came across this on youtube from Esholt Park filmed in 1948 and silent,Esholt as many of you will know is where the Woolpack is on Emerdale Farm the circuit itself has not been used for years, i can't ever remember it in use but the Esholt sprints were run on the start&finish section of the circuit they also ceased in the mid 90s from what i remember unfortunately no sidecars on the film but interesting all the same .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve5coEhtiTU

Esholt Park Circuit plotted on Google Earth

Pure dead brilliant, beats watchin bleedin Emerdale any day

I passengered my dad there for a couple of sprints. He nearly forgot to slow down past the finish once and only just stopped in time before we hit some big gates at the end of the straight , you can see on the photo where the road turns left at the end of the straight and there is a little bit goes straight on. In later life I became Health & Safety Officer for Yorkshire Water and Esholt was part of my area. It is a good job the racing wasn't still going on or I would have had to pretend I hadn't seen all those spectators sitting so close to the track

Real racing with real racers, the whimps racing these days complain about a few ripples on the circuit.
I can't say I noticed many suspension technicians in the film.

Only about a 20 min walk from our house, wish it was still going i wouldnt have far to go!!

Must be about the same for me then Conrad and slightly more interesting than the sprints at 2 miles per lap ,I wonder how many laps the race was run over.

I'm writing Tony Sugden's biography and before he became multiple special saloon champion he raced bikes and he raced at Esholt 11/12 April 1955 I believe 3rd in 350cc finals. He may have gone there more than once. His memory of the track was a cinder track with a narrow tarmac strip down the middle, barbed wire one side and the sewage works the other!!! Today would make a great sprint course!!! Anyone have any results/programmes from the period, Look for J.A.Sugden. A picture would be outstanding. Mike Allen

Tonynew...what happened to the Esholt vid...says not available
Mike

I rode at Esholt in 1981/2 at NSA sprints on a supercharged 500 Triumph which is now owned by Henry Cole (he of the Motorcycle Show on ITV). As previously said, the finish was on a bit of a bend. I ended up going through the gate on the outside of the bend once - fortunately they left it open during races!

The original video linked at the top is now showing unavailable, I've been having a search to see if it's anywhere else..

The title here says there's a bit from Esholt in here, start about 13minutes in, not the same as above but I'll keep looking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-Jdnb2Gz3c