The prestigious event starts from Cambridge on Tuesday, September 2nd with races at Snetterton circuit first on the agenda. It has now been confirmed that the proving grounds of the Lotus Group at Hethel and the 650 acres at Bruntingthorpe Airfield are the venues for speed tests on the first day.
On Wednesday, September 3rd, the action starts at the Mallory Park race circuit and then goes to Arbury Hall near Nuneaton in Warwickshire. The hall itself is the ancestral home of Viscount and Viscountess Daventry and was originally an Elizabethan house that was transformed into its current glory during the 18th Century. Its extensive grounds and the roads through them will provide an interesting run for the competitors who will tackle its hazards twice that morning.
Arbury is a new venue for motor sport but the one that follows it, Cornbury Park near Witney in Oxfordshire is more used to the sound of competition engines having been used as a stage on several rallies. The park itself was mentioned in the Domesday Book as a supplier of venison to the King and it still has deer today though they will not be joining in the fun when Tour Britannia visits. From Cornbury, the competitors have to tackle races at Silverstone before returning to Coombe Abbey for the night halt.
The final day, Thursday, September 4th has its first speed test at Swynnerton in Staffordshire. The stage takes place on an old British Army training area that was once a Royal Ordnance factory and is now home to the Royal Fusiliers. Bizarrely, Swynnerton is the only location in the UK, other than the short road leading to the Savoy Hotel in London, where traffic drives on the right as it is used as to familiarise soldiers with continental motoring !
From there the action moves to races on the Oulton Park circuit in Cheshire before going back to what proved to be a very lively venue in 2007, Cholmondley Castle. Hopefully the old hands will tell the new boys where the gate is and there will thus be less activity off the tarmac. For a final test before the finish back at Coombe Abbey, Tour Britannia pays a second call to Swynnerton after which the competitor's full concentration can shift to the prize giving and dinner.
Entries are still coming in. We are now close to the sixty mark. That means there is still a chance to get an entry. And if you live or work in Europe, thanks to the exchange rate, doing Tour Britannia looks more attractive every day !
