Full Sutton Circuit is a former motorsport venue operated at RAF Full Sutton in Yorkshire, England. RAF Full Sutton was still in use as an operational

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

station, when in 1958 permission was obtained from the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force and civil aviation that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the ...

and appears to have been organised entirely by the British Racing and Sports Car Club. It would appear that the BRSCC organised four race meetings at the

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

track. The first meeting took place in April, when it snowed, causing

Jim Clark James Clark (4 March 1936 – 7 April 1968) was a British racing driver from Scotland, who competed in Formula One from to . Clark won two Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles with Lotus, and—at the time of his death—held the ...

to go off in the Scott-Watson

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in luxury, high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Th ...

; the car narrowly missed a flag marshal who had not been warned by his fellow flag marshal of the impending danger as he departed. The meeting on 27 September saw a six-race programme for Formula III racing cars amongst others. All races were over 10 laps, with the exception of the saloon cars who raced over five laps instead, and the main event of the day, started at 16:00 with a Le Mans start and ran over 16 laps for the Sports Racing Cars of unlimited capacity. In this no less than 17

Lotus Eleven The Lotus Eleven is a sports racing car built in various versions by Lotus from 1956 until 1958. The later versions built in 1958 are sometimes referred to as Lotus 13, although this was not an official designation. In total, about 270 Elevens ...

s were entered, all powered by 1098cc

Coventry Climax Coventry Climax was a British manufacturer of forklift trucks, fire pumps, racing engines, and other speciality engines. History Pre WWI The company was started in 1903 as Lee Stroyer, a joint venture by Jens Stroyer and Pelham Lee. In 1 ...

engines with the exception of

Innes Ireland Robert McGregor Innes Ireland (12 June 1930 – 22 October 1993) was a British racing driver and journalist, who competed in Formula One from to . Ireland won the 1961 United States Grand Prix with Lotus. Born in Mytholmroyd and raised in S ...

’s example which had a 1460cc Climax power unit. It was the first airfield track in England to be lapped at more than 100 mph by a sports car, the car in question being a

Jaguar D-type The Jaguar D-Type is a sports racing car that was produced by Jaguar Cars Ltd. between 1954 and 1957. Designed specifically to win the Le Mans 24-hour race, it shared the straight-6 XK engine and many mechanical components with its C-Type ...

entered and owned by

Border Reivers Border Reivers were Cattle raiding, raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border. They included both Scotland, Scottish and England, English people, and they raided the entire border country without regard to their victims' nationality.Hay, D. "E ...

and driven by Jim Clark. The calculations in respect of the fastest lap were made in the pub after the meeting and initially showed a speed in excess of 120 mph, but when the alcohol and euphoria wore off the true figure was established. The circuit was Britain's longest at 3.2 miles (5.1 km), however the circuit was some distance from centres of population and when Rufforth Circuit became available the BRSCC moved there for convenience.Peter Swinger, “Motor Racing Circuits in England : Then & Now" (Ian Allan Publishing, , 2008)

References

{{British motor racing circuits Motorsport venues in England Sports venues in the East Riding of Yorkshire