Mallory Park Motorsport Limited has today announced that the company has been put into Administration. It’s one of the first circuits I ever raced at, but in recent years has been coming under pressure by the local NIMBYs, who’ve been campaigning for tighter enforcement of the circuit’s Noise Abatement Notice.
These highly restrictive noise conditions have been in force since 1985, but have been placed under scrutiny by local residents, some of whom were new to the local village.

Mallory Park (MPML) and the local authority worked hard with the residents to find a compromise, but unfortunately the council decided to prosecute MPML on five charges of the Notice during 2012 which involved operating on a Saturday over and above the four days agreed in the Notice.
In a court hearing heard last month, the charges were upheld and Mallory Park was obliged to cancel all track day operations and driver training activity, severely denting the company’s income prospects.
In the last two weeks an alternative plan was presented to the local authority, which relied upon a reduction in the fees paid by the circuit to lease its grounds. During the past eight years these costs have risen by over 40%, making the reduced operating plan (under the rigid noise abatement notice) financially untenable.
Unfortunately the Land Owner – Titan Properties Ltd – refused to make sufficient concessions, and the circuit ran its final race meeting yesterday.
What a dreadful shame. The administrator, Ian Robert of Kingston Smith & Partners LLP, is now working with all stakeholders to try and restore racing once again to Mallory Park, saying “I hope the administration process can assist in finding a solution which will be beneficial to all parties concerned.”
But don’t hold your breath..
He continued: “To that end, I will be negotiating with the landlord and the council, with the support of the BARC, to ensure that racing can be enjoyed at Mallory Park for years to come. Although it is early days, I am hopeful that, once a solution to the lease is found, all of the company’s creditors should receive a substantial dividend, which I understand is very much the driving force behind the continued support of the BARC.”
Image Credit: Steven C Wilson on Flickr
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Steve Davies
Steve is an investor, private equity advisor and former Partner at KPMG, PwC and Bain. Most importantly he's a life-long car enthusiast, mountain biker and active sports enthusiast. He designs and builds technology platforms and is the architect behind Transmission.
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What an absolute load of rubbish by the administrators. BARC will be next. Watch this space. Mark Jones CEO of BARC hasn’t a clue when running any business let alone a unique business in Motorsport, EVERTHING he touches turns to dust – he is in fact the kiss of death to any business. How on earth did he get the job in the first place ???? Jobs for the boys !!!!
I don’t know Mark, so am not qualified to comment about the way he runs BARC. I’ve worked with many CEOs over the years and am never surprised to hear of an enthusiast-oriented business going bust – the qualities that make a good financial manager are rarely the same as those involved in running an event or experience.
When researching this article I was reminded of Mallory’s illustrious history – it ran a non-championship F1 race back in the 60’s and some of the greatest riders and drivers have raced there at one time in their career.
I used to believe in a purist view of ‘survival of the fittest’, but this is about the legacy of British Motorsport which created the likes of Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Nigel Mansell and John Surtees. To lose icons like Mallory Park is to deny future generations the chance of understanding the legacy on which they build. Let’s hope Mr Robert of KS&P can achieve a solution that resurrects it for next season.
Interesting to hear that Mark Jones is to leave the BARC. It’s not been a good year with Mallory Park going to the wall..
The announcement was made on Monday (2/12/2013) and Bill Coombs will assume executive responsibility with immediate effect. Bill will be known to many as the CEO of the Ian Taylor Motor Racing School at Thruxton.