Pembrey Circuit

Pembrey Circuit is a motorsport facility located near Pembrey village in Carmarthenshire, Wales. The circuit was built on the site of RAF Pembrey, a former World War II airfield that housed Spitfire squadrons and served as the RAF's Air Gunnery School between 1941 and 1945. The circuit was developed in response to the poor state of motor racing in Wales during the early 1980s, with the Welsh Race Drivers' Association (WRDA) formed in 1981 to develop a new race circuit. The first race meeting was held on May 21, 1989, with Nigel Petch winning the first race 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 nearly 1.5 miles long and features a variety of fast sweeping corners and tight hairpins, offering a range of high and low-speed corners. Pembrey attracted significant attention from Formula One teams, with McLaren testing there with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in the late 1980s, while Arrows, Benetton, Jordan, and Williams all tested at Pembrey in the early 1990s, with BAR being the last Formula One team to test there in 1998. The circuit hosted the British Touring Car Championship in 1992 and 1993. Formula 3 raced at Pembrey for seven consecutive seasons, with future stars including Gil de Ferran, Oliver Gavin, Jan Magnussen, and Jenson Button winning races early in their careers. In 2001, vast improvements were made with a track extension, new pit complex, and spectator bridge. A brand new section of track was installed in 2017, allowing for more than one layout. The outright official lap record is held by Argentine driver Brian Smith at 50.079 seconds set in a Dallara F397, though Senna's unofficial testing lap time was 44.43 seconds.