Mallory Park plans 2014 racing return with new operator
Mallory Park is set to resume hosting motor racing in 2014, with the new circuit operator confident it can resolve all issues


Real Motorsport Limited, set up by British Superbike team boss Stuart Hicken and Eddie Roberts, has taken over the day-to-day running of the circuit.
The future of the Leicestershire circuit had looked bleak after a long-running noise dispute with its local council resulted in the previous leaseholder of the land - and organising club - the British Automobile Racing Club walking away from negotiations.
That led to then-operating company Mallory Park Motorsport Limited being put into administration, before being liquidised last month, a move that allowed control of the land to be placed back into the hands of landowner Titan Properties on December 3.
Hicken and Roberts, who have already met with Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council executives, were awarded the 15-year lease the following day.
"We had to act," Roberts told AUTOSPORT. "The one thing that couldn't happen was it going on for months.
"A lot of people seem to think we've been given a free deal with it but it is out of our own pockets. More to the point, there's going to be more financing needed as we get into it.
"The council would like to see the same things as us. There were some figures [for operating days] shown that made me think that's not too bad, but nothing is official."
BOSSES CONFIDENT OVER AGREEMENT
A forced reduction of on-track activities to two days per week, as per a noise agreement put in place in 1985, was blamed by MPML for its financial difficulty.
Despite its failure to agree an increase in the number of days per year that the circuit is allowed to operate for - originally a maximum 44 days of racing plus testing on Wednesdays - Titan's Ian Wright is confident a successful arrangement can be reached.

"The council has agreed in principle a much more flexible agreement," he told AUTOSPORT. "The operators will have a lot more days than they had before - 128 days has been suggested, and it may be expanded."
It is also believed that a new organising club will need to be found before a full racing calendar can be put in place, but Roberts - who is targeting a spring-time resumption of racing - did not rule out working with the BARC again the future.
"We want races running in March but we've got to see what we need to do," he added. "I have no issues with the BARC or previous management. What they've left behind is irrelevant.
"The BARC has already sent us good wishes and we are talking with them in a professional way."

Bruno Senna to race in Brazilian Stock Car finale
United SportsCar Championship gets 13 Prototype entries for 2014

Latest news
Ellis named as replacement for injured Auer in Bathurst 12 Hour
DTM race-winner Philip Ellis will make his Bathurst 12 Hour debut this week as a stand-in for the injured Lucas Auer.
Winning MSR Acura "super lucky" with Daytona 24 gearbox scare
The Meyer Shank Racing Acura team was "super lucky" to win the Daytona 24 Hours despite its malfunctioning gearbox for most of the race, according to team boss Michael Shank.
Bourdais “surprised” Cadillac was beaten on pace in Daytona 24 Hours
Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac driver Sebastien Bourdais said he was surprised that the victorious Acura ARX-06 outperformed his new V-LMDh in the Daytona 24 Hours IMSA SportsCar Championship season opener.
Daytona 24: MSR Acura opens GTP era with win, Proton snatches LMP2 by 0.016s
Meyer Shank Racing scored its second consecutive victory in the Daytona 24 Hours in the first race for the IMSA SportsCar Championship's new GTP regulations, leading an Acura 1-2 finish.
The 2022 Autosport Awards winner using Esports as a launchpad
A trail blazed in Esports has inspired a revamp of the annual prize that aims to discover the best young engineering talent. Autosport met Autosport Williams Engineer of the Future winner Michael Preston
The plug in and play stand-ins who got their timing just right
Nyck de Vries’s Italian GP exploits weren’t the first post-eleventh-hour call-up in motorsport history, and won’t be the last either. Here are some offbeat tales from the past
Porsche’s hopeful Le Mans future meets its illustrious past
Rising sportscar star Adam Smalley had to pinch himself when offered the chance to drive the car that won the world’s most famous enduro in 1987
Why romanticism isn't the key factor in Lola’s racing return
The iconic Lola name is being relaunched after it was taken over by new ownership. Part of that reboot is a planned return to racing, though the exact details of this are still to be finalised - though its new owner does have a desire to bring the brand back to the Le Mans 24 Hours. But romanticism doesn't appear to be the driving force behind this renewed project...
Rating the best drivers of the century so far
Autosport's Top 50 feature has been a staple of the magazine for the past two decades since its first appearance in 2002. Here are the drivers that have featured most prevalently during that time
The best motorsport moments of 2021
Motorsport produced one of its greatest years of all-time in 2021 despite a backdrop of ongoing COVID-19 challenges and an ever-changing racing landscape. Through the non-stop action Autosport has collected the finest moments from the past 12 months to highlight the incredible drama and joy motorsport generates
The racing comeback artists who resurrected long-dormant careers
Making it in motorsport can be tough, and sometimes drivers move elsewhere before their best chance arrives. Here are some of those who made it back
The hidden racing gem attracting ex-F1 heroes
It’s rarely mentioned when it comes to assessing the best national contests, but the Brazilian Stock Car series that reaches its climax this weekend has an ever-growing appeal. Its expanding roster of ex-Formula 1 names has helped to draw in new fans, but it's the closeness of competition that keeps them watching
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.