AUTOSPORT tries the new Snetterton track

When racers and fans of motor racing visit Snetterton this season, the place will look a little different. Circuit boss Jonathan Palmer has spent several million pounds renovating the circuit over the winter and extending it from 1.952 miles to just shy of three.

That makes it the third longest circuit in the UK, behind only the Silverstone GP and Bridge layouts. Palmer hopes this makeover, which also includes new spectator areas and a revamped paddock, will attract bigger international series like DTM and World Touring Cars to Norfolk.

The new Snetterton 300 circuit features a re-profiled version of Sear (turn two), and the replacement of the old Russell chicane at the end of the lap with an extended version of the rapid Coram right-hander, leading straight into a tight left.

Palmer has retained the ballsy bits of the old layout (turn one at Riches, the left right combination at the Esses, and the Bomb Hole right-hander), while adding a fresh loop of five turns to link the new Sear hairpin with the old Revett straight.

The new-look venue is Palmer's pet project - he even drew the track design himself in his bid to transform Snetterton into "the best circuit in the country".

When the track re-opened at the end of February, Palmer invited AUTOSPORT up to give it a try...

Ben Anderson completed over two-dozen laps of the new Snetterton 300 circuit in a Radical SR3.

Read his full review in this week's AUTOSPORT Magazine.