Editing Rockingham Motor Speedway (section)

===The oval circuit===
The {{cvt|1.479|mi|km}} American-style banked oval circuit was {{convert|18.3|m|ft|abbr=on|order=flip}} wide and had a maximum bank angle of seven degrees and comprised four very distinct corners. Rockingham's oval was unique in the UK and one of only two speedways in Europe (the other being [[Lausitzring]]). The oval circuit could also be converted to a road course layout for events by positioning temporary chicanes and curves both on the main area and apron of the circuit.{{fact|date=September 2024}}

In early September 2001, the [[Champ Car|Champ cars]] came to Germany and England for the first time, to contest oval racing at the [[German 500]] (kilometer, not miles) and the Rockingham 500, rounds of the [[2001 CART season]] (Championship Auto Racing Teams) FedEx Championship Series. After the [[11 September 2001 attacks|11 September terrorist attacks]] and subsequent closing of airspaces, but with most equipment and personnel already being in continental Europe, the first ever German 500 was held under difficult circumstances. Unreliable weather and a bad crash of Alex Zanardi did not help, either.{{fact|date=September 2024}}

The British round at the weekend of 20–22 September was in jeopardy, too. However, the logistics were worked out, with many of the teams stripping off their sponsors' logos ("livery") as a mark of respect for the victims of the attacks. The race distance was also shortened to 300&nbsp;km. Victory was snatched on the exit of Turn Four of the last lap by [[Gil de Ferran]] driving the [[Team Penske|Marlboro Team Penske]] [[Honda]]–powered [[Reynard 01I]] at a race average speed of {{cvt|153.41|mph|km/h}} from [[Kenny Bräck]] at the wheel of the [[Team Rahal]] Lola-Ford Cosworth B1/00, and the [[Newman/Haas Racing|Newman-Haas Racing]] Lola-Toyota B1/00 driven by [[Cristiano da Matta]]. The fastest lap, and therefore outright lap record, was set by [[Patrick Carpentier]] in 25.551secs ({{cvt|210.59|mph|km/h}}) in the [[Forsythe Racing|Player's Forsythe Racing]] Reynard-Cosworth. Carpentier became for first Canadian to ever hold the outright lap record at an English circuit.<ref name=Swinger>Peter Swinger, "Motor Racing Circuits in England : Then & Now" (Ian Allan Publishing, {{ISBN|0 7110 3104 5}}, 2008)</ref>

The US-based series returned in September 2002. This was the last time Champ Cars raced at this facility. The race ran over the full distance of 500&nbsp;km, Scotland's [[Dario Franchitti]] took the chequered flag in his [[Andretti Green Racing|Team KOOL Green]] Lola-Honda, beating [[Cristiano da Matta]] by just 0.986 of a second .<ref name="champcarstats.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.champcarstats.com/races/200215.htm|title=2002 Sure for Men Rockingham 500K|work=ChampCarStats.com}}</ref>