Rayleigh Weir Stadium
Rayleigh Weir stadium was a sports stadium located at Thundersley in Essex.
The Weir stadium at Rayleigh was an easy one to find – just six miles from Southend on the main Arterial Road (the A127). This particular stretch of road is of historical importance to the motoring world as it was the first road to be built in this country specifically for motor vehicles. It opened on 25 March 1925.[1]
It was 1948, when the stadium itself came into being. Speedway (the Rayleigh Rockets team) was the first venture brought to the place followed shortly afterwards by Greyhound racing. The owners wanted to maximize the use of the venue and over the years it also hosted harness horse racing, open air wrestling, cycle speedway and firework displays.
Greyhound racing was the last sport to be seen at the Weir (on 8 March 1974) before the venue was sold to make way for a retail park.
Nowadays the only trace of the old venue is the road name, Stadium Way.
Stock Car Racing
Stock car racing was first staged at the stadium in August promoted by the man who bought the sport to the UK, Digger Pugh, until 1958. After that Bernie Tunney and Spedeworth had brief tenures too. Spedeworth ran for just five consecutive Saturday nights in 1962 starting on 4 August before winding up their use of the stadium on 1 September.
The track was originally scheduled to re-open for stock cars in spring 1967 but the closure of the ‘nearby’ (30 miles away) Custom House stadium at West Ham changed things. Rayleigh re-opened Saturday 6 August 1966 to fill the gap left by West Ham. Unfortunately the track had not had much attention owing to the rush to move fixtures and the racing surface cut up rather badly on the rain-soaked opening meeting.
The 1968 F2 Stock Car World Championship took place at the stadium on Saturday, 31 August. Christchurch racer Tom Pitcher won the 25 lap race from the outside of the front row with pole man Ian Durham in second from Cornishman John Marquand who had started fourth. The event had true international status with French racing pioneer Guy Curval coming home in 14th place ahead of his countryman Marcel Truffeaux. South African Paul Roussow and Dutchmen Henk Straver and Peiter Norlander were also programmed as starters in the 29 car field. As was a tradition at major races at the time the trophies were presented by a celebrity – in this case the successful professional boxer (and later actor) Billy Walker who had been British Amateur Champion.
In 1972, after a five year absence, the promoter, Chick Woodroffe brought F1 Stock Cars back to Rayleigh. Three F1 meetings were staged with final wins going to Dave Chisholm (2) and Dick Sworder. Woodroffe also ran his own classes including Banger racing and Mini Rods.
The last Stock Car and Speedway meetings took place at the end of 1973.[2]