The Track

About

The Royal Highland Showground at Ingliston was first used for motor racing in 1965. The track used part of the existing perimeter road and some of the internal connecting roads of the showground along with a new specially-built section comprising several fast uphill swerves which came to be known as the Esses.

The names originally given to the other corners - Farmers, Bankers, Foresters, Gardeners, Shepherds, Brewers, Vets and Merchants - were derived from the various buildings and display areas that were dotted around the showground and which sprang to life every June for the Royal Highland Show.

The track was characterised by its tight confines and plethora of trackside obstructions - I doubt if there were any other race circuits in the UK which had such a wide variety of trees, buildings, telegraph poles and miscellaneous wooden structures to hit if you were unfortunate enough to leave the tarmac and spin towards the infield!

September 1968 saw a new section of track opened, finally giving the circuit a decent straight worthy of the name, along with a very tight hairpin bend, initially named West Gate.

All the corners were re-named for the 1970 season (see second map), the new names being arguably more meaningful than the original agriculturally-derived ones! And yes, there used to be a caravan site at Caravan Corner, and Clock was of course so-named because of the large clock on the race control building situated at that corner.

Sadly, by the end of 1994 it had become no longer financially viable to run race meetings at Ingliston, and after 31 seasons and around 160 race meetings, Ingliston departed from the Scottish motor sporting scene.

Although circuit racing no longer takes place at Ingliston, the showground continues to host the Royal Highland Show every June and is used for other events throughout the year, including supercar driving experiences where you can drive Ferraris, Lamborghinis and suchlike around part of the old circuit.

The majority of the race track itself still exists, with the exception of the start/finish area, as the following photos illustrate:

The start/finish line