Thruxton was originally a motorcycle circuit that also held a few car meetings in 1953 and 1954. It was chosen as the new home of the British Automobile Racing Club after Goodwood closed in 1966, and the refurbished venue opened in March 1968. The highlight of the Thruxton racing calendar was the Easter Monday Formula 2 race, which was named after three-time winner Jochen Rindt following his death at Monza in 1970. Unfortunately, the rising cost of attracting the new Formula 3000 killed the event after the 1985 race. The Jochen Rindt Trophy was revived for a historic F2 race as part of Thruxton's 25th anniversary celebrations in 1993. The festivities also saw Damon Hill set an unofficial lap record of 57.6s during a demonstration run in his F1 Williams FW15C-Renault. The circuit was resurfaced in 2000, easing some of the most pronounced bumps on the fast backstretch.
