BriSCA Formula One is the brand name of the British Stock Car Association, BriSCA is the Association of Promoters exclusively responsible for proudly organising and presenting BriSCA Formula One Stock Car Racing at venues throughout the UK with affiliate venues in the Netherlands (St Maarten, Emmen And Venray)
BriSCA Formula One consists of six permanent promoter members, one of whom acts as Chairman. Three promoters have joined forces with three members of the British Stock Car Drivers Association (BSCDA) to form the BriSCA Management Board (BMB), who are the sports Governing Body.
BriSCA has formal working arrangements with organisations in Mainland Europe as well as associations with enterprises in New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the USA.
All venues that stage BriSCA Formula One Stock Car Racing have to be licensed by and meet the requirements of the British Stock Car Association. To comply with insurance arrangements all drivers wishing to race at a BriSCA Formula One licensed meeting have to be registered in advance by the BSCDA, acting as agents for BriSCA.
Rules and regulations related to car specifications, race procedures, track requirements and all other aspects of the sport are updated annually by the BriSCA Management Board.
What is BriSCA Formula One Stock Car Racing?
BriSCA Formula One Stock Cars are purpose built, open wheeled, unlimited engine capacity, single seater racing cars. Designed and constructed to a strict specification, they have evolved over a period of fifty years from a pre 1954 standard road car to today’s remarkable combination of sophistication and brute force.
Born out of a requirement to circulate a 400 metre oval in the fastest possible time in the company of up to thirty other cars with similar characteristics, these 1,500 kilogram motorised leviathans have the mandate to forceably remove slower cars from the racing line whilst engaging in a multiple lap challenge that goes beyond conventional motor sport.
It’s not speed, aggression or strategy, but a combination of all three that determines the real winners and projects the top drivers towards Superstar status.
Just to add to the challenge for man and machine, competitors are graded. The fastest drivers, based upon careful analysis of previous performance, start at the back of the grid with the slower cars at the front, a unique format which stimulates the competitive instinct in all drivers irrespective of their starting position.
With roof colours designating capability, grids are made up of representatives from each grade.
White, Yellow, Blue and Red roofs are the sequence from the front of the grid with the top five in the country, the Superstars, starting at the back.
Slow-rolling laps signal the start of each race and when the white-roofed cars come out of turn four, the green flag drops and it’s action all the way, as in excess of 12,500 cubic inches of engine capacity converts the arena into a supercharged, no holds barred cauldron for oval supremacy over a minimum of sixteen laps.
What is the history of BriSCA Formula One?
The origins of BriSCA Formula One Stock Car Racing can be traced to the birth of oval track racing in the UK and the first ever stock car race at the New Cross Stadium, London on Good Friday 1954.
Since then, the sport has operated continuously at stadiums and race circuits throughout the UK and over 5,000 meetings have been staged at ninety four venues. They have stretched the length and breadth of the United Kingdom from Glasgow, Edinburgh and Cowdenbeath in the north to Carlyon Bay, Ringwood and Canterbury in the south.
From Great Yarmouth and Newcastle in the east to Neath Abbey and Liverpool in the west. Sandwiched in between a myriad of major cities, medium sized towns and small villages, all of which have a common identity.
Some of these associations were but fleeting relationships whilst others have stood the test of time.
Today, the veteran venues are Northampton which joined in 1955. It has operated continuously since then whilst others like Sheffield were there at the beginning but then lost touch only to be reacquainted many years later.
More recent newcomers have Cowdenbeath and Knockhill in Scotland, Bristol in the west, and Ipswich in the east. These tracks are not operated by any of the six permanent BriSCA Promoters and are known as guest tracks. Meetings do not take place at every guest track every year.
BriSCA Heritage
BriSCA Heritage is an organisation established by ex BriSCA promoter Keith Barber several years ago and was originally conceived to preserve and retain information and artefacts about the sports past. As a keen car builder in his own right Keith Barber has acquired and restored many cars over the last couple of decades and he now has an impressive array of both BriSCA Formula One and BriSCA F2 cars either completely restored or in progress at his home at Ludgvan near Penzance.
BriSCA Heritage has also been involved in publishing a number of books on the History of Stock Car Racing in the UK and has been the prime mover in tracing the sports origins back to France and the USA. During his time as a promoter Barber was responsible for establishing BriSCA’s first real links with the NACO organisation and Holland in 1978 and celebrated their Silver Jubilee with BriSCA in 2003.
BriSCA Heritage retain the most comprehensive photographical library of the sports history along with an equally impressive range of programmes and memorabilia as well as a massive network of contacts throughout the UK and the rest of the oval racing world.
For more information on BriSCA Heritage contact:
Keith Barber, Kantara, Blowing House Hill, Ludgvan, Penzance, Cornwall, TR20 8AW
Veterans Stock Car Association (VSCA)
The British Stock Car Association (BriSCA Formula One) are particularly pleased to be able to acknowledge the Veterans Stock Car Association. Formed in 1978 the organisation now has over three hundred and fifty members and provides the forum through its social evenings, newsletter and annual dinner dance for people from all corners of the sport to stay in touch with each other.
Most of the sports greatest personalities have at one time or another “joined the veterans” and those too young to enjoy the experience today will benefit from early enrolment in the future.
The association is run by volunteers with the men at the helm reading like a who’s who from yesteryear.