NEWS: SPITFIRE IN FLYPAST AT THUNDERSPRINT

The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight will again be sending one of its Spitfires to this year’s Thundersprint on Sunday, May 11.

The display will be particularly poignant because the Darley Moor circuit, near Ashbourne in Derbyshire, was originally an RAF airfield. Also, Darley is less than a minute’s flight from the historic Rolls-Royce factory in Derby where the Spitfire’s legendary Merlin engine was built.

Thundersprint organiser Frank Melling said: “The Spitfire display has been a key part of Thundersprint for many years and having one of these wonderful aircraft fly over an airfield, and area, where it has so many intense connections will be a very moving experience.

“The Spit will be with us as part of the lunch-time celebrations at Sunday’s Thundersprint so it will make a great start to the Masterclass.”

info@thundersprint.com

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THUNDERSPRINT TO MOVE TO DARLEY MOOR

After only a year at Anglesey Circuit, Thundersprint organiser Frank Melling is moving the event from North Wales to Darley Moor in the Derbyshire Dales.

Thundering across to Derbyshire

Billed as Europe’s biggest festival of motorcycling, Thundersprint had been the annual showcase event in Northwich town centre since 1997. Attendance at the free-to-visit event regularly topped 100,000 over its two-days.

When Melling and Chester District Council parted company in 2012, Thundersprint moved to Anglesey for this year’s April event, but extreme weather conditions and Anglesey’s off-centre location took their toll on attendance. Says Melling: “Visitors were pressing for a more central venue for next year’s Thundersprint and when the Darley Moor Motorcycle Road Race Club offered the use of their circuit, which is only 20 miles from the M1, it didn’t require much persuading.”

Melling says the Darley Moor circuit is the best kept secret in bike racing. “It’s a great track, set in stunning parkland and with a history going back over 50 years. The perfect venue for Thundersprint,” he added.

Dates for next year’s event are the weekend of 10-11 May. For more info tel 01928 740498.

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