Leafield Technical Centre
Leafield Technical Centre is a former radio transmission station, now turned motorsports centre of excellence, located in the hamlet of Langley, in the western part of the village of Leafield in Oxfordshire, England.
Developed from 1912 as a radio transmission station by the General Post Office, it was decommissioned by successor company British Telecom in 1986.[1] BT Group redeveloped the site as a training college, but then closed the site in 1993.[1]
Sold to a commercial property company, the site was then leased by Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) as a motorsport development centre for the Arrows Formula One team,[1] until the team's demise in the 2002 season. From the 2006 season until the 2008 season Leafield Technical Centre was the headquarters of the now-defunct Super Aguri F1 team.
Menard Competition Technologies is now based at Leafield Technical Centre.[2] MCT has made the engines for Norton Motorcycles' range of Commando 961 models[3] since 2009.[4]
In January 2012, it was announced that the Caterham F1 team would be moving to Leafield from their original base at Hingham, Norfolk and 8 months later, Caterham F1 Team eventually completed their relocation to Leafield Technical Centre.[5] Caterham then declared bankrupt in early 2015 and since then Leafield Technical centre has been abandoned and is currently up for sale .
References
- ^ a b c "The BT Radio Station". Leafield Village. 2010. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
- ^ Menard Competition Technologies (MCT)
- ^ "MCT powers the re-birth of Norton". News. Norton Motorcycles. 2009. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
- ^ "Production of Norton Engines Starts at Leafield". Witney Gazette. 15 May 2009. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
- ^ Elizalde, Pablo (18 January 2012). "Caterham F1 team confirms proposed move to Leafield". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
