Cadwell Park - Circuit Guide

-- this is a work in progress, especially the scoring system --

Cadwell Park is perhaps my favourite circuit of all time. Originally built for motorbikes it asks a lot from a driver. It’s taught me so much over the years in driving, surviving, and navigating trailers down tight country lanes. I have a lot to be thankful for, and I hope my regular attendance and videos over the years have helped its attendance. If you haven’t visited before or just want to know more about the track, here is my guide.

Getting there

The circuit is located close to Louth, Lincolnshire. It is perhaps one of the most annoying circuits to drive to out of the lot. No matter where you’re coming from, there is no route that doesn’t involve some form of dodgy back road. This is half the fun though, unless you’re towing. It can get a little bit dicey if the latter is true. 

Arriving from the North? Stick to the M18, M180, and get off at the airport. If you’re navigation app tells you to go right after the airport you have a decision to make. If you’re in a big car, anything bigger than an MR2/Civic for example, I wouldn’t bother. It’s a nice drive on an early morning in a fun car, but in a bigger car or towing you might get stuck. Tractors, trucks, horseboxes. The usual country traffic. I’ve towed down that lane enough times to know I won’t ever do it again. Ignore Waze and stick to the A18 if you want a steady drive, if you’re in anything other than a road car. 

From the West or South? You’re buggered either way. No motorway links for a while means you’ll be doing a lot of A roads. As you approach the circuit from either direction the roads get smaller and tighter until after what will feel like a lifetime, you arrive. The commute to Cadwell Park can be annoying and somewhat dangerous, but see it as a warm up. There’s no hiding it, you need to wits to be on high alert at this track.

The facilities 

Cadwell Park is an MSV circuit. It’s owned by the same parent company who run Donington, Oulton, Brands, and Snetterton. The facilities are unfortunately the worst out of the lot. That’s not to say they are bad by any means, but if you’re expecting a garage to hide from the weather in, you’ll be out of luck. There’s a clubhouse where you’ll find a cafe & bar, the usual quality MSV ‘scran we’ve come to expect. 

If you get there early enough you’ll be able to get parked on the tarmac paddock area. Arrive too late and you’ll be on the grass. If you’ve come for a race weekend and you’re not your motor club's favourite formula, you’ll be on the grass. There’s plenty of nature around Cadwell so being on the grass fits the vibe somewhat. You’ll see plenty of wildlife, squirrels and sometimes bunnies. You’ll probably see them on circuit too so be prepared for that if you’re squeamish. 

The pit area is unique at Cadwell. If you are racing, whoever is helping you with your car will have a brief window before the race starts to make their way to the pit area which is located within the circuit, an area that is normally out of bounds and never used on track days. 

Overall the facilities are not on par with other MSV circuits, but they are perfectly adequate. Garages would be a nice addition but I’m not sure where they’d put them. Otherwise the toilets and showers are always plenty good and it’s a lovely place to walk around when you’re not on track. 

The circuit  

I drove around Cadwell Park the most out of any circuit during my track day era. Once I got into motorsports I found myself attending less, not through choice, but because motorclubs often struggle to get people to attend Cadwell. The commute here is bad for most folk, but what really puts people off is the circuit itself - and that’s a real shame. 

There’s no doubt it’s intimidating. Everyone knows someone who’s crashed there. If you don’t you can use me. Some people call it the mini Nürburgring because of the way the track feels when you’re out there, being so close to the barriers, undulating towards tight turns on a track barely wide enough for 2 cars. The reality is it’s much smaller than the Nürburgring. “That’s why they call it mini!!!” - I hear you, but it’s important to know the difference. Obviously the length is less, but the corners are tighter, closer together, and narrower. The feeling of driving the track is similar, especially on the sections where the steel barriers are up close and personal. But if we focus on the corners themselves, on how the circuit flows, perhaps Oulton would be a better comparison.

Anyway, it’s a thrill to drive. Every single corner is challenging, you don’t have a lot of time to think between them especially if you’re in something with plenty of power. My favourite corner is probably Turn 1, Coppice. Least favourite is Barn, the final turn. 

You’ll approach Coppice at over 100mph, then have to thread the car through a needle to make the turn, holding on tight as you climb a steep hill. Before you can think you’re at Turn 2, Charlies, another corner where you have the smallest window to post your car through to maintain the most speed. Then you’ll be climbing more before entering Turn 3, also known as Charlies, colloquially as “Charlies 2”. The first 3 corners at Cadwell Park set you up perfectly for the wild ride that awaits you. Each of these corners has a dip around the apex which you’ll need to use. If you miss, you’ll be off line and probably won’t make the next corner, so abort. The transition from exiting turn 1, and entering turn 2, doesn’t really exist. You exit T1 as you enter T2, so the line is crucial. You have a little bit of time then before T3 but the braking zone is tricky as you approach the brow of the hill. In some cars your ideal brake point will be here which can be very tricky to manage on cars without ABS. 

Exiting T3 you’ve now got a bit of time before the next turn. Park Straight sees you initially lose all the altitude you just gained up towards T3, only to start gaining heavily again towards the next corner, Park. This is the fastest part of the track, you’ll see your top speed here. Turn 4, Park, is an almost 90 degree right. You’ve got a slither of curb for run off otherwise you’ll be on the grass if you miss it. The hill you’ve just been climbing levels off into the braking zone too, so that won’t be helping you much to slow down. You’ll need to drop a few gears and get the nose in, the difficult part here is being brave enough to brake late. The corner itself isn’t too bad, not on the Cadwell scale anyway, but approaching it at silly speeds takes some balls. 

After Park you’ll be heading towards Chris Curve. In lower powered cars you’ll be able to keep your foot down and hold on for dear life here. Higher powered cars will need to be careful and manage their throttle to avoid going wide. If this was a Formula 1 circuit then Chris Curve would be the “High G” corner, putting the most load on the driver. Technically only 1 corner, so we’ll call it Turn 5, but it goes on for quite a while. The exit of T5 leads into one of the more dangerous sections, known as the Gooseneck. It’s a chicane with some extra Cadwell spice thrown in. As you enter from the left, you’ll meet another dip in the apex to hug you, caress you, and make you feel like everything’s gonna be ok. This illusion of grip is torn away from you as you exit, another sharp hill brow where you don’t need it, crossing over into a sharp downhill. Gooseneck catches a lot of people out, it’s very easy to crash here. I think it’s because the circuit teases you with the extra grip on entry, but then surprises you with a light car on exit. 

You’ve then got a steep downhill towards T7, Mansfield. This may be the steepest braking zone on the track. Very easy to lock a wheel here and go straight on. The corner itself isn’t too challenging, like Park, it’s the slowing down part that is. 

After Masnfield you’ll get a brief period to relax a little before we head into the circuit’s endgame. The last section at Cadwell Park is where you can make up a ton of time compared to others. So far most of the corners have taken bravery to complete quickly, but now it’s going to get technical. 

Firstly we’ve got the mountain to tackle. The worst braking zone is here. You’ll get some speed up between T7 and T8, then have to scrub most of that off before turning into the mountain. The road here has always been bumpy. It’s probably the roots of trees or something like that, but it’s always tricky braking here. The circuit gives you enough evidence of this by the count of all the tyre marks left by drivers who’ve struggled here. Turning into the mountain you’ll need to immediately turn once more to climb another steep hill. This is an iconic section of the track, it’s where you will often see photographers lurking as modern cars and bikes will quite literally jump over the crest. The superbikes get some ridiculous air here, cars less so, but it is possible to get all four off. 

Turn 9 is a sequence of corners known as Hall Bends. This is a very tricky section. It’s a series of chicanes to navigate around hills, leading towards the crest of one into the braking zone of the tightest corner, Turn 10, the Hairpin. Hall Bends is a section that asks a lot of the driver. It’s a fantastic viewing spot, spectators can get up close and personal here in the moment where drivers are perhaps most vulnerable. The skill here is to keep the speed up and not crash. Yes that’s the skill everywhere of course, but if you do it here then you’re on to a winner. Out of all the corners at Cadwell this is the only one that I’d struggle to give solid advice on how to approach. You have to be brave to be fast, but it can go wrong so easily if you overcook it. Many cars die here. You need to be careful. This gives opportunity to those who can, but the lap is almost over and do you want to risk it? If you’re on a lap, you’ve gotta do it. Just make sure you’ve got the car squared up for the Hairpin.

Turn 10 is not a hairpin, but given we’re at Cadwell Park and you’ve nearly finished your lap, we’ll let them off. Maybe it used to be in the past perhaps. It’s an acute angle, something around 70 degrees. You’ll be barreling into the braking zone as you exit Hall Bends. The braking zone here is another dodgy one, not quite as bad as into the mountain, but it’s another one where you need to be careful without ABS. Once again you’ll need to slow your car down right where an uphill becomes a downhill. T10 is the slowest corner here, you’ll probably be in 2nd gear. It doesn’t feel ridiculously tight or anything, from the cockpit you’d be surprised to know it was less than a right angle. It does feel tight though. Whether it’s the slow speed or lack of run off, there isn’t a lot of breathing room. 

The final corner is my least favourite of the bunch. Known as Barn, T11 is an off camber downhill right onto the pit straight. It’s just not a fun corner at all, especially in a FWD car. You just have to brake, and wait for the corner to finish before you can ask the front tyres to pull you out. It’s better in RWD cars, but then you might find it spits you out on exit. This is another corner where people often crash. Yes Cadwell is a circuit full of corners where people crash, but here more than others. I’m not a big fan of this corner. It’s good to have a variety though right? No two corners are the same here.

After that you’re done, and ready to start another lap. Back in the day we’d always aim to get anything under 1:40 for a lap time. It lines up well to a ‘sub8’ at the Nurburgring as far as effort and risk goes. Under 1:50 is good to get started, but the party starts 10s before then. The DC2 never actually went under that, I got a 1:40 but unfortunately not below it. The M3 claimed to go under that one track evening but I’m not sure. 1:37 was my best time in the Civic. My driving but also my setup and tyres have come a long way since the DC2 days though. You can’t trust your mobile phone to time you round here so much due to all the hills but it can give you an idea. Phones aren’t great at the best of times, you can see my blog about Lap Timers to know more.

The verdict 

Cadwell Park is where I learned to drive. I lived closer to circuits like Croft and Oulton Park, and Donington is a much nicer drive, but Cadwell always drew me back. I’ll try not to be too biased. 

That gives Cadwell Park an overall “Dan score” (tbc) of 40/60.