Race of Champions

The UK's wembley stadium will play host to The Race of Champions this month (December). Drivers, including seven times Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher, triple world touring car champion Andy Priaulx, double NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson, seven times Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen, double world rally champion Marcus Gronholm and four times American Champ Car champion Sebastian Bourdais, will race around a 1 km long asphalt racing track that has been laid on the pitch by contractor F M Conway.

The 40 strong Conway team worked round the clock to hand over the track to race organisers IMP by 30 November. Conway initially laid 8500 aluminium protection plates over the turf along the line of the twin track, together with 400 m of motorway barrier around part of the twisty circuit. The team then placed and compacted about 2400 tonnes of recycled road plannings as a sub base for each of the two lanes and central divide.

Two Vogele 1803 pavers overlaid the sub base with 1140 tonnes of asphalt binder and the final surface prior to the final compaction. At the same time as laying the asphalt Conway used a 50 tonne capacity crane to place a precast concrete bridge and approach ramp.

“We've built race tracks before, but this is the first to construct in six days and remove in three” said Conways Brian Morris, contracts director civil engineering division.