The circuit has a number of formations, founded on a basic one-mile oval, with the majority of configurations including the northerly extension to the tight, 180° Shaw's Corner.

This sequence of bends was designed to reduce speeds on entry to Edwina's, and to prevent motorcycles from colliding as they jockey for position into the chicane.

Lord Byron married into the Wentworth family and it is said on his visits to Mallory, he wrote beneath the shade of the Lebanon cedar tree which still stands in the grounds of Kirkby Hall.

During the Second World War, the circuit started life as Royal Air Force Kirkby Mallory, a satellite landing ground (SLG) and closed in 1947.

The estate of 300 acres was sold by auction in 1953 and was bought by a Mr. Moult of Derby who planned to have horse racing on the disused pony trotting track.

248 riders arrived in Leicestershire for this meeting, which saw George Salter set the first lap record at a speed of 84.08 mph, riding a Norton bike.

[5][6] Clive Wormleighton continued to run the circuit very successfully until 1962 when ownership passed to Grovewood Securities in July, the previous owner remaining in a consultancy capacity until the end of September.

Before this, on 11 June 1962 Mallory Park saw it first non-championship Formula One (International 2000 Guineas) race, won by John Surtees aboard a Lola Mk4 from the privately entered Lotuses of Jack Brabham and Graham Hill.

[5] Over the next two years, a considerable amount of money was spent on Mallory with the building of new spectator stands and a new commentators’ press and timekeepers’ boxes.

Crowds grew and in 1962, over 50,000 people paid to see the Post TT International Motor Cycle meeting, when Mike Hailwood won, improving the lap record to 91.70 mph.

Under the control of Peter Fulke Greville, Grovewood Securities, Mallory enjoyed its golden days in the 1960s and 1970s with some of the greatest names in motorsport competing there.

He asked Denny Hulme if he could follow him round to learn the circuit and then proceeded to set fastest time in qualifying; despite being delayed in the race, he finished third behind the reigning World Champion, Jim Clark and his experienced team-mate Peter Arundell.

For example, 12 March 1972, saw FIA European Formula Two Championship, with Dave Morgan winning in his Reeves Racing Brabham-Ford BT35, from the future Ferrari pairing of Niki Lauda and Carlos Reutemann.

[5] Meanwhile, famously the Bay City Rollers tartan army played a concert during a BBC-organised 'Fun Day' on 18 May 1975, on a stage specifically constructed in the middle of the lake.

[8] Edwina Overend was the competitions secretary of the Midlands Centre of the British Racing and Sports Car Club (BRSCC); during the close of the 1982 season, the expected cessation of racing at Mallory loomed large and various time wasters had come and gone, Overend approached Chris Meek with a view to his purchasing the estate.

[5] The history of the 100-mile-per-hour (160 km/h) lap at the Leicestershire circuit is interesting; the first one was a long time coming, for it was not until 1966 that it finally happened when on 29 May, Denny Hulme took a Lola T70 round in 47.6sec at a speed of 102.10 mph (164.31 km/h).

The lap record fell again to John E Miles in 1964 who drove a Turner Cosworth Mk2 VUD 701, winning the British Championship outright, beating the mighty AC Cobra's.

The organiser of the event Peter Fulke Greville was later to learn his son Chris Fulke-Greville would own this car in the 1980's and still lap the circuit in record time.

As of October 2017, the fastest official race lap records at the Mallory Park are listed as: Adjacent to the road course is a purpose-built motocross circuit which played host to the Grand Prix of Great Britain in 2008.