Oulton Park - Knickerbrook Corner

Knickerbrook Corner

Pre 1991: The corner was generally known as a 'racers' corner as it required courage and full commitment from the driver. The corner is notorious for causing multiple accidents. There have been several fatalities of racing drivers at this corner. One death in particular, Paul Warwick, caused the corner to be reconstructed as a chicane.

The corner led from a downhill straight into a fifth gear, off camber right bend. There was a deep kerbing section on the inside of the corner which combined with the off camber nature of the corner caused a car to become very difficult to control. The kerbing and camber tended to make the car veer to the outside of the circuit. The armco barrier on the outside of the corner eventually intersected with the grass verge and caused a lack of run off area.

Blaster Bates, a British Explosives and Demolition specialist from Crewe in Cheshire, related an account during one of his recording sessions of how he and a colleague were once removing tree stumps with dynamite close to the corner. Upon the first detonation, a courting couple were seen to run at speed and in some disarray from the cover of a bush or bank nearby. Closer investigation followed a safe interval later and the two engineers discovered a lady's underwear in the brook, and this resulted in the name of the corner.