View from the start hill

North East BMX clubs current home track is inside the Summerhill Country Park, Hartlepool.  Originally constructed by Hartlepool Borough council under the supervision of British Cycling during the spring of 2000 it was the first track in Hartlepool since the 1980's and the old school Church Street track (for those old enough to remember).  The site boasts extensive on-site support facilities including changing rooms, toilets and showers all located in the new multi million pound visitors center,

Eddy "testing" the new quad

The track itself is unique in design, 6 straights cut into the side of steep hillside provide a welcome break from standard  building principles.  Initially the site was intended as no more than a play track however as time progressed interest in the venue grew and 2003 the council hired UCI 4x track builder Phil Saxena to come and re-work the by now tired track.  Throughout the winter the site was levelled and re-built from scratch, forming the base from which the current track stands.  Interest increased further with the new developments, free coaching sessions started to help promoting grass roots interest in bmx as well as a substantial number of old skoolers coming out of the woodwork and riding again.

Ste Noble

Over time problems developed with the surface dressing on the new track eventually resulting in further work construction works being required.  During late April 2005 local riders began revamping the track to bring it up to national standards.  The construction works continued throughout the year with almost every section of the track being rebuilt (see construction pictures here).  Whilst trying to make a top class venue the builders of this current re-vamp were also keen to see new ideas in track building come through, with several of the features on the Summerhill track unique to this site. Currently these improvements are entering their final phase with 5 of the 6 straights completed and the official opening scheduled for early April 2006

Some useless track facts for:

-The track comprises of 6 straights each connected together by 5 180 degree burms cut into a steep hillside
-On average each of these burms stand over 12 ft high and have been built to the steepest possible gradient     -There are currently 14 jumps on the track : 7 doubles, 3 table tops, 1 step up, 1 quad and a tank jump
-When fully completed you can add another 5 or so to that list
-The biggest jump is the first double on the second straight which is 17ft long by approx 4ft high
-The gap between the table top and step up on the 4th straight is probably one of the tightest in UK BMX
-We believe the third burm to be the best in the UK (at least John and Ste do!)
-The track is around 460m long and will take Mr Average just over 1 minute to ride from top to bottom
-Your lungs seriously burn by the 4th straight, legs usually pack in somewhere on the 5th
-The highest double is the last on the 3rd straight and is about neck high
-It has take around 70 tons of top surface (mostly shifted by hand), 3 mini diggers, 1 full size 360 cat, a dumper and a hell of a lot of man hours to make it like it is today!

Here's some panoramic shots of the track, I hope you can get an idea of what its like.  The track for now just needs riding in order to help ride out construction marks, if you are anywhere near Hartlepool please please drop by and do you bit to help.
 

Click pictures to enlarge