The land on which the circuit sits was once part of the Oulton Estate, which surrounded a large manor house, until it burned down in 1926 and was later bombed by the Germans in World War II.

After this, the Mid-Cheshire Motor Club secured a lease from landowner Sir Philip Grey Egerton, of the family which had owned the estate for almost 500 years, to develop a motor racing circuit.

The first race took place in 1953, on a layout broadly resembling the ‘Fosters’ layout of the present day, save for missing out Cascades and Knickerbrook.

The following year the circuit was extended, firstly to the Island bend hairpin before taking in the full extent of the International circuit, including the banked hairpin bend, later that year.

That year the famous Oulton Park Gold Cup was established, an event which was initially open to single seaters including the Formula 1 cars of the 1950s to 1970s, before latterly switching to categories such as Thundersports, F3000, the BTCC and GT cars. Nowadays the award is part of the circuit’s Historic Racing scene.

The Fosters circuit, named after long-time circuit manager Ray Foster, was introduced in 1975 and this became the mainstay for car racing, although in 1984 the BTCC moved to the Island layout before returning to the International circuit in 1987 for ten years.

In 1987 the chicane now known as Foulston’s was added after the Shell Oils hairpin, and in 1992 Knickerbrook corner became a chicane after the tragic death of Paul Warwick a year previous. The chicane was remodelled in late 2002 in the last major change to the circuit’s layout.

The pits and main control tower were demolished and rebuilt in 2002. The circuit was acquired by Jonathan Palmer’s MotorSport Vision group in 2004.