Santa Pod to mark 60 spectacular years in 2026

Living your life a quarter mile at a time has changed a bit since 1966...

By Matt Bird / Thursday, 19 March 2026 / Loading comments

There can’t be many motorsport venues out there with the singular prominence of Santa Pod. While plenty of circuits and stages exist in the UK, it’s the only permanent venue of its kind we have. Any mention of drag racing in the UK won’t get far without the Northamptonshire track coming up. And as the first purpose-built drag racing venue in Europe, it’s always been significant across the continent for quarter-mile racing. Now, Santa Pod - Santa to evoke Southern California, because that’s drag racing mecca, Pod for Podington, the former name of the airfield on which it sits - is celebrating 60 years of fast and furious action.

It was Easter Monday, 1966 that the strip first opened its gates to the Great British public. Imagine taking your Mini to watch cars reach 160mph in 402 metres 60 years ago - it must have seemed like real-life science fiction. Back then, the tagline was ‘Cars so fast, they need parachutes to stop them’; part and parcel of drag racing life nowadays, but again a totally alien concept when most road cars were still using drums to slow down. And consider this for progress: not only are dragsters literally twice as fast as when Santa Pod opened - the track record is currently 3.7 seconds, at 321mph - there are now road cars that can match the terminal speeds of those original purpose-built racers. See the Corvette ZR1X, which has recorded 8.675 at 159mph - without a parachute in sight…

To mark the big birthday, Santa Pod is hosting a number of special weekends; celebrations that will run in addition to the events that take place every year, every weekend bar the August Bank Holiday from March to October. So there are FIA/FIM European Championship Events in May and September, Dragstalgia in June, the Bug Jam VW festival in July and the Ultimate Street Car Weekend on the first August weekend. Mostly mainstays in the Santa Pod calendar, but enjoying an extra significance in this anniversary year. The birthday will also be marked by a new range of merchandise and artwork.

So if you’ve never tested your car’s launch control, maximum shift speed and onboard telemetry at a globally recognised drag strip, what better time than Santa Pod’s 60th birthday? They do drift days, too, if you’re more about smoke than speed. Fun is guaranteed either way - watch this old PH video for proof.