The Grand Prix circuit begins on Brabham Straight, a slightly curved and off-camber approach to Paddock Hill Bend — a steep, fast right-hander with an 8% gradient that descends sharply into the valley. The track climbs to Druids hairpin, reached after an uphill braking zone at Hailwood Hill, before descending through the off-camber Graham Hill Bend and along Cooper Straight beside the pit lane. From there, Surtees corner leads onto the back straight, where cars reach their highest speeds. The most severe elevation changes occur at Pilgrim's Drop and Hawthorn Hill, which leads into Hawthorn Bend at gradients approaching 7%. The circuit then threads through a woodland section via Westfield, Dingle Dell, and the blind Sheene Curve (formerly Dingle Dell Corner, renamed after Barry Sheene's death in 2003). A final sweeping left at Stirlings Bend brings cars back to Clark Curve and rejoins the Indy Circuit for the run to the start-finish line.
Brands Hatch first hosted the Formula One British Grand Prix in 1964, sharing the race with Silverstone in alternate years. Jim Clark won that inaugural event in a Lotus 25, beginning a long tradition of memorable results on the Kent circuit. The circuit hosted the race again in 1966, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, and 1986 — twelve British Grands Prix in total — plus the 1983 and 1985 European Grand Prix.
Significant moments in Formula One history at the circuit include Jo Siffert's victory in 1968, won in a privately entered Lotus 49B that was delivered to the track and completed in the paddock on the morning of the meeting — a private entry winning a Grand Prix. The 1976 race was marred by controversy when James Hunt was initially declared winner after a restart, then disqualified by the FIA for not completing the first lap; Niki Lauda was awarded the win. The 1986 race, which proved to be the circuit's final Formula One event, saw a first-lap accident that ended Jacques Laffite's career on his 176th Grand Prix start — equalling Graham Hill's then-record. Nigel Mansell won that race in a Williams-Honda, having started from the spare car after the original stoppage.
The circuit lost the British Grand Prix permanently to Silverstone after 1986, when the BRDC signed a seven-year contract with FISA. Brands Hatch was seen as having insufficient run-off area and limited room to expand — constraints that a former wartime airfield like Silverstone did not share.
Nigel Mansell scored his first Formula One victory at Brands Hatch in the 1985 European Grand Prix, driving a Williams-Honda FW10B at 125.795 mph. The 1985 Brands Hatch 1000km World Endurance Championship round saw Porsche take a 1-2 finish, with Derek Bell and Hans-Joachim Stuck sharing the winning 962C. Jaguar's XJR-8 and XJR-9 dominated the World Sportscar Championship rounds held at the circuit in 1987 and 1988. The circuit also hosted a USAC Indy-car round in 1978, won by Rick Mears, which gave the shorter inner loop its "Indy Circuit" name.
Desiré Wilson became the first woman to win a Formula One race — albeit a non-championship British Formula One Championship round — at Brands Hatch in 1980, driving a Wolf WR4. The circuit also witnessed the European car racing debut of Ayrton Senna in March 1981.
After losing the Grand Prix, the circuit continued to host major international series. DTM returned for multiple seasons from 2006 to 2013 on the Indy layout, then switched to the full Grand Prix configuration for events in 2018 and 2019. World Superbike Championship rounds were held at the circuit from 1993 to 2008, producing celebrated moments including Carl Fogarty's victories in 1995 and James Toseland's double in 2007. The British Touring Car Championship and British Superbike Championship remain regular visitors.
The circuit underwent significant change in 2002-03 when the Dingle Dell chicane was removed and the section reprofiled into Sheene Curve following a request from the FIM ahead of the Superbike World Championship visit.
The all-time unofficial lap record on the Grand Prix configuration is 1:06.961, set by Nelson Piquet in a Williams FW11 during qualifying for the 1986 British Grand Prix. The race lap record was set by Nigel Mansell with a time of 1:09.593 in the same Williams at the same event. In its current post-2003 configuration, the benchmark stands at 1:12.276, set by Adam Carroll in an A1 Grand Prix car during the 2008-09 season.
Due to residential development adjacent to the Clearways complex, Brands Hatch operates under a noise curfew between 18:30 and 08:30. The proximity of the Grand Prix loop to local residents restricts use of the full configuration to a handful of high-profile events per year, typically the BTCC, British Superbike Championship, and selected international series. The venue is owned and managed by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision, which acquired it in January 2004.