Construction began in late 1999 on a brownfield site formerly known as the Deene Iron Ore Quarry, a reclaimed British Steel works location. The facility was originally named Deene Raceway. The Speedway was designed from the outset to import American-style oval racing — both NASCAR Stock Cars and CART Indycars — to the United Kingdom, and the infield space was used to construct multiple road circuit configurations, including several rovals using portions of the oval banking.
Following almost a decade of planning and 23 months of construction, Rockingham opened on 15 January 2001 and was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 26 May 2001.
The oval circuit measured 1.479 miles (2.380 km) in length and 60 feet (18.3 m) in width, with a maximum banking angle of seven degrees. Its four corners were each distinct in character, and the banked configuration allowed for very high sustained speeds. Rockingham's oval was unique within the United Kingdom and one of only two banked speedways in Europe, the other being the Lausitzring in Germany.
The circuit could be converted from a pure oval to a road course layout by positioning temporary chicanes and curves on both the main surface and the apron.
In September 2001, the Champ Car CART FedEx Championship Series held its first-ever European oval race at Rockingham — the Rockingham 500, shortened to 300 km in the aftermath of the 11 September terrorist attacks in the United States. Most teams had already shipped equipment to Europe for the German 500 the previous weekend, and the race proceeded despite the difficult circumstances. Teams removed sponsor liveries as a mark of respect. Victory went to Gil de Ferran in a Marlboro Team Penske Honda-powered Reynard 01I, who overtook Kenny Bräck on the exit of Turn Four on the final lap at a race average speed of 153.41 mph (246.89 km/h). Patrick Carpentier set the outright lap record in qualifying at 25.551 seconds, equating to 210.59 mph (338.91 km/h), becoming the first Canadian to hold the outright lap record at an English circuit.
The series returned in September 2002 for the full 500 km distance. Scotland's Dario Franchitti won in his Team KOOL Green Lola-Honda, leading Cristiano da Matta by 0.986 of a second at the flag. This proved to be the last Champ Car race at Rockingham.
The unofficial outright oval lap record stands at 0:24.719, set by Tony Kanaan in his Lola B01/00 on 22 September 2001, at an average speed of 215.397 mph (346.648 km/h).
The International Super Sportscar Circuit (ISSC), measuring 1.940 miles (3.122 km), was Rockingham's primary road circuit and the one used by the British Touring Car Championship. Combining long straights and sweeping high-speed bends — including the notorious Turn 1 and Gracelands — with a slower technical infield section, it produced lap times ranging from around 1 minute 24 seconds in the BTCC to 1 minute 12 seconds in British Formula Three. The circuit varied in width between 36 and 60 feet (11 and 18.3 m) with a maximum seven-degree bank at Turn 1.
Rockingham also operated a wet handling area with a kick plate simulating ice, rain, and wet-leaf road conditions for driver training purposes.
Rockingham entered administration in 2017. Its final professional race meeting took place in November 2018, followed by a ceremonial "super send-off" on 24 November 2018. The site was subsequently purchased by Rockingham Automotive Limited for vehicle storage and logistics operations, and in mid-2021 was acquired by Constellation Automotive — the parent company of Cinch and We Buy Any Car — for £80 million. The former circuit has since been used for Cinch's online car-review video content.
The venue appeared in several television productions including Top Gear, The Grand Tour, Fifth Gear, and Wheeler Dealers during its operational years.