Lydden Hill Race Circuit was founded in 1955 and laid down its defining purpose on 4 February 1967, when the sport of rallycross was invented there. Television producer Robert Reed and race organiser Bud Smith, working with circuit owner Bill Chesson, conceived the mixed-surface format to create a spectator-friendly racing discipline. The inaugural event was won by Vic Elford in a Porsche 911, combining tarmac and off-road sections in a format that would eventually grow into a global championship.
The mile-long circuit is the shortest road racing circuit in the United Kingdom, situated roughly halfway between Canterbury and Dover. It subsequently became a regular host for the Embassy and ERA European Rallycross Championships, with rounds organised from 1973 onwards by the Thames Estuary Automobile Club. Its billing as the "Home of Rallycross" has endured into the modern era, with the British Rallycross Championship using the circuit continuously since 1967.
Lydden Hill hosted the FIA World Rallycross Championship from 2014, the inaugural season of the series, through to 2017. The first round in May 2014 was held over the Easter weekend and was designated Round Two of the inaugural championship. Ford Olsbergs MSE driver Andreas Bakkerud won after a near-perfect performance across the event. Robin Larsson claimed second place in his Audi A1 Supercar, while Britain's Andrew Jordan completed the podium in front of his home crowd.
High-profile drivers competed at Lydden during the World RX years, including Petter Solberg and Liam Doran. The event ran under similar principles to the preceding FIA European Rallycross Championship rounds that had been staged at the venue.
Before the World RX era, Lydden hosted several notable rounds of the FIA European Rallycross Championship. When ERC returned for 2009 after a thirteen-year absence, multiple champion Kenneth Hansen won the Division 1 final in his Citroën C4. The 2010 round saw Norwegian driver Sverre Isachsen take his first European Championship victory in a Ford Focus ST, beating Hansen and local driver Liam Doran.
The 2011 ERC round drew around 13,500 spectators over the Easter weekend, with Isachsen again victorious in the SuperCars class. American Tanner Foust won the 2012 and 2013 ERC rounds at Lydden in his Ford Fiesta, the 2013 victory coming after championship leader Timur Timerzyanov dropped back with a punctured tyre.
A planned return of the World RX of Great Britain in July 2023 ended before it began when a fire broke out in the paddock on the eve of the first heat. The blaze destroyed the Special ONE Lancia Delta RX1e cars, forcing cancellation of the event. Drivers Sébastien Loeb and Guerlain Chicherit were subsequently forced to withdraw from the championship.
The circuit also hosted the American Nitro Rallycross series in June 2022 to open the 2022–23 season, marking the first time Nitro RX had raced outside North America.
Lydden Hill's status as the circuit where rallycross was invented gives the World RX of Great Britain an unmatched historical context. From the first mixed-surface race in February 1967 through decades of European championship rounds to the birth of the FIA's global series in 2014, the Kent circuit has remained at the centre of rallycross history. Its compact layout, combining tarmac and gravel sections, exemplifies the format the sport's founders envisioned when they created the discipline at this venue more than half a century ago.