Rob Garratt Firefighters fought through the night to tackle a serious blaze at an industrial premises.A total of 12 appliances were called to the fire in Shropham, near Attleborough.

Rob Garratt

A Norfolk-based motorsports team was completely destroyed by a blaze in the early hours of this morning - but the team's director has pledged that they will continue to race this season.

The inferno ripped through an industrial estate and totally destroyed P1 Motorsports, who have competed in British Formula Three and now race in the World Series by Renault.

But today director Roly Vincini said they will be ready for their next race.

Firefighters fought through the night at the blaze in Oak Tree business park in Hargham Road, Shropham, which broke out at around 7pm yesterday and was brought under control at around 0.40am today.

Speaking today P1's director Mr Vincini said: “I went there this morning and the whole factory has gone.

“It's all gone. It's all been melted to the ground. The whole race team is gone.

“We're struggling. I'm meeting with the guys today to tell them.

“I don't know what to say, every single thing is gone - 10 years of photos and trophies and all the things you can't buy back, all completely melted.

“We've been up all night and now we're just trying to get ready for the next race. We're fortunate that the next race isn't until the 18th, and we will be ready.”

A total of 12 appliances were called to the fire, and the service sent a water carrier and support appliance, aerial appliance and support and a control unit to the incident.

Firefighters were still on site this morning.

Hargham Road resident David Gray saw the fire first hand from his home which he says is under 100m from the estate, but is protected by a bank, and let the fire service use his driveway as a control base.

Mr Gray, 47, a prison officer, said: “It was a bad night, the whole lot went up. It went right on all through the morning.

“I came home from work and saw all these fire engines and thought it was my house.

“The fire service set up a base in my drive, and the local community served hot drinks from my neighbors garden, because the fire service were working long hours.

“The racing team lost everything. There's absolutely nothing, it's all gone, there's just twisted metal left.

“Three or four businesses have been destroyed, and I don't think there's a business on the site that has not been affected.”

Was your business affected by the blaze? Call Evening News reporter Rob Garratt or email rob.garratt@archant.co.uk.