The fire started at about 2.45am on Sunday and at its height it was tackled by four crews of firefighters from Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire and the Santa Pod fire crew.

The fire service evacuated a number of people from the area during the incident and had to tackle the blaze from a distance because of concerns there were oxygen and other gas cylinders in the building.

But no one was injured and the incident was quickly brought under control.

Speaking to the Evening Telegraph on Sunday, Santa Pod marketing manager Caroline Day said: "We don't know what the cause of the fire was yet but sadly the medical centre was completely gutted.

"It's a real shame because it was brand new and a lot of the money for it had come from the racers club and from donations.

"However although this is very disappointing we will get back on our feet soon.

"We've put up a temporary medical facility so we could carry on with the racing and although the race meeting was late starting because of what happened we will be racing until about 8pm."

The finals took place from Thursday to Sunday and attracted more than 300 of the top drag racing teams from all over Europe.

It included UEM drag bikes, 300mph top fuel dragsters, top methanol dragsters and funny cars.

However, Saturday's racing had to be called off because of the torrential rain.

Anyone who had tickets for Saturday's event can find out how much credit is available to them by visiting www.santapod.co.uk.

Forthcoming attractions at the racetrack include the Monster Truck finals next Sunday and the Ultimate BMW Show on Sunday, September 21.