As far back as 1960, a group of motor sport enthusiasts proposed turning Birmingham into Britain’s answer to Monte Carlo. Perhaps because Gas Street Basin did not quite possess the allure of the French Riviera, this attempt to stage Britain’s first street race came to nothing. But the idea was revived from time to time, and in the late 1970s and early ’80s permission was granted for a series of parades of old racing cars to be held in the city. These proved such an attraction that the plan for a Birmingham street race reared its head once more, but this time with the backing of the local council. It was a period of high unemployment in the West Midlands and the city council was anxious to improve Birmingham’s rather dour image, to make it more attractive to investors and tourists. After a local referendum offered overwhelming support for the idea of staging a Grand Prix on the dual carriageways in the city centre, an Act of Parliament gave the official go-ahead. Public roads were to be closed over a two-day period around the 1986 August Bank Holiday. The Birmingham Super Prix was up and running.
A 2½ mile (4km), L-shaped circuit was mapped out around the inner ring road and adjoining thoroughfares, making it the fastest street circuit in the world. Sir Jack Brabham, who had business interests in the Midlands, voiced his approval of the event and the city council forked out £1.5 million in anticipation of attracting 100,000 spectators over the two days. Temporary grandstands were built and 8 miles (12.9km) of crash barriers and wire fences were erected to protect people and houses. The main race was announced as the 52-lap Halfords Super Prix – a round of the European Formula 3000 Championship, just one step below Formula One. Its inclusion was significant. For the ultimate goal was to bring the British Grand Prix itself to Birmingham.
Inevitably, not everyone in Birmingham welcomed motor racing to the city streets. Local church leaders decided to cancel some Sunday services because they thought the noise would make worship impossible and residents close to the circuit were made virtual prisoners in their own homes, a feeling intensified by the eight-foot-high wire fences which had suddenly appeared at the end of their small front gardens. Some were horrified at the prospect of trying to eat Sunday lunch while racing cars sped by at 150mph (241.4km/h) barely 10 yards (9.1m) from their dining-room windows.
Despite a delay to the start of practice after vandals had removed bolts from crash barriers, Sunday passed off smoothly. The spectator numbers were high – their behaviour guaranteed by the presence of around 1,000 police officers – and the standard of racing was first rate. Monday’s big race, the Super Prix, was therefore eagerly anticipated.
But the British summer rarely fails to disappoint. No matter that thousands of would-be spectators had pre-booked, that the event was being televised in 35 countries, or that a city’s sporting reputation was at stake: the heavens opened. And the more it rained, the more people stayed away, the police estimating that only 20,000 braved the elements on that Bank Holiday Monday. The prolonged and torrential downpour reduced the streets of hope to a river of broken dreams. The signs were ominous when driver Robin Smith was taken to hospital in a Thundersports race after his Ford-Cosworth had hit crash barriers at over 100mph (160.9km/h) and burst into flames, but the organisers were determined that the main course on the sumptuous menu should proceed. Thus the Super Prix began, only to disintegrate into a series of high-speed crashes on the slippery circuit. Finally, with two cars strewn across the road after 25 highly eventful laps, the decision was taken to abandon the race. Victory – of sorts – went to Luis Sala in an F3000 Ralt-Cosworth, but many drivers were critical of the organisers for not stopping the race earlier.
Although faced with a loss of £400,000 on the event, John Charlton, chairman of Birmingham City Council’s Road Race Committee, remained upbeat: ‘I am amazed we have been able to pull it off when everybody said that we could not. We have produced one of the best road race circuits in the world and we are guaranteed to hold it until 1990. We don’t do things by halves in Birmingham. We have bid for the Olympics in 1992 and we can bid for the Grand Prix. We want to make Birmingham the sporting capital of Britain.’
The world awaits.