- Birmingham Superprix
Motorsport venue
Name = Birmingham Superprix |
Location =Birmingham ,England ,United Kingdom
Time =GMT
Events =Formula 3000 ,British Touring Car Championship ,Formula Ford 1600
Length_km = 3.8
Length_mi = 2.47
Turns = 7
Record_time = 1:22.91 (107.24mph )
Record_driver = Roberto Moreno
Record_team = Ralt RT21 Honda
Record_year = 1987
The Birmingham SuperPrix was amotor racing meeting held on a street circuit at the heart ofBirmingham ,England , from 1986 to 1990. Until 1990 the principal event was a round of the EuropeanFormula 3000 Championship, but support races includedBTCC andFormula Ford 1600 rounds, as well assports car racing .History
Early days
The idea of a motor race in the centre of England's second city was mooted in local council meetings as far back as 1966. A councillor from the Birmingham City Council asked Martin Hone to create a White Paper of proposing a street race to be presented to the City Council.
Stirling Moss obtained permission fromBirmingham City Council to hold a race in 1972, but the event never materialised. Although there was a demo run byPatrick Neve in his Brabham BT45 around the Bullring in 1976.It was not until the 6th November in 1984 that the council forwarded the
Birmingham Road Race Bill to Parliament on the 29th November in 1984, the members of the Parliament approved the Birmingham Road Race Bill in April 1985 and where it was passed and receivedRoyal Assent in October 1985. This allowed preparations for the "Birmingham SuperPrix" to begin. The event was to be centred around a race forFormula 3000 cars, at that time the last step up the career ladder beforeFormula One . The circuit was laid out on closed streets near the city centre, and the meeting was scheduled for two days during the August Bank Holiday.1986
In 1986, the first SuperPrix was held. The circuit was drenched by torrential downpours from the tail end of Hurricane Charley. Being laid out on public roads the circuit was bumpy, and the cars were thrown around badly. The front row was Pierluigi Martini and Luis-Perez Sala, followed by
Andrew Gilbert Scott . The championship leaderIvan Capelli span early on, in his March 86B Cosworth powered car. Because of long delays, the first race was run at a shorter distance. At every corner there seemed to be someone crashing. The race was red flagged when Andrew Gilbert Scott was experiencing handling problems after an earlier spin. When he exited the Bristol Street Motors Bend on the 21st lap, he lost it and crashed into Alain Ferté's stationary car, blocking part of the track, with Sala still fighting for the win from a fast catching up Martini.Luis Perez-Sala was given the win, andPierluigi Martini given second, withMichel Ferté taking third. The top six drivers was awarded half points as the race was red-flagged on the 24th lap, just before the halfway point of the 51 lap race.1987
The 1987 race was a complete contrast to the 1986 race. Instead of the track being rain-drenched, it was sun-drenched.
Mauricio Gugelmin was on pole, alongsideStefano Modena . Later on, Pierluigi Martini was forced to pit with electrical problems, whileRoberto Moreno had a tremendous race, having started from the pits after stalling before the warm-up lap. Modena made it his second win of the season, while Moreno took second after his pressure had caused Wallace to make a driving error at the Ferodo Corner. After his pole, Guglemin took third place.1988
The 1988 race was also sunny, but had two restarts. The first one was because of a huge accident involving David Hunt (brother of former F1 champion,
James Hunt ) was involved in a massive shunt, clippingClaudio Langes ' car as the cars front of them slowed down due to theBertrand Gachot /Andy Wallace accident at the Zenith Turn (Hunt's car managed to punch a massive hole into a wholesalers' shop wall at the fast Loctite Corner). The second stoppage was due to an incident involvingRussell Spence . After his car spun, blocking the road, a crane came to move his car. Spence was still in the car, and frantically waving at the crane driver to put his car down facing the right way. The car was lowered, but not in the right place and Spence got out of his car, and then the leaders got caught up in the incident.Roberto Moreno took the chequered flag after the 2nd restart, withMartin Donnelly and Martini in second and third respectively.As a result of the delayed F3000 race, the BTCC race (British Touring Car Championship) and other support races was cancelled due to the time limit imposed by the Road Race Bill.
1989
The F3000 race at the Birmingham Superprix was just as sunny as the two previous ones, there was a carnival atmosphere. But not certainly for
Martin Donnelly as he got a lot of attention for wrong reasons. It is because during the qualifying session after a spin at the Holts Corner, he abandoned his car, and watched with horror asErico Cheli t-boned his car. His Eddie Jordan Racing team worked very hard to get the Reynard car repaired, and thankfully he started the race with an incomplete livery. His team mateJean Alesi fought throughout the race withMarco Apicella . It stayed that way at the end, with Alesi beating Apicella by a slender margin. Donnelly came back to finish third.Circuit
The Birmingham SuperPrix circuit was laid down on public roads, just to the south-east of
Birmingham City Centre . Slightly unusually the circuit ran anticlockwise.ee also
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Sport in Birmingham External links
* [http://www.birmingham101.com/101SuperPrixMAP.html Proposals for a new SuperPrix and some history.]
* [http://www.ten-tenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=80521 Memories of the Birmingham SuperPrix.]
* [http://8w.forix.com/bsp.html 8W Forix article on the history of the Birmingham Superprix.]
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