Think back to 1986. For some of you that will be an impossible task and for that I am immensely jealous. But for everyone else, it was a time of no Internet, no mobile phones and one of questionable fashion sense as bright pastels threatened to blind innocent bystanders.

It was also a time of notable events in the world of motor racing. Formula 1 was enjoying its best-ever season as the giants of that era – Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna – fought it out until the very end, and the ferocious Group B rally cars were banned following tragedy at Rally Portugal.

There is, however, one significant milestone that seems to have faded into obscurity over the past quarter of a century, and that is Britain’s first ever street race: the Birmingham Superprix.

The long road to the Superprix

The inaugural Superprix was held on the August Bank Holiday weekend of 1986 (24th-25th August), and had been in the planning stages since the 1960s when Birmingham City Councillor Peter Barwell approached local man, and sometime sportscar driver, Martin Hone to assist in organising the first ever road race in Britain.

The idea was simple: transform England’s much derided second city into a glamorous hotspot by inviting the exciting world of international motor racing to the West Midlands. Actually realising this ambition, however, wouldn’t be quite so easy.

Political infighting and restrictions – not least British law which prohibited any form of racing on public highways – saw the project drag on for almost two decades. It did, on one occasion, come tentatively close to fruition when in 1972, Stirling Moss obtained permission from Birmingham City Council to hold a race, only for it to fall through at the last minute due to yet more wrangling behind the scenes.

But, prompted by the success of the ‘On The Streets’ demonstration event, where over 100,000 spectators turned out to witness 120 race cars participating in a cavalcade, city councillors suddenly had a change of heart and began to warm to the idea of hosting a road race around the streets of Birmingham.

By 1984 Hone’s perseverance was beginning to pay off, as council leaders had finally found a suitable circuit on which to host a road race – one that would be based near to the city centre and would provide the best background possible for television viewers across the globe. It had also been designed to go the wrong way round the one-way road system to prevent any copycat boy-racers from attempting the route themselves.

The major turning point in its gestation period came when the Birmingham Road Race Bill met the approval of Parliament in April 1985. Now, finally, preparations for the first Birmingham Superprix could begin in earnest.

As the year drew to a close, Birmingham City Council managed to pull off a large motorsport coup by announcing the event would be centred around the popular Formula 3000 category – a series immediately below Formula One – and would take place during the August Bank Holiday in 1986.

Goodness gracious, great balls of spray

Enthusiasm and overwhelming public support for the first Superprix increased as the months ticked by. Advanced ticket sales had reached 40,000 and, with 35 nations tuning into the live television feed, the event was deemed a success before a wheel had even turned.

Come race day (Monday 25th August), the event was dealt a bitter blow, however, when Hurricane Charley decided that it too wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Torrential rain lashed down on Birmingham solidly for almost 14 hours, and as a result, visibility was almost non-existent as the F3000 cars ventured out on their warm up lap.

Tommy Byrne and Pierre Henri-Raphanel had the honour of being the first of many spinners as they trawled their way around the 2.47-mile course, the latter disqualified as he struggled to slot into his grid position on the fifth row.

Despite some appalling conditions the race was still due to get underway at precisely 14:35, and it would have done, were it not for the fact water had short-circuited the electrics that controlled the starting lights.

After a 15 minute delay they eventually lined up again and, finally, the main event had begun. Somehow, given the treacherous conditions, they all managed to get through the first turn unscathed. A minor miracle, especially since some of the drivers claimed they had to use their ears as opposed to their eyes to know that the race had started!

Pierluigi Martini made a decent getaway at the front of the pack, but it was soon apparent that fellow Pavesi team-mate, Luis Perez Sala, was faster and, within the first couple of laps, Sala pulled off an overtaking manoeuvre for the lead at Tandon Turn.

Martini now found himself having to fend off advances from Michel Ferte, and on several occasions it looked as though Oreca Motorsport’s man would get in front of Martini, but it wasn’t to be.

Instead, it was Martini who was given another bite of the cherry as Sala’s lead had been significantly decreased when he spun at the tricky Redex Bend on lap 10. Having tapped the Armco barriers, the Spaniard lost a large portion of his front nose but, with his front wings relatively unscathed, was able to continue with little aerodynamic effect.

As they entered lap 22 the gap between Sala and Martini had been whittled down to just three seconds. With no let up in the rain, the circuit was effectively one massive ball of spray. Visibility was worsening with each passing minute and it was inevitable that the race wouldn’t go the full distance of 51 laps.

And sure enough, by lap 25 Andrew Gilbert-Scott sealed the fate of the race as he lost control on the exit of Bristol Street Motors Corner (his 22nd lap) and smashed into the abandoned March of Alain Ferte, showering the track with debris.

“The conditions were so bad you couldn’t even see flag marshals or the light of the car in front of you,” remarked Gilbert-Scott upon retiring. “Although the grip of my car improved after I pitted, it simply got sideways coming out of the corner and I had nowhere to go.”

As the marshals struggled to remove Ferte’s stricken vehicle, the Clerk of the Course, John Nicol, had seen enough and decided to call it a day by red flagging the race. Not an easy decision to make given the huge interest surrounding the event as well as the millions of viewers tuning in across the globe.

With the race abandoned and half-points awarded to the top six finishers, it was Sala who was crowned winner of the first Birmingham Superprix.

Final results after 24 laps

1	Luis Perez Sala	42m 24.40s	4.5 points
2	Pierluigi Martini	+2.31s	3 points
3	Michel Ferte	+6.40s	2 points
4	Eliseo Salazar	+11.65s	1.5 points
5	Pascal Fabre	+42.99s	1 point
6	Russell Spence	+54.84s	0.5 points

Further support races were later cancelled, and rumour has it the race organisers decided to quaff the bottles of champagne that were due to be handed out later that day.

The majority of the press viewed the inaugural Superprix as an anti-climax, a little unfair given one of the largest rainstorms ever to grace Britain dictated that the headline race would only reach half-distance.

But history had been made, and Birmingham showed that it could hold a road race, and that it did until 1990 when, faced with spiralling costs and a limited spectator capacity of 50,000, Birmingham City Council put it out to tender. With no bids forthcoming, the ‘Monaco of Great Britain’ came to a disappointingly premature end.

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