A possible road circuit

Sir,
With reference to your editorial on “Round the Houses” racing, I write to make a suggestion. The Northwest “200” motorcycle race uses a most interesting road-racing circuit. One races on real roads with “cats-eyes” etc. from one town to another, after the fashion of early town-to-town races. The circuit itself is “safe” for a sane driver, with few excrescences like concrete walls. The standard of road surfaces in County Londonderry is excellent. There are no legal problems—road-closing orders are easily procured. There is a quite excellent setting in a holiday area, and the whole race could be developed as a major attraction for people in the area and from across the water—it is only four or five hours by ‘plane and car from any big English city. In sum, this could be a race to equal the Monaco GP, of great appeal to “clubman”-type drivers.

On the subject of rioters etc., it need only be said that we ran an RAC hillclimb at Craigantlet and a World Championship Motor Cycle race, and many other events without any problems.

The area has many practical advantages—an area where you can enjoy driving and no speed limits, and more variety in road surfaces— who needs Continental Testing when you can use Irish roads?

Philip G. Gormley.
Claudy, Co. Londonderry.