A New Midland Road Circuit?

Remembering all the race circuits which were mooted in this country, at places as distant as Brighton, Dunstable, Birmingham, etc., but which never materialised, one takes stories of further ventures of this sort with a pinch of the proverbial salt. But it is pleasing to learn from the local Express & Star that when two Stourbridge architects, F. Heathcock and A. Bray, suggested, initially as a joke, that a new ring road in that town would be suitable for a Midlands Monaco G.P., the Mayor of Stourbridge, Alderman J. S. P. Poyner, instead of pouring the expected, cold water on the scheme, said while it was not the intention of the Council to build a race track when the ring road was planned, it would certainly put Stourbridge on the map if it could be used in this way. The Mayor appreciated that a tremendous amount of planning and safety considerations would be involved and that legal considerations might not allow racing on this road, but at least he has not dismissed the idea, as has Police Superintendent W. Patrick in saying he thinks the scheme extremely unlikely to be a feasible proposition.

The road concerned, with an extra loop round Hagley Road, Glasshouse-hill and Red-hill, would have a lap distance a little greater than the Monaco road circuit, and its banked corners, curves and a multi-storey car park which could form the pits, are apparently suitable. With existing circuits like Mallory Park, Castle Combe and Thruxton in some danger of being closed or restricted by pressure of public opinion, one must commend the Mayor of Stourbridge for not condemning out of hand the idea put forward by the town’s architects.