1986 Hungarian Grand Prix

When mention was first made about a possible Hungarian Grand Prix being entered on the 1986 FISA World Championship calendar, most people raised their eyebrows briefly and took little notice. It had been fifty years since Grand Prix cars last raced through a Budapest park and street circuit and although rounds of the European Touring Car Championship were held through the cobbled streets of the city during the 1960s, the thought of full-blooded turbocharged Grand Prix cars appearing again appeared a little fanciful.

However, through the enthusiasm of the Hungarian Automobile Federation and the commercial initiative of the Formula One Constructors Association, a deal was struck to bring this most capitalist of professional sports to the Eastern Bloc. Budapest was a wealthy watering home for the rich and socially prominent when Tazio Nuvolari put the city on the motor racing map with his splendid Alfa Romeo victory in 1936 and on a wider “gossip column” front, one of the European capitals which attracted the Prince of Wales and Wallis Simpson on their pre Abdication Crisis holiday travels round Europe.

A street race was obviously out of the question. A track laid out in the centre of Budapest would have eclipsed even Monaco for sheer architectural splendour and elegance. But, realistically, there was no way of organising such a spectacle. Instead, it was decided to construct a purpose-built circuit some 12 miles or so from the centre of the city, the 4.014km, 2.494 mile Hungaroring straddling a small valley just off one of the major motorways.