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Birmingham Superprix - Britain's most controversial circuit?
1972 - The Birmingham road race project suffers a setback

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Again there was a quiet spell at the beginning of 1972 until things started to happen again in the summer when on 6 July, the City fathers agreed in principle to a road race with a vote of 73 to 56 in favour. Photographs appeared in the local press of Sir Stirling Moss overlooking Martin Hone’s latest proposed circuit for a Birmingham Grand Prix. It seems that Hone upped the ante with a proposed 1971 race involving GT sports car and saloon races followed with a possible F2 race. Now he was pushing for a possible Grand Prix but there were still a lot of obstacles to overcome first.

The circuit layout had been changed many times and had still to be approved by the RAC. The project was gaining momentum and looking more and more hopeful until there was a big blow in November.

There was setback as at a council meeting it failed to gain the necessary two-thirds majority for the approval of a draft Parliamentary Bill to be presented at Parliament. City Council Labour Leader Sir Stanley Yapp said: “The idea of a motor race is now dead.”

Also on 8th November, the Birmingham Post headline read out: “GRAND PRIX FOR BIRMINGHAM STOPS ON COUNCIL GRID.”

The road race project, it seemed, had to wait for a change in local government, in the hope that the attitudes amongst the aldermen and the City Council to make the road race happen in the roads of Birmingham would swing.