EDITORIAL. A PROMISING NEW YEAR, January 1933

HE New Year ! After two or three months of desolation that a long winter has to be faced,

brightened only by ocasional Trials, we can now feel that the next season is coming rapidly nearer.

Continental racing is assured of a full spell for 1933, both for competitors and spectators. Alfa Romeo will continue to race the 2.6 litre single seaters ; IVIaserati has already built his single seater 3 litre cars ; Bugatti will send to the line a team of new 2.8 litre racers ; and Mercedes-Benz will be represented throughout the season by a trio of specially built cars. What a magnificent prospect ! How lucky are Continental spectators to lave the chance of seeing a battle of such closely matched giants at the cost of only a train-journey ! And they will not be slow to take advantage of their good fortune, for last year they turned up in their hundreds of thousands at every race. Were it not for various projects—of which more anon—this exciting outlook might well plunge English enthusiasts into the deepest gloom. They would feel that at motor racing is enjoying a hey-day on the Continent which will be looked back upon in years to come in the spirit of “those were the days 1” For without a road course of our own to attract foreign competitors to our shores, England will not see a road race ; English cars will not take part in Grand Prix racing ; and English drivers will be forced to drive foreign cars on. foreign roads in order to enjoy the greatest sport in the world. England, with the finest roads in the world, the finest sports cars, and

thousands of motor-racing enthusiasts, has no road race of its own.

But enough of this melancholy In the project for the construction of a road-race course at Ivinghoe, only 30 odd miles from London, England has the means to become a power to be reckoned with in the motorracing world. English manufacturers will once more be able to compete on level terms with foreign competition Our drivers, too, having a difficult road circuit, at their constant disposal will have no difficulty in holding their own with the Continental ” aces ” of to-day. Still further to encourage the sport of road racing in Gt. Britain, two races to be held in 1933 are worthy of all the support that enthusiasm can give them. We refer to the J.C.C. race at Brooklands, and the R.A.C. event at Douglas, in the Isle of Man. The first is yet an

other proof of that spirit of pioneering which has ever placed the J.C.C. in the forefront of our clubs. Of the latter race, we feel with Sir Henry Birkin that, “why must we be sea-sick to watch our road racing ? “

With the sport booming more than ever on the Continent and a widespread interest in it being shown at home, the time has come when a definite step must be taken to construct an English road course. We cannot do better than by again quoting Sir Henry, “The cross-roads are reached now, offering the alternatives of continued lethargy and probable irretrievable loss of reputation or of advance towards the recovery of prestige.”