In Derbyshire, in the UK, close to the edge of the Peak District National Park, there is a network of routes that almost played a unique part in motorsport history.
In 1954, a plan was mooted to close a 12-mile circuit of public roads for automobile and motorcycle racing, to create a challenging mix of Spa-Francorchamps and the Isle of Man TT course.
Enthusiast peer Earl Howe drummed up support in the House of Lords, and the Paymaster-General said that a Private Bill in the House of Commons would not automatically be opposed.
Then in June 1955 came the Le Mans disaster and, overnight, the project died.
But you can still trace the circuit, and dream about what might have been.
Leave Ashbourne on the A515 for Buxton, and after the B5012 joins on the right you are on a switchback four-mile straight, where Jaguar D-types and Vanwalls would have hit 180mph (although now there’s a 50mph limit).
At the top of one of the inclines is a wicked double flick – Derbyshire’s answer to the Masta Kink.
Just before the hamlet of Sparklow a sharp right takes the track downhill and up again, where a short link would have been built to bypass the village of Monyash.
