How long is it since we got genuinely excited about a really great new circuit and were itching to drive it?

Can you believe it? Just when we’d got the idea that all new circuits are designed by the bloke who
does Tesco’s car parks, the Portuguese go and build the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, near Portimão. They have invested €195 million in this brand new place, which is about three miles long and looks a match for the best circuits in the world.

It’s got steep hills, blind brows, tricky corners and devilishly quick, sweeping bends through dips. Some say it resembles a section of the old Nürburgring but with plenty of safe, properly designed run-off areas in all the right places – and praise comes no greater than that. It varies in altitude by as much as 106 feet (32m). Completed late last year, it has already hosted a series of top international events for modern cars and bikes and it has been approved for F1, should the Portuguese decide to hold their own Grand Prix there.

A huge British contingent will be heading to the Algarve in mid-October for the circuit’s first ever big historic meeting. Luckily, I shall be among them: I’ve been invited to drive in the Sir Stirling Moss Trophy Race, a two-hour, two-driver event for 1950s sports cars being run by Motor Racing Legends. Tony Smith and I will drive a Maserati 300S.

Ralph Broad, founder of the legendary Broadspeed, lives not far away and he went on about it in glowing terms when he Skyped me last week. Ralph retired to Portugal nearly 30 years ago but I drove for him in the 1970s and we stay in touch. ‘It’s fantastic, Tony,’ he said, ‘and you’ll love it. I’ve driven round it
in my road car and it’s just amazing.’

That caught my attention, so I decided to contact Nick Leventis, who races both modern and historic cars, for his opinion. Nick tested there early this season and in August he did the Algarve 1000Km, a night race in the Le Mans Series, driving Strakka Racing’s new Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S. I suggested there hasn’t been a new circuit anything like it for decades.

Nick replied: ‘Absolutely. It is fantastic, like a rollercoaster, with lots of blind, fast crests and plenty of undulation. The main straight is very bumpy on the line and into Turn One. The last corner onto the straight is a very long, fast right-hander which is like a much longer version of the last turn at Estoril, again with some fairly lethal bumps on the exit. The setting is breathtaking – there is no other circuit like it and you are kept very busy. Once you’ve got your reference points, it is extremely quick.’

The Algarve circuit is the creation of Paulo Pinheiro, a Portuguese civil engineer and bike racing addict who set about creating his dream circuit seven years ago. A new company was set up to fund it, using mainly private capital and bank loans but also some money from the Portuguese Government. Once the new Radisson hotel opens next year, over €200 million will have been invested but the Algarve already claims to have the best circuit facilities in Europe. The main grandstand alone has 17,700 seats and there’s room for 70,000 spectators in all.

The Algarve Historic Festival in October will use the fast ‘Super Bike’ version of the circuit, which is 2.85 miles long. This will be the scene of the biggest historic racing event ever held in the Iberian peninsula, featuring at least 16 races for 12 categories of car, plus off-track entertainments. No doubt the latter will grow in future years but 2009 will include a celebration of Audi’s centenary, an exhibition of Mini clubs, a small market area, three parades in aid of children’s charities and many social events.

Apart from Sir Stirling Moss, who will be driving his own Osca in the race of his name, celebrity drivers at this stage include Bobby Rahal and Jochen Mass. The Portuguese have set up an obviously first class international event at an outstanding new venue.

That is impressive but I can’t stop thinking – how long is it since we got genuinely excited about a really great new circuit and were itching to drive it? Well, it seems the Portuguese have proved it can still be done. I look forward to reporting back after the event.