07.03
After watching the Dutch TT last Saturday, a few things sprung to mind about motorsport and racetracks.
I would never argue that the conditions that bike racers put up with in the 60’s and 70’s were anything but sub-standard. Racing on circuits that made no effort with safety provisions and next to non-existent pay (unless you were a top rider with the gift of the gab, step forward Mr Sheene), is not a situation that one would want to return. However, progress, big business and professionalism isn’t always a good thing as we do appear to be in the middle of an era where the racetrack takes a poor second to grandiose pit buildings and hospitality suites. Racetracks have to be TV friendly, i.e. short with plenty of slow corners so sponsors logos can be seen and not much else going for them. Unfortunately many old tracks are following these developments and seem desperate to copy them, including Assen.
The Cathedral of racing
There are only two permanent racetracks in Holland: Assen and Zandvoort. Whilst the latter is regarded as one of Formula One’s great tracks, the former has hosted the Dutch TT as part of the Motorcycle World Championship since it’s beginning, held races since 1923 and is regarded as the ‘Cathedral of Racing’. Originally a loose triangle of local public roads, the track had two long road layouts before settling on a more permanent 5 mile (approx) arrangement in 1955.
The track consisted of local farm roads and featured lightly banked curves that helped maintain a bikes speed. As a result, the track was quite narrow, yet it retained the ‘crown’ of a normal public road and was ideal for bike racing. One interesting fact is that despite the changing layout of the track through the decades, the start/finish area remained the same, with riders lining up on the same grid that their predecessors lined up on back in the forties.
If you want to see Assen in it’s classic guise, click here to see local hero, ‘Jumping’ Jack Middelburg, take a well deserved victory at the 1980 Dutch TT. It is also interesting to note that the second place man is one Graziano Rossi, Valentino’s father, who was gaining a name for himself as fine rider before injury cut his career short. You’ll also notice that the Assen track was twice the length, with the full Northern loop in operation. Whilst a real challenge with some quick corners, it was no Nurburgring or Imatra (both on the calendar that year) in the danger stakes, with the latter requiring the bikes to wheelie over a railway crossing!!!
Watching the clip it was also interesting to see how Health and Safety hadn’t got to the Netherlands at that point. Crowds are closer to the track and there are trees and tractors on the infield (admittedly nowhere near where riders were likely to crash). As cars break for the Strubben hairpin you can see a pond, a car and a pile of people positioned inside! Not to mention a large pile of cigarette ends and crisp packets everywhere…
Modern day woe
Compared with this film, Assen 2009 seemed a far more clinical affair, despite a master-class from Valentino Rossi, fine weather and what looked like an incredibly drunk crowd. To say that the circuit has been emasculated in recent years is something of an understatement. This may be in the owners desire to attract more money and a Champ Car. Hire Hermann Tilke and to redesign your track and you will see fast stretches replaced by second gear complexes and challenging corners made easy.
As of 2006, the whole of the North Loop was discarded (a small amount was cut out in 1984) and a Tilke complex of slow bends were put in to replace it. The second half of development has yet to be completed: a museum about the Assen TT circuit, built on part of the Assen TT circuit!!! Just shows that some people get promoted higher than they should…
However, as this article from the MotoGP matters website shows, there are other problems that Assen faces in this hypocritical, money-only-matters age. With people like F1’s Bernie Ecclestone squeezing every last drop out of them in fees and cynical businesses biting the hand that feeds, race circuits don’t have a great time of things do they? Ok, that’s my rant over, I’ll go and quiver in the corner of a darkened room now.
Now for something slightly different…
By the way, it’s the US Grand Prix for MotoGP this weekend. Let’s hope for some more superb racing, like we saw last year!

