Thoughts on Assen
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!
Mid-Week Round-up 11/06/08
Lots of things have happened in the high-octane (couldn't resist) world of motor-sport over the last few days, but unfortunately, I haven't been able to write about it as I've been a bit busy. So here are some snippets of what has been going on:
Formula 1
Robert Kubica won his first Grand Prix at Montreal in Canada. Lewis Hamilton made a bit of a tit of himself by driving into Raikkonen, who was waiting behind a red light at the end of the pit lane. I don't think Ayrton was watching over him then, do you? Massa ignored the adage of overtaking with pit stops and just took two cars in one great, scrappy move at the hairpin. The BMW team are probably still drunk.
MotoGP
Dani Pedrosa won the Catalan Grand Prix by a country mile. Rossi held off current champ Casey Stoner for second. Plus, Britain's James Toseland (imagine Murray Walker's voice reading this) brought his bike home for a sterling sixth place, despite not having rode on the Barcelona track before.
Rallying
Citroen's Sebastien Loeb (the scruffy one, remember?) is leading the World Rally championship by one point from Finland's Mikko Hirvonen after seven rounds. The next rally will be held in Turkey, starting on the 13th of this month. I must apologise for not writing much about rallying at the moment, I intend to correct this asap.
Sportscars
Le Mans is ready to get going this weekend with Audi looking to take a third win for their R10 sports car. We will also be treated to the sight of a whole host of ex-F1 drivers taking part, including Jacques Villeneuve. Qualifying will be getting under way today this lunchtime.
Landrovers!
I found out about the Land Rover G4 Challenge event the other day. Things are still in the preliminary stages, but it looks to be a really interesting event. 4x4's being used for their real purpose: going off-road and covering terrain that an ordinary vehicle can't. Not driving two spoilt kids to school (although to be fair, Land Rovers are usually used by farmers for real work on the land, unlike the Porsche Cayenne). I'll be writing more about this event later.
There, conscience clean.
Formula 1: Canadian Grand Prix Preview
And so we come to the only North American round of the championship. The American Grand Prix at Indy is no more (the track was rubbish, only the banking was worth watching), leaving us with just the Canadian round in Montreal. The US is not short of excellent race tracks (Road America, Watkins Glen, Laguna Seca to name a few), but because none of them were designed by Hermann Tilke and are not situated in a dirty rich Middle-Eastern principality, means that they will probably wouldn't be considered at this moment in time. So for better or worse, I think we can wave goodbye to the American Grand Prix for the time being.
On to Montreal and Sunday's race. McLaren will be looking to build upon their success last time out in Monaco with Hamilton finding himself in the lead of the championship by three points. Raikkonen is probably none too pleased about his off-colour performance two weeks ago and should be fired up to do better this weekend. The two teams are both very evenly matched at the moment so things could go either way. Also, keep an eye out for the BMW team as they continue to become ever more competitive, with Kubica leading the way as Heidfeld continues to have tyre problems.
The Gilles Villeneuve track is surrounded by concrete walls that are in close proximity to the track and there have been some big smashes over the years, none more so than Robert Kubica's crash last year. As unsettling as the thought of that incident was last year, Kubica will probably have wiped that from his mind in order to get on with this years race (such mental discipline is something the top line drivers all seem to have). However, do expect someone to lose a wheel or a wing on those unforgiving walls.
MotoGP: Italian Grand Prix Preview
Fancy a foursome? I know I do. In case you think that you've stumbled upon an 'adult entertainment' site and the wife (or husband) is looking over your shoulder, fear not. I am merely referring to the current exciting four-way battle for the MotoGP crown. Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Casey Stoner and Dani 'Smiler' Pedrosa are all in the running and the rest of the season looks to be very promising indeed.
This week's round at Mugello is very much Rossi home territory, being both a local boy and multiple winner of the event, he will be very keen to win here once more. Lorenzo should be in better shape this weekend and should push Rossi harder. Stoner will probably just be hoping that there is no repeat of his last race, where he dropped down the order. The current champ needs a good points tally over the next race or two to stay in the running. Pedrosa holds joint second with Lorenzo in the championship and could take the lead if he does well this weekend.
In other news...
North West 500: I watched it for the first time the other day and was stunned. It was basically a motorcycling event from the 60's/70's!! Open roads, fast corners, aggressive racing, what more could you want? I must also mention the sad death of Robert Dunlop, who was thrown off his bike after it seized on him. My condolences to his family.
Max Mosley: Max is out to give his enemies a good spanking (I'm sorry, I couldn't resist), by accusing several racing clubs of trying to spread discord in advance of the forthcoming Extraordinary General Meeting of the FIA. This meeting will decide if he gets the chop by a vote of confidence.
I'm interested to see what will actually happen and I think the vote will come down to whether you feel leather and physical punishment has a place in motorsport or not. Most motorcyclists will go with the former, I imagine, but it's not up to them. Personally, I believe it doesn't matter as long as he does his job properly. Your private life is your private life and seeing that no-one apart from Max was getting hurt, it's no-one elses business. Most of the people who are up in arms about this incident probably have a fair few skeletons in their closet, but have yet to be found out...
I feel an 'In appreciation of' coming on (No, it won't be Mosley). Watch this space.