As the bright red ball rose above the distant horizon, the tens of thousands of voices that had penetrated the darkness and dawn from the packed Jerez hillside above Curvas Angel Nieto and Peluqui turned into shining faces.
As their national hero and Grand Prix winner performed a back flip off the surrounding wall, the packed towering grandstands that almost blocked out the light on the Le Mans start and finish straight, turned into a cacophony of sound. A roar of patriotic pride that could almost be a heard in Paris 200 kms away.
Iconic moments at iconic European venues. Circuits that are the very lifeblood of grand prix Motorcycle racing in both the good and bad times. Venues such as the Sachsenring, Brno, Assen, Mugello, Barcelona and Silverstone that have reflected historic moments of world history in the last 76 years. We all welcome and fully understand change with the enormous expansion of MotoGP across the globe, but those old established stalwarts have never let us down. They have been and still are the very backbone of the Championship.
Just seven years after the finish of the second World War, international sport was scarce in war ravished Germany. Grand Prix motorcycle racing gave a glimpse of sunlight in very dark times by staging the very first German Grand Prix at Solitude. An estimated crowd of 400,000 turned up to witness Reg Armstrong win both the 350 and 500 cc races for Norton. The attendance is still regarded as one of the largest ever to watch a Motorcycle Grand Prix.
With Germany split into two those massive attendances continued to flock to the Sachsenring in East Germany. A rare glimpse into the outside western world for 250,000 plus beleaguered fans causing major problems for the dreaded Stasi police. In 1971 West German Dieter Braun won the 250cc race. The West German National anthem had to be played at the rostrum ceremony but was not relayed to the vast celebrating crowd. It was the same story in communist ruled Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia at the Brno and Opatija road circuits.
The venue of the British Grand Prix was part of that historic connection but also led a revolution that changed the sport. Like so many racing circuits in Britain the flat Northamptonshire countryside was the perfect site for a World War two airfield. Between 1943 and 1946 Silverstone was an operational bomber station. When the war ended and the RAF left, some locals held impromptu races on the three deserted runways after clearing away the grazing sheep. Organised races for both motorcycle and cars soon followed and the home of British motorsport was born. In 1950 Silverstone staged the very first World Championship Formula One Car Grand Prix but a two-wheeled counterpart was still a long way off, despite MotoGP being an even older championship.
The British round of MotoGP was staged at the legendary TT Mountain circuit on the Isle of Man. The World Championship’s very first race was held there in 1949 and there was no chance then of it switching to the mainland on a purpose-built circuit. Two and a half decades later it was a very different story. Despite the lack of a World Championship round and the focus on car racing, Silverstone staged some big prestigious non-championship bike meetings. They gave British fans a rare opportunity to watch World and potential World Champions in action.
Silverstone was the nearest circuit to my Oxford home. I made my first trip there in 1963 riding my ex-Post Office 125 cc BSA Bantam with the single triangular seat on the 35 kms journey. Another Oxford boy called Mike Hailwood made the same short journey but definitely not on a BSA Bantam. Riding the mighty four-cylinder MV Agusta he dominated the Hutchinson 100 meeting, and I was hooked. Later those Silverstone events gave us our first glimpse of future World Champions. The brilliant Jarno Saarinen and a certain long haired young man who was never slow voicing his opinions and wore brightly coloured leathers. Barry Sheene had arrived to start a love hate relationship with Silverstone where World Championship status finally beckoned.
In 1977 the Silverstone circuit led the revolution when it hosted the first ever British Grand Prix. It was the first time a grand prix had switched from a road track that had been the backbone of the World Championship for 28 years, to a purpose-built circuit. Leading riders, teams and federations had become more and more concerned about safety at the 60.721 kms TT circuit on the Isle of Man. Fifteen times World Champion Giacomo Agostini vowed never to race there again after his great friend Gilberto Parlotti was killed in the 125 cc TT. The Spanish Federation banned their riders competing after Santiago Herrero lost his life in 1970. Many of the top riders stopped competing especially as only a certain number of your best results resulted in your ultimate World Championship position.
The revolution was gaining momentum. Over the following 20 years those famous road circuits such as Brno, Nürburgring, Sachsenring, Montjuic and Opatija built purpose-built tracks to survive as World Championship venues. The arrival of the British Grand Prix was perfect timing for motorcycle racing in Britain. Sheene had put the sport on the front pages from the back pages of the national newspapers with his activities both on and off the track. He was a national hero after retaining the 500cc World title for Suzuki and Silverstone was the final round. Sheene and the country wanted to celebrate but it was not to be. An overheating problem caused him to retire in the race after starting from pole, but the chance of a home victory was very much on the cards to the delight of the massive patriotic crowd. With a few laps remaining his great friend Steve Parrish led the way with another Suzuki rider John Williams in second place. Barry hung out the infamous ‘Gas it W…..’ pit board to his mate but this was England in August. As Parrish turned his head to smile at the pit board a few spots of rain splattered on his visor. With just a handful of laps remaining Parrish lost the front end of the Suzuki going into the first corner at Copse. The crowd hardly found time to groan when Williams went down three bends later. American Pat Hennen won just his second grand prix with countryman Steve Baker in second place. It was the first time American riders had finished first and second in a Grand Prix and was just a foretaste of the transatlantic invasion that was gaining momentum.
It was also a historic day for British racing but for very different reasons. The chance had gone. A British rider has never won the premier class race at his home Grand Prix and Parrish never won a Grand Prix. Two years later in 1979 Sheene came so close in a Silverstone classic that is still talked about. BBC television with the legendary Murray Walker on the microphone showed the race live. Sheene went head-to-head with Kenny Roberts, the man who had ‘stolen’ his world title the previous year. These two greats did not let us down. Lap after lap they swapped positions. At one point down the 250 kph Hanger straight Sheene stuck two fingers up behind his back to Roberts which nobody believed, apart from Murray Walker who thought he meant Roberts was in second place. At the chequered flag Roberts won by just three-hundredths of one second in a battle that showed two great World Champions at the very pinnacle of their talent.
As if winning the Grand Prix was not enough it was a busy and historic weekend for Kenny. Together with journalist Barry Coleman they announced the formation of a World Series in direct competition to the FIM World Championships. They had wanted to leave the announcement until the following season but all the leading Grands Prix riders, including Sheene, were so disillusioned with safety and money they insisted on going ahead early. It was a historic day in the Silverstone paddock. The riders taking on the establishment. The World Series never happened but the very threat was enough. At last riders were treated with respect and listened to. Safety improved dramatically, the archaic start money system was scrapped, and prize money was increased by a staggering five hundred per cent.
In the eighties Silverstone and their boss Jimmy Brown were so keen to promote Motorcycle racing they launched their own grand prix team. Niall Mackenzie and Donnie McLeod with former grand prix winner Chas Mortimer at the helm competed in the 250 and 350 cc World Championships, but all was not well at their home base. Bad weather in particular had kept grand prix attendances down. In 1987 The British Grand Prix switched to Donington Park. Valentino Rossi loved the parkland undulating track. The Italian won his first 500cc Grand Prix at Donington in 2000 and went on the win four more premier class races to receive Sheene like adulation from the British public. In 2008 Scott Redding brought rare British success winning the 125cc race. At the time he was the youngest ever grand prix winner at the tender age of 15 years 170 days.
In 2010 the British Grand Prix returned to Silverstone after a 23-year absence. Jorge Lorenzo won the MotoGP race on route to the World title.
On its return to Grand Prix racing, the ultra-fast flat former wartime airfield has provided amazing racing amid some typical British weather. Three wins for Lorenzo, Suzuki victories for Maverick Viñales and Alex Rins and the cancellation of race day in 2018 because of the rain. Cal Crutchlow almost did it for the home crowd with second place in 2016, but the success-starved fans found something to cheer about with victories for Danny Kent, Scott Redding and Jake Dixon in the Moto3/Moto 2 races respectively.
Surely last weekend’s crowd of over 310,000 packing every acre of Le Mans for the Michelin French Grand Prix, was the largest sporting crowd in the world that weekend. Just two weeks earlier around 225,000 made the pilgrimage to southern Spain for the opening Grand Prix of the European season. Staggering attendances even for these iconic European venues that are the very lifeblood of Grand Prix Motorcycle racing. Long may they continue.
Figures do not lie.