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Can you help this Guy? This is his request for info:
For the past 9 months, I have been researching information on ‘Motorcycle Road Racing Circuits Past & Present’, emphasising on ‘true / real’ road or street racing circuits around the world such as the Isle of Man TT, Imatra, Brno, Sachsenring, Dundrod, Scarborough, Chimay, Hedamora, Opatija, Mettet, Frohburg, Vila Real, Spa-Francorchamps, Macau and Pirita-Kose-Kloostrimetsa ( Kalevi Suursõit) to name but a few.
The purpose of my research is to draft a manuscript towards the publication of a book to be entitled ‘ Road Racing Circuits since 1949 – A Worldwide History of Real Road / Street / Park Motorcycle Circuits Past & Present’, once I have been able to collate sufficient information. The history of the old road racing circuits has received precious little coverage, despite all the books which have been published on motorcycle racing throughout the years.
These have concentrated on either the riders / racers, championships or race bikes, and largely ignored the old road race circuits which formed the backbone of motorcycle racing in the late 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, before evermore stringent safely regulations forced the gradual demise of road circuits and dominance of permanent race tracks in motorcycle road racing.
I am preparing a series of spread sheets for each country, listing each circuit with details in changes to the lengths of the circuits, dates of races, class of races held (e.g. GP, International, TTF1, etc.) and categories of races (e.g. 125, 250, 350, etc.). The purpose of this is to illustrate that breadth and duration of real road racing in each country. Alongside these, I am collating and preparing a series of information sheets for each circuit, with a description of the name of each circuit, track layout plan, track location plan and features, history and photographs (past and present where possible!). With respect to the photographs, I am searching for photographs which illustrate the features or layout of the track, rather that just a picture of a racing motorcycle on an anonymous piece of tarmac or safety barrier!
The progress of my research was initially quite slow, picking up small snippets of information on road racing circuits from various books and magazines, but I am now in a position where I feel more focussed at to where to target for the particular information I am seeking, rather than casting my net wide and see what comes back. The FIM handbooks (if you can get hold of them!) are a valuable source of race dates, as are the earlier editions of Motocourse and the Motor Cycling Sports Yearbooks of the late 1950s and 1960s.
I have managed to find some really helpful contacts who have been able to provide details and photographs for some of the road races held in Estonia, Belgium, Australia and New Zealand (1950s).
However, there are quite a large number of countries which each have a history of motorcycle racing on road / street circuits, but for which I have found only very limited information. These include :- Finland (8 No. road circuits), France (34 No. road circuits), Germany (13 No. road circuits), Holland (10 No. road circuits), Portugal (2 No. road circuits), Sweden (3 No. road circuits), Czech Republic (at least 12 No. road circuits), Hungary (1 No.) and the Former Yugoslavia (4 No. road circuits).
I would be very grateful if you could give me guidance (the names of contacts, archives, publications, etc.) as to where I can find the information and details for which I am seeking for any of the countries that I have mentioned, and any other countries that you know of where motorcycle races are / have been held on road / street circuits.
I thank you in advance for any help which you are able to offer.
Regards.
Edward Youngs, York, U.K.
E-mail: Norward@lineone.net
