VOL. 51 ISSUE 25 JUNE 24, 2014 P63
cause in those days crashing in
these places could easily mean
certain death.
Spa was cut in length, and the
still-daunting new track was last
used for a GP in 1990. Something
similar happened to the Hocken-
heimring in Germany (128.121 av-
erage) and Austria's Salzburgring
(121.929) four years later.
So how important is speed in
racing? What has been lost, with
the new generation of slower cir-
cuits? And what (apart from the
obvious safety) has been gained?
We turned to riders both past
and present for the answers. The
old guys came up with by far the
best stories. Being racers (and
survivors), they were often less
about danger and fear and more
about the hunt for a technical
edge.
Steve Parrish, a close fifth in
that fastest-ever race at Spa and
later four times European truck
champion, explains: "The fear
and trepidation wasn't about dy-
ing, it was about not doing as
well as you'd expected. I worked
that out after I tried truck racing,
because I got nearly as nervous,
and clearly I was in nowhere near
in as much danger. I think most
of the nerves actually come from
wanting to achieve what you ex-
pect of yourself."
The Isle of Man TT was the
scariest and most dangerous of
WE GO BACK IN TIME IN GRAND PRIX RACING…
WHEN SPEED WAS EVERYTHING
When the subject of scary
fast circuits comes up,
Spa-Francorchamps is
always near the top. Wayne
Rainey (3), Kevin Schwantz
(34), Eddie Lawson (1) and
Christian Sarron (4) exit La
Source hairpin and head
down the hill that is the
frontstraight at Spa in 1989.
THE
D A N G E R Z O N E
