FEATURE
MACAU GRAND PRIX
P84
Ayrton Senna. Quite a list.
The Macau Motorcycle Grand
Prix's Clerk of the Course, Car-
los Barreto, who is actually Por-
tuguese, adds, "Hong Kong was
the tourist stop of the day. British
drivers would come from Hong
Kong to drive the circuit. Some
drivers came from Australia. But
slowly it became famous and af-
ter some time it started to attract
many, many people. And!" He
stops to grin, "attracted a differ-
ent sort of race which started in
1967… the motorbike race."
He continued. "Bikes became
very popular and local people
wanted to join the event but
couldn't afford a car, so they'd buy
a bike. Of course, the bike races
were dominated by Japanese rid-
ers for the first several years."
In the 50 years which have
followed, the Macau Motorcycle
Grand Prix podium has seen
such greats as Kevin Schwantz,
Carl Fogarty, Didier de Radigues,
Steve Hislop, Robert Dunlop,
Steve Plater, Jeremy Toye (USA),
and of course TT Legends David
Jefferies, John McGuinness, and
Michael Rutter have all placed a
foot on its hallowed steps.
I asked Carlos, with Macau
now being a strict invitation-only
only race, how are the riders
chosen?
"We consider the performanc-
es and participation in other
road events like the Northwest
200 in Northern Ireland, the Isle
of Man TT, Ulster Grand Prix
and of course the Macau Grand
Prix—for the past two years and
the current year," he said. "How-
ever, if a strong team, say, from
the endurance world champion-
ship brings a name to us, we will
consider it."
Asked why the bikes continue
It sucks that this type of racing is
so amazing, but also so hazardous,
otherwise I'd do it forever.
Trusting
your circuit
knowledge
is crucial at
Macau.
