British MX GP
Matterley Basin, the new venue for the British Motocross
Grand Prix, is now in the process of being constructed and
chiselled by track designer Johnny Douglas Hamilton who moved
onto the site last week. Poor weather originally prevented
work from beginning five days ago but the Scot and his team
are now marking out the course that will host the 8th round
of the 2006 FIM Motocross World Championship on June 17/18
and also the biggest off-road motorcycle race in the World,
the Motocross of Nations, on September 23/24.
Hamilton, previously responsible for the Arreton circuit
on the Isle of Wight, the Sun City layout in South Africa
and also the acclaimed re-design at Matchams Park for the
2005 British Grand Prix, offered his thoughts on the new project.
“I am 100% keen to get cracking,” the former
British Championship racer confessed. “One of the main
reasons to feel so positive about this job is the fact that
the land itself presents one of the best layouts and landscapes
I have ever had to work with. In terms of making it good for
spectating it is a little bit like having an open goal; it
will be impossible not to impress,” he added. “The
difficult part will be to make something that the riders will
enjoy and appreciate as much as the fans, but the elevation
changes should be really exciting.”
“Well the process is normally quite simple,”
he offered regarding the work ahead. “First of all we
mark out the layout with pegs before starting to work on the
soil. We spend quite a lot of time on preparation of the ground.
We then start to shift the dirt around to positions on the
track where the obstacles and jumps will be. We take time
to mould the obstacles and corners and then work on the landscaping.”
Hamilton, from Edinburgh, will be working on the track situated
just outside of Winchester right up until the mid-June date
that will see an expected attendance of thirty thousand race
fans arrive to witness his handy work. “At most GPs
you are working until the final few days in terms of things
like the aesthetics and the decorative landscaping but the
structural work will be long finished at least a week or two
before the race itself,” he informed.
“I felt a little bit of pressure having a clean slate
initially but I have found in the past that it is actually
more difficult to work around someone else’s ideas than
to fashion your own from scratch,” he said. “Now
I can do the track in any style I want and it is the perfect
scenario really. We can really go to town and make it good.
The backing of the promoter is excellent and with the amount
of machinery and manpower they are prepared to throw at the
venue we have the best tools for the job.”
Matterley Basin was bizarrely denied permanent planning permission
last week after months of work and careful preparation had
been made to ensure the plans and proposals were correctly
adhered to and submitted, but Bike It Promotions representative
Steve Dixon confirmed that will have no effect on this year’s
two events. “The planning permission issue will not
effect this year’s Grand Prix or Motocross of Nations.
We were recommended by the planning committee of the local
government to apply for permanent permission because we had
designs on creating a hard standing paddock next to the oil
dump that is already on the land as a part of a longer-term
project. We will continue to pursue our application, but only
for 2007 and beyond.”
Other news concerning the meeting involves the recent confirmation
of a forty metre-squared TV screen to provide action replay
highlights during the Grand Prix motos.
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