The Circuit
The Hawkstone circuit is approximately 1.8 miles (2.9 km) long (although the layout can be shortened for youth or clubman events if required). It is famous for the track surface, which consists of deep, loamy sand. During the course of a race meeting, the circuit becomes very rough and bumpy, testing the skill of riders. The centrepiece of the circuit is the famous 'Hawkstone Hill', a steep hill that eventually rises to a 1-in-3 ascent at the top of the hill. The crest of the hill can be seen from the A53 road (Shrewsbury to Market Drayton) several miles away. At the top of the hill, riders have to contend with a hard sandstone surface, before dropping back down the hill in a fearsome descent, beginning in an 8-foot (2 m) almost vertical drop, followed by a bumpy descent that tests riders' skill and bike control. Other famous obstacles include the 'whoop' section, a series of large man-made bumps that require a great deal of skill and courage from riders in order to tackle them at speed. A fall in this section is usually heavy and spectacular. (3 times World Motocross Champion David Thorpe crashed spectacularly here in front of TV cameras at the 1986 500cc British Motocross Grand Prix).
There is also a Race control area including a commentary tower, offices, scrutineering area and press room, a first aid building, toilets and shower area for riders, and a large paddock and car park area.
Read more about this topic: Hawkstone Park Motocross Circuit
Famous quotes containing the word circuit:
“each new victim treads unfalteringly
The never altered circuit of his fate,
Bringing twelve peers as witness
Both to his starry rise and starry fall.”
—Robert Graves (1895–1985)
“We are all hostages, and we are all terrorists. This circuit has replaced that other one of masters and slaves, the dominating and the dominated, the exploiters and the exploited.... It is worse than the one it replaces, but at least it liberates us from liberal nostalgia and the ruses of history.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)