‘Oliver’s Barmy, but brilliant’
How bad is it that we may have seen the last of more than 70 years of bike competition at Britain’s only roadracing venue? Scarborough’s unique parkland track, 2.41 nutty and narrow miles, boasts “you can leave your binoculars at home”. This took a sinister tone at last year’s Gold Cup when, in two separate incidents, bikes went into the crowd. Twelve spectators were hurt, three seriously. It seems that without unaffordable modifications, it was the death knell for the track. Oliver’s Mount is the most characterful of circuits but also frankly pretty mad. That is the nature of racing on public roads. Barmy. But brilliant.
Can you imagine Marc Marquez essaying one of his “where’s-thelimit” deliberate front-end crashes, where the next stop for his Repsol Honda is in among the spectators? Or perhaps Cal Crutchlow risking his knife-edge late braking when instead of a smooth run-off there’s fence-posts and trees?
It was not always thus. The list of big-name winners at Oliver’s Mount is impeccable, including such giants as Duke, Surtees, Hailwood, Read, Agostini, Saarinen and Sheene. Quite surprisingly, the track’s death toll is not as high as the dangers might suggest, though it does include big names like John Hartle (ex-MV Agusta) and in 1974 Ron Haslam’s older brother Phil. But when Oliver’s Mount kicked off, a 500cc Norton had less power than a modern beginner’s Moto3 bike; while a modern racing superbike makes Ago’s MV look positively pedestrian. Spectators crowding the fences must take their own responsibility for this.
If they can’t. then maybe it’s right that the last British road-race circuit has run out of time.
‘The last British road circuit has run out of time’