Assen is one of the oldest circuits on the race calendar, and can trace its roots back to the original fast, flowing and frankly fearsome road circuit that opened here in 1925. Back then, Assen was a real street circuit, running on roads which were, at least officially, closed for the duration of the event but which could just as easily suddenly become open again. Fortunately there was rather less traffic around then...

After a brief pause for, um, certain events in Europe, racing restarted again and carried on until the circuit was redeveloped in 1955. At that stage it came to the current site, a couple of miles away from the original, and started to move toward being purpose built rather than pure street racing. That circuit lasted broadly unchanged until 1993, when the next major modifications came in, before what is generally regarded as the biggest change in modern times, when the entire Northern loop of the circuit was replaced with an amusement park. I raced here in the early eighties and while it really was fast, the flowing nature of the track made it an absolute joy to race and it was easy to get into a rhythm and maintain a good speed. But it was really tiring and punished the careless and unwary with limited runoff space and generally very fast departures from the track. It was a place that hurt you if you didn't respect it.

Modern safety rules, combined with this amusement park, have meant that the current TT Circuit is rather tamer and perhaps less of a spectacle than before. But as people have a pleasant habit of walking away unaided since the changes came in, I'll take the new circuit over the old every day of the week. Plus, in truth, it's a really good spectator venue, the atmosphere is terrific and it's still managed to retain the essential flowing nature that made it so wonderful before.

Let's have a look at a lap. Coming onto the start/finish straight, as you cross the line you've got just under three miles (or four and a half kilometres if you prefer) before you get back here. This being Holland, you shouldn't be expecting too many hills. But many of the corners are banked, which keeps speeds up instead. The right hander at Haarbocht is the end of the start straight and also has the pitlane exit. It leads into the new stadium section - three right handers, the last two merging into each other before going into a left hand haipin at Strubben. That takes you out onto the back straight, Veenslang, running into the extremely fast right/left Ruskenhoek complex. It should be a chicane, but it's way too fast and open for that. Then there's another short straight leading to the hard right of Stekkenwal which in turn leads out onto a proper straight. Though it, um, bends a bit. At the end is the left of De Bult, which in turn leads into the seemingly endless right handers of Mandeveen and Duikersloot, opening out onto the home stretch. Another fast, slightly bent straight leads into the scarily fast left hander of Ramshoek which has a short straight following it before hitting the only real chicane on the circuit at Geert Timmerbocht, the exit of which leads straight to the finish line.

It's one of the easiest circuits to get to from the UK and has the added benefit that almost everyone in the Netherlands speaks better English than the average Brit. You can comfortably drive there from the Channel Ports in an evening, meaning that you only really need to take a afternoon off work. If you live in the North then it's easier yet, taking a ferry to Hoek or Rotterdam and then just having a few hours' drive. If you're coming from further afield then flights in Schipol are plentiful and competitively priced. There are even flights to Groningen, which is about fifteen miles away, but I'm not sure where they come from other than Aberdeen. Talking of Groningen, it's the nearest big town and there are plenty of hotels there. Dutch food is an acquired taste but there are plenty of other alternatives.

If the idea of a foreign race visit appeals then you could really do much worse than trying this for your first time. Far enough to be really abroad but easy enough to communicate for it not to be daunting. And there are plenty of good places to watch from, too. If you're really going to do it right, though, you should try booking through Tour Moto, who will look after you properly...

Enjoy!

SB