|
The Circuits of the past story
My name is Herman Liesemeijer, I
life in the Netherlands and I'm the founder and manager from the
website Circuits of the past. Since the eighties I follow all kinds
of motorsports. First motorcycle races and later, when I started
with car driving lessons, I got also interested in car races. When I
got my drivers license in 1988 soon I visited the circuit of Assen
because I heard this was a part of the public road. So I made my
first circuit kilometres with my Opel Kadett at the semi street
circuit of Assen, which was only seven metres wide at that time!
Many visits to Assen would follow and I learned more and more about
circuit driving.
Soon also the circuit of Zandvoort
came to my mind. The first time I visited it was in the summer of
1989, it was one of the first events at the so called interim
circuit (NB: The Zandvoort circuit was shortened to only 2.5 km/1.56
Mile at that time). It was the first time I saw car races in real
and now my passion for car racing was really born. When I want to
leave the circuit to go home I discovered that you could enter the
old part of the track, which was cut off to build there a holiday
resort later that year. So I also made my debut at Zandvoort. Soon I
was a frequent visitor of Zandvoort. Not only from racing events but
also from track days. My passion for motorsports was growing more
and more so I subscribed for a racing course at the Dutch Racing
School. These racing courses where given at Zandvoort in the winter
when there was often a lot of rain. So there is no single corner at
the interim circuit of Zandvoort where I did not had a full lock
oversteer! At that time I was also a frequent
visitor of races at other circuits like the Formula 1 at
Francorchamps, and one time at the Hungaroring, and off course the
24 Hours from Le Mans.
That's me in action in the yellow white
Opel Ascona during a track day in 1993.
In the spring of 1998 during a
short brake, I visited the neglected circuit from
Nivelles
in Belgium. I came there with the idea to drive at another circuit,
just for the fun. But a new fascination was born here which wouldn't
leave me anymore. After I drove some laps at the bumpy track I made
some pictures. When I was home I felt sorry that I didn't took the
opportunity to photograph an entire lap. A few months later when I
came back from the 24 Hours of Le Mans I visited Nivelles again and
made pictures from the whole lap.
These pictures are now at this site!
The fate of Nivelles didn't let me go. I even tought about writing a
letter to Don Panoz who bought circuits in America. Maybe he was
also interested in an European circuit. But soon it was clear that
it was to late for Nivelles. They already sold the track to build a
new industrial estate. Later I came at the idea to publish my
pictures at a website to keep the memory of Nivelles alive. When
this idea became more concrete it crossed my mind that there where
more circuits who suffered the same fate as Nivelles. I was thinking
about the ruins from the circuit of Reims. But also the lost part of
my own Zandvoort came to my mind. I got already interested at this
part, where I made my Zandvoort debute, during the racing course.
There I heard the older generation talking about the famous corners
from the old circuit, who made the difference between the man and
the boy. So I decided to built a website about old race tracks. I
didn't need to think long about a name for the site,
“Circuits of the past”!
On
September the 19th I made a humble start with my site as an MSN
Group. In these first days the Nivelles level was very high because
that was the track I had the most material from. In the following
years I visited more and more old race tracks and the picture
collection was growing. The climax for me was my visit to the old
banked circuit from
Sitges Terramar in Spain!
The
humble MSN Group was growing in five years to a full website with a
group of enthusiast members who share the same passion for the
circuits of the past. On October the 24th MSN announced that they
will stop with the MSN Groups. So I should find another home for
Circuits of the past. I already thought about the idea to build a
more professional website soon or later. Now I had to do it! So,
Circuits of the past was going into a new “phase of life” on
December the 9th 2008 when the new website was going online.
Herman Liesemeijer.
|
