Day 4 of TT 2013 has come and gone and we have still yet to see a Superbike turn a wheel on the famous old Mountain Course. Practice began on Saturday evening with the newcomers sighting lap, which saw riders liaison office Richard “Milky” Quayle have to stop on the mountain section of the course with a puncture, much to the amusement of John McGuinness.
Having spent the weekend at a sunny Donington Park for the World Superbikes I returned to The Rock on Monday evening were heavy rain during the day had restricted the practice session to superstock, supersport, and the sidecars. I hoped to catch the sidecar session, sadly the session was red flag following an incident at Ballacrye.
Take the Monaco F1 without the glitz and glamor, throw in a Vegas casino or two, add some Chinese culture, with a nod to Portugal, and you have got a rough picture of Macau and the Macau Grand Prix. A former Portuguese colony with gambling revenue that surpasses Las Vegas, Macau remains an anomaly in this area of the world, where conformity to the Chinese central Government is more the norm.
The racing takes place on the 3.8 mile armco lined Guia Circuit, a street circuit with long wide fast straights leading into tight corners that snake past casinos and high-rise buildings. Part of the thrill of watching real road racing is the ability to get up close to the action, sadly that is not possible at Macau mainly due to the tight nature of the track. Spectating is therefore pretty much limited to three large grandstands all within the first mile of the track, unless of course you are fortunate enough to have a media pass.
Given the obvious dangers, it takes a certain breed of motorcycle racer to race at Macau. A glance through the list of past winners reads as a recent who’s who of road racing legends, who between them boast more wins at the Isle of Man TT and North West 200 than I can count. There is even a former World 500cc Champion and multiple World Superbike Champion included in the list.
