Huge crowd in Holland

Press, 8 July 1976, Page 14

Huge crowd in Holland

The Dutch motor-cycle grand prix is now considered to attract more spectators than any other one-day sporting event in the world. Last year, 133,263 spectators paid to see the grand prix races at Assen. They arrived, incidentally, in 26,500 cars and on 17,800 motorcycles. This year, no official figures are available yet but the attendance was similar. Twenty years ago crowds of 200,000 attended the East German grand prix at Sachsenring and similar numbers

watched the 24 hour race at Le Mans. But attendances at these have declined while the Dutch event has gone from strength to strength. Last year’s attendance represented a gate taking of * about $600,006. However, the riders got only about ]0 per cent of this and appear to have good reason to be unhappy with the starting money they are paid. Recent threats of boycotts at some meetings over start money have disintegrated because of lack of co-operation among the riders themselves.