Montjuich Park: a track for the brave

As street circuits go, Montjuich Park had everything: the climbs and hairpins of Monaco (and then some), with fast-flowing sections demanding inch-perfect precision. First used for car racing in 1933 when the word ‘safety’ translated only to closing the road, the track held four grands prix in the 1960s and ’70s but fell victim to its own intricacies at the 1975 Spanish GP when four bystanders died, struck by Rolf Stommelen’s flying Hill GH1.

That catastrophe sealed the fate of this thrill ride circling the slopes of a hill surmounted by a 17th-century castle, weaving first through parkland, past the Olympic Stadium, into an urban backdrop and a sweeping curve past a lavish fountain and on up to the start/finish line, the nearest thing to a straight it offered. Those machines were doing in excess of 150mph here, over the crest where tyres left asphalt, then bit down hard as sweating drivers tried to offload huge speed for a tight hairpin left into a slalom of bends. A track for the brave.

Curtailed by civil war, racing resumed in the ’50s, and by 1966 F2 fixtures brought Jim Clark, Jochen Rindt, Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart threading cigarette-slim machines between those kerbs, Cosworth, Matra and Ferrari songs echoing from the art deco police station walls. In 1969 it was DFV music as F1 arrived – peak year of the high wings and highway to disaster when the aerofoil on Hill’s Lotus snapped and he hit the barrier. Some laps later team-mate Rindt’s did the same. No injuries, this time.

Now alternating with Jarama, the grand prix returned in 1971 and ’73. But this was a true street circuit, altered for racing with temporary Armco and safety netting and in ’75 the drivers found the barriers were barely secured. Rebellion ensued, with threats of a boycott by drivers and legal action by the organisers, leading to the Saturday situation of team personnel on the circuit fixing the barriers properly.

Some pressed for a token appearance of a few laps but racers will be racers, until Stommelen’s car vaulted those barriers. Even then it was four laps before the red flag brought Jochen Mass his only victory, but half points.

The axe fell immediately, and the GP moved to modern Jarama with its ample run-offs – and permanent barriers.

Visit Motor Sport’s online database to see details on racing circuits past and present.

Montjuich Park

First car race 1933
Last car race 1975
Lap record 1min 23.8sec, Ronnie Peterson, Lotus 72E, 1973

My top 3 tracks: John Watson 

• Watkins Glen This was as good as it could get. A variety of corners, elevation changes and a really quick corner at the end of the straight. The Glen is one of the great tracks of the world.
• Montjuich Park This place captivated me, a track in a city park that, unlike most street circuits, also had lots of elevation changes. From the start it’s a fast downhill run to the first corner.
• Monza If the grand prix is an opera, Monza is the opera house, with its history, its legacy, the tribunes opposite the pits where you see, and hear, cars at 200mph. It’s the essence of F1.