Imagine all the exotic locals where international motor racing has taken place over the course of modern history and Morocco might not show up on your radar. But back in the era of Casablanca, the North African country, just across the Straight of Gibraltar from Europe, hosted the Moroccan Grand Prix, starting with a touring car race in 1925 and culminating with an F1 grand prix in 1958 won by (spoiler alert!) Stirling Moss. Now, after fifty years have passed, the racing scene is set to return to Morocco for a World Touring Car Championship race in Marrakech.
Instead of using the old Ain-Diab circuit, construction of the new street circuit is scheduled to begin later this month. Race organizers expect to draw a crowd of 100,000 fans when the race kicks off on May 1, 2009, but after the cancellation of the nearby Dakar Rally due to terrorist threats from Al-Qaeda, we would hope that race organizers will take serious security precautions.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Goat Law @ Jul 9th 2008 9:17AM
I think you mean 'exotic locales.' Exotic locals would be the tribe they supposedly found that had never had contact with the outside world.
ale @ Jul 9th 2008 9:45AM
Although its good to have extra security precautions anyways, the Dakar Rally was canceled due to threats in Mauritania not Morocco. I know from watching the Dakar, really only until the event reached Senegal did it start to get a little more dangerous. Anyways, I'm excited, and I hope one day, Formula 1 will go there.
EhWilson @ Jul 9th 2008 12:37PM
I cant remember Morocco ever being the cause of Dakar's pull out. Either way, the country is a beautiful place and it's proximity to Europe makes it an obvious choice for any sporting event.
Sorin @ Jul 9th 2008 1:26PM
I would like to go in Morocco for something like this. First of all for racing in the second for Morocco. Casablanca is one of my favorite movies.
Vroom Girl @ Jul 21st 2008 8:49PM
Neat! Let's hope that maybe Morocco can be added to the Formula One circuit.
At least a guest race?
I'm not too worried about terrorism, but then, I never am. If we worried about it, we'd never do anything worthwhile.
http://vroomgirl.blogspot.com/