It’s just seven days out from the Australian round of the 2015 MotoGP world championship. We take a quick look at seven strange facts of the sensational series!
1. The Grand Prix with the highest number of riders to line-up on the grid was the 1969 Isle of Man 500cc TT. There were no less than 97 riders all vying for the same piece of tarmac.
2. Conversely, the Grand Prix which still holds the record for having the least amount of riders lining up for the start of the race is the 1961 Argentine 500cc GP. It had only six starters.
3. Ninety seven may have been impressive start line at the 1969 event, but the same event 15 years earlier currently holds the record for the highest amount of finishers in a Grand Prix. There were 53 riders to cross the finish line during the 1954 Isle of Man 500cc TT.
4. There were more tumbleweeds than riders at the end of the 1974 West German 500cc Grand Prix. It currently holds the record for the least amount of finishers in any GP with just four finishers.
5. The Isle of Man is also the location of the record of the longest-ever Grand Prix. The 1957 Isle of man 500cc TT was a whopping 485.764km event. That’s some concentration at any circuit, let alone one as unforgiving as the Isle of Man.
6. The shortest, however, was the 2004 Italian MotoGP race held at Mugello measuring just 31.470km in total. For a second we thought 2013’s blunder Down Under might have surpassed it, but the 13-lap Moto2 race still measured 57.824km.
7. The grand Prix that holds the record for the slowest average speed is the 1951 Spanish 500cc Grand Prix held at Montjuic. The two-time world champ Umberto Masetti recorded an average speed of 93.994km/h on his 500cc Gilera.