Assen carved up.

Work has now begun on the removal of much of Assen's famous North Loop, undertaken to allow 7,000 new car parking places, the creation of a 'TT World' complex and a reduction in track length from 5,997 to roughly 4,750 metres ahead of the 2006 season.

This reduction in length - which brings Assen in line with most other circuits on the world championship calendar - will mean that the 2006 Dutch TT will be run over 24 laps, five laps more than the 2005 MotoGP event.

However the redesign - which sees the new Assen lap begin with two 180-degree right hand turns, before the circuit rejoins the old track at the existing Strubben hairpin (existing track in middle pic, new track in bottom pic) - means that the present high speed S-curve turn one, together with the Haarbocht, Witterdiep, Madijk and Ossebroeken corners will be lost.

Last week a number of milling machines were used to remove much of the famous asphalt from the North Loop (top picture). The only part that will eventually remain intact is the section between the Madijk and Ossebroeken corners, which will be left as a form of 'racing relic' and also serve as a roadway to the new parking places.

The oldest part of the condemned North Loop, the 200m section from the opening S-curve to the Haarbocht corner, had been used since the second TT at Assen in 1926. A total of 74 TTs were ridden on the layout, with 14 races before the war (1926-1939) and 60 afterwards (1946-2005).

This section of asphalt will temporarily remain, as a road for lorries and other rolling stock, until the construction of the new turn one grandstands is complete. It is expected that this oldest of TT asphalt will finally be removed just before the start of the 2006 season.

However, Assen are keen to stress that - even when that legendary stretch is gone - the circuit will still be able to boost considerable history in its racing layout, since the start finish section was also built in 1926 and will remain untouched by the developments.