Assen gets a TT Legends Walk of Fame. Motorcycle racers who once won a race on the TT Circuit are immortalized in the streets of Asser city center with a bronze paving stone.
Within five years this should result in a complete TT route through the city with names of racing heroes, such as the Dutch drivers Jack Middelburg and Wil Hartog, and the Asser crowd favorite Valentino Rossi. The initiative is intended to give extra strength to Assen’s image as a motor city.
First thirty tiles
The idea comes from a group of entrepreneurs from Kerkstraat, who have been preparing for a few years now. It starts with about thirty TT Legends tiles on the sidewalk of the Kerkstraat. It is the intention that all winners of the Dutch TT from 1925, the British Superbike, the World Superbikes and also some specials with their own tile will be immortalized in the streets of Assen. New winners are added every year.
The initiative group from the Kerkstraat has meanwhile established the TT Legends Walk Assen Foundation. Former alderman Ruud Wiersema is also a member of the club. He has also been campaigning for a TT Museum in the former discotheque Diana on Brinkstraat for some time, but that process is difficult.
cross pollination
“The route with TT tiles goes straight through the streets of the old city center, and as a bonus also has to tap De Nieuwe Kolk, the intended TT Museum and the Drents Museum, which will create an interesting cross-pollination and many shops and catering companies will be added. the route will lie,” according to the initiators.
Next Thursday, the Foundation will sign an agreement for the TT Legends Walk of Fame with alderman Mirjam Pauwels van Assen. Then the first tile is also presented. That is that of the first winner of the TT in 1925, Piet van Wijngaarden, who won the 500cc race on his Norton. He was also the first to cross the finish line in 1926. In the first year, the TT drove the round of Rolde – Borger – Schoonloo – Grolloo – Rolde. From 1926, the TT went for years on the street circuit in Assen and Hooghalen. Since 1955, the races have only been held on the circuit in Assen (which received the necessary adjustments in the following years).