If the Dutch Grand Prix is looked at in the overall scene of International rating it was satisfactory enough, with Stewart winning for the second year running for Matra International, some good racings for the lower placings, interesting new cars in practice and some very fast practice and race laps.
If it is looked at closely it shows up in a very different light, being far from satisfactory on many counts. Many of the deficiencies of the Zandvoort circuit and the Dutch organisation have been with us for a long time but in the general excitement of the meeting have been overlooked and forgotten until the next time, or they have been accepted as part of the scene.
The circuit is an artificial one, constructed in sand dunes, and one tends to forget that the road surface is covered by a fine layer of sand, but it was brought home forcibly just before the race when Prince Bernhard of Holland landed alongside the starting line in a helicopter. The rush of air from the rotor raised sand from the track surface in a miniature storm, yet previously the road had looked completely dry and smooth. This sandy property of the track invariably upsets someone’s handling calculation, and many a driver has been content with his car at Monaco for example, and then found he doesn’t like the feel of it at Zandvoort.
