THE LONG ROAD SOUTH · OFFICIAL PROGRAMME in its own right . Located just north of the city the facility is part of a project to boost the local economy for the long term . The awesome 4.276km circuit nestles in a broad valley floor , with hills and mountains all around what is a very modernist collection of buildings .
From the outset , racing had come to asphalt life in Argentina .
You know this as soon as you leave the carpark and walk into the paddock . Each designated area for the smaller privateer teams to use each weekend has a water supply , electrical power points … and a permanent raised concrete barbecue pit . This , mixed with the aroma of meat on the parrilla , even early in the morning , is another unique reminder of exactly where you are on the globe .
The city of San Juan is a big centre for wine production , the second biggest in the whole of Argentina , they say . It is ringed by a convenient multi-lane road that makes getting to any part of town from the outside relatively easy . The streets of the city are generally laid out in a grid pattern , which also makes journeys very logical . Traffic can get very busy , of course . It ’ s a city , not a small town .
Located west of the city , its track surface right up against mountains on three sides , it was San Juan ’ s motorsports centre before Villicum was even thought of . Villicum had to be an absolute peach of a racetrack because Zonda was , in its own way , completely unique .
Zonda couldn ’ t be used for bike racing now , but its figure eight layout , the constant wind whispering through the abandoned pit boxes and race control tower deliver an eerie , almost other-worldly feel . If you have time it is worth a trip over there , even though there will be no racing going on . Be sure to take a picnic - or a barbecue - as it is located right next to a charming public park .
History is all very well but we are racing at Villicum now , another amazing layout in another amazing location , and the best Superbike riders in the world will be racing to win just as much as ever .
Villicum may be still quite new but San Juan is the only WorldSBK venue in not just Argentina , but South America in general . For this reason you may see occasional Chilean number plates on some of the bikes in the parking . In real terms the track is close to the Andes , and therefore close to Chile .
The buzzing centre is undoubtedly the Plaza 25 de Mayo , with cafes and restaurants all around . There is even a dinosaur museum in San Juan . Yes , I said a dinosaur museum . Once you get to Villicum from town , the impression is one of expanse and large scale thinking . The vast grandstand looks out over an anti-clockwise circuit layout . There is a myriad of fast and slow corners - sections of corners , in fact - and a doozie of a back straight . They could use it to land small commercial planes on if they really needed to … But maybe the most unique element is the last - and first - the start / finish straight .
A great overtaking complex leads onto the straight , which has two distinct and dramatic dips , as it flows like a double asphalt waterfall past pitlane .
So where does the Villicum name come from ?
Well , it ’ s the Sierra Villicum mountains that form the almost Tolkienesque back-drop to the racetrack . It sits at the top end of a valley where the Zonda wind occasionally makes it presence felt in a very forceful way . As it did in 2021 , with dust storms the like of which most visitors had never experienced before . Or ever want to experience again .
All those things aside , we are here to race , so which riders have won races at Villicum already ? Jonathan Rea has won four for Kawasaki , Toprak Razgatlioglu two for Yamaha , while Alvaro Bautista and Scott Redding each have one Villicum victory for Ducati .
EXCITING CONTENT
Building a new circuit in San Juan was a big deal for many reasons but maybe mostly because it replaced one of the most characterful and evocative circuits anyone has even gone to - Zonda .
If you are Argentinean , an in-person Villicum will be unmissable live 3D technicolour dream again . If you are not , it will be unmissable viewing on the 2D TV screens at home .
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