Zandvoort itself is one of the most popular beach resorts in Holland, partially due to its proximity to Amsterdam. There are numerous beach hotels catering to many varied tastes. The terrain is sand dune, with few trees. This characteristic made it one of the best viewing facilities in Formula One. Being in dune country, Zandvoort was slightly undulating and featured several elevation changes, particularly the famous Scheivlak corner, which went down and to the right. The corners were of many different cambers and angles. The Tarzan hairpin at the end of the pit-straight, was one of most famous corners in racing. Until Formula One went chicane-happy and installed one at Zandvoort, there was a very fast backstretch. When the winds blew, sand would be an additional hazard. Zandvoort was opened in 1948 and hosted some non-championship events until 1952 when it hosted the Dutch Grand Prix. For the first ten years, Grand Prix scheduling was sporadic. From 1970 till 1985, nearly every year a grand prix was hosted at Zandvoort. The races at Zandvoort saw some memorable battles. The British drivers and constructers dominated largely the 60s. In the 1970 race, Piers Courage, an heir to the British brewing giant, Courage, crashed, turned over and burned. Courage did not survive. The vastly under-rated and largely forgotten Jackie Ickx returned Ferrari to victory in 1971 after a truly magnificent, prolonged duel in the rain with Pedro Rodriguez. Jackie Stewart was then head of the Grand Prix Drivers Association (GPDA). Among other safety considerations, this group campaigned for circuit improvements. After missing 1972 because the track was deemed unsafe, racing returned to Zandvoort in 1973 after a million dollars worth of improvements were made. Roger Williamson had the misfortune of testing one of the new Armco barriers. It partially collapsed and acted as a launcher, sending Williamson's car into the air. It landed on the track, upside down and in flames. In a scenario eerily reminiscent of Indy 1955, David Purley, Williamson's close friend, stopped his car and vainly tried to free the trapped Williamson while track marshals looked on, offering no assistance. When the fire truck finally arrived, it was too late. 1974 saw Ferrari return to glory with Niki Lauda leading Clay Regazzoni to a one-two sweep. In 1975 James Hunt and the Hesketh team won their first race by first outsmarting the field on a wet-to-dry tire change and then capably holding off Lauda's more powerful Ferrari in the closing laps. Australia's Alan Jones won in 1979, completing a hat-trick that had started at Hockenheim and continued at the Osterreicchring. Ferrari was back in the winner's circle in 1982 as Didier Pironi, less than two months after the tragic death of teammate Villeneuve at Zolder, Belgium and a month away from suffering catastrophic injuries himself at Hockenheim, beat Nelson Piquet. Rene Arnoux and Patrick Tambay led a Ferrari one-two in 1983. That feat was duplicated by Alain Prost and Niki Lauda in 1984 in McLaren-Porsches. For the Zandvoort finale a year later, Prost and Lauda would reverse things, with Lauda superbly winning the race. Like the Zandvoort track, it was Lauda's last year as a driver. The respected British writer, Nigel Roebuck, called Zandvoort 'the greatest circuit for racing that F1 has ever known'. Despite this attribute, Zandvoort disappeared from the Formula One calendar in 1986 and has never returned. It was lacking in the things that really mattered, like suites and adequate facilities for the corporate elite. Never mind that just about everyone considered it a great circuit for racing. Maybe there's some hope, however, that Zandvoort would be re-instated instead of F1 going to another chicane-filled atrocity. The circuit has undergone major changes and improvements, making it up-to-modern standards.