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THIS year marks the 40th time engines have roared around the Macau circuit - but only history can tell the full story.

     The Grand Prix has never looked in better shape.

  Those who were present at the first meeting in 1954 could never have imagined that the race would evolve into today's international spectacle, broadcast around the world.

  In those early days, the Macau Grand Prix was a much simpler affair with predominantly local drivers taking on a much rougher Guia circuit in an assortment of open sports cars and sporty saloons.

  The fastest lap in 1954 belonged to Hong Kong weatherman Gordon ''Dinga'' Bell - his Morgan completing the 3.9-mile circuit in four minutes 12 seconds as compared to the current lap record of two minutes 19 seconds set last year by Portuguese racer PedroLamy.

  The ambition of all the drivers now taking part in the Grand Prix is to follow the likes of Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher - both past winners of the event - into Formula One.

  Lamy, who finished second last year, did just that and now looks forward to a full season with the famous British Lotus team.

    In the 1950s, Macau racers were simply happy to have some fun and then go back to their full-time jobs.

  It was not until 1962, with the appearance in the Grand Prix of Englishman Arthur Owen, that a fully fledged Grand Prix racer appeared in Macau.

  Owen, who had taken part in the 1960 Italian Grand Prix, lasted just one lap of the Guia circuit before succumbing to one of its innumerable and unyielding walls.

    The years following Owen's appearance saw the event slowly but surely increase in terms of sophistication and quality of racing machinery.

  Mauro Bianchi's win in 1966 behind the wheel of a Le Mans Renault Alphine pushed the event into a new sphere with lap times dropping below what was, at the time, the magical three-minute mark.

    The following year, the event was rocked by the tragic death of the immensely popular Filipino racer Arsenio ''Dodjie'' Laurel, winner of the GP in 1962 and 1963.

  Laurel crashed with a full fuel load and died instantly.

  His death brought home to people the dangerous nature of racing - particularly on a circuit as unforgiving as the Guia where one error can send a driver crashing into the picturesque but deadly Macanese masonry.

    Modern technology and a much greater awareness of safety makes a repeat of Laurel's accident almost impossible.

  Accidents do happen but are now more likely to damage a driver's ego than his body.

     In 1990, Mika Hakinnen - the talented Finnish driver - had the race in the bag, having dominated the first leg. He simply had to hold station with Michael Schumacher, who was marginally ahead during the second leg, to take overall victory.

  But the lust for victory in the second heat was too much for Hakkinen to resist and he tried to get by the German on the run to Statue Corner.

  The two cars touched and Hakkinen was sent smashing into the barriers a few hundred yards from where Laurel had perished.

  The shattered car finally came to a standstill in the middle of the track and Hakkinen was able to walk away, albeit consumed with rage at his mistake.

    But one thing that has not changed down the years - despite the massive increase in professionalism - is the feeling that racing in Macau is first and foremost about having fun.

  Ian Wade, managing director of A. S. Watsons, and the man behind the great successes of Team Watson in recent years, summed up it best: ''Commercial sponsorship can go hand in hand with sportsmanship, and for the mutual enjoyment of all concerned. It isn't simply a mechanical exercise.''   Even now the top drivers are more accessible in Macau than at any other race meeting.

  They eat in the same restaurants as the fans, drink in the same bars and lose money in the same casinos.

    Forty years ago, when the founding fathers of the Macau Grand Prix met in the coffee shop of the Riviera Hotel to discuss the possibility of holding a motor rally around the tiny enclave's twisting streets, little did they know what they were starting.

  In charting the history of the Grand Prix, I have met countless people all with stories from their own particular ''era''.

  What all these people have in common, be they talking about the 1950s or the 1990s, is an affection and a warmth of feeling for Macau and its fabulous Grand Prix.

  It really is one of a kind.



Wheels of fire put enclave firmly in the driving seat