AshleyN
Member
Howzit Guys
I have been a biker for quite some time and with that have a huge interest in Motogp. In fact it’s the only sport I really watch.
I have been fortunate enough to watch a live Motogp race at the Sepang circuit in Malayasia back in 2014.
Being a massive Valentino Rossi fan I always wanted to watch him race on home soil in Italy. With him being almost 40 years old who knows when he will announce his retirement from the sport
After doing a lot of research I decided to watch the race at the Mugello Circuit in Italy, which took place the weekend 2 - 4 June 2017.
Those that have attended the race from outside of Europe also recommended watching the race again over the following weekend 9-11 June 2017 in Catalunya, Spain. As it’s merely a 2 hour flight from Venice (my last destination in Italy) to Barcelona, I decided to do the Catalunya Motogp as well.
So there I went with the planning of my Motogp focused holiday. Flew from Johannesburg to Rome, spent 5 days there. From Rome we took a 1.5hr high speed train to Florence.
The Mugello circuit is approximately 55km from Florence. A train from Florence can bring you within 6km of the race track and then you have three options to get to the track:
1. Walk ( bearing in mind it was around 30-32 degrees Celsius)
2. Bus (Over 200 000 fans visit the track over the Motogp weekend so you can imagine the wait to get onto a bus. There is merely not enough buses)
3. Taxi (Locals are happy to give you a lift to the track at a cost of 20 euros per person. With a weak Rand in the back of our minds we negotiated down to 10 euro and off we went)
So while planning the trip to the Mugello Motogp I read a lot of complaints on trip advisor, about the issues with logistics getting to the track and the traffic jams after the race. But as the track is still listed as one of the top 5 places to watch a Motogp race I decided I was willing to join the rat race to experience this crazy circuit.
And trust me when we got there we now understood what people meant by crazy. When we entered the track it had an exhilarating atmosphere. People were still in party mode from the Saturday night. It was at this point that I was actually glad I decided to watch at Mugello.
A lot of fans actually camp at the track over the weekend due to the logistical nightmares and it is one hell of a party all weekend. People revving their bikes at the limiter, cheering, singing and getting absolutely smashed drunk.
Getting there on the Sunday I think we were by far the soberest people around, but as we were so excited to be there I’m sure no one recognised our sober state.
Rossi rode fairly well keeping the lead for the first few laps but could not match the pace of the Ducati’s and ended up finishing 4th. He still got a hero’s send off after the race
Here are some pictures from the Mugello Motogp 2017:
The traffic jam getting out after the race lived up to its reputation. After the race it’s a mass exist with vendors, fans and weekend campers all trying to get out at the same time. Why the Italian government can’t build a 6km railway line to join the track to the closest train station is hard to understand. The amount of tourism and money earned at this event should definitely pass a 6km railway line feasibility study.
We identified some other South African’s in a rented car by seeing the SA flag and had a brief chat to them. They were sitting in traffic for 2 hours and moved a mere 3km. We passed them on foot. When we reached the 4km mark on foot we were finally out of the congestion.
Being an extremely hot day doing the additional 2km to the train station on foot was not an option, we decided to be ripped off and pay the 10 euro per person for a 2km ride to the train station.
One hour later we were safely back in Florence deserving of a few cold beers
I have been a biker for quite some time and with that have a huge interest in Motogp. In fact it’s the only sport I really watch.
I have been fortunate enough to watch a live Motogp race at the Sepang circuit in Malayasia back in 2014.
Being a massive Valentino Rossi fan I always wanted to watch him race on home soil in Italy. With him being almost 40 years old who knows when he will announce his retirement from the sport
After doing a lot of research I decided to watch the race at the Mugello Circuit in Italy, which took place the weekend 2 - 4 June 2017.
Those that have attended the race from outside of Europe also recommended watching the race again over the following weekend 9-11 June 2017 in Catalunya, Spain. As it’s merely a 2 hour flight from Venice (my last destination in Italy) to Barcelona, I decided to do the Catalunya Motogp as well.
So there I went with the planning of my Motogp focused holiday. Flew from Johannesburg to Rome, spent 5 days there. From Rome we took a 1.5hr high speed train to Florence.
The Mugello circuit is approximately 55km from Florence. A train from Florence can bring you within 6km of the race track and then you have three options to get to the track:
1. Walk ( bearing in mind it was around 30-32 degrees Celsius)
2. Bus (Over 200 000 fans visit the track over the Motogp weekend so you can imagine the wait to get onto a bus. There is merely not enough buses)
3. Taxi (Locals are happy to give you a lift to the track at a cost of 20 euros per person. With a weak Rand in the back of our minds we negotiated down to 10 euro and off we went)
So while planning the trip to the Mugello Motogp I read a lot of complaints on trip advisor, about the issues with logistics getting to the track and the traffic jams after the race. But as the track is still listed as one of the top 5 places to watch a Motogp race I decided I was willing to join the rat race to experience this crazy circuit.
And trust me when we got there we now understood what people meant by crazy. When we entered the track it had an exhilarating atmosphere. People were still in party mode from the Saturday night. It was at this point that I was actually glad I decided to watch at Mugello.
A lot of fans actually camp at the track over the weekend due to the logistical nightmares and it is one hell of a party all weekend. People revving their bikes at the limiter, cheering, singing and getting absolutely smashed drunk.
Getting there on the Sunday I think we were by far the soberest people around, but as we were so excited to be there I’m sure no one recognised our sober state.
Rossi rode fairly well keeping the lead for the first few laps but could not match the pace of the Ducati’s and ended up finishing 4th. He still got a hero’s send off after the race
Here are some pictures from the Mugello Motogp 2017:
The traffic jam getting out after the race lived up to its reputation. After the race it’s a mass exist with vendors, fans and weekend campers all trying to get out at the same time. Why the Italian government can’t build a 6km railway line to join the track to the closest train station is hard to understand. The amount of tourism and money earned at this event should definitely pass a 6km railway line feasibility study.
We identified some other South African’s in a rented car by seeing the SA flag and had a brief chat to them. They were sitting in traffic for 2 hours and moved a mere 3km. We passed them on foot. When we reached the 4km mark on foot we were finally out of the congestion.
Being an extremely hot day doing the additional 2km to the train station on foot was not an option, we decided to be ripped off and pay the 10 euro per person for a 2km ride to the train station.
One hour later we were safely back in Florence deserving of a few cold beers
