Bernie and Linda's Blog: Valencia MotoGP Race

For the last 3 days we have attended the 18th and last MotoGP race series for the 2016 season. These races known as the "Gran Premio de la Comunitat Valenciana", took place at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit located on the outskirts of Valencia.

For those who are not familiar with MotoGP, here is the primer. MotoGP is the equivalent of Formula 1, but for motorcycles. The motorcycles used in these series are purpose built, mostly by factory teams to compete on a road race circuit, some of which are also used by Formula 1. There are 3 categories of motorcycle that compete in 3 separate races.

Moto3 bikes have 250cc single cylinder, 4 stroke motors. There are lightweight and powerful enough to have a top speed that exceed 200 kph. The rider are all quite young... 16 years old and up. For hockey fans, think of this series as the Junior A of MotoGP. These kids (not all boys) are talented riders and races are hotly and closely contested.

Moto2 is the next step up. Moto2 bikes have 600cc 4 cylinder, 4 stroke motors. In this series all the riders use identical equipment, within the rules of the series they can be modified slightly but the limitations keep them very competitive. Riders generally work there way up from Moto3 to Moto2 based on their success. The riders compete for rider contracts with the established teams.

MotoGP bikes have 1000cc 4 stroke motors. Engine configuration differs among manufactures. These engines produce in excess of 250 horsepower and that are capable of speeds in excess of 350 kph. Technically, they are at the top the development curve. There are however a series of limitations that each manufacturer must meet. Things like size and weight, fuel capacity, ECU, tires, etc. are the same for all bikes. This is intended to help keep the completion close.

That's it for the primer.

Each race series takes place over 3 days. Practise, qualifying and finally race day. The whole thing has quite a party atmosphere even though all the beer sold is zero alcohol. (more on this later).

Friends Gary and Kay, from England came down in their VW van and stayed in the track campground. Linda and I travelled back and forth from our apartment in Massarrojos each day. Due to the traffic congestion and the fact that we would be spending time Gary and Kay in the campground, where we might drink the occasional beer or wine, we decided to take the public transportation.

There is a train station at the track. It is only used for events. The trains runs from the Valencia Norte station near the centre of the city. We had to the Metro to reach the station. The trip back and forth turned out to be much longer than we thought. It took us about 2 hours to get from our apartment to the track and the same for the return trip. Even though this was longer than we expected. We didn't have to fight the traffic and it was an interesting experience.

We really lucked in with the weather as well. The high temperatures were in the low 20s. Our seating location was excellent. We were in the yellow section 22. I had selected the top row in our section. We were able to stand, walk and watch from the open space behind the seats. Easy access to the washrooms and a great view of the track.

The Ricardo Tormo track is a large stadium track. You can see most of the 4 kilometre track from just about any seat. Next time we will bring a set of binoculars. They would be useful. Not only to see the action further round the track but also to read the information on the big screens. Speaking of next time, we are already looking at hotels for next year! We really enjoyed the event.

Getting back to the beer for a moment... There was no indication or signage that the beer for sale did not contain alcohol. All I knew at first was that the taste of the beer was not great but it was cool and refreshing, so I didn't think much about it. I only had one medium size beer, not because of the taste but because they were so expensive! 9E ($13.50C) for a 12 oz. 15E for a pint. I guess I can understand the reluctance of the organizers to sell beer, since most attendees are going to ride their motorcycles home at the end of the day. But I thought that it was quite unreasonable not to advertise the fact that the beer was zero alcohol and to charge such a high price. You could not bring your own alcohol into the track but you could bring any food or soft drinks, juice etc. Bags were checked on entry.

Below are a few photos from the event. Tomorrow Linda and are are heading for Barcelona. Wednesday we will get the bike to the storage facility, hopefully spend a few hours looking around a part of Barcelona. Our flight back to Canada leaves early on Thursday morning.