Mugello Trip (Italy MotoGP) - May 2007

[fotoman]

The 3 Musketeers, Clive, Tony and Mick and the Musketress Karen, are off to Mugello tomorrow.
Forecast is possible light rain near Macon and bloody awful rain at Milan on Thursday.
Oh well - sod it we don't care as we are on holiday in Italy watching MotoGP.
Play nicely now.
Toodle-pip.
Clive.

[RodH]

Enjoy

[desmoboy]

That'll be up and over the Futa pass then. what a road!

[Paivi]

Have a great trip!

[Dan]

Have fun Clive...... 8)

[steven750ss]

Originally Posted by desmoboy

That'll be up and over the Futa pass then. what a road!

Have a fun time, went last year and hired a bike from the factory and rode the futa pass. better than a track day!!
Mugello ROCKS
Come on Stoner!!

[Brian]

Have a safe journey mate i hope the weather is better down there than it is here :wink:

[fotoman]

Me, Karen and Tony left my studio at 03.45 on Wed 30th May and headed on to the A127 where we met Mick and it was off down to the Tunnel and a chance to enjoy a warming coffee - it was bitter cold out that early.

We were appoached by a lady announcing herself as Rossi's biggest fan which she then began to prove by displaying her tattoos .....

We rode all day to Macon and to a hotel Tony and I stayed at when we went in 2005. The rain came that evening and we had to walk back from dinner in it.
The next morning was some light showers so we started off wearing water-proofs but it brightened up and we we able to ride in normal gear through the Alps to Milan via Mont Blanc. Again to a lovely 4 star hotel we had visited in 2005. The rain came again as we walked back from dinner...

When we left Milan on Friday morning it was coming down on stair rods - but with a very warm air temperature - we couldn't wait to get on the autostrada to relieve the boil-in-the-bag symptoms. That is pretty much an arrow straight motorway to Bologna and in the rain it was scary in places dealing with the Italians.

Tuscany and the Dolomites is as lovely as I remember even in damp weather.

By the time we reached our villa the rain had stopped but the skies were cloudy.

Saturday practice day gave Karen her first experience of loud and fast bikes as we stood next to the fastest section of the straight, about 10 metres from the bikes. Ear splitting and frightening. Lovely.

For the qualifying we headed to our stand - number 2 which is high above turn3 and from there we could also see the section behind the main stand (where Tony and I were in 2005) and part of the home straight. We had a big screen dead ahead of us too. Excellent - I will book the same stand again if I go next year.

We were only about 100 metres from the official Rossi fan club on their hill and that is where "his biggest fan" was based, again displaying her tatts to all and sundry.

The rain came. Big rain. Bloody big rain and a full on thunderstorm. We took refuge under the stand and then in a food marquee. We had been joined by Mirko an Italian chap there as a gift from his wife and it was great that he was pretty fluent in English.

The sun came out and my forehead got sunburn it was so intense. The track dried for most part leaving a mix of puddles and dry to test the riders. Rather them than me.

We rode into Scarperia to see the loonies showing off some more but the rain came and we picked a dry window to get back to the villa and arranged a cab to take us to Florence to find a restaurant. A fabulous meal, warm evening and much fine wine - so we walked around enjoying the late evening and then waited at the station rank for a cab.

An oriental couple in front of us asked the driver to take them miles away and he refused so I asked if he was ok to take us and we piled in. He loved the fact we had biked to see Rossi and proceeded to show us just why so many Italians are good at racing...

I think that was the first cab ride any of us had done in a qualifying time... Mental. Simply mental but so bloody funny too. We tipped him heavily for the experience.

Race day. We parked on the perimeter road and walked the quarter mile to our stand - passing the remains of a triple scooter cremation, a camp bonfire in the road, another scooter cremation and a scooter burial. If a scooter stops making enough noise, the locals soon dispose of it.

We saw a bloke with a wheelbarrow with an engine in the bin bit ready to scream itself to seizure - plus he had another in his back pack. All round are bikes with the cans removed being thrashed on to their limiters. 2 lads were riding a trailie with a front wheel so badly buckled it only just went through the forks - and this perimeter road goes up and down hills so steep they are bloody hard work to walk.

Karen set off to try to buy more shirts and returned to report on a camp formed by camper vans and police tape (the usual method of trying to bag your space on the hillsides in Mugello) with notices all round in various languages asking for the noise to be kept down and to keep it calm and peaceful. Inside this camp was a plethora of pallets with static engines with megaphone open exhausts being revved to the limit and shooting flames big enough for us to see from our stand nearly 400 metres away. She couldn't think straight. For any precision engineers or mechanics reading this, the abuse these engines are given would make you weep.

Scooters were ridden 3 up and even 4 up. Hooters are constant. The music in the marquees is blasted out. We thought about the 6 blokes we met on the train in the tunnel who said they were going to be camping at Mugello and no, they had never been there before...

We cheered Bradley Smith as loud as we could. We felt for Lorenzo on that last lap.

When the MotoGP boys started out of the pits for their lap to the grid the roar of the crowd was massive. Then Rossi came out. I thought world war 3 had started - the explosions and yellow smoke were industrial strength and the atmosphere hung with excitement.

As the 2 Ducatis took first and second the crowd screamed with delight, especially when Loris took the lead. Rossi's poor start meant he was 8th on that first lap past us. His fans blew him along.

After lap 3 it was clear Rossi's tyres were warming and coming "in" and that the bikes ahead were being caught. As he made those text book passes the racket around the whole arena grew and grew and when he took the lead it reached a crescendo that had our stand wobbling.

His celebration burn out was right in front below us. He then rode off side saddle waving. We watched the presentations and then joined the exodus.

Our Italian friend Mirko had arrived by train, bus and walking 3 miles so I said come with us and I will give you a pillion until the first police check point where I would have to drop him off as we had no lid for him. Karen rode with Tony on his 10R. Mick struggled to keep a forceful path through the throng and got held up an hour - but we all met up at the villa in plenty of time to clean up and bike into Fiesole for dinner.

Up early on Monday we rode to Pisa and spent an hour at the cathedral with the leaning tower - and were totally surprised by the delicious and cheap food and coffee at the cafe outside. Lovely.
On the road around the coast towards Genoa it is all tunels and viaducts and very busy and quite tiring. We pulled in for one of our regular stops of every 80 miles. As I went in to pay, out comes John Hopkins and I introduced us all and we chatted and Karen and Mick took photos (will post some later). Hopper was so friendly and accommodating - he has gained 4 fans. A good bloke. The scars on his limbs bore testament to the dangers of the sport.

We arrived in San Remo and parked the bikes in the hotel garage and dumped the luggage in the rooms. Karen was swimming in the Med within 10 minutes. Tony paddled. I sat on the rocks wishing I had my cossie. Mick rested up.

On the Tuesday we headed off towards France and my planned route took us up the famed D402 mountain road and then onto the N85 Route Napoleon. These roads cannot be described - you simply have to do them. Period.
We pass by Grenoble and Lyon and on to Macon again. An exhausting day but full of elation.

Wednesday we ride to Chaussees sur la Marne and to a beautiful hotel on the river. We take a gentle walk and repair to a local hostelry for cool beers and a sit in the garden. We eat in our hotel that evening and enjoy more fine wines as it is our last night of the trip.

Thursday we blast the 208 miles to Calais and the train and then home.

A wonderful trip.

Bikes: My Yamaha Thunderace, Tony on a Kawasaki ZX10R, Mick on a Bandit 1200s. All three run beautifully - but then we all have new tyres and services before we leave the UK.

Tony's BT014's were squaring off by the time we were home - Mick didn't like the feel of his Contis in the wet. I loved my Avon St Storms in all conditions and the wear is negligible. Recommended.

Costs - er lots but then we stay in good hotels and eat in quality restaurants. Well worth every penny.

Toodle pip.

Clive

[Brian]

Great read Clive sounds like you have had a great tripp it makes me so green

[Paivi]

Wow, what an amazing trip you've had, Clive! Makes me want to get on my bike and head down to Italia again. Where are the pics?

[fotoman]

Much to many on here's surprise - I do not take a camera on holiday because then it isn't a holiday. Karen took some pics which we are editing over the next few days. Tony and Mick both got pics too so when we have gone through them and picked out some I will post them here.
Karen and I have already agreed we will go again next year - it really is the best track in Europe - the layout affords fabulous views, the speed on that straight is awesome, the corners vary a lot, the height differences cannot be seen on tv, and that crowd just has to be the most vociferous. But best of all? No "security" telling you what, where and how.
I have had an email reply from Mirko the Italian chap and he says he will be there next year - so I will definitely aim to meet him.
Clive.

[Paivi]

Originally Posted by fotoman

I have had an email reply from Mirko the Italian chap and he says he will be there next year - so I will definitely aim to meet him.
Clive.

If he's good looking and single, I'll be aiming to meeting him, too... :wink: Might even offer him a pillion seat ...

[Tony]

Im gonna collate the pics for clive to edit and get up online here, but just so you get a taste here's one of the views we had to put up with.

[fotoman]

Just a few pics.

[nsm3]

Good job you all didn't have your Rossi shirts on when you asked Hopper for the photograph!! - LOL.

Seriously though, sounds a great trip, recognise the Castellane photo's very well indeed - must be some of the best biking in Europe alongside the mountains West of Madrid and the roads around the Nurburgring etc etc.

Shame they are all so far from good old Blighty eh??