Those who don’t have the MotoGP subscription these are some of the best shots from the recent testing session.

Enjoy.





Someone needs to tell homie to zip up his jacket and to quit acting like the other famous Fabio.




Something new from HRC!


I love this pic so much!


Homie appears to be making some sort of white supremacist “ok” gesture here....oh dear... I hope the liberal media doesn’t see this one...




I can’t stand the rider but this pic is incredible.











I saved the best for last.

Future champions!

Dean Viñales, RIP. Turn 1 incident at Jerez.
FIM Supersport Series, cousin of Maverick Viñales, 15 yrs old.

My wife saw it on Instagram this morning & I only heard her say Viñales, thought it was Mav.

Edit: MotoGP Announcement

This message has been edited. Last edited by: P250UA5,

Vinales is skipping the Austin round to mourn his cousin. I would have liked to see him in Aprilia guise. Rip Dean.

About to start packing for the drive tomorrow. Looks like rain the rest of the week so this will be the first time COTA will be ran in the rain if the weather is correct.

I'll be watching from Houston, you guys enjoy, hope the weather cooperates.

Hoping to make it next year.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
I'll be watching from Houston, you guys enjoy, hope the weather cooperates.

Hoping to make it next year.

I checked today. Rain tomorrow, storms, 70%. Saturday much the same. But Sunday may be clear. I hope so. COTA is really too dangerous if it's raining and you know how it rains in TX, hard.

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
I'll be watching from Houston, you guys enjoy, hope the weather cooperates.

Hoping to make it next year.

I checked today. Rain tomorrow, storms, 70%. Saturday much the same. But Sunday may be clear. I hope so. COTA is really too dangerous if it's raining and you know how it rains in TX, hard.

The last time we did F1 (2018) it was like that. Misty, windy, cold (chilly for TX in Oct), on Fri & Sat.
Sunday was perfection. Sunny & comfortable.

Who won the race today?
I've been busy and haven't had time to check.

quote:

Originally posted by Jupiter:
Who won the race today?
I've been busy and haven't had time to check.

Marc

Real winner is Fabio (2nd). He finished ahead of Bagnaia (3rd). If he does that again, it will be mathematically impossible for Bags to win the championship.

Quite the dustup between Mir and Miller on the last lap. I think Miller was a little easy on Mir myself (fun to watch) but Race Direction handed Mir a 1 place penalty.

quote:

Originally posted by mutedblade:

quote:

Originally posted by Jupiter:
Who won the race today?
I've been busy and haven't had time to check.

Real winner is Fabio (2nd). He finished ahead of Bagnaia (3rd). If he does that again, it will be mathematically impossible for Bags to win the championship.

I'm happy for Fabio. He seems like a great kid.
It looks like he will achieve his dream this season. He has a great future and could be the successor to Marquez in the coming years.

You really don't notice how bumpy the circuit is with F1 & sports cars.
That looks like a hell of a ride to manage for a race distance.

That track looks like some of the roads here in Virginia. The “bumps” are at least 3-5” in some spots and you can clearly see the bikes hopping around. It’s terrible because there are some better tracks that should represent the USA

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
You really don't notice how bumpy the circuit is with F1 & sports cars.
That looks like a hell of a ride to manage for a race distance.

Just got back yesterday. Will be my last race at COTA as the owners are not motorsports people, fucked over Kevin Schwantz, and did real stupid shit with the building of the circuit.

The track is literally fucked. Turns 2 through 10 have bumps. And they aren't the normal bumps F1 cars cause braking in turns. They are full on dips. I saw bikes with full extended suspension to full compressed in a nano second. Lots of crashes. Aleix crashed 4-5 times over the weekend. Valentino even had it happen to him. Leaned, hit onc of those....ravines, bam, on his ass holding his elbow.

Pol said "Anyone that just finishes the race is a winner." Valentino pulled in after starting last, picking people off, well it was like a podium. Hugged it out. And congrats to him being a father in 7 months or whatever.

The riders met in the Safety Commission on Friday night. 3 riders said no race on Sunday, too dangerous. Riders and Dorna issued an ultimatum. Fix the track or we aren't coming back. Seeing as the next COTA MotoGP race is scheduled for April, I think that may be the last MotoGP race at the circuit.

Turns 2-10 are completely fucked. I saw riders jumping MotoGP machinery like they were MX bikes. Dangerous as fuck. Aleix was especially critical but it was unanimous. There are also 3 types of asphalt on that circuit, each is different, so it's a got damn nightmare for Michelin. MotoGP bikes are stiff, and the tires are stiff and this circuit is no longer suitable to host MotoGP. Will be curious to see what F1 says and does after there race there in a few weeks.

Sad day watching Valentino's last US race. Thankfully I have seen him over a dozen times in person. And got to meet him several times. I've done my last track days at COTA. And that was my last race there. Just cannot support it any longer. The suites are almost double what Laguna called. Laguna would let you bring in a cooler. CoTa, 2 water bottles only. Place is a joke. The vibe is bad. And you get absolute knuckleheads that show up. I had my boat horn, only used for Vale. While over a few thousand people around me in the grandstands were stoked when I fired it up. I had newbs next to me without a damn clue complaining about noise. And this is on the front straight where if you don't have earplugs in, inserted correctly, your ears will bleed as the bikes are 130db or something each. Imagine 10-12 coming through at once, or lap 1 when they are still bunched together. It's painful so the boat horn is nothing. And at any other GP race in the world boat horns are all over the track, thousands and thousands of them. We had 3 on the front straight and these bitches were whining like mad. I look over mid race and their earplugs were sticking out of their ears 50% or more. That's now you insert them. Total tits.

The good thing to see was people from all over. I saw groups of people from Japan, from all over South America, Europeans. Had more international folks than I have ever seen at COTA. Vaya Con Dios COTA, you POS. Your circuit is completely fucked.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Prefontaine,

That's a real shame to hear.
This was my first USGP, and it's eye opening to see how much they're fighting the bike to keep it going the right direction with at least 1 wheel on the ground.
One of those dips was the cause of Martin going off & getting the penalty, I believe.

Love the layout of the track, and would still like to drive it, but in a car, as I can't fathom that on a bike (maybe a pedal bike), after watching the race.

Provisional 20222 Calendar:

No Brno, damn shame. And I don't know about COTA. To think they can resurface between now and then is a monumental task.

My first GP was at Brno.
A fine and beautiful track.
Shame.

Still debating on COTA next year.

What about y'all?

quote:

Originally posted by rainman64:
My first GP was at Brno.
A fine and beautiful track.
Shame.

Still debating on COTA next year.

What about y'all?

Will never return to COTA. I've known since the track was even being discussed being built, that the owners were trash. I also have some inside contacts at the track (I still get tickets before they go on sale to the public) and a few people in the paddock. They royally screwed over Kevin Schwantz. He was apart of the whole thing until they didn't want to pay him so they kicked him to the curb. I've gone every year but two and I have had enough.

The first problem is the circuit itself. They cheaped out during construction. A guy connected told us when the circuit was being built that they were doing the cheap route on the track surface. Like North Texas, you need to do some pier work underneath because of the clay. I mean I had to retrofit by slab house with piers, 28 of them, steel too, not the cheap way most people do it with concrete pilings. Concrete pilings is just a 7-10 year bandaid. Steel piers means it's fixed forever provided you have your roof water irrigation handled with downspouts, PVC runs, to carry all that water into the street/alley and ultimately into the sewers. This same contact, who is in construction, told me when the circuit was being built, they'd have serious issues over time. And everything he said turned out to be 100% true. The track is literally falling apart. Turns 2-10 are completely fucked and even Valentino said there are 3 different types of asphalt on the track so Michelin has a nearly impossible job of doing the correct tire allocation. There are ravines now, not dips, that catapult both wheels of a motorcycle off the ground MX style. You hit one of those leaned over, you go down, as we saw with many riders last weekend to include Valentino and Aleix paid the highest price. Crashing I think 4 times in practice/qualifying, and ultimately the race as well. The surface is just not up to MotoGP/F1 professional standards. It's shit.

Then there is the patron part. Laguna Seca, as my USA reference (never visited Indy when it was run as that is a Nascar circuit to me and not a MotoGP track).....at Laguna I held a seat in the turn three paddock suite from 2000 until GP quit going. 2000-2004 I went to see WSBK, then in '05 GP returned. Laguna suite tickets were $550. For that you got catered 4 star breakfast and lunch on Sat/Sun. Free boos, and I mean all the beer you could drink. None of us would get smashed but it was nice knowing you could grab some beers relax and enjoy the day. Then free coffee, good damn coffee, free redbulls, sodas, and as much bottled water as you needed. Then instead of a porta potty the suites had a trailer with urinals, shitters, TP, and most importantly sinks. And that trailer was exclusive to those who had a suite ticket. And Laguna had suites at turn 3, 4, the main straight, and a few others. Ours was turn 3. And your suite ticket included a paddock pass. So the years I couldn't get a rider pass from Colin's father, at least I had a paddock pass. So having said all that, you know what the equivalent is at COTA? Main straight suite, $1,000.00 a pop. And the food, drinks, etc, are not up to par with Laguna. So in other words, COTA is greedy, and charges way too got damn much.

Then let's talk GA. At Laguna, as reference again, they were cool. SCRAMP is the governing body and they'd let you bring in coolers. People could bring drinks, sandwiches/meals, whatever. I don't recall if you could bring in boos too, I don't think so, but it was never a thing for me as I had the VIP type thing going with everything covered. But it was nice to see Californian locals bring chairs, umbrellas, and coolers and set up shop all weekend on the corkscrew. I know a fuck ton of people into this so once a day I'd get a text from them up on the corkscrew, head up there, someone would have a chair for me, and someone would have a cooler full of brews and I'd watch a session with them.

The weather is next. Laguna was the favorite round of the riders of the entire calendar. The Peninsula has fantastic weather year round. Temps in the 70's, low or no humidity, nice breeze coming in from the ocean, and the area is spectacular. So nice you'd vacation there when there was not racing. Whole different vibe there too, compared to Austin. More motorcycle specific people, racing folk and the town and area is not only setup for it, they welcome it with Cannery Row being the hot spot for nighttime activity on Fri/Sat night. Fri night would be a plethora of motorcycles parked all up and down the street. Guys would bring vintage 2 strokes. Someone always had a RC45 to gangly eye. The comradeship amongst us bikers were outstanding as everyone had a smile on their face, everyone was welcoming, it was total brothers and sisters in arms. COTA has very little of that. And Austin weather really sucks. Dallas area is humid as shit, then Austin takes that humidity and heat level up a few notches, then Houston even more. So Austin races, you sweat, it's hot as fuck, and even in April when the race is normally held, it's tolerable but certainly isn't pleasant and certainly not the Monterey Peninsula. Laguna you can hit the beach, see Sea Lions, hit the Monterey Aquarium, which is world class, eat at Bubba Gump's. Pebble Beach is close if you are into that. The 17 mile drive. There is so much to do. COTA? Go downtown and hit 6th street, and drink. That's about it.

So fuck COTA, the owners, the whole thing. The last thing is driving there. What a nightmare and clusterfuck. Austin has always been a big college town. It was never designed to have the population is does now, nor sustain it. Few highways and no real room to update, so traffic is a bitch. I've got people there and have been going myself for almost 30 years. It's not a night and day difference, it's Earth to Jupiter different. It's not that special weird town it used to be. It's little San Francisco complete with super liberal attitudes, laws, policy, etc. Them Twattersphere people constantly doing cancel culture, whining, protesting, saying fuck the police, etc, that's Austin 101 today. I used to be able to leave my place in NTX, and arrive at my rental house down there in 3 hours flat. Now if I make it in 4 hours I consider myself lucky. It's just a clusterfuck even getting down there. This trip, the driving from the D to ATX and the return trip were so bad, I will never make that drive again. I told my friend in Austin, who is like my little brother....the next time I visit, gonna have to pick me up from Bergstrom, and I'll just rent a car or something. I can no longer deal with the drive down there and I game the driving hard to avoid the herd and still got fucked both ways.

Future: I would say let's go hit Brno. I really want to go as the Czecho women are the most beautiful on the planet to me. I mean I drool with that naturally tan skin, and the sheen that comes off that brunette hair. I'd love to go, stay on for at least a week after and try to find a wife. Or just hit Prague up for some boom-boom Then maybe hit Austria, and some surrounding stuff I have long wanted to see. Brno is the least expensive round on the calendar to attend. Lodging is cheap, beer is cheap, food is cheap, everything is less expensive than even Austin, TX. You've been I know. I have friends who have hit at least half the circuits and Brno is definitely my spot all in. But the owner, Karel Abraham's father (he used to suck it up at the back on the Ducati), is in some spat with the state as the GP round there requires the local gov and the owner to work together to make it happen and that is pissing contest so the round is gone for now.

So that means the big bank spots. Mugello, PI, or I have a friend in Scotland who'll give me a bike so we can ride and take the ferry over to the Netherlands for Assen. Mugello we wouldn't get any sleep. The Italians, no matter where you stay, party into the late night, 2am, 4am, making racket, yelling, drinking, boat horns, and 4 and 2 stroke singles mounted on boards on a wagon with a zip pull string attached or a trigger. I'd put up with it to see a race there. Then maybe pop over to Tuscany area where Valentino resides and tour the area. Go eat at his Pizza shop and maybe try to scam out to his academy just to gawk.

Or PI, which is going to be $$$$$$, and stay on so I could surf after the race and check out the local blondes as they are the most beautiful blondes on Earth.

Assen would be cool too, hit up Amsterdam afterwards. Down for one of the three but would need to be planned years in advance because any are gonna cost me big $.

Yeah, there were some nice things with COTA, like proximity, but damn the facility was lacking.

Assen would be good.
PI would be freakin expensive!

Looks like COTA will be doing some bump removal work to the track before the F1 teams race.

COTA to get some work done on the track surface prior to F1 race

Is MotoGP pulling the plug on moto-e? What is going on with their bike sponsor?