Italian Championship of gymkhana in Vespa in Ciampino (24-9-2017)

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You may ask, "But what kind of a race is this? Is he following also these?" Actually, I was also wondering tihs until yesterday, this is a race I didn't absolutely know to exist until about a couple of days ago. But I did not go to see it, it came to me: it was in the parking place under my home. It was supposed to start at 9.30, but the speaker wakes me up early at 8.30 with preparations.

The race is to complete, obviously in Vespa, a spiral track of about 400 meters, alternating with a slalom trait between the bowls and the passage of a seesaw. The result is given by the time, plus 2 seconds of penalty for each pin struck down or foot on the ground. There are two runs.

There are 4 categories: up to 50cc, over 50cc, PX (Wide Vespe) and under 18. I wonder how much advantage you have in having a more powerful Vespa, as the course does not allow you to accelerate much: at the end the best time of the upper category will be 1'00 ", that of the lower category 1'06", which would hve been third in the other category. Times of the big Vespe were instead higher, as their task was the most difficult. I would have already had trouble understanding which way to go, let alone not striking down the pins! And I mean also on foot or on a bicycle , since I've never driven a scooter in my life (my parents were scared, and for me a bicycle was enough to go around in Monza).

In the under 18 category there were also boys and girls much younger than 18: there was also a girl of 10. While seniors were all men, in the under 18 category there were perhaps more girls than boys . In all categories, however, there were no pre-selections: if I understood well, to take part, you oly needed to be a members of a Vespa club. The gap between the first and the last was enormous: there were amateurs, even of very advanced age, struggling to complete the course, not always succeeding.

This is what I understood watching part of the races: the event lasted 4 hours (against the expected 3) and I would not have seen it all, also because there was the Berlin Marathon. In any case, it was fun to observe from very close a tribe so far away from me,  like the bikers.

MotoGP at Sachsenring (2015)

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After three grands prix, the MotoGP season looks particularly interesting for fans of Valentino Rossi. For years I had  been considering going to see a grand prix before Rossi retires, but I had always postponed: the Italian GPs occur in summer, competing with various holidays and moreover they need to be programmed in advance. When I was in Frankfurt, I decided to go to see the German GP at Sachsenring. It was July 2015.

In order not to take holidays, I had decided to see only the race, not the qualifications. I had left on a Saturday afternoon and had spent the night in a small town near Gera, which seemed the closest town to the circuit: I discovered later that maybe Chemnitz would have been better. I left to the circuit on Sunday morning, with the goal of arriving for the MotoGP's warm-up, skipping the other two classes, too early. The goal turned out to be unrealistic: after a terrific jam in the last kilometres and parking almost in another Land (I do not know what distance it was, but well over 1km) I came just in time for the Moto3 race. So I hurried to reach my place, which was towards the beginning of the final straight, not too far from the line, but I found the stand,half-empty  while so many people were goind around across the countless booths (from gadgets to motorbike items, other than, of course food and drinks). Evidently so many people were there only for MotoGP and they didn't care a damn about Moto2 and Moto3. I also usually do not follow the other two classes, but I always think that if I paid for something, I watch it.

The Moto3 race was exciting, with many overtakings, even on the final straight, the Moto2 one a little less. Then it was time for the MotoGP: the grandstand was filled with flags and yellow caps with number 46. Yes, except in the "curves" of the other riders, the public was all for Valentino. And only a small part of the fans were Italian: at every overtaking I heard "Jawohl!". I did not imagine that there were so many fans of the Doctor among the Germans too. The race itself was not a great show: the first 3 positions were outlined before half, Marquez-Pedrosa-Rossi, and above all no overtaking, or almost, on the final straight. I came to the conclusion that, instead of the final straight, it is better to seat on a challenging curve: you see more overtaking. A forbidden dream would be to watch the Laguna Seca GP from the "corkscrew", but now they do not even do it anymore.

After the MotoGP two minor races were scheduled, but I had decided not to watch them in order not to come back too late. I should have thought, however, that if they had put those races at the end of the day there had to be a reason, and when I got to the car I found out right away: there was such a traffic jam that I left the car park not less than one hour and a half alter! I could just as well have watched those races, I'd have been more relaxed.

Strong with this experience, I am not abandoning the idea of ​​going to Mugello or Misano once. Rossi will still be at least for one year .