After our trip to Sepang last October we decided to add another Moto GP event to our travel plans, cheap flights across the Pacific with V Australia made Laguna Seca an easy choice. It's a track I have always wanted to visit. If you decide to do the same be warned that booking your grandstand seats in advance is a poor option. The Turn 4 stand was booked out almost a year ago leaving the Turn 11 stand as the only option. This grandstand is not very grand, a temporary structure situated along the main straight but only about 6 metres high at the highest point. Seats are allocated, you can't select where you sit, when we found that we had front row seats right on the start finish line we thought it would be a good place to watch from, turned out to be the exact opposite. There is a double wire catch fence the length of the straight which means that vision especially to the left is reduced by about 80%. You can see the bikes flash past at 300kmph directly in front and that's it. [I raised this issue with Mazda Raceway when we returned home but they have chosen not to respond, at the very least the seats should be sold with a warning that vision is greatly reduced.]
We used the seats that we had booked for the weekend for about 30 minutes on the Friday and spent the rest of the weekend at the top of the mountain, this is a great place to see most of the track, a two minute walk over the top and you are at The Corkscrew. It was a great experience and I don't regret going but this was Moto GP light, there were no Moto 2 or Moto 3 races, instead there was a local Superbike class and some E Bike races, the E bikes were interesting, watching a bike the size of a superbike come down the straight at 250kmph with absolutely no engine noise is quite weird.
One of my favourite riders, Colin Edwards. Unfortunately he is no longer on a competitive bike and must be getting close to the end of his Moto GP career.
The package we booked was not expensive by Australian standards, US$140 gave us 3 days entry, grandstand ??? pit passes and a programme. Car parking added $30. We could get close to the garages on Friday but for the rest of the weekend it was too crowded in the pit area.
The package we booked was not expensive by Australian standards, US$140 gave us 3 days entry, grandstand ??? pit passes and a programme. Car parking added $30. We could get close to the garages on Friday but for the rest of the weekend it was too crowded in the pit area.
The view from the mountain is spectacular, no need to pay for grandstands.
The Ducati's cant challenge for the lead this year but must have amazing torque, this is Nicky Hayden 3/4's of the way down the main straight changing gear, probably doing about 280kmph at that point. Final photo is Colin Edwards taking a wide line down the straight.
