Which european MotoGP event to attend?

[JettaJayGLS]

Seeing a bunch of you at Austin makes me jealous.

I am in desperate need of a vacation. I haven't been to Europe for awhile.

What I'm looking for:
1) Good track. i.e., I don't want to go to Sachsenring. I think I'm eyeing up one of Mugello, San Marino, Catalunya, Assen, or Silverstone
2) Good weather, so you could push Assen or Silverstone down on the list
3) Would love to be close to mountains, because this trip would likely also involve cycling. This also pushes Assen and Silverstone down, but not out. The Netherlands has an incredible cycling heritage and a trip to the UK is just easy.
4) Relatively easy accomodations. I've heard horror stories about staying/driving into San Marino, for example. I'm not against renting a caravan and staying at the track
5) A package that lets me walk the pits
6) A track that offers good spectating. To me, that means a good screen at an interesting place on the track, as most of the time I'll be staring at the screen.


Looking forward to reading your stories!

[boosten lebaron]

Look no further than Brands Hatch. It was my home track. It's pretty friggin silly.

[gixxer72]

Look no further than Brands Hatch. It was my home track. It's pretty friggin silly.

Awesome track, no MotoGP.


We’re likely doing Silverstone next year, because it’s easy. As far as the package and pit walk the VIP Village was pretty cool when we did it in the past.

[JettaJayGLS]

Yeah, I got friends in England as well. My partners' best friend lives in Peterborough, and the track is nicely nested between there and London. I think she would at most be down for race day and maybe 1 day in the pits. Her having a friend to hang with would let me enjoy some solo time nerding out.

There's also no language barrier. Cool, historic track. Bicycles just suck there, but can easily hop off the island to somewhere better for that. I've ridden in/around Peterborough and it just plain sucks.

Tough for me to not want to go to Italy though. Learning Italian and moving there for a bit is in a made-up 5 year plan of mine. Also in that plan is getting a job at a pro cycling or motoGP team and traveling with them. Would do it for peanuts.

[gixxer72]

Yeah, I got friends in England as well. My partners' best friend lives in Peterborough, and the track is nicely nested between there and London. I think she would at most be down for race day and maybe 1 day in the pits. Her having a friend to hang with would let me enjoy some solo time nerding out.

There's also no language barrier. Cool, historic track. Bicycles just suck there, but can easily hop off the island to somewhere better for that. I've ridden in/around Peterborough and it just plain sucks.

Tough for me to not want to go to Italy though. Learning Italian and moving there for a bit is in a made-up 5 year plan of mine. Also in that plan is getting a job at a pro cycling or motoGP team and traveling with them. Would do it for peanuts.

All those things about Silverstone are why we’re going. I went to high school about 15 miles from the track.

That plan of yours sounds pretty damn appealing! I’m too old and entrenched in my career path to even consider such a dream, jealous!!

[boosten lebaron]

Awesome track, no MotoGP.


We’re likely doing Silverstone next year, because it’s easy. As far as the package and pit walk the VIP Village was pretty cool when we did it in the past.

Correct but they do British superbike. It's nearly as mad as motogp but not as overwhelming with people. You can camp at the track too.
Plenty of cycling in the south of England too. You can always head to Portsmouth and jump over to isle of wight which is basically one big cycle circuit with some challenging terrain.

Peterborough is blah but you can get over to the lakes district pretty easily. Or head north into Scotland. Try to cycle a bit of the north coast 500. I cycled from Glasgow down to Nottingham then London then Portsmouth and finished in wight and the Scottish part was the hardest. Cycling the highlands is insanity

[boosten lebaron]

Yeah, I got friends in England as well. My partners' best friend lives in Peterborough, and the track is nicely nested between there and London. I think she would at most be down for race day and maybe 1 day in the pits. Her having a friend to hang with would let me enjoy some solo time nerding out.

There's also no language barrier. Cool, historic track. Bicycles just suck there, but can easily hop off the island to somewhere better for that. I've ridden in/around Peterborough and it just plain sucks.

Tough for me to not want to go to Italy though. Learning Italian and moving there for a bit is in a made-up 5 year plan of mine. Also in that plan is getting a job at a pro cycling or motoGP team and traveling with them. Would do it for peanuts.

I bought my way onto the Citroen FIA world rally team for a partial season so it's possible. Technically I bribed Dunlop to allow me to shadow the team while I helped set up the tires. It can be done, you just got to figure it out.

[gixxer72]

Correct but they do British superbike. It's nearly as mad as motogp but not as overwhelming with people. You can camp at the track too.

Totally agree on BSB! I followed off and on, most recently when Shakey Byrne was dominating (it’s been a minute…)

[JettaJayGLS]

I've heard good things about the Lakes District! I had to fly home but my partner went and said it was super cool.

I don't want to pay my way onto the team, but will do it for just cost of living. I want like a low level finance/ops role. Gimme like an analyst position. I'm also a very good jack-of-all-trades finance. I think I could sell myself and then over deliver.

[number9]

Correct but they do British superbike. It's nearly as mad as motogp but not as overwhelming with people. You can camp at the track too.
Plenty of cycling in the south of England too. You can always head to Portsmouth and jump over to isle of wight which is basically one big cycle circuit with some challenging terrain.

Peterborough is blah but you can get over to the lakes district pretty easily. Or head north into Scotland. Try to cycle a bit of the north coast 500. I cycled from Glasgow down to Nottingham then London then Portsmouth and finished in wight and the Scottish part was the hardest. Cycling the highlands is insanity

I wonder if they get more people at a BSB event than we do at the Austin MotoGP?

[boosten lebaron]

I don't know. It's pretty busy, I can tell you that.

[theducman]

I'm planning to attend the San Marino GP in two years as a retirement gift for surviving 20 years in law enforcement. I am using pole position travel to set it all up

[Mustang]

I've attended Mugello, Valencia, and Austin. Austin is easy but surprisingly expensive. Valencia (the city, not the race) was underwhelming compared to Barcelona; for Spain, I would pick another race, especially because the championship is usually already decided by then. Mugello was AMAZING. Granted it was my first MotoGP, but "Mugello non si dorme." We stayed at a random AirBnB (agriturismo) near-ish the track, the proprietors of which explained a sneaky place to park on the side of the road to avoid the crazy Mugello traffic. We reserved covered seating near the start/finish line because I didn't know how to predict weather...so it was boring to watch from a "corners" perspective, but amazing cover from the intense sunshine that weekend, and had a giant TV right in front. Plus the sound of the bikes on the straight <3. You can walk around the craziness of the spectator/camping area freely, then come upon a vendor selling fresh meat and cheese and wine...then wander back to your seats. Sunday night, we walked from our agriturismo to the closest, highly rated restaurant I could find. We arrived at 8pm while they were still cleaning up from the night before. Before we left around 11pm, two Moto2 teams were also eating in this Michelin-rated place...and we left one of the best meals of our lives for about 100USD including a bottle of wine and tip.

[JettaJayGLS]

I've attended Mugello, Valencia, and Austin. Austin is easy but surprisingly expensive. Valencia (the city, not the race) was underwhelming compared to Barcelona; for Spain, I would pick another race, especially because the championship is usually already decided by then. Mugello was AMAZING. Granted it was my first MotoGP, but "Mugello non si dorme." We stayed at a random AirBnB (agriturismo) near-ish the track, the proprietors of which explained a sneaky place to park on the side of the road to avoid the crazy Mugello traffic. We reserved covered seating near the start/finish line because I didn't know how to predict weather...so it was boring to watch from a "corners" perspective, but amazing cover from the intense sunshine that weekend, and had a giant TV right in front. Plus the sound of the bikes on the straight <3. You can walk around the craziness of the spectator/camping area freely, then come upon a vendor selling fresh meat and cheese and wine...then wander back to your seats. Sunday night, we walked from our agriturismo to the closest, highly rated restaurant I could find. We arrived at 8pm while they were still cleaning up from the night before. Before we left around 11pm, two Moto2 teams were also eating in this Michelin-rated place...and we left one of the best meals of our lives for about 100USD including a bottle of wine and tip.

That...sounds excellent.

I feel like Mugello is a pretty safe bet...might be a little too short notice to get to this year.

[loudbeard]

Idk man, I think as a combo with some cycling as well, Styrian GP at the Red Bull Ring. It’s after the summer break so plenty of time to plan it.

[jimmycapp]

We went to San Marino in 2021. I was disappointed in the track access. I've been to Cota 3 times and you can walk all around. We just had general admission tickets, but you could only enter the grandstand area for your ticket, and you could only do it twice. I don't know if it was due to covid restrictions, but it was a let down. If you were to go there, I would get some sort of VIP access.

[Paul_E_D]

A friend of mine from Spain says that Jerez is THE event, even in Spain. Southern track means great weather and close (relatively) to Sevilla, Malaga, Granada and other EPIC cities of southern Spain.