Indy MotoGP [mostly photographs]

[Daniel Kalal]

The next morning I drove to the speedway for the MotoGP races. Surprisingly (to me) the grandstands are right next to the street.


There didn't seem to be a main ticket booth. Anyway, this trailer is all I saw (and dozens and dozens of street vendors selling tickets). On the right--get your photograph sitting on Valentino Rossi's Yamaha.






The garages had been converted into individual stores selling all sorts of motorcycle related things and souvenirs.


Compared to flat track, this is huge. Of course, Nicky Hayden had his own store.


The cook is holding a meat thermometer in his left hand.


I took time out to walk through the hall of fame and museum.






















It's a very large track, so there's lots and lots of walking.


The 125cc racers...


...and, the Moto2 racers. These are both support classes for the premier class: MotoGP.




I had the wrong camera for this sort of thing, so I didn't even try. At the point of this shot, many of the racers were braking so hard that their rear wheel was several inches above the ground.


Nicky is in the all-red leathers. Ben Spies (another American) is leading at this point, but would finish second.


The winner is....Spanish. As it happens, the winner of each of the three races this day would be Spanish.





The races are over (the Speedway can hold an enormous number of people).


The podium is empty. Time to come home.

[Gaw]

Thanks for the pics.

Yes, Spanish got good results  

BTW, how much did tickets cost?

[MisterSmooth]

Hey, DK.  Thanks for the pics!    Good stuff as always.

The Museum looks like it's worth the price of admission by itself.    Or maybe I'm just getting old.    There's some fabulous history there that's more interesting to me than the present-day Brickyard.

When I go to the races at Laguna, there's always space around the track.  There's maybe 50.000 people there.  You can have great "seats" even if you're too cheap to buy seats in the grandstands.  Indy looks like more of the same.

But pics of the Spanish or Italian GP's, show that the stands are packed.  They get 90,000 people attending.  I hate crowds, so I can't decide if I'm happy that no one goes to GP's in the USA, or if I'm disappointed that we don't support bike racing more.    

[Gaw]

But pics of the Spanish or Italian GP's, show that the stands are packed.  They get 90,000 people attending.  I hate crowds, so I can't decide if I'm happy that no one goes to GP's in the USA, or if I'm disappointed that we don't support bike racing more.    

This year Jerez got 122,000 and I hate crowds too, so I will be happy with less people  
 At least this time organization worked well, but in past it was a huge mess

[Daniel Kalal]

BTW, how much did tickets cost?

General admission cost $40.  Tickets to the museum were $5.  Parking (at any number of private lots) cost $20 ($10 motorcycle).

[Gaw]

General admission cost $40.  Tickets to the museum were $5.  Parking (at any number of private lots) cost $20 ($10 motorcycle).

Similar price here but parking free. Grandstands usually cost from 60$ to 200$ depend on the circuit

[scottzilla]

Thanks for the pics.

[G]

If you bought the tree day package  for instance sec  j was 110$ for all three days free parking on ther back straight away with suviner kick stand pucks and one  un escorted lap around track on friday am sweeet

[scottzilla]

Hey, DK.  Thanks for the pics!    Good stuff as always.

The Museum looks like it's worth the price of admission by itself.    Or maybe I'm just getting old.    There's some fabulous history there that's more interesting to me than the present-day Brickyard.

When I go to the races at Laguna, there's always space around the track.  There's maybe 50.000 people there.  You can have great "seats" even if you're too cheap to buy seats in the grandstands.  Indy looks like more of the same.

But pics of the Spanish or Italian GP's, show that the stands are packed.  They get 90,000 people attending.  I hate crowds, so I can't decide if I'm happy that no one goes to GP's in the USA, or if I'm disappointed that we don't support bike racing more.    

Indy can handle one million people easily.

[Ripper]

Friday ticket was $10 GA w/free parking for bikes on the Back Stretch

Saturday ticket was $20 GA w/free parking for bikes on the Back Stretch

Sunday ticket was $40 GA w/free parking for bikes on the Back Stretch

If you wanted three day General Admission it was $60 w/free parking for bikes on Back Stretch

Anyone who paid to park a bike anywhere off the track just wasted money.  Next year just Send me $10 each and I'll tell you were to park for free!  

GREAT Pictures BTW - You've obviously got a decent camera?  You using a UV filter for the outdoor pics?  What set up you using?

[Daniel Kalal]

You've obviously got a decent camera?  You using a UV filter for the outdoor pics?  What set up you using?

Uh, no.  It's a small Canon point-and-shoot that fits in my shirt pocket.  The main thing is to be rock steady (or even brace against something rigid) for each shot and squeeze very slowly.  Even with stability control, these cheap cameras work far better when there's no movement at all.

[MisterSmooth]

Uh, no.  It's a small Canon point-and-shoot that fits in my shirt pocket.  The main thing is to be rock steady (or even brace against something rigid) for each shot and squeeze very slowly.  Even with stability control, these cheap cameras work far better when there's no movement at all.

Yep, I use the same thing (Canon SD1100) and have experienced the same phenomenon.  You have to stay very still to get a good shot.

Even with the same equipment, though, Daniel takes better photographs.    

[squeezer]

Thanks for the pics.

+ another. Great shots.

[Ripper]

Wow, I'm use to carrying around my DSLR so I stole my sons Kodak Point and Shoot for the Indy trip.  It did good for a 70 camera, but nothing like yours.  I may have to get me a nice P&S for my trips, the big camera is just to much work.  Which model you have if you don't mind me asking?  

Anyway, I really enjoyed my trip this year.  Instead of staying with friends I stayed at the Sheraton @ Keystone, I appreciate the free place to stay but I'm not much of a Party Animal and can't keep up with their late nights and early mornings.  I have a friend in Indy that has about the same philosophy of Party to Rest Ratio so we pretty much ran together the entire time.  

I managed to score some great deals in the Vendor area.  But the down side to that is I only took a backpack with me, and it was full on the way down!  So I ended up fedex'ing all my stuff back and enjoyed a nice ride home without all the crap.  

I was taken to a great local restaurant called "John's Famous Stew"  (Freak'n Incredible Stew is all I can say), had some custom ear plugs made and just in general enjoyed getting away to spend some time with like minded individuals.