Long before the Motorcycle World Championship was born, a group of intrepid British riders decided to travel along Europe to race at the different circuits of the old Continent. It was back in the early 20th century and no racetracks had been built yet.
Those were the years in which the first motorbike fans started to take their caravans and travel around the different European countries, as a travelling circus looking for racetracks on which to race. This is the origin of one of the most common expressions used when referring to the Motorcycle Grand Prix: the Continental Circus.
It continues to be a circus in the 21st century, but a much larger. Nowadays, MotoGP takes week after week, all around the globe, a much more complex structure, in order to let the current riders measure up against each other in front of millions of fans. And just like in a circus, the activity we see from the outside is as frantic as the activity inside.
The activity actually starts long before the red lights go off on Sunday noon to let Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden make the most of their RC212V machines. It starts on Tuesday before the race, with the arrival of the trucks carrying several tons of material to make the magic of the World Championship become real. On Wednesday morning, the IRTA – association representing the interests of the teams – organises the access of all trucks to the circuit. Then the members of the Repsol Honda Team start setting up the scenario that will host the whole activity of the next days: the unmistakeable orange pit garages and the hospitality facilities, where the team members have lunch and dinner during the race weekend.
Before the start of the first act, i.e. the free practices on Friday, Thursday is the day to get everything set and ready. While mechanics and team members finish the set-up of the hospitality facilities and check every single piece of all bikes, the riders have to attend several commitments with the media, sponsors and fans. It’s a day in which, despite not riding a single lap, the riders are already working at the racetrack and all their mechanics prepare and check all the settings they think they will need for that particular Grand Prix. The aim is to have everything ready for the moment a rider asks for a change, on the basis of previous races. One of the most important tasks of the riders is the meeting with the Michelin technicians, a meeting during which they will have to choose the tyres they will have to use during the weekend. They often have to go to their pit garage as well to put the final touches to the specifications of the bike for the Grand Prix, together with their technicians. The riders have to combine this job in the pit garage with interviews, press conferences and specifically reserved moments to share with their fans; moments that fill the less visible, though not less busy part of their agenda.
HIGHEST TENSION, THE FUN STARTS
Suddenly, the intensity rises with the practices on Friday and Saturday, i.e. when everyone has to be ready to give their best during the four practice sessions. That is the moment when suspension and tyre technicians, telemetry technicians, mechanics and all other members of the HRC technical team give it all to give Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden everything they exactly when they need it. The aim of these two practice days is to set the bike according to the special features of the circuit, to achieve a constant pace and a good qualifying position for the starting grid on Sunday.
The last practice session on Saturday is a key moment to prepare the race. During the hour they have available for practising, they do series of some six laps to try to find a consistent race pace. It is all about making the last tests to choose the tyre they are going to use for the race, a key element to have a chance to win. The final minutes are used to give it all for the fastest lap, to get a good position on the starting grid. The official tyre provider of the team, Michelin, has special tyres offering excellent grip during a single lap. Riders usually have a couple of sets of these so-called “qualifying tyres”, to try to clock a faster time than their rivals.
Like in a theatre play, before the curtain is raised, or before the red lights go off, there is a “dress rehearsal”. On Sunday mornings, the riders have a last session of 25 minutes, called “warm-up” to give the finishing touches to the bike’s settings, considering the track conditions expected for the race day. From that moment, there will only be some three hours before the start of the race. These are the last moments, which the riders use to have something to eat, watch the 125cc and 250cc races, get dressed and ready to get onto the track.
THE BIG SHOW
Finally, on Sunday, at two o’clock everything is set and ready for the moment of truth. It’s the time in which the importance of everything surrounding the Continental Circus becomes really clear. The red lights go off, the adrenaline rises and the show begins. Almost one hour of intense excitement during which the riders finish the work of a whole team that is backing them. In the Repsol Honda Team garage, the activity doesn’t stop. The tension is focussed on following Nicky’s and Dani’s evolutions on the track, on getting ready for unexpected contingencies, such as rain and on communicating with them through the pit boards.
The die is cast and it’s the moment of all or nothing, the moment of giving it all to take the chequered flag and to pick the fruit of the work done. Then, when everything has finished, when the engines have stopped roaring, the fans have left the circuit, the teams repeat the ritual of packing up the garages, and the caravan gets back onto the road, heading for the next racetrack, where the show will start over again in a few days time.
