Indianapolis: boring to reach, great to be at, as Toby Moody explains in his latest exclusive view from the MotoGP paddock.
Fender support
Bumper stickers are a given in the US. Amusing and usually thought-provoking, they are a welcome addition to any traffic jam. Pictured below, though, is surely one of the better ones…
Toby Moody
You are now approaching Boredomsville
There are many ways to get from Europe to Indianapolis by plane, most of them involving a connection somewhere in the US before a short hop to the home town, but I find it easiest to drive from Chicago straight down south to the venue, a boring drive along dead-straight freeways, made slightly less interesting by this message on my hire car’s dashboard… not the slowest, but not exactly a BMW M5 (see below).
Toby Moody
The bald facts
Heat was an overriding conversation subject on Thursday, with the temperatures well into the 30-degrees-Celsius-plus range. The sunshine really was piercing, causing many to point out that I needed protection on top. HRC's Livio Suppo was one and, as you can see from the below photo, he is one to talk…
Toby Moody
St Elmo’s (on) fire
Downtown Indianapolis is set aside for bikes over the weekend, with the main street being closed for more bikes than you'd imagine (like the Ducati pictured, top). Thursday night was when I went with some colleagues to the world-famous St Elmo's Steak House to sample their prawn cocktail with a very strong horseradish sauce. If you take too much in, you'll blow your head off… as Tom Tremayne of Bridgestone and photographer Mark Wernham discovered. We could’ve washed it down with an $8,007 double magnum of Cristal champagne, but we opted not to…
Toby Moody
Brickyard Beemer
MotoGP had a bit of a scoop at Indy with the new BMW M5 making an appearance on the world stage for the first time. It was at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK in June, but only as a stationary exhibit… but some lucky guy got to pedal the 552bhp V8 around the Indy track over the weekend. Not jealous… much.
Toby Moody
Nicky’s race just marred
Nicky Hayden ended up by having a torrid race, with tyre problems forcing him to come in to change. However, on a lighter note he was using a special Arai helmet for the weekend celebrating his sister Jenny's marriage to her partner Jo the weekend before at home in Owensboro. 'Just Married' must be a first on a lid in MotoGP.
Toby Moody
Dog gets licence
However, my favourite picture of the trip is from the first day of practice when I rocked up in the car park to see Kevin Schwantz getting his labrador out of the back of his car. Kevin’s pooch even had his own pass, but that didn't last long as it got chewed to bits in no time. Kevin just said, "I'm gonna sneak him into this end of the paddock where my office is hopefully without the IRTA guys seeing him. Don't tell anyone, Toby!"
Toby Moody
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