RACING

Considering a trip to a live Motogp? Consider Brno or Valencia.

MOTOGP IS BACK in Europe and the organised among you will no doubt be in possession of tickets and travel documents for the run of grand old classic tracks that take us up to the summer break. So I’d like to point you at two slightly less well-known destinations that bookend the second half of the season: Brno (5 August) and Valencia (18 November)… You need to go to Brno in the Czech Republic because you’ll be part of the biggest crowd of the year at a really well-run circuit that produces spectacular racing in all three classes. Forget the grandstand on the front straight, get yourself on the enormous grass hillside that overlooks the stadium part of the undulating track. We are talking Central Europe in summer, so it will be hot. Any rain will be heavy, short-lived and also warm. It’s the best part of 900 miles from Calais, a good chunk of which can be on fast and free German autobahns. You can make the route more interesting, but longer. Sounds like a great summer holiday. Brno is the country’s second city and as an armaments manufacturing centre took a hammering in WWII. The good news is the historic centre was rebuilt and is now a pedestrian precinct. Stay central and take advantage of the free bus to the circuit, eat at the Starobrno brewery by the bus station or the Pegas in the centre, which also happens to house a brewery. Czech cuisine is meat-and-potatoes hearty and designed to go with beer – Czech beer is superb. Make sure you do a lap of the old roads circuit while you’re there. The pits are on the main road from the city to the current track and are listed for preservation despite now being used by a scrap merchant. You couldn’t find a more different track to Brno than Valencia but it packs in a similar size crowd. The Circuit Ricardo Tormo is a stadium track with the maximum length of tarmac packed into the smallest possible area. The good news is this means you can see all of the track from most of the seats. The bad news is that it is really too tight for Motogp bikes. The nearest

‘The maximum length of tarmac packed into the smallest area’

town, Cheste, is party central, and Valencia is fabulous. One word of warning – the weather can be miserable in November. Assuming winter airline schedules mean you can’t get on one of the few direct flights to Valencia, go to Alicante or Barcelona. It’s motorway all the way from either and trains are excellent. And if you stay in Valencia consider using the train that drops you at the back of the circuit, just avoid the first one back after the race. Get tickets from the track’s excellent website – circuit ricardotormo.com. Seats at the first corner are most popular so do not delay. motogp.com