2015 IndyGP Videos & Photos

I'm sorting through the photos and videos from the Indianapolis MotoGP trip... here's what I've got so far:

Prior to take-off

At the Michigan International Speedway

Lunch stop in North Manchester

The back straight at Indy - what a ride!

Bike parking on the back straight

Indy golf course in the infield

Friday practice session for the 2015 Indy GP

Yamaha R1 guts

Dancing through the esses

Danny Kent doing the business (qualified first!)

The Doctor at work

The Maestro Marc Marquez doing what he does

There were many more bikes when we returned!

They compete for motorcycle insurance here?
We must not be in Ontario!

Motorcycles on Meridian

Thousands upon thousands of bikes - if it's been built it's here!

Michigan International Speedway

You can sign in and have a look around inside! 

Indy Again

Google Story of the trip

Google auto-made video of the track day

The Ride To Indy: A Day At The Track

I'm in an entirely dodgy hotel by the Detroit airport after a long day in the saddle.  Indy was fantastic.  The weather has been epic and the Concours has been faultless.  I've only got the phone pics at the moment.  The camera pics will have to wait until I'm home and can get them off the camera, they look pretty sharp.

I wish we has more time to spend at the track, but it was a great reconnaissance trip.  I'll be spending more time down there next year (please don't cancel IndyGP Dorna!).

In the meantime, with some phone-made media maybe I can convince you to take your bike down to Indy for the MotoGP, it's a special motorbiking experience.

We got there early and were directed to the back gate and onto the back straight of the oval- all bikes who showed up
were parked on the straight!  - I gave her the beans going down the straight, there is nothing like hearing your own bike's
engine howling off the concrete retaining walls of the Indianapolis oval!

Sitting on the main straight watching Moto3 doing their first practice. The little 250cc thumpers are astonishingly loud!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xnviublqw4blo_HSH65SbAWfHLSGhmI9aA/view?usp=sharing

When we came back at about 3:30pm there were hundreds and hundreds of bikes!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15_S0OcCrxJnMYzVS4yw7XHZzGlHUSd8RXw/view?usp=sharing

Yep, still Indy - there is a golf course in the middle of the oval!  Those people on the berm are watching MotoGP
racers dicing with the s-bends on the road circuit.

MotoGP And The Dragon's Tail

I noticed that the US MotoGP race is in August at Indianapolis this year.  I've never attended a MotoGP race before, but it makes a great excuse for a road trip!

Mapping it out in Google, I immediately extended the trip to hit the GP first and then continue on to the Tail of the Dragon before riding up the Blue Ridge Parkway and returning into Canada at the Thousand Islands.

The round trip would be just over thirty-five hundred kilometres.  The race happens over the weekend of August 8th to 10th, so leaving on the Thursday morning would get us there Friday afternoon, we could catch Saturday qualifying and then Sunday's race and leave Monday morning.  But rather than head back north we'd be heading south east for The Tail of the Dragon!

Working our way up the Appalachian Mountains, we'd go from the Tail to the Blue Ridge Parkway to the Skyline Parkway before pushing back north to re-cross into Canada at The Thousand Islands.



The trip consists of three high speed sections (Ontario to Indianapolis, Indianapolis to Knoxville and Front Royal VA to Thousand Islands), and some slow sections (Tale of the Dragon, Blue Ridge and Skyline Parkways).


With a three night stopover for the Indie race, the schedule falls into about a ten or eleven day trip:

Leave on the Thursday, get to Indianapolis on Friday afternoon, Saturday qualifying, Sunday races, Monday morning departure and cover some ground, Tail of the Dragon on Tuesday, Blue Ridge Parkway Wednesday & Thursday, Skyline on Friday and then the run north for the border, we'd be back in Canada  on Sunday, August 17th.

Tail of the Dragon in Tennessee.

Blue Ridge Parkway in the Appalachians.

This would be a MotoGP event at a legendary venue followed by some epic rides in mountains that we simply don't have in Ontario.  The start is by my place, the finish is by my buddy Jason's place.  He didn't take his bike out at all last year, I'm hoping this changes his mind.