Day At the Races: MotoGP At Laguna Seca 2010

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed)
Jul 28th 2010 at 2:01PM

There is an amazing amount of wealth at motorcycle races. You might picture the populous at a NASCAR race as being a bit above poverty level (no offense NASCAR fans, but you know what aura some of your fellow race lovers give off), but the followers of the world famous MotoGP series include some well to do participants. Many of them fervent collectors and sophisticated gear-heads. As such, you could easily quality MotoGP as a luxury sport (just for a different class than say the Kentucky Derby). At least the motorcycles themselves use top-notch hardware and technology. Amazing to think that the bikes themselves have serious computers on board. I went to the MotoGP race day at Laguna Seca historic race track near Monterey, CA - here are some of the sights and sounds of the excitement.

I've put together a bit of a visual article below when you go to "READ MORE." Much of what you see if pretty self explanatory. If you've never been to a motorcycle race, then be aware that most people attend and shove earplugs in their ears due to the incredible sound of many high-powered engines operating at full revs simultaneously.

Above you'll see images of "the people's bikes." A few fan motorcycles who have made the trek to Monterey, CA for the main event. These are but a scant few of the hundreds and hundreds of stock and custom motorcycles people were able to show off all over Monterey during MotoGP. The images above, as well as the video below was actually taken with a mobile phone. That being the Android OS based Samsung Galaxy S. I liked the video capturing part of the phone because it allows you to send video directly from your phone to YouTube.

I wanted to share an image of this motorcycle that was new (to me). Available at (of all places) Best Buy, this is the higher end version of the Brammo, which is an all electric Motorcycle. It goes really fast, and is totally silent in operation. I thought it was quite cool. Price was around $10k - $12k if memory serves...

Taken from right on the Laguna Seca track. This was right before I got to drive around the track racer style in the BMW safety car.

The butt-end of a Yamaha.

This is Jorge Lorenzo, who got a top position in the... pole position round, and all won the MotoGP race. A very admirable racer.

Lorenzo at about 150 miles per hour. Quick action shot image. Was not easy to snap from 20 feet away.

More flags being waved at the finish line. Until the next MotoGP in some other part of the world...

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch reviews site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: 2010, Laguna Seca, Lorenzo, Monterey, MotoGP, race, track, video