• There has been a recent cluster of spammers accessing BARFer accounts and posting spam. To safeguard your account, please consider changing your password. It would be even better to take the additional step of enabling 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) on your BARF account. Read more here.

MotoGP at Laguna Seca?

Veteran

Veteran

never2old I hope
Joined
Nov 22, 2002
Location
homeless
Moto(s)
2011 BMW S1000RR; 2015 KTM 1290 Super Duke & 2015 KTM RC390
Name
Gary
BARF perks
AMA #098533
This article was copied from the June issue of Sport Rider, I for one sure hope it actually happens.

USGP Back at Laguna Seca?

Is the USGP returning to Laguna Seca? Quite possibly, according to well-placed GP insiders who list a number of factors. First is the decline of the World Superbike Championship, the linchpin of the combined AMA/WSB July weekend. Having switched to Pirelli as the spec tire means no AMA wild cards. Second is the concern over various issues at Barber Motorsports Park, safety and infrastructure among them. The AMA regulars liked the layout, but thought it was too short and that the MotoGP bikes would overpower it.

Finally, the regime in place at SCRAMP, the nonprofit organization that runs Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, is being convinced of the benefits of Grand Prix racing. Gill Campbell, the general manager of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, seems open to the sort of costly changes that the track would have to undergo to receive the highest-level FIM homologation. It also doesn’t hurt that among her confidantes is three-time 500cc world champion and Monterey resident Wayne Rainey.

By: Henny Ray Abrams, contributing editor
 
Maybe 2006? Just in time for Nicky's Championship season.... hahaha
 
You don't think the GP bikes would overrun Laguna? I think course/runoff issues would need big revamp. Corkscrew on the RC211V?
 
OMG if that happen i would run down into the pits jump onto a RC211V and proceed to humping the crap out of it!!!!:teeth

seriously though hahaha when i first saw the Candy blue 600RR i was on it for 30minutes at the dealership making "VR0o0o0om Vr0o0om" noises.
 
W/ the money that Mazda has been putting into the track over the last two years, I wouldn't be surprised if this happens. GPs ran there before, now the whole track experience (esp. the pit area) has been improved to boot. Hey, GP guys know how to brake, too, I think they'll love the corkscrew (who wouldn't? Not to mention a buttload of GPers have already raced here in the WSBK and AMA).

Hehe, humping the 211v....I call sloppy seconds!:teeth
 
if champ/cart cars can run at laguna seca, there there shouldn't be an inssue that the motogp bikes would overpower the track IMHO.

IS FIM homologation very similar to FIA? What's the track that formula 1 runs at? Is it Indy?

And.. if MotoGP does come laguna....i'm ALL over it
 
I hope the morons in the crowd dont start a riot like they did last time we had a gp race at laguna.I hope it happens im bored with
the same old supperbike scene every year.Although my little buddy NICKEY MOORE is going to race at laguna this year,ill go
just to watch him have some fun.
 
ohhh man, you are killing me. :D

I have very fond memories of watching the GP bikes fly by the straight b/w four and five braking hard on the front with the rear tire in the air diving into five.

The last year GP was in the states was 1993. I think the attendance was ~40,000 folks. The economy was just getting heated up after being in a slump for the previous couple of years. (compare that with last year's WSB ~100,000 people)

If I recall correctly, Kenny Roberts Sr. put up a lot of the cash himself to bring the race to CA. The following year the race was going to be moved to Winsconsin at Road America, but the cost to improve the track (from a safety standpoint) was too substantial. The result was that the US lost the GP ever since.

I would think that the biggest safety problem would not be the corkscrew, but rather the lack of runoff at T11.
 
I don't know what GP would do about the noise restriction at Laguna, expecially when what will be one of the most noticeable differences about this season's GP is the increase of noise coming from the machines.
 
IS FIM homologation very similar to FIA? What's the track that formula 1 runs at? Is it Indy?
Click to expand...

Yep, Indy. I went to the first one a few years back. I still rather watch bikes, but standing at turn 8, I think, at the exit was unreal. The sound that comes out of those cars is something that you can actually feel hit your body.

BTW - What about the sound issue at Laguna? Would that be an issue for MotoGP.
 
Trouble...

bxr140 said:
Having never actually BEEN on the racetrack....

I thought turns 1, 6, and 11 were the troublmakers?
Click to expand...

Having ridden it :teeth and attended various events there, the issues are Turns 3 (runoff), Turn 11, and the csw. I believe. I see a lot of people bail in 5, 9 and 10 as well. Actually, that track'll jus' kill a guy about anywheres! :laughing
 
As long as and 'SCRAMP' and 'DORNA' you won't see MotoGP at Laguna. There is an article in either Cycle World or Motorcyclist back in the early nineties writing by Kenny Roberts. It explains some of why it won't work.

Jeff
 
Infineon GP?

Man, wouldn't THAT be nice?! Just stretch turn 8 rignt into where the end is... take out that hill and chicane. Just a straight into a broad sweeping turn back onto the starting grid? It'd be great to get a GP at Sears Point, given the area's offerings (Napa, SF, etc.) If I win the lotto, I'll just build a GP track outside of Missoula Montana. Space, Flathead Lake, Glacier National Park, culture (yes, in Missoula) and nice people.
 
I don't know the specifics about noise restrictions at Laguna, but during the WSBK weekend they run 250 2-strokes, and those things are not quiet (and I just LOVE when they start them out on the track at 8-frikkin-30!). :shhh

jeefc80: any way to find that article?
 
Hero said:
I don't know what GP would do about the noise restriction at Laguna, expecially when what will be one of the most noticeable differences about this season's GP is the increase of noise coming from the machines.
Click to expand...

Laguna Seca is allowed seven events per year with NO noise restrictions. I'm sure the GP bikes would use up one of those days :)
 
never2old said:
Laguna Seca is allowed seven events per year with NO noise restrictions. I'm sure the GP bikes would use up one of those days :)
Click to expand...

I hear the loudest event at Laguna are the Christian rock concerts!:laughing
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top