Looking back at my childhood, I recall watching numerous motorsport events on the TV and visiting local automotive happenings with my dad, clearly a bit of a petrolhead. Our favorites were certainly the Formula One and MotoGP, which are the major tournaments for racing on four and two wheels.
Each weekend, the television had to be switched to the national TV program, which overdubbed and broadcasted these events in Slovene, and when the commercials came on, we’d immediately switch to Eurosport so we wouldn’t miss a single overtaking.
When we bought a PlayStation2, which I still haven’t updated (although the fourth version has been out for quite a while), we had to get the F1 video game as well as the MotoGP. Even though they were terrible games at the time, we simply couldn’t miss the chance to pick the riders and talk about which bike or formula handled the best.
Up till this day, our family has retained this thing for watching MotoGP races on Sundays after lunch. My mom, my dad, my uncle and almost everyone keen to see their favorite rider win the next race, all sit in front of the screen and nervously watch who will cross the finish line first.
Although the broadcasts are great, they cannot yet replace the experience of actually going to the race – so we decided to visit the MotoGP cup in the Czech Republic this year, as it’s closest to Slovenia. We rented a van, packed our bags and drove five-hundred kilometers to Brno, where we stayed for three days, and had a blast over the racing weekend.
On Friday, there was training, which we decided not to visit because of the rain and rather took a walk to the Brno center, where we had some Czech beer and really good hamburgers. The next morning, we went to the track and stayed for the training as well as the qualifications. We couldn’t get enough of the loud engine noises, but the rain wouldn’t stop, so we left just after the last group had finished qualifying for the Sunday’s race.
On Sunday, the weather thankfully did improve, and besides a quick shower stayed sunny for most of the day. I brought the camera and shot some of the training, as I decided not to shoot the race so I could fully watch it. I soon found out I was missing a zoom lens but made most of what I could with the point-and-shoot.
The riders were rather fast at speeds well above two-hundred kilometers per hour, so I took pictures at 1/3200s shutter speed, and with iris closed so I could later zoom in at the photos. A had a walk around the track and looked for the best spot, and found some pretty cool locations. After the training, I returned to the crowd to enjoy the three upcoming races – Moto3, Moto2, and MotoGP.
The MotoGP was certainly the most interesting as I knew most of the riders, and Marc Marquez won the race. The fan-favorite, Valentino Rossi, who we also cheered for, was sixth. Moto2 ended with the win by Marc’s brother, Alex Marquez.
After the race, we took a long ride home, and we can’t wait to see what the next Sunday afternoon will bring.
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