But what Mugello is really known for is its incredible atmosphere, owing to a few things:
1. It's the home track of Valentino Rossi, who is generally regarded as the greatest motorcycle racer of all time and is one of the most popular and famous athletes in the world.
2. It's also the home track of Ducati, the most popular and successful Italian motorcycles in the world.
3. The Italians are absolutely crazy for motorcycle racing (in a good way).
So needless to say as soon as I got a ticket for Mugello, I was excited. Emily couldn't go, and I don't really have any friends here yet, so I packed a tent, clothes, food, and beer and headed off solo.
As soon as I got to the circuit, I found my entrance and started looking for a place to pitch my tent. Not really seeing the designated camping area, I found a track official and asked him
"Dov'e posso fare camping?" (my attempt at "where can I camp")
The response - "Dov'e ti piace" (wherever you please)
Huh? Really? That can't be right. Thinking he must not have understood me correctly, and a little bit tired from carrying my luggage around, I quickly chose a peaceful-looking spot on a hill that looked far enough away from the track itself to be in the "correct" camping area.
After setting up camp, I decided to take a walk down to the track and check things out.
What I saw gave me the first inkling that I had underestimated Mugello. Though the crowd was still relatively sparse, people were setting up tents right next to the track. The photo doesn't show it, but some of them were so close they could literally throw their pillows onto the tarmac. Or, I don't know, cut the fence and storm the track as soon as the winner crossed the finish line. Do you sense my feeble attempt at foreshadowing?
Anyways I meandered over to my seats, which were in the Ducati grandstand. Great seats, at the end of a hairpin turn with direct views of the following fast chicane. I settled in just in time to catch the beginning of MotoGP practice. That's my fellow Texan Ben Spies in front, being chased by the fastest afro in Italy, Marco Simoncelli. Go Texas!
And then, still very early in the day, before the spectacle of Mugello had even properly started, the unthinkable happened - a moment that I hope to God will not be significant enough to tell my grandkids about someday.
Valentino Rossi, the winningest rider EVER who always seems to have good fortune on his side, the local kid from Tavullia whose charming nature and unparalleled skill on a motorcycle make him beloved by nearly everybody in Italy, the man who MAKES Mugello (and some say all of MotoGP), crashed.
Badly.
It was a brutal highside in the fast chicane right in front of me, with Valentino's M1 racebike violently ejecting him before flipping into the air and tumbling end over end in a huge cloud of dust. I watched in horror as it happened, and the collective gasp from everyone watching was unlike anything I have ever heard. Men stood up with their hands on their head. Women shrieked and cried. I'm not kidding.
Anyone who saw it knew that Vale wouldn't be getting up quickly, and as is unfortunately the nature of motorcycle racing, there was a slim chance he wouldn't be getting up at all. (EDIT - apparently I can't embed the video below, but double-click on it and watch it on youtube)
After several minutes of extreme tension (not helped at all by the announcer screaming, "Drama a Mugello!!! Drama a Mugello!!!), they put him on a stretcher and carried him off. But not before the cameras had a chance to zoom in on Rossi clutching his shin and in obvious pain. As much as we hoped otherwise, I think we all knew then that this would be the first Mugello in a very long time without Valentino Rossi.
Sure enough he'd completely broken his tibia and fibula, meaning that not only would he not race Mugello, but that his hopes for a 7th premier-class championship this season are over. (He was in 2nd place after 3 of 18 total races). Additionally, it somewhat cheapens this year's contest, as Valentino was and always has been the man to beat. Regardless of who you support, Valentino's injury is a tragedy for the sport.
But the Italian fans' passion for MotoGP was simply too great to be derailed, even by the absence of their hero. Get-well banners were painted, commiserations were exchanged, and hopeful predictions of a speedy recovery were made, and then the show moved on. Follow this link to check out the fans' reaction:
http://www.motogp.com/en/videos/2010/MotoGP+fans+show+their+support+to+Rossi
I headed back to my campsite for a little lunch, and on arriving there discovered that someone had pitched a tent right next to mine. He was sitting in the entrance, and was getting ready for lunch himself. We exchanged ciaos, figured out that we were both there solo, and just as quick as that I had a new friend, Claudio. I was really happy to have some company, and he was too - but you have to trust me on that one. Claudio's not a big smiler in photos.
Now I need to backtrack a bit and explain that when I had planned the food I'd be bringing, I did so with a bit of strategy in mind. Having seen several times what a typical packed Italian lunch consists of, I decided to copy it exactly, reasoning that if I DID happen to meet anyone and wanted to share food, they'd be comfortable with what I brought and wouldn't remember me as the weirdo who was eating something strange.
So, of course, I packed:
a salami, a chunk of cheese, and some bread.
The plan worked, sort-of.
As Claudio and I sat down to lunch together, I thought we'd have a pretty good feast and couldn't wait to see what he'd brought.
Taking a big bundle out of his bag, he started unwrapping his contribution:
a salami, a chunk of cheese, and some bread.
Needless to say we had an abundance of those three things...I hadn't really thought about that in advance.
Fortunately, though, he had brought a different type of cheese, a different shape of bread, and salami from a different region. So we had some variety. And we had beer! So it was all good.
Claudio and I sat and ate, and even though he doesn't speak any English we managed to communicate just fine. Although I'm convinced I sound like a caveman with my limited Italian.
This was Claudio's 4th Mugello and he told me that we had a very good campsite - I was reassured because after I'd seen people with tents next to the track, I had thought maybe I should move down there. But Claudio said, "this spot is good, because it will be only a little bit crazy".
Crazy, I thought? This is totally quiet and peaceful, how crazy could it possibly get?
That was my underestimation of Mugello for the 2nd time.
We watched a bit of racing, and soon enough it started to get dark. Strange new noises were beginning to resound from the hills surrounding the track - the day's racing was done but I could swear I heard engines being revved. Claudio and I decided to go for a walk and check out the scene.
As we neared the track, the crowds got denser and denser, and our descent into Saturday-night Mugello madness began. Whoa, was that a skyrocket? Yes, yes it was.
A popular activity on the road we were on seemed to be jumping out in front of a passing motorcycle, and physically blocking them until they:
a. revved the motor on their often un-muffled bike until it was BOUNCING off the limiter for about 15 seconds, or
b. did a wicked burnout. Bonus points if 1 or 2 passengers were on board.
Other popular activities included:
blasting techno music through professional-grade amphitheater speakers so loud that girls dancing on scooters couldn't even hear the ambulance directly behind them blaring its sirens to get through,
and, setting fire to your bicycle, scooter, or anything else. Especially if it created some sort of fun obstacle on the road that the motorcyclists had to pass through.
Did I mention the guys revving the bejeezus out of their stand-alone motor that shoots 2 FOOT FLAMES out of the MEGAPHONES they've welded to the exhausts?
Or the kids with chain-less chainsaws?
All of this was basically in the middle of the giant campsite that the trackside hills had become. Really, truly, it was insane. I loved it.
Several times during the night, I heard people (usually one of the chainsaw kids, there were a ton of them) start a chant - "Al Mugello non si dorme, al Mugello non si dorme!!!" It means at Mugello, you don't sleep. Wandering around this orgy of noise, I thought I understood what that meant. But again, I underestimated Mugello.
Because a little voice in the back of my head was saying, "well this is truly crazy. But I'm seeing the peak - they can't keep this up for long."
At 5:45 in the morning, after trying to sleep for several hours but not succeeding because the giant shade canopy near my spot had turned into a discotheque that was SO LOUD, even though I had earplugs (!) I felt like I had pitched a tent in the middle of a club dance floor, I realized I was wrong. They can, and they do, keep it up for that long.
So at that point there was nothing left to do but fully give in to Mugello. The sun was rising, and I got up to grab a cappuccio, survey the last night's damage, and get ready for some racing.
It was scorching hot, but I settled in early to get some good seats. Claudio didn't have the same tickets as me so we had to part ways, but we promised to meet up again for a ride, or maybe a future GP at Sachsenring since he lives in Germany now. BTW he rides a Honda Hornet and absolutely loves the thing...as do many others apparently. I think I've seen more Hornets in Italy than any other bike. But I digress. Here's a few pics from the race, mostly I was watching so didn't take too many.
Nice seats!
Stoner fans, of course...
Lorenzo is just plain fast:
The race itself wasn't the most interesting, at least not for the lead since Pedrosa pretty much just ran away with it and you knew Lorenzo was going to be right there behind him. The race for the last podium spot was a lot more interesting, since Stoner, Dovizioso, Melandri, De Puniet, and Spies were mixing it up the whole time.
Simoncelli ran wide into the gravel right in front of me on the very first lap, but re-joined the race and showed a pace that would have had him running right there with them. Next time, Simo.
I was really rooting for Spies, but it was clear that his pace just wasn't quite with the others in that group. I heard that he got outpaced on the straights, but I noticed on the hairpin in front of me (turn 12 I think) that his line was consistently about 3 feet wider than the leaders'...he wasn't double apexing the corner and the other guys were. See what I mean in the pic below? So if you see Spies, tell him that I have a little tip for him on Mugello.....HAHA right.
And finally, Hayden. Nicky was running good in practice and qualifying, and looked really solid as the race began. Unfortunately it wasn't his day and he lowsided, again RIGHT in front of me in the hairpin, which was the absolute worst place for him to do it. Remember, I was sitting in the Ducati stands. And Nicky rides a Duc. I bet he heard the collective groan from inside his helmet, since I'm pretty sure most of Ducati's employees were sitting all around me. He threw up his hands as if to say sorry, and later admitted it was just a mistake on his part...I think they'll forgive him but I bet he sure feels bad.
So the race wasn't bad, but what happened afterward was even more interesting. Remember what I said about fans cutting the fence and storming the track? Well, it didn't exactly happen like that. In PREVIOUS years, it did...but apparently it was too much even for Mugello, and they put up signs this year announcing that they'd just open the gates letting us onto the track to allow for a "peaceful invasion". No, really.
As soon as the race was over, that's exactly what they did. I don't know if it was peaceful, but it was definitely an invasion. Within seconds guys were running over to the gravel to get pieces from Nicky's Duc. In less than a few minutes the track under the podium was completely full. And shortly thereafter, I began to see something that REALLY shocked me, and that marked the last time I would underestimate Mugello (mostly because there was nothing left!) - people were coming onto the track on scooters and motorcycles!
At first it was just a helmetless, flip-flopped guy and his buddy on a Vespa carrying a Rossi flag, and I figured he was a renegade that somehow got in. But sure enough, more came. Scooters. Supermotos. Full-on sportbikes pulling wheelies in shorts and no shirt. Eventually, a bunch of people on bicycles showed up. The track officials were letting people in to ride the track! I was so jealous. And when the bikers had ridden up to the start/finish line where the podium crowd blocked the way, they did a burnout or three and turned around. So now, we had scooters and motorcycles running the track at a fast pace with no safety gear whatsoever, going BOTH WAYS. Plus bicyclists and pedestrians all over. It was probably the craziest thing I saw all weekend, and I spent about 40 minutes being absolutely convinced that I was about to witness an imminent horrible accident. But, I guess as a testament to the skill of the Italian riders, or maybe just because Mugello is a completely different world and normal rules don't apply, nothing happened.
Nothing like wheelying your way through a few pedestrians!
What this photo doesn't capture is how fast these people were riding...
Those are Desmosedici GP10 marks....very expensive way to scratch the tarmac.
So, in a very large nutshell that was my Mugello experience. Nothing much else happened, other than there being such a ridiculous traffic jam getting out of the place that I chose to hike the 5km back to the train station at Borgo San Lorenzo instead of waiting 2+ hours for a shuttle. That Tuscan sun is HOT!
But I'd hike double that to go to Mugello again. The amazing atmosphere, layout and visibility of the track, and most importantly the sheer craziness of the place truly make it one-of-a-kind. Forget recommending it as a worthwhile side-stop during a trip to Italy; if you're a motorcycle fan I'd recommend buying the ticket to Italy for Mugello alone, and as a nice bonus tacking on some time in Florence or Bologna afterwards. Just make sure to book a nice quiet hotel for the following few days - you'll need the rest.
Because........
AL MUGELLO NON SI DORME!!! AL MUGELLO NON SI DORME!!! AL MUGELLO NON SI DORME!!! AL MUGELLO NON SI DORME!!! AL MUGELLO NON SI DORME!!! AL MUGELLO NON SI DORME!!! AL MUGELLO NON SI DORME!!! AL MUGELLO NON SI DORME!!! AL MUGELLO NON SI DORME!!! AL MUGELLO NON SI DORME!!!
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