”This bike is good...”

(Valentino Rossi to some of our customers visiting his garage)

Our first trip to the official MotoGP Test at Sepang was awesome experience and stunning success.

As one of the team remarked “we’ve done everything apart from a lap of the track on the GP12!”. Truly it is hard to imagine getting any closer to it all without a spanner in hand! (And indeed, one customer even lent a hand in the Ducati garage!)

We had 10 people currently enjoying a VERY exclusive inside look at the new teams and bikes in Sepang. Following drinks Tuesday with insider Neil Spalding giving us his take on the new kit (esp the Duc!); we were amongst the first at the track, catching early bird Nicky on his morning laps (shot from the pit lane); inside many of the pits including Stoner. Breakfast chatting to 4 world champs, and afternoon coffee with Mary Spies... The very accommodating Valentino Rossi allowed some guests to inspect his bike, and Kerry even sat in his chair! 

Rossi helpfully warned us ‘not to stand in the way of the bikes!’ The entire Ducati team were brilliant - many thanks guys! A great day out!

Dinner Wednesday night started out with the pole position magic trick of Richard pulling the table cloth off as he sat down. At the table everything ended up on the floor. This had many a rider laughing and Nicky Hayden taking photos of the mess... (After he stopped laughing  he joined us for some photos and signing)

Neil was at dinner to give us his insights to the day’s testing. Lucio Cecchinello, boss of LCR Honda, joined us after dinner with some good stories and great photos of playboy girls.

Night owls caught up with fellow owl Valentino late night at the bar... What a great hotel!

Thursday was a scorcher - and when riders weren’t sweating buckets on the track they were lurking in the air conditioned offices. We took shelter in some offices or in the Media Centre. Thank you Sepang Circuit!  Despite the heat, many riders made time for us for photos and autographs...

In the evening, those still around joined us for dinner with San Carlo Honda Gresini chief mechanic Antonio Jimenez and then drinks with some of the mechanics of Czech team AB Cardion (see our coverage of their launch) or just played pool with Jorge Lorenzo!

THE BIKES

As you will know from the official results, Stoner was the fastest. You could really hear the difference in the bikes - see the YouTube videos shot by customer Kelvin Blair. However we aren’t writing off the Ducatis (nor Yamahas) just yet! Rossi’s comment to us: “this bike is good”...

You can’t get any closer to the bikes and riders than at the official Tests.  We will go to the next test at Sepang 28-29 Feb 2012, Jerez 23-25 Mar 2012, and the tests following the MotoGP events, provisionally following Jerez, Brno and Valencia. (Note: ALL tests sold out last year)