Heading to Hangtown from Australia :)

Depending when you get into LAX on Friday, it's about a 7 hour drive to Sacramento so you'll pretty much have to head straight to Hangtown when you get in. you could also get a flight from LAX to Sac for about $100, you'll just need to find a ride or rent a car for the 40 minute drive to the track.

NICE!!!

Nice!

Damn! I feel guilty as I only have to drive 15 minutes. But! ..even if I was coming from Australia it would still be worth it. You won't be disappointed. Be sure to walk all around the track to get different perspectives as they are practicing or racing. There's stuff you'll see that never makes the TV cameras. (plus you might get roosted!) Enjoy!

Not knowing what else / how long you are actually there for :

You'll need a car I assume for other activities? Well shit, it's California - you'll want a car..........

F**k flying up to Sacramento - you want to see a bit of that big wide world, other than bloody airports?

You are an Australian who may race / ride motorcycles? - if so, you are probably used to driving distances.

The drive from LA up the coast / Big Sur is brilliant. Though, there's a section that has a shit load of Gum Trees, and, with the ocean being on the opposite side of the road to normal (being from the East Coast of OZ myself), it always makes it a bit strange / weird to me, no matter how many times I've driven that road. Throw in a few times when Cicadas (,I think that's what they bloody well are) have been going apeshit in that section, and it gets weirder.

You could go up and back away from the coast (on the 5 /101?), but bugger that for a joke - it just doesn't compare. Though, it's easier on you as a first bit of distance driven in a different country, and you can always go back down by the coast road after you've settled in, and really take it in,, if you are going back to LA / the South.

Depends of course how you handle jet lag, And how you can handle driving on the wrong side of the road. Neither has ever been a problem for me, other than the initial getting in the renta car and getting away from the airport. A trick I use before I go OS with a fair bit of driving on the cards in coutries where they drive on the wrong side of the road (heh, heh), is going over in my mind, "long Left, tight Right" - as in, turns into streets. GPS Navigation aids have changed things a lot in my near 40 years of going to the US. / Europe. I sort of miss the fun of paper maps.

You'll have fun - I far prefer Hangtown to Glen Helen, but that's just personal choice - I've had more than enough arid zone MX in my life, and every time I'm in Southern California, I end up at Glen Helen. Hangtown is a bit of a novelty because of that..

Great advice from your fellow Aussie. Definitely plan on spending a day at Big Sur, the giant Redwoods are something that you'll want to see up close in person. They are magnificent and that section of coastline is a great area for hiking and sightseeing. The TV can't replicate visiting in person. Hope you enjoy your visit.

If you have the time you should check out Yosemite National Park. You won't regret it.

I'll be there this year for my first outdoor national... shit im going tomorrow for open practice its only a 3 hour drive for me!

For sure if you can drive do the drive its long but you will get a chance to see something, maybe take the 5 North to save time going and as suggested above you can then cruise down the 101 and 1 back south. Lots of breweries along the 101, and coast is gorgeous!

"Only a 3hr drive" lol that sounds funny, 40minutes to me is a drag.

I rang my cousin in NC last week and told him i would b in orlando this summer, he replied with 'ahh cool, its inly like a 13hr drive to us'.
I nearly shit my coffee out into a cup then drank it again

C93 , Did this trip a few years ago..... go with the drive mate up the coast very cool, there is a bonus with drivin as you can buy your beers at the Servo,s and we ended up hiring a Mustang to do it in. We did the final round of SX n then cruized round waiting for Hangtown ...so grab some wheels n do the trip of the West coast !!! I will c if i can find out where we stayed as it was about 20 mins from the track and alot of riders where stayin there..... had dinner on the Friday night n in same diner was Lamson , Ron-Ron , Hamblin n NYK !!!! So i was goin berzerk even before the scooters started !!!!

Amazing country and the locals were great !!!

We r heading back over in 2016 ....

If you're going to be here for more than a week consider getting a rental car "off airport." The rates are much less expensive and you could probably get a small SUV for the price of a small passenger car at the airport. There are generally shuttle buses that go between the airport and nearby destinations.

You really shot the "It's too far away" excuse for me!

While the track is in Rancho Cordova, I recommend staying in Folsom.
Plenty of nice placs to stay and eat, 15 minutes from the track.