Posts
264
Joined
6/2/2018
Location
Corona, CA
US
Edited Date/Time
5/8/2020 2:07pm
Something is coming up soon. The Kawasaki test track next to 15 freeway in Corona is prepped and ready to ride. It has been overgrown with weeds since early March. Weeds are gone and track looks like it's been rebuilt.
https://www.facebook.com/523844658/posts/10158134863844659/?d=n
The Shop
Add in the truck and track prep and we have our answer.
https://www.facebook.com/motofiteklub/
I know the stadium makes it look and feel more "big time"... but in the existing climate, top priority should be getting back to racing, even without fans. If that's the case, then it doesn't matter if it's inside a stadium or not. Put up signage around the track, install a starting gate, put up some scaffolding for camera towers and go racing.
All of the test tracks in California are in the same general area, right off the 15. Kawasaki's main track is a lot next to a heavy equipment business, a busy side street, and an interstate. In this scenario, they'd need to park a few dozen rigs (race teams, Aplinestars medical, Feld and AMA, TV production) plus whatever the smaller teams have around this area. The footprint of the pro racing paddock is massive and even when races happen in places like Detroit, where the pits are on the street, the city shuts those areas down for two days. You're not going to be able to do the same in this part of California, where traffic is always flowing between residential and consumer places, for days at a time.
On the other side of the freeway and up the hill are the rest of the test tracks. Although these are further away from the busy public roads, it's arguably even more tricky. The gravel road back to the test track is beat to hell with massive pot holes, the terrain around the tracks is hilly and steep, and it's in the middle of an operating clay company. Parking a few box vans or pick-ups is one thing, but anything more and it gets tricky (you should see how people stack up when additional cars go to the Honda track during their media day) So even though you have a little more space, the landscape is unforgiving and there is a different level of traffic.
Those tracks don't have the necessary infrastructure like lights, power hookups to run the cameras or scoring systems, established routes for cables to be channeled through, etc. Look closely and you'll see most the tracks don't even have an area big enough to put a 22-rider starting gate. All of that goes for places like State Fair, Aldon's, Sandbox, and so on.
People already know where the test tracks are, so it's common to see traffic on the 15 slow down when guys are riding at the Kawasaki track or for the moto vacationers to peek through the fence at others. When everyone knows that racing is in town, how will they keep them away? Maintaining proper social distancing is going to be one big factor in this program happening at all and fans wanting to catch a glimpse of the action will put that at risk.
A stadium, despite being an empty floor, answers all of those questions. Electric hook-ups are in the floor, cables are already routed through the venue for the TV production to plug in their equipment, and the track crew can route the added infrastructure of wires like they always do during the track build. A Supercross race is an all-day deal, so they can kick the lights on and even control the temperature if it's an indoor venue. Also, the stadium has established boundaries to keep fans away.
All that said, we're talking about California, which is still taking this thing serious with their stay at home order.
Again, I know that you think it'd be easy to show up and race at those practice tracks, but it's just not feasible.
Nevermind. I see Anton explained in detail above.
Pit Row
I also expect nobody here to actually have the answers to those questions, just some thoughts running through my head
Because this idea of racing at the test tracks means they'd have to source vendors for things like added utilities, then have specialty crews come in and piece it together. That's building additional infrastructures for power, parking, zoning, security, and maintenance to have something that would be a half-finished product in an empty lot, which would be used in this capacity one time.
Or they could basically bring the dirt, tuff blocks, and cameras into one place that already has all of that stuff handled and hold a "normal" race, then take it right back out.
Stadium rent cannot be that expensive if things like high school sports and traveling RV-boat shows take place there during the year.
My only stipulations are:
1) leave the track
2) and a water truck
3) Jenny Taft does the commentary
I'll be waiting for your PM's.
Who said we had to use the factory test tracks? What about practice facilities like SOB, MTF, Moto-X Compound, Baker's Factory and similar. I mention those because those are the ones I know about, but there must be others. Some of those places could potentially have enough space and such to host events in a scaled down scenario. Fox/PALA has a SX track and has hosted Pro Nationals... Lake Sugar Tree has a SX track... Freestone has a SX track (per Google maps)... Glen Helen... How many rounds do we have left?
Not that any of it really matters. I'm just enjoying the discussion.
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