Car Connections
Car Connections
UP FRONT
MARK HOYER
SOME WEEKENDS WORK OUT BETTER than others. I had a pretty good one recently that involved a private jet, a helicopter, a world-class racing facility, the weirdest nightclub I've ever been to, rally star Ken Block, custom car builder Chip Foose, custom bike builder Ian Barry, TV star and motorcycle enthusiast Matt LeBlanc and some of the most technologically advanced motorsports equipment ever produced by mankind.
Unfortunately, there were no motor cycles involved except the Harley-Davidson Switchback I rode to L.A. so I could catch a cab to the airport, but it was still awesome.
The trip? To the inaugural Formula 1 race at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas. I got a last-minute call from Barry (the man behind the beautiful motorcycles from Falcon) telling me that Fl spec-tire-supplier Pirelli was flying out some luminaries (listed above) and there was a spare seat since his fiancé, Amaryllis, couldn't make it. Being a big fan of all things internal combustion, I couldn't pass it up. Also, CoTA is the site of the second round of MotoGP in 2013 (April 21-mark your calendars), so this would be a great preview.
The circuit is absolutely top-notch, and it's hard to believe they got the work done in time. There were clearly things that got a quick dress-up, even down to dirt areas painted green as "grass," but the overall level of finish was really very high.
The track itself is 3.41 miles long with 11 left turns and nine rights. The layout appears awesome, with a good mix of corner types and 130 feet of elevation change. Turn 1 has an uphill entry and a downhill exit that were great to watch during the Fl race (McLaren's Lewis Hamilton won), which means it will be spectacular with MotoGP bikes running through it. Recorded top speed should rate pretty highly on the MotoGP calendar, too, due to the track's long back straight.
The man on the ground who ultimately made so much of CoTA happen on a functional level is Chuck Aksland. You may recognize the name. Aksland got involved with Kenny Roberts' racing ef forts circa 1988 and ultimately ran his Grand Prix team, as well as the Banbury, England, facility where Kenny & Co. were building their twoand four-stroke
racebikes until 2007. He's also the son of Bud, one of Roberts' first sponsors when KR was about 14. Now, the former racer is the Vice President of Motorsport Operations at CoTA, the man responsible for getting it all ready for the big opening weekend that I was so fortunate to visit.
How close did they cut it?
"The main grandstands weren't signed off until the week before the event," said Aksland. "You probably saw all the vol unteers and other services we had work ing at the event. It was very difficult for them to train because they didn't have access to many of the areas leading up to the event. There were a lot of things that had to come to together at the end, but they did."
While this is Aksland's first swing at a role like this, his history traveling the GP circuit on the team side made him quite suited to the job. "Spending so much time in England and in the `Fl belt' [where Roberts' facility was located], I understand what the rest of the world's expectations are of a track like this," said Aksland. "And having been on the team side so long, I understand their needs."
He was also key during construction, working with Tilke Engineers & Architects, who designed the track. "Whenever there was a question, I could always reference some other place they'd built that I'd been to."
There was a tremendous amount of drama surrounding the building of the circuit, as well as securing the manda tory-for-success world championship car and motorcycle races. The Fl race was on, then it was off and back on again. On the MotoGP side, 1993 500cc Grand Prix World Champion Kevin Schwantz, a Texas native, said he had a
contract with Dorna to promote the race but was ultimately cut out of the deal. That's with the courts at this point, and Aksland wasn't able to comment. We hope for a fair resolution there. CoTA is a great American racetrack that, in my humble opinion, ranks among the best in the world. It was a pretty fabulous weekend at the car race, and it can only be better with motorcycles.
And the other "car connection" im plied by the title of this column? We'd like to welcome Andy Bornhop to CW as our new executive editor. Bornhop is a lifelong motorcyclist who spent the last 25 years at our former broth er publication, Road & Track, signing up there as a college intern and finish ing his work at that noble magazine as the managing editor. He is a die hard transportation enthusiast and to tal pro, with a journalism degree from California State University Fullerton. While testing, racing and writing about some of the greatest cars in the world, he was also enjoying two wheels, own ing a 1986 Honda XL600R since `87 and adding an XR65OL in 2004. "I rode the XL600R in the desert pretty often and down to Baja a few times," says Bornhop. "Best trip on the XR65OL was through Jawbone Canyon to Lake Isabella and the southernmost grove of Giant Sequoias a couple of years back."
As a kid growing up in Southern California, Bornhop was a huge fan of motorcycles and motocross rac ing. "Neighbors on both sides of me in Orange raced," he says. "They had Montesas and Bultacos. How could I not get interested in bikes and racing? I still love Spanish motorcycles." He rode his BMX bike to Saddleback Park (Joe Parkhurst's old track) and snuck into a couple of Trans-AMA races to watch guys like Roger DeCoster, Joel Robert, Sylvain Geboers, Jimmy Weinert and Marty Smith. "Jim Pomeroy, who won the Spanish Grand Prix on a Bultaco, became my hero."
His first trophy came on a BMX bike, in fact. "Picture the opening scene in On Any Sunday with all those kids rac ing BMX, and that pretty much was me," he says. "On Any Sunday, by the way, is in my personal Top 10 Movies of All Time."
We are happy to have Andy on staff and look forward to his contributions to the magazine and website, although he is already making it pretty hard to get seat time on any of the adventure bikes in the test fleet.
