Anyone Riding Down To The Malaysian Motogp 2009?

[Netfan]

All you guys who didn't make it - thats why God invented airplanes! Flew down Friday, back late last night. Quick review - the bitching first - million dollar riders, million dollar bikes, unfortunately 10 cent organization. They've done a great job at promoting the race - 3 years ago there were about 10,000 people, there must have been 50 this year, but its still run the way it was 3 years ago. To buy tickets they made everyone write their names, hometowns and emails on sign up sheet. They then entered this info in a computer. Then they printed your ticket. And if it was a family of 5 - five names into the computer. I was 6th in line - took me almost 40 minutes to get a ticket. This was Friday afternoon, glad I didnt wait until Saturday (maybe they got smart and gave up). Getting to and from the track - KL - you have to see it to believe it. Buses where it is the biggest and strongest get on, the weak keep getting pushed top the back of the line. I would guess there are still women with children waiting to get home. If you wanted food on Saturday or Sunday it was 45 minutes in line - and some of the places started using coupons so you got to stand in line twice! Most places ran out of water. I smuggled in a few bottles after seeing what happened on Saturday.

Okay, now the fun part - the bikes are just fantastic. If you have never been to a MotoGP race, it is one of those don't miss this events. Television doesn't come close to doing it justice. The sound of the 800cc bikes (900's were even better) is incredible- *especially the Ducatis*. And those boys can ride. Too bad it rained just before the race, but watching Lorenzo and Rossi cut thru the pack to get 3rd and 4th was great. And Stoner was flawless. Perfect. I'll get some pics up tonight, i hope...

[MJo]

All you guys who didn't make it - thats why God invented airplanes! Flew down Friday, back late last night. Quick review - the bitching first - million dollar riders, million dollar bikes, unfortunately 10 cent organization. They've done a great job at promoting the race - 3 years ago there were about 10,000 people, there must have been 50 this year, but its still run the way it was 3 years ago. To buy tickets they made everyone write their names, hometowns and emails on sign up sheet. They then entered this info in a computer. Then they printed your ticket. And if it was a family of 5 - five names into the computer. I was 6th in line - took me almost 40 minutes to get a ticket. This was Friday afternoon, glad I didnt wait until Saturday (maybe they got smart and gave up). Getting to and from the track - KL - you have to see it to believe it. Buses where it is the biggest and strongest get on, the weak keep getting pushed top the back of the line. I would guess there are still women with children waiting to get home. If you wanted food on Saturday or Sunday it was 45 minutes in line - and some of the places started using coupons so you got to stand in line twice! Most places ran out of water. I smuggled in a few bottles after seeing what happened on Saturday.

Okay, now the fun part - the bikes are just fantastic. If you have never been to a MotoGP race, it is one of those don't miss this events. Television doesn't come close to doing it justice. The sound of the 800cc bikes (900's were even better) is incredible- *especially the Ducatis*. And those boys can ride. Too bad it rained just before the race, but watching Lorenzo and Rossi cut thru the pack to get 3rd and 4th was great. And Stoner was flawless. Perfect. I'll get some pics up tonight, i hope...

I got my ticket on Saturday, no forms, no names. Only thing they asked was country of residence. took about one minute to pay and receive the tickets + the 10 mins queing time.

Don't know about buses but the parking was chaos as usual. Mainly as they don't enforce it and the road sides were full of parked cars blocking the roads. Even when there is signs banning it and plenty of space couple of hundred meters away in official parking lots.

Food and drinks were hard to get but i guess they underestimated how many people will turn up. Also it was very difficult to find a seat in the mall area. All full and people standing at the back. Anyways the SIC guys have done good job organizing big events like F1, one of the best organized races around. I'm sure they will get it right next year after they saw how many people was there this year.

All in all good races, especially 250cc, unfortunately the rain came just before MotoGP...

[ScubaBuddha]

Well I made it back. I did have some people I knew that I met there, so I wasn't alone the WHOLE time, just the ride. Had a blast overall. On the negative tho, I have to agree with Netfan. An utter disaster on the event planners side. Took me over an hour in the blazing sun to get a ticket. The average time at the window for each customer was about 4 minutes, which I didn't understand because it took me 30 seconds. No name given or other questions or signing anything. They ran out of main grandstand tickets so those people had to continue waiting after getting to the window. I was disappointed that the K1 grandstands where we sitting in weren't allowed access to the factory's tents and such. And the lines for the food were over 2 hours long behind K1, plus then they ran out of beer and water before the main race.

When I get around to it I'll probably do a trip report, but here is a couple highlight photos:

No rain on the way down to speak of.

Edited October 27, 2009 by Scubabuddha

[ScubaBuddha]

Wasn't always easy to keep our eyes on the race with this hottie sitting in front of us.

Vale seconds after becoming the 2009 World Champion for the 7th time.

Malay Cop

Sunset near the border.

I enjoyed riding through Krabi even in the rain.

[soihok]

Really great photos mate.

I,m happy you had a good trip. I flew down also, bought tickets from Sun Moon Travel in Bangkok before hand.

Took my young brother in law who had never been on a plane , never mind watch Moto GP bikes giving it all down the straight.

Had seats directly on the start finish line, so saw all what was going on there.........would have been certainly more of an adventure to go there by bike. I did it from Singapore in 2006 on a VMax, but it aint the same as from Thailand.

Well done and thanks for the cool pics.

Chris

[BigBikeBKK]

Awesome pics ScubaNinja!

You are DA MAN for riding down and back solo.

Sorry again I couldn't make it.

Happy Trails!

Tony

[ScubaBuddha]

Anyone interested in doing this in 2010, please refer to this link: http://ghostriders-thailand.com/forum/showthread.php/523-Group-Ride-to-MotoGP-Malaysia-October-11th-2010?p=1016#post1016