No, it’s not Formula One. It’s MotoGP! Compared to MotoGP, Formula One is like watching grass grow. MotoGP is the Grand Prix of motorcycle racing. There are four official classes, one being electric; the top gasoline class is the only one I watch.
These bikes beat Formula One cars in drag racing, match them for top speed, and while they don’t pull multiple G’s going around corners, the bikes lean at 60 degrees, sometimes a little more, and the riders spend their time climbing all over the bike, hanging off the inside on turns, crouching down on the straights where they commonly exceed 200 mph, hanging a leg out as an added air brake (at 200 mph it makes a big difference). Top speed is about 230 mph, maybe a bit more.
The bikes are 1000 cc, developing well over 300 horsepower. There’s a lot of magic about them because it’s not easy to learn everything about ’em. They apparently have some sort of traction control, which I don’t understand. Yes, I know a 45-degree lean requires a friction coefficient of 1.0, if I recall my physics. Yet the tires permit 60 degrees at least. And friction coefficient is not limited to 1.0, so they really lean a lot. They also do a bit of sliding in the turns on occasion.
There are only about 20 riders in each race, and the races are not boringly long, about 45 minutes with no tire changes nor refueling stops. The race events are held all over the world. Europe, off to Japan, the USA, you name it, there’s one of the season’s events there, or close by. There are 22 events this year scattered worldwide. They run throughout the Spring into Summer and on to the Fall. First was Thailand 2 March, and the season’s last will be at Valencia on 16 November. Yes, they’re going to Australia on 18 October. Schedule:
https://www.motorsport.com/motogp/schedule/2025/
Here are highlights of the recent Japanese MotoGP event in which Marc Marquez laid claim to his seventh MotoGP World Championship:
[If the above video does not play, right click the picture and select the link, then go to a new page or new tab on your browser and paste the link in, and then hit Enter. You should be able to see the video. From then on they should work just by clicking the above picture.]
I used to do this type of racing long years ago, and I can tell you the MotoGP riders are some of the world’s best athletes. I know if we got out of shape we’d flub something up, or crash, which usually breaks bones. And they hurt, and keep on hurting over fifty years later. Ah, but the memories…!!
