Gallery: Behind the Scenes at MotoGP
01Valentino Rossi
MotoGP is the pinnacle of motorcycle racing, and everything about it is larger than life. The riders are fearless, the bikes are phenomenal and the budgets are astronomical. But as cool as the action is on the track, there’s more to see off of it. So as the second half of the [2010 season](http://www.motogp.com/en/calendar+circuits) begins this weekend in Europe, we take you behind the scenes at the U.S. Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. __Above:__ Valentino Rossi, aka The Doctor, doing what he does best – wringing everything he can from his Fiat Yamaha. Even in the rarefied world of top-tier motorcycle racing, Rossi stands apart. He's won more than 100 races and nine championships – six of them in MotoGP – and is among the best riders ever.
02Valentino Rossi
The Doctor, greeting his fans. Rossi struggled in Monterey, his second race after [breaking his leg in June](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/motorcycling/7806070/Valentino-Rossi-suffers-broken-leg-in-Italian-Grand-Prix-qualifying-at-Mugello.html). He’d done well the week before in Germany, placing fifth. But he found the [short, tight circuit in Monterey](http://www.mazdaraceway.com/pages/Track_Map) more challenging. “This track is a bit harder for me than Sachsenring and I have more pain than I had there, mostly in the ankle but also at the shoulder at the braking point before the Corkscrew,” he said after a practice session. Ah, the Corkscrew.
03The Corkscrew is one of the most iconic corners in racing
[The Corkscrew](http://www.caranddriver.mobi/features/09q2/how_to_run_the_corkscrew_at_mazda_raceway_laguna_seca-feature) is among the most iconic corners in racing. The wicked left-right combination is famous for its perilous drop. Riders drop 59 feet as they tackle a 12 percent grade between turns 8 and 8a. Then it's another 50 feet down – at 18 percent grade – to turn 9. “It’s quite daunting the first time you see it,” said Jeremy Burgess, Rossi’s longtime chief engineer. Rizla Suzuki factory rider Loris Capirossi doesn’t look intimidated. He finished 10th after qualifying 12th.
04Fans at the Mazda Raceway during the U.S. Grand Prix
More than 116,200 people descended on Mazda Raceway for the U.S. Grand Prix, and it seemed every one of them wanted an autograph. The most rabid fans will spend hours outside pit row, and they’ll ask riders to sign anything. Top riders get the most adoration, and so the crowd went nuts for Jorge Lorenzo of Fiat Yamaha. The Spaniard has won six of nine races this season and is handily leading the championship. [He won from pole](http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/jul/26/moto-gp-jorge-lorenzo-valentino-rossi) at Mazda Raceway.
05A neck tattoo of Valentino Rossi's number
Some fans are more rabid than others. Christian Vonmetz, who traveled to the race from Bolzano, Italy, wears Rossi’s number on his neck. So what happens if Rossi ever changes numbers? “He wouldn’t do that,” Vonmetz said, perhaps hopefully.
06Ducati rider Nicky Hayden’s leathers get scrubbed with a toothbrush
No detail is overlooked in MotoGP, and absolutely everything is spotless. Freddy Dente went so far as to use a toothbrush to scrub Ducati rider Nicky Hayden’s leathers. Hayden was the last American to win in MotoGP when he took first at Mazda Raceway on July 23, 2006, the same year he won the championship.
07Inside the Ducati pit
Anyone can walk into a showroom and buy a motorcycle that looks like the bikes in MotoGP. But they’re nothing at all like the bikes in MotoGP. “Two wheels and the general shape are all they share with the street bikes,” said Paola Briato, Ducati team spokeswoman. Grand prix motorcycles are purpose-built machines. Under [the rules](http://www.motogp.com/en/MotoGP+Basics), the engines can’t displace more than 800ccs and the bike can't weigh less than 150 kilograms if it's got a four-cylinder engine, which they all do this season. The Ducati Desmosedici GP10 machines Hayden and his teammate Casey Stoner ride produce roughly 230 horsepower and are capable of 220 mph. The 90-degree V4 engine is cradled in a carbon fiber frame. The swingarm is carbon fiber too. So’s the bodywork. Like Briato said. Your motorcycle is nothing like these motorcycles.
08Fiat Yamaha
Twist the throttle on the Fiat Yamaha that Rossi (pictured) and Lorenzo ride and it’ll hit 100 mph in about 4.5 seconds. Push hard enough into a turn and it’ll lean 60 degrees. They’ll lap a track like Mazda Raceway in as little as 1:20.978 (Lorenzo’s fastest lap on race day) and hit a top speed of 160 mph. That kind of performance takes a lot out of an engine, so they must be managed carefully because the rules limit riders to six engines per year. “We need to get essentially 2,000 kilometers out of an engine,” said Burgess, Rossi’s engineer. “They get a bit tired at 1,500 and we wouldn’t race on one over 1,200.” Once an engine hits 1,200 kilometers, it's used only for practice sessions, Burgess said. Everything the bike does is recorded, from the air-fuel ratio to the wheel speed to the atmospheric pressure in the airbox. “We can record well over 100 channels of information on the bike,” Burgess said. “If you can measure it, we measure it.” Reams of data help fine-tune performance for race day. But once the rider hits the track, he's on his own. No electronic communication or telemetry is allowed. “We’ve got all this data, but the bike is still very much in the hands of the man riding it,” Burgess said.
09Bridgestone tires
Bridgestone is the sole supplier of tires. Each rider gets 10 rears and 8 fronts, plus four rain tires, per weekend. Tires are kept at 80 degrees Celsius for optimal traction, and they’ll hit 100 degrees Celsius on the track.
10Rossi's gloves
This specialized piece of equipment dries Rossi’s gloves. Seriously.
11Colin Edwards
Colin Edwards, who rides for Monster Yamaha Tech 3, suits up. Riders' suits are typically made of kangaroo hide because it is strong and light. The suits have protective plates of carbon fiber, Kevlar and titanium along the spine, elbows and other spots, and a hump between the shoulders to improve aerodynamics.
12Monster Yamaha Tech 3
All the work is done by the time race day arrives. All that's left are tending to the final details and waiting for the action to start. “Race day is the easiest day,” said Tom Houseworth, Ben Spies' crew chief on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team. “If you aren’t ready on race day, you aren’t going to be.”
