RIP Ayrton Senna
As a self protested car lover, imagine how excited I was when we were invited to lap the famous Enzo and Dino Ferrari racetrack, etched into racing history and the gorgeous hillside of Imola, Italy. It is the place of legends with an incredible track that lifts and turns and then drops and winds down to the treacherous front straightaway ending with Tamburello corner.
The most famous story of this track is the untimely death of the greatest driver of all times, Ayrton Senna
Adrenaline pumping
After a quick briefing of the track layout and its history from high in the timing tower, we headed towards the pits to check out our wheels and fit up some gear.
The next thing I knew, I was rolling towards the pit exit at the very back of the pack, adrenaline pumping and heart pounding. My seat was not cooperating with me and by the time I got it properly adjusted everyone had sped away leaving me a bit of catching up to do.
Comfortably settled, I accelerated towards Tamburello corner lifting my head just long enough to notice a shrine, dedicated to Senna, woven into the fence where he came off the track at over 200 kph. I focused my concentration again, dropped down a gear and accelerated hard up the hill, passing our guide Nicholas who had pulled off to the side with mechanical trouble at Variante Villeneuve. Looking ahead I could see Nat and Sara just leaving Tosa curve at the top of the hill, so I leaned on it and shifted, exiting the corner to blow past them on a quicker line, just before heading into Acque Minerali, another great corner!
Motoring, it was man and machine hugging the famous curves carved out in front of a hillside grand stand. Pulling hard in high gear and looking in front to find the faster line I could see Keane, my next target, I started planning my pass.
The big downhill was coming and my plan was to go into the monster hairpin Rivazza really fast and just touch the brakes so I could exit and fly down the front straight.
Just before the corner Keane got nervous, braked early and fell off the line. Seeing my opportunity I pushed passed him but quickly realized I had left myself with no time to brake, deep in the corner. So I hit the apex as well as I could, put the hammer down and left the corner carrying more speed.
Asgeir had pulled out a very comfortable lead early on so nearing the finish line he thought he had it all wrapped up. Seeing how fast I was coming, he gave it one more blast of gas to push across the line just in front of me.
Bicycles and pedestrians
It was a great finish and we coasted into the paddock cheering each other on and pumping our fists for such a great race.
What an honour to lap the Enzo and Dino Ferrari race track on such a warm and sunny Italian evening, bellisimmo!
Next time I hope they give us cars, then I’ll show them what I can really do!
On certain days during the summer the racetrack is open to bicycles and pedestrians. Visit Emilia-Romagna and do it yourself. It’s awesome!
* Disclosure: We were guests of Blogville Emilia-Romagna for more information please visit their website. As always, the opinions in this post are our own.
Very cool. I’m not into cars but maybe I’d cycle it to walk off all the food I’d be eating there?
Cycling it was a lot of fun. You’d have to do it several times to counteract the food intake though 🙂