I've been involved in a few interesting discussions that made me ponder where the line between a moral stand and practical stand ought to be drawn. Its an interesting topic that I think merits its own thread (if that's okay with the mods).
Also, I didn't post an introduction when I joined the forum. That's was in poor form and I apologize. Hopefully this post will serve that purpose as well.
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I live up India. Its where I grew up. Its home. My mother tongue is Hindi. Motorcycle racing, as I'm sure most people here know, is not big in India at all. The formal type of racing at least.
The only riding I did was on the streets, and the only racing I engaged on was (the illegal kind) on the highway. Very stupid very dangerous business. One time with a girl on the pillion (that should tell you a bit about the level of idiocy we were engaged in). Looking back, I can only thank the stars that nobody got hurt. (Note: 150,000 people die in traffic accidents in India every year.) If I could go back in time, I'd find my old self and kick him for an hour.
Until two years ago, I'd never heard the name Jorge Lorenzo. Or Marc Marquez. I couldn't have told you whether they raced sportbikes or dirtbikes in 'MotoGP'. Although even I knew who Valentino Rossi was; some hotshot Italian motorcycle racer (so I can only imagine what his impact would have been in places where the sport was actually accessible). Like Schumacher on bikes. BTW never seen a Schumacher race either, for that matter. And as annoying as many of his fanatical supporters can be, I'm betting (hoping?) there are millions more who came for Rossi, but will stay for the racing even after he's gone.
It wasn't until I saw the Mark Neale documentary 'Faster' that my interest was piqued. Then I saw the sequel 'Hitting the Apex' and I was hooked. Never missed a race ever since. Unlike most sports there are no rules per se. The intricacies that make it fascinating take some time to pick up. Tires. Braking. Overtaking. Setups. Read everything I could about it (bless the internet). Started watching older races. Season after season and played close attention to the commentary. Learned quite a bit from that (bless the Harris). I like to think that stuffing it all into just two years helped me be more objective (they say biases get reinforced over time) but that's probably just wishful thinking. Watched a bit of F1 too.
We like to think of MotoGP as just another sport that can be governed by the same set of norms as most 'regular' sports. But fact is, it isn't and it can't. And this is something that happens to be true for most motorsports. The entry barriers are quite simply too high and it will always remain a very very expensive sport.
All it takes to play football is an inflated ball and a some flat ground. For cricket, a bat, a ball and enough space for a pitch. Meanwhile, people mortgage themselves into bankruptcy to give their child an opportunity in the junior classes of motorcycle racing. Only a fraction of whom will rise to premier class. Only a fraction of whom will last more than a couple of seasons.
Football, basketball, tennis, cricket, baseball et al. ... the base unit of the organisation is the "club". F1? MotoGP? The "racing corporation". This is not a critique of the latter. The sport burns gasoline and requires some very expensive, very sophisticated equipment that plays a critical role in determining the outcomes. No tennis player ever lost a Grand Slam because he had an inferior racquet. The patrons are primarily automobile companies, whose first and foremost interest is their brand image. They're simultaneously both sponsors and manufacturers for their teams which is not something you see in a normal sport. In contrast, (and cynics may disagree with this) the primary impulse for most sports clubs is the love of the sport. They might love it more when they're winning but that's is a different issue.
Two corporations, Honda and Yamaha, have the power to take a commercial decision to pull out of MotoGP, that could, as a consequence, cripple the sport. How many other sports would you see this sort of power dynamic in?
That said, racing is still a sport. Ask the racers, ask the teams, ask the fans. The visceral excitement of watching wheel-to-wheel action at 300 kph is evidence enough. I believe the people in management, by and large, love the sport just as much, but they operate under limitations that often go unappreciated by fans. The bosses at Dorna don't have luxury of operating with the same freedom as their peers in say... FIFA.
(I just now realised I'm writing a defence of 'The Man'. Damn. Well.. in for penny..)
I love the sport. But I've never watched a MotoGP race in person. To do so I'd need to go to Europe. Or maybe Malaysia. Thing is, I know the sport could be big here. Not just big... huge. They tried to introduce F1 here once. Folded after one season. MotoGP is different. Its never been afflicted by the taint of elitism and as a spectator sport there's simply no comparison. The sight of 18 bikes going through a chicane is breath-taking, there's nothing quite like it in car racing (and F1 has become blander than ever).
India is a cricket-mad country, but last year there were 10,500,000 motorcycles sold here (plus another 5.5 mil scooters). Most of them were light fuel-efficient commuters with 125-220 cc engines and designed for functionality but even with a fraction of those enthusiastic about, gives one an idea of the sheer scale of the potential fanbase available to a sport that, at the moment, seems really big only in Spain & Italy (and to a lesser extent UK & Japan). The same is true about its underpenetration in China and South East Asia. For an expensive motorsport (with an arguably insecure future) this is a very major liability.
The difference between MotoGP's potential and its reality is teeth-gnashingly frustrating. To spread geographically it (among other things) needs to grow economically. And given the fundamental restrictions of the sport, I don't believe Dorna can afford to be the kind of by-the-book administrators that most other sports have (and this is with all due deference to the admirable steps they've done to improve viewability).
There's no doubt Dorna is (mildly?) populistic but the truth is MotoGP may be better off for it. For all its potential to grow, the rather pathetic state of AMA & WSBK should be illustrative how long a way its still possible for MotoGP to fall if it trips hard enough (yes I know Dorna took control of WSBK a few years ago). A cynical person might argue that Dorna is only interested in the bottomline i.e. profitability, if not for the fact that they own the business entirely. Any expansion would increase their revenues and asset base resulting in larger profits over the long term.
Many (justifiably) see the whole Marquez-Lorenzo-Rossi saga as a shameful chapter in the MotoGP annals. I'd like to posit, it may in fact, be the best thing to happen to the sport in years. Rossi-Lorenzo feuding in press conferences? Bad example for the kids. Fantastic for the sport. Add in spec electronics & tires and the unpredictability make it one of the most exciting seasons ever. Then there are other ways in which Dorna keeps 'nudging' the sport to make it more competitive while still trying to remain as impartial as possible (lets not delve into the incident but Zarco's penalty at Silverstone would be an apt example).
Folks picking sides and sticking to it fanatically as they do nowadays, may go against the 'spirit' of the game (and at least some old-timers will see it as such) but its the kind of thing that has kept sports like (Association) Football in the pink of health.
This is important to me personally because if the trend continues (and I'm far from certain it will) I might, one day, get the opportunity to see a MotoGP event at home.
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We've got a week to until the next race. Amongst the periodic rehashing of the Sepang incident and its fallout, I was hoping folks around here could share their views on a few different matters -
- Where do you see MotoGP.. 10 years and 20 years from now?
- Where would you like to see it and what do you think ought to be done to make that happen?
- What would be best way to manage the fundamental issue with the sport i.e. high participation costs causing only corporations to participate?
- What effect (and lets try to be as dispassionately objective as possible) will Rossi's retirement have on the sport?
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P.S. This being an introduction of sorts, let me also say its good to be here. I hope to be around for a long time. :)