Myself and a couple of friends fancy doing the Italian MotoGP at Mugello in 2017. Has anybody done the trip and can recommend a good scenic route. We'll arrive on the continent through the tunnel 2 or 3 days riding. I'm thinking 3 as we'll want to avoid the motorways. Good overnight accomodation in decent places with bike friendly parking? Riding over the Alps is favourable. Accomodation once there?
I don't really know, as its been a while since I was in this area and I've never visited the track. However, my IT manager at work (Scrambler owner) comes from a village about 10km from here and he said: "There are 3 hotels in Ronta [his home town], Hotel Marrani, Hotel La Rosa cannot remember the last one. Scarperia is the closest town, San Piero a Sieve is on the way coming from the A1 Barberino di Mugello and there is a 4 star in Borgo San Lorenzo. Or Florence is 20 minutes away. Google for the keyword Agriturismo near the Mugello circuit" I reckon your best way is to Torino, choosing a pass (Val D'Isere to Col de Mont Cenis?) and put up with the motorway to Modena or Bologna and take a non motorway road down. I've done the SS12 which is a good run, but slightly out of your way unless you're in Florence. Alternative is the coastal motorway to Savona and pick your way back from there. Using ordinary roads is tricky in Italy if you want to get anywhere. As a guide, I once did St Malo to Moulins in half a day, then a fairly short day to Torino, over Mont Cenis, then half a day to Pisa (to pick up wife) airport using motorway to SS12. Hard work with no motorways in 2 days.
If I were you I would put up with one day (the first day) on the motorway in order to have two epic days beyond. No disrespect, but the roads in the northern half of France are not particularly special from a biking point of view. If you get a good start, you can do somewhere beyond Dijon for your first night. If you really push you can do somewhere like Chamounix. That leaves you day two to play in the Alps, and day three to get down to Bologna/Florence. The last time I went to Mugello, we (four sports bikes) took four days to go down, and two coming back. We got onto the A26 at Calais and got off it at Cambrai, then headed south to a first stop in Auxerre. Day two we spent hooning around the midi in France (over the Cantal) to St Flour (south of Clermont Ferrand). Day three we headed east into the Alps to Salanches. Day four we blatted through the Mont Blanc tunnel and motorwayed down to Bologna. In my opinion many of the Alpine routes are over rated as far as sports bikes are concerned. I much prefer the big sweeping roads that you can find in the midi. The roads around the Mugello circuit are very nice, but be aware on race day that it may take you a while to get out and away. The circuit is in quite a rural setting and the roads nearby are all single carriageway. If you are organising everything yourselves, book your accommodation nearby as soon as the dates are confirmed. We weren't there during the GP weekend (we were doing track days) and managed to get accommodation at the top of the Giogo pass, overlooking the circuit (on top of the hills to the north). The year before that we stayed in hotel Il Signo (the swan) just off the Futa pass between the circuit and Bologna.
How is your trip planning going Robarano? I am looking at planning a road trip with some mates to Mugello next year for the 2017 MotoGP as well. The plan is to take the boat to Santander - ride the Pyrenees, follow the Med into Italy to the circuit, Return via the alps through France to the tunnel. The wife seems happy with this so far so need to get it booked before she changes her mind. My mates all think l am mad attempting to do this on a 748! we shall see if was a bad idea when l get back (defo need to do the light clutch mod before l go). Certainly interested if anybody has any further comments info on this.
The autostrada along the coast Nice - San Remo - Genoa - La Spezia is mainly two lanes each way, no hard shoulder, very twisty, and lots of trucks. Do not think you can make rapid progress along there. The non-autostrada road is much slower still.
And, no matter how fast you are going you will always have some di**head in a car, 3ft behind you with his indicator on and flashing you to get out of his way...
That's how they drive in Italy. Just chill, pull over and let them pass. No point in adopting a UK attitude or you will get cross. When in Rome...
Indeed, however when one is being held up by a string of slow traffic and is wanting to drive significantly faster than said flashing Fiat 127 driver behind (probably almost already at full chat) and pulling into the inside lanes sees you having to brake hard down to 50mph and potentially being stuck there it can grate a bit, this coming from someone who learnt to drive in Italy...
Sta calma regazzo! Lived in Napoli for a couple of years myself, ever since then I have never been phased by other people's driving behaviour no matter how crazy/rude/dangerous.
is this the E80 route you refer to? is it a recommended bike route or would 6 bikes have trouble/not have fun traveling up it? That was the plan to use that road to Viareggio, cut across to Florence and up to the circuit.
Yes, it is indeed the E80 route (i.e. Autostrada A10/12). It is a perfectly feasible route - by all means use it. I was just warning you that it is not the sort of motorway along which you can average 85 mph like some others. Allow enough time and it will be fine. The Viareggio exit onto the A11 (E76) would be the right one, and it's only about 120 Km from there to Mugello.
