FLYAWAY It sounds like the advertising agencies dream word to sell sun kissed holidays on white sandy beaches lapped by clear blue seas. First class air travel, long sleek limos and exotic food and wine. Flyaway – makes all your dreams come true. The dream word has a very different meaning to anybody connected with the MotoGP World Championship. Flyway means a race usually outside Europe, always a long way from home with no back-up of trucks, spares and hospitality. For most people certainly no first class air travel, sleek limos and exotic food and wine. Far more time spent in hot sweaty garages and pit lanes than sandy beaches lapped by clear blue seas. We are in the middle of five flyway races in the space of just six weeks. The itinerary that takes us to Japan, Malaysia, Qatar, Australia and Turkey in that short space of time would certainly suit Felius Fog of Round the World in Eighty Days fame more than the MotoGP World Championship. Of course it’s exciting and exhilarating but also exhausting and demanding. The very lifeblood of the sport, the bikes flew out to Japan a week before the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi. They will not return to their home bases, Barcelona in the case of the Camel Honda team, until after the Turkish Grand Prix and before the final race of the season at Valencia in Spain at the beginning of November. Three cargo jumbo jets will transport the bikes, spares and all the television, technical and timing equipment round the World in seven incredible weeks of airports, pit lanes of course not forgetting the real purpose of the journey, races. So that’s the hardware taken care of but what about the human cargo – how do they cope with the travelling, languages, food, climate and from being away from loved ones back home for so long. For some, they love being away from home for so long while others wince when the mobile phone bills arrives on their doormat after the trip. It’s certainly easier for the person away from home, with a great deal of their time taken up with the job which can leave little time to dwell on missing people back at home. I’m sure for those at home it’s much harder, especially as the big times differences make the only contact, snatched telephone calls, in the middle of the night, probably just when the children have finally got to sleep. For those on the road, or in this case the plane, the contrast between the present group of flyaways could not be greater. First stop was Motegi in Japan which around 100kms north of Tokyo in wooded hilly countryside. If you did not stay at the expensive circuit hotel with the obligatory Italian restaurant, you could have been staying a good one hour away from your place of work. Some teams bring their own chef that prepare food at the circuit from makeshift kitchens while many others eat at the very busy circuit restaurant with its limited by pretty tasty menus of curry, curry and curry. Malaysia could not be a greater contrast in all ways. Most people flew to Kuala Lumpur from Tokyo on Monday for at least a week long stay at one of MotoGP’s favourite watering holes. Most of the team stay in the hotel right next to the International airport and very close to the circuit. It certainly can be where the paddock lets off a little bit of steam while the centre of Kuala Lumpur is just 25 minutes by train. KL is a great hot heaving city that you either love or hate. Most MotoGP people love it not only for the Petronis Towers and that good old colonial cricket ground right in the centre but for the World famous markets. Team members arrive with lists from home on what is required and the majority of the time return home satisfied. Suit cases bulging with designer (well it certainly looks like designer) clothing and footwear, watches, DVD’s and cameras make the long time away and Christmas a lot more bearable for those back home. If we thought it was hot in Malaysia we then flew onto Qatar for just our second visit to the country that is reported to be the richest in the World. You just could not imagine a greater contrast to Motegi we left just seven days earlier. Plush hotels more akin to those Flyaway adverts, clear blue sea and more sand than I’d ever seen before. It’s hot and humid in Malaysia but it’s just plain scorching in Qatar and especially at the Losail circuit that is in the middle of nowhere and surrounded, you guessed it, by sand. Out of the sun, the facilities are amazing at the circuit with even our favourite Italian catering company running the circuit restaurant with certainly more than curry on the menu. We fly out of Qatar late on Saturday night to arrive home on Sunday morning. Just time to get everything washed, spend some time with the family, watch a bit of football and enjoy the delights of alcohol again before flying off to Australia a week later for yet another Flyaway. Must be better than a proper job.