Day 7 - Wed 4th Oct, 2017 - Bologna - Imola

Day 7 - Wed 4th Oct, 2017 - Bologna - Imola

Today’s plan was to cycle 45km to Imola to see the historic racetrack “Autodromo Enzo E Dino Ferrari”.

It was good cycling weather and eventually I forced the GPS to take a quieter country road route, on which I passed other road cyclists.

In Imola, I purchased some bread and tasty cakes at  bakery- “Panificio Darchino”.

The racetrack is located  to central to town and winds through a beautiful park. I found the Ayrton Senna memorial statue and large number of personal messages and flags. I read on Wikipedia about the crash and enquiry and how the charges against the team continued  in the Imola court for years before being dropped.

The race was 1994 San Marino Grand Prix and Senna was racing for Williams team having won three titles in 1988, 1990 and 1991.He was under a lot of pressure having not finished the first two races of the season. Tragically, Austrian rookie Roland Ratzenberger was killed in Saturday qualifying.

His team mate Rubens Barrichello had suffered a series accident in qualifying.

Three theories of the accident:

1. Lost control - he was under a lot of stress.
2. Broken steering rod
3. Derby on track.

Later in the afternoon there was about 30min session of Ferrari’s going very fast and it was good to watch.

The track grandstands looked very old and the run down. The last MOTOGP there was in 1999 when Mick Doohan rule the track on his Honda. The last Formula 1 was 2006. Most Italian car and bike races now are at Misano and Monza.

Imola also holds a historic spot in Ducati’s history, when in 1972 Paul Smart and Bruno Spaggiari beat Giacomo Agistoni at “200 Miglia” riding a silver 1972 750. Bike no 16. Fabio Tiagilioni designer.

On the cycle back to Bologna, I retraced my scenic rural route and arrived back to Bologna at about 17:09. It had been a long day, covering 100km in just over 5 hrs in the saddle.

Dinner was at a very nice restaurant in the tourist area. For a change, I ate pasta, salad and drank Pinot Grigio wine!