This Motorcycle Race Is For Mad Dogs Only

 

Billed as “the world’s toughest Extreme Enduro Rallye,” preparations for the Red Bull Romaniacs are already under way. The line-up of this brutal off-road features some of the biggest names and toughest off-road riders the sport has ever seen. We’re talking Knighter, Taddy, Jarvis.

Overseeing the madness is entirely wacky English comedian Ross Noble, and he’s riding in the race as well.

The 2012 edition of Red Bull Romaniacs kicks off with the prologue on June 13th and gets followed up with four days of mud-covered action.

• Offroad day 1 – Thursday 14th June / Start & finish in Sibiu
• Offroad day 2 – Friday 15th June / Start in Sibiu, finish in “Voineasa”
• Offroad day 3 – Saturday 16th June / start in “Voineasa”, finish in Sibiu
• Offroad day 4 – Sunday 17th June / Start & finish in Sibiu – Prize giving and Party

Mountain climbs and downhills, single trails, this race has it all. The length of the track varies in each class with riders covering 100km to 220km each day depending on their classification.

The main challenges of the course are the technical parts leading through wooded areas and the competitors are challenged with natural terrain obstacles as they traverse trees, rocks, mud and mountain ascents.  The track is marked all along the way with banners, signs and colored markings, but the competitors have the official circuit loaded onto a GPS to keep them on the straight and narrow as well. The GPS records the route of each competitor to ensure accurate results and standings.

One awesome feature of this event? Every single riders and team have an on board “minitracker” and you can watch the progress of each rider in real time –  live – on the event website.

If you’re lucky enough to travel to the event, you can take advantage of specially-designed spectator points to check out the riders as they struggle during the “toughest enduro rallye in the world.”

That might be a touch of hyperbole, not sure the organizers are familiar with a little race called The Paris-Dakar Rally, but it’s sure to be a difficult test for all concerned.