February 18 – 25
There are a few options for getting to Jerez de la Frontera from the United States. I found that the three main cities to look for flights into are Seville, Gibraltar, and Malaga. For
this trip, the best price I could find for a flight was from Atlanta to Malaga with a 3 hour layover in Paris. We arrived in Malaga on the 19th around 11:30 AM.
We rented a car and drove straight to Jerez de la Frontera which took just about 2.5 hours. The countryside was beautiful.
We stayed at La Cueva Park located at A-382, km 3 5, 11406, Jerez de la Frontera (Andalusia), a 2 minute drive from the circuit. Typically the prices here go up and get booked out quiet far ahead of big events, but for this week it was great. I opted for the breakfast included and it was well worth it.
We checked out the track and then found a mall with everything and anything you could need while there (Centro Comercial Area Sur at N-IV, km 639, 11408 Jerez de la Frontera,
Cádiz, Spain). They had a grocery store where we grabbed some snacks for the track and for before dinner (most restaurants don’t open up until at least 8 PM).
The next day, February 20th, the rest of the team arrived in town and we signed in / picked up all of the track day information for the weekend. You have to have a specific full-coverage insurance to ride which is included with an FIM license, however this can be purchased from the organization for 90 euro cash if you do not have one. I had pre-registered for the days online so my spot would be secured, but they still require to see forms of identification and personal insurance cards.
For the next 3 days, February 21 – 23, we rode per the schedule above in group V. Throughout the sessions, they evaluate times and move riders to different groups throughout the days to keep the speeds similar. About 90% of the riders there were on big bikes or 1000cc + bikes so it was a bit difficult on the stock R7 to ride with the different corner / straightaway speeds even in the fast session. We chose not to participate in the final sessions on Sunday as they were set up to be mock races with rolling starts lined up based on your best lap time of the weekend regardless of bike size.
The team had a great test!
The organization gave out trophies at the end of each day and we all did pretty well in the sessions!
The best restaurant for dinner I found is called Pizzeria La Roma (Av Cruz Roja, 15, 11407 Jerez de la Frontera, Cádiz, Spain). The prices and the food were fantastic.
We celebrated my dad’s birthday the night of February 22nd at El Rincon del Tragabuche (C. Adriático, 21, 11407 Jerez de la Frontera, Cádiz, Spain) for dinner. They were very kind to sing and bring out cake.
The next day, February 24, we decided to visit the Rock of Gibraltar for a hike on our way back to Malaga for a flight home the next morning. You actually drive through customs to enter Gibraltar since it is territory of England. This was a great experience and well worth the detour. The trails are easily walkable despite what the taxi drivers will tell you, and the rock is home to the only wild monkeys found in Europe.
After the hike, which took us just about 3 hours to see everything we wanted to, we continued our drive back to Malaga. We had dinner at Pasta Factory A Mare (paseo Maritimo, C. Europa, 5, 29640 Fuengirola, Málaga, Spain) back in Malaga on the beach and it was great homemade pasta.
We stayed at the Travelodge by the airport (Av. de Velázquez, 212, Churriana, 29004 Málaga, Spain) for the night and it was surprisingly nice inside.
Our flight left at 6 AM the next morning with a 2 hour layover in Paris, so we got to the airport by 4 AM to drop off the car, check bags, get breakfast, and get through security.
We arrived home on the 25th after a very smooth and successful trip!
