MotoGP Round 12 Czech GP: Food culture seen at the supermarket, first impressions of the Brno Circuit

The 12th round of the MotoGP, the Czech GP, was held at the Brno Circuit for the first time in five years since 2020. The author, who covered the event on-site, will share with us the atmosphere of the city of Brno and the Brno Circuit.

Sausages and instant mashed potatoes seen at the supermarket

This was my first time in the Czech Republic. I flew from Narita Airport in Japan via Warsaw, Poland, and arrived in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. From there, I traveled overland in a rental car.

The Brno Circuit is located about 200km southeast of Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. The city of Brno is another 20km away. As a driver who drove on the highway from Prague to Brno, through the city of Brno, and from Brno to the circuit and back, my impression was that it was a “typical European road.” The drivers didn’t use turn signals, kept very little distance between cars, and the driving wasn’t very calm (although compared to Japan), but to me it was a standard European road.

In the Czech Republic, like many European countries, cars drive on the right lane and are generally left-hand drive. There are tolls on the highways, but you can register your rental car’s license plate online in advance. There are several payment periods to choose from, and in this case it was 290 Czech crowns (about 2,000 yen) for 10 days. Having used highways in various European countries, I have noticed that tolls are generally low. I wonder why tolls in Japan are so expensive.

The highway connecting Prague and Brno in the Czech Republic was very busy with trucks and heavy traffic, probably because it crosses two major cities. However, the road conditions were not bad and it was well maintained. Also, there were no toll booths, so it was very easy to get on and off the highway.

The hotel, or rather hostel, was in the city of Brno. It had private rooms, but the shower rooms, toilets, and kitchen were all shared. In this hostel’s case, the shower rooms and toilets were unisex. I don’t know if it was the Czech temperament or a personal characteristic, but more than once I saw older men walking around in just their underwear. At first I was intimidated, but I gradually got used to it, and eventually I even exchanged hello with half-naked men.

On Friday night, I helped some motorcyclists who had apparently come to watch the MotoGP, who were having trouble checking in. When they saw the shared shower and toilet facilities, they looked very unhappy and said, “What? Shared?!” Apparently, these facilities are not common even in the Czech Republic. Even at this hostel (if I may say so myself), prices had risen during MotoGP race week, to 484 euros (about 83,000 yen) for six nights.

In Brno’s supermarkets, there were sausages and instant foods that you could make mashed potatoes by just adding hot water. Looking at the lineup on the shelves, it seemed closer to Germany than Italy or Spain. After researching, I found out that Germans immigrated to Brno in the 12th or 13th century, and many Germans lived there until World War II. This may have influenced the food culture as well. However, unfortunately, I was never able to eat out, so this is merely my impression based on what I saw in the supermarket.

It takes about 20 to 30 minutes by car from the city of Brno to the circuit. The circuit is surrounded by forest, and even though we were right nearby, the trees were so thick that they blocked the circuit from view.

The Brno Circuit began as a public road course in 1930. At the time, it was called the Masaryk Circuit. It was transformed from a public road course into a closed circuit, and has survived through World War I and World War II, and its ownership changed from Czechoslovakia to the Czech Republic.

The Czech Grand Prix was my first time covering a Grand Prix, so I wondered what the atmosphere would be like, but I was told that 220,000 spectators attended the event over the weekend. While there are currently no Czech MotoGP riders (there is one Moto2 rider), I noticed many people wearing Valentino Rossi merchandise. The legendary rider, who retired from MotoGP at the end of the 2021 season, remains very popular at every circuit, and the Czech Republic seemed to have a particularly high proportion of spectators.

My first visit to Brno and the Brno Circuit gave me a taste of the Czech Republic. Of course, there are still many things I don’t know. With that in mind, I now have one more circuit I want to visit again.