U is more that welcome to head over straight to the gallery should you feel like skipping my usual annoying preface.

Picture the scene, it’s 12/02/2008, we don’t have stay at home – and I didn’t.

I got wind of selected 250cc MotoGP teams maybe doing a quick test session at good old Estoril, I decided to take a gamble and off I went, proudly armed with my Fuji digital photo capturing device (it still works fine by the way, my FinePix 5 Megapixel 10x optical zoom devil, xD memory cards are a bit rare though, still doable via internet, stone age tech, not worth it).

Beggars can’t be choosers: two teams is not the same story as the full paddock, no teams at all is worse than having only a couple in action. 250cc bikes did not make much noise, they were OK, funny little machines. Very mechanical in their apperance, basic, a timeless classic. Working class, rough around the edges, rowdy.

Let’s get the elephant out of the room right away, shall we: I’m not hugely into bikes, I don’t fancy owning one, I never did. You need to enjoy this sort of experience. Helmet, leathers, whatever. I don’t have patience for that sentimentalism. Four wheels is what I prefer.

MotoGP racing is kind of attractive for any motorsports fan, no doubt about it. I’ve been to a few MotoGP rounds and even got to spend some time in the paddock with Bridgestone Motorsport way back when. Lovely peeps.

The whole thing is utterly romantic of course, that’s the appeal, I suppose.

So yeah, there’s a lot of Metis Gilera and Roberto Locatelli (correction: it’s Marco Simoncelli in reality, see PS below) in the gallery (too much?), I also identified Héctor Faubel and Mapfre Aspar Team (Aprilia). No idea who’s the other dude (white 125cc, Pablo Nieto I’m told) and one more dude riding the #35 (Raffaele De Rosa?), your guess is as good as mine. Pics are not hugely phenomenal or anything in that sense, more period correct, thus curious to look at from a historical standpoint.

Did you know that Ferruccio Lamborghini raced in 125cc class that year? Neither did I – until today. Grandson of Lambo’s founder, if you’re interested.

There’s more MotoGP legacy stuff waiting to be posted. I had not idea I took so many photos! Catch-22 (pictures)!

PS  Apologies, folks. Don’t know why I went with Locatelli when in truth it’s Simoncelli. I got confused by the team truck/trailer with “Roberto Locatelli 15” written all over it. You can clearly spot on the rider’s leathers letters Simon- and -celli in some shots and -celli is no -telli! I always felt it was Marco in the photos, I seem to recall the rider had this massive hair coming from under the helmet, the late Italian’s distinctive trademark image. 2008 was also his 250cc title-winning year.