MotoGP legends at the 2023 Festival of Speed

The factory Aprilia Racing team and satellite CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team are on site this weekend, not forgetting Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, GasGas Factory Racing Tech3, LCR Honda and the Ducati Lenovo Team. Each team has its current MotoGP machine, which means the fantastic-sounding Aprilia RS-GP, KTM RC16, Honda RCV213V-S and Ducati Desmosedici GP23.

Rider wise, we have the current MotoGP world champion Francesco Bagnaia, as well as his Ducati team-mate Enea Bastianini and the team’s official test rider Michele Pirro. Aprilia has brought along test-rider Lorenzo Savadori, RNF has Raul Fernandez and Miguel Oliveira, GasGas has Pol Espargaro and 2023 MotoGP rookie Augusto Fernandez, and KTM has Brad Binder and long-time test rider Mika Kallio. Not a bad line-up at all.

The wider line-up is pretty preposterous. We have 1987 500cc World Champion Wayne Gardner, 1993 500cc World Champion Kevin Schwantz, 1999 500cc World Champion Àlex Crivillé and 2000 500cc World Champion Kenny Roberts Jr., plus 12-time 500cc GP winner Randy Mamola. Crazy, right?

There’s also three-time world champion Freddie Spencer, the only rider to win the 250cc and 500cc championship in the same year. Then there’s Casey Stoner, the 2007 and 2011 MotoGP champion and five-time 500cc champion Mick Doohan. 

There are many more riders we could mention, but 15-time World Champion Giacomo Agostini, the winner of a record 122 GP races, is very much worth a mention. 

Elsewhere at the Festival you’ll find all manner of historic motorcycles, from a 1949 AJS ‘Porcupine’ to a 1949 Triumph Grand Prix 500, a 1954 BMW Rennsport and a 1957 Gilera 500 Quattro. All in all there are more than 50 motorcycles on site, truly a magical gathering of two-wheeled racing, past and present.

Photography by Pete Summers and Jochen Van Cauwenberge