MACAU GP - Road Racing - Horst Saiger (Doku)

The hardest thing this year was saying goodbye at home. We have a little eleven month old baby. The last few days I spent a lot as a babysitter. When you're with the little rascal all day, you don't want to leave him. It's very difficult to leave the house, but I think that's what our family is about. Because we do so many things, the baby has been on a plane more times at eleven months than others in his entire life. She's been to the Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, Le Mans in the 24 hour race, she's been everywhere.

I think he's great when you have a wife and family who live it that way. Only then can you do it that way, because you have to be in a good mood, otherwise running and your whole life will not be so fun. Macau - What can I say? The largest gambling metropolis in the world. It has 30 million visitors a year. Everyone plays day and night. There are 4,000 gaming tables at the Venetian Casino alone. They don't drink alcohol there. They only drink water, milk or tea and only come to play. Here you will find a colorful mix of Chinese and Portuguese: until recently Macau was a Portuguese colony and has since been ruled by China.

It is now an autonomous zone like Hong Kong. What I admire most about these people is that Asians care a lot about their health. They eat quite healthy and they all play sports. We went running twice and saw 70-year-olds doing pull-ups and stretching exercises, all grandmas and grandpas. It's great to see. Even those who live in the poorest conditions are in good spirits and happy. I admire that here. No complaints. Everyone is always motivated, independent and fulfilled in life, regardless of their financial situation. There is also a mix in religion: on the one hand there are Catholics and, on the other, many Buddhists among the Chinese.

You will find them in ancient buildings, in Buddhist temples, lighting incense sticks and, of course, also in front of their shops. The Chinese are very superstitious and at night in front of the many shops there are small bowls with offerings, apples, etc. And also incense sticks simply for "good luck", so that business goes well. They will do anything to earn a little extra money. That makes everything so lively, that the city is alive. I think that's great. The Saiger-Racing team is not just me, Horst, as a driver. There are: mechanics, a suspension manager, tire technicians, etc.

We are a great mix. We have two mechanics from England, Angus and Matt, father and son, who prepare the bike. They've been into motorcycle

racing

for a long time because their father used to build bikes for the Tourist Trophy on the Isle of Man. That's how they grew up. "How long have you been doing this?" Then our suspension engineer, Robin from Holland. He looks through the data recording. He has control of everything that happens with the motorcycle while riding and thus we can improve handling. Then, of course, the tire technician, Thomas de Metzeler, is also with us.

He is from Germany. I've known him since I've been running. We have experienced all the ups and downs together. Hello, my name is Thomas Thierolf from Metzeler and I am responsible for the tires here at the Macau GP. I look after Horst Saiger so that he has the right tires for the race. We have two different

racing

compounds with us. So far we have one, which we will probably use in the race. However, both are a possibility. The soft one has the most grip and also seems to work for racing. We'll probably use that one. Then there's my wife, without her we wouldn't be here.

She handles everything in the background, she takes care of our baby at home while we are here. She sells the t-shirts, organizes the fans' trips. She makes everything around us so there is a budget to do it. There are many organizational things that need to be done. Then we have a camera crew: Lukas and Bo. One is, as we would say, Swiss-New Zealander and the other is Austrian-Swiss. They are the ones who support me, I am proud of them! What is special about this year's Grand Prix is ​​that we have organized the first trip for fans.

So we are 22 people, including the team. I feel very proud when everyone wears the blue Saiger Racing jersey. It's great, especially when it's so far from home. Today we had lunch in the revolving restaurant. Rotate 360 ​​degrees. If you order dessert, you see China; If you order coffee, you suddenly see Macau again. It's really cool and everyone here is a cool person. It is an experience for them and also for me. I see through the fans' eyes what it's like to come here for the first time and feel the atmosphere. That's incredible and I experience it again through the people, through the fan journey, when everyone is so amazed by the great buildings.

My colleague Thomas from Metzeler and I have been here for 6 days. We have to arrive very early and fix the bike, because it will go to an exhibition where we will present ourselves and get in touch with the public and locals. We get there, we give autographs. For the organizer it is very important that the locals support the event. Without his support, the Macau Grand Prix, with its obstacles, would not be possible. That's why you have to motivate them and give them something to relate to the race. From the exhibition to the back, we prepare the bicycle.

That means disassembling, re-tightening everything, mounting cameras, etc. And suddenly, it's Wednesday and we're off: the first time on the track, at 300 km/h between the casino skyscrapers, the sound of your bike hitting from left and right. It's crazy. Look, I'm already getting goosebumps. Awesome! The Macau Grand Prix itself is unique. Especially for us drivers, and certainly for the cars as well. But for us it is the only circuit where you cannot see a single corner. Every curve on the track is blind. You really have to ride by feeling, turn by feeling, brake by feeling. You can't see the apex of the corners or the exit.

If you're unlucky, you don't even know which way to turn. You go down the straight at 280/290 km/h and everything flashes yellow-black-yellow-black. So you have to surrender at the right time. No braking, just a reverse gear, boom! All the blind corners are also a problem for cars. Rear-end collisions, with many cars involved, happen very, very often. Of course, all the carbon parts are lying around and that always makes me think: What happens if a carbon splinter cuts the tire? A flat tire is the last thing I need. Here at the Macau GP we use tires that we also use in normal circuit races.

In the range SC0 or K0 and K1. Nothing special, but it's about getting the best performance out of the soft tires - that's our goal! Additionally, the

road

is open every night. So there are trucks, cars, taxis, Chinese buses... everything is on the

road

and from time to time it happens that in the morning, at the Riders-Briefing, they say: "Come here, I just spoke to the employee of the Por Of course, it's very bad out there. Oil, cement dust, there will be oil flags everywhere. That's just what you need to hear, what gives you real courage first thing in the morning: good motivation in the face of a two-kilometer-long diesel spill covered in gunpowder.

They just sprinkle the dust on it and don't sweep it. When the first ones pass it, it is full of dust. You can hardly see it and it's also slippery. "Just drive very carefully. We don't want to have an accident now. Just watch for the oil flags, but it's everywhere." We made a lot of improvements on the bike because a lot of things only came up during training. It's the first time we have the Yamaha here in Macau and we didn't know about the gear ratio, the springs, the suspension, the basic setup. Although we did quite well in qualifying.

I finished sixth. In the end I put a fast tire, a qualifying tire. Qualifying only lasts two laps and in both laps the driver has to concentrate a lot to get the most out of it. But now we go back to analyze the data and see what changes we can make for tomorrow. Tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m. the second qualifying session will take place. Horst did very well, he concentrated a lot and "achieved" a really good lap. Now we have just finished the second classification. We are achieving better times and we have been able to get another eight tenths and stay in sixth position.

The goal was to be in the first two rows of the grid because then you are in front. Overtaking here is complicated. Just don't let anyone pass you when braking. But our setup is great for braking. Great, we've tried a few things now. We had some issues with the front when it flexed a couple of times. We put a little preload on it now, it doesn't feel as good but I don't have any problems and I can brake later and go faster. So far, so good! The nervousness is brutal, especially here in Macau, it's crazy. I would be happy if everything went well and the race was over.

The weight of the world is on you now. Let's hope it goes well. Hard race: Even if it's cloudy, you sweat like crazy here. It's very humid. I had a bad start. After that I passed two guys and walked away. The pace was actually good, I'm happy with it. We have made a lot of progress, the bike is good. We are here with the best road racers in the world and we are in the top 6. I accept it. I also still have a better feeling of the bike. That's something we can build on. We haven't reached our limit yet, but for now, let's enjoy a cold beer!