The smell. For the few who actually do remember the fifteen-foot-long by seven-foot-wide trailer, the smell is the detail that first comes to mind. It smelled because of what it was—a trailer that had seen better days, and because of what it carried-two teenage boys. It lacked air conditioning, or any real ventilation at all other than a small box fan—and like any teenager's room, it was anything but neat or orderly. The teens slept in a crude bunk bed, one bed on top of the other, and they were in that stage of adolescence when they didn't really see the point in showering regularly.
Almost from the beginning, Grand Prix racing has been a domain of the haves and have-nots. Racing at the top level is glamorous. Factory MotoGP riders enjoy chartered helicopters, Red Bull sponsored private parties at swank bars, enormous hotel rooms (that sometimes go unused) and motorhomes stuffed with leather, and private bedrooms with expandable walls. They rarely pay for anything, only carrying just a few slips of paper money, if any. Most live in an environment of adulation, a moving audience of people who recognize their talent, importance and ability.
For the have-nots, each race is a struggle, a near-constant search for money to support the effort. Expenses are cut to the bone in order to pay for tires, flights and to keep credit cards away from their limit. What is deemed extra? Anything that isn't absolutely necessary.
"Two can live as cheaply as one" is a popular adage of potential cohabitation. For the teens, it applied to how they were able to go Grand Prix racing on, not quite a shoestring budget, but close. Since they weren't old enough to drive, much less rent a car, and were minors, their parents would have to accompany them. Because of a lack of money, hotel rooms on race weekends, or at any other time, frankly, were out of the question. Thus, the teens' parents formed a plan to share travel and at-track expenses. The parents would share a two-bedroom motorhome and pull "the trailer" behind it that the boys would live in.
The teens were riders, so their now close friendship did not develop quickly. They had known each other for years, raced each other in small-time national racing and would grow to be close friends as time passed, but in the trailer, due to its small size and lack of amenities, there were no secrets and no shortage of arguments. They passed the time by playing video games on an old portable ten-inch television and not showering. Did they huddle around the fire and share dreams of future glory? Not really. When you've just got a foothold on the side of a cliff, you only focus on the next foothold, not the top of the mountain.
They lived for a season in, essentially, a converted, enclosed motorcycle trailer, with no air conditioning and just that tiny fan plus the open doors to cool them. The heat at Mugello and Barcelona that year was almost unbearable.
"What I remember of them from that period was, generally, that trailer, but also the volume of candy they ate," said one man who asked to remain nameless. "They'd eat bags and bags of candy. You'd see them at the stands outside Jerez buying pounds of it. It brought home just how young they were, seeing that. How many riders leave the track to go buy candy, or keep chocolate milk in a cooler? They were just kids."
7x15. How well did you have to get to know your college roommate? How would it have gone had you shared a room half the size of your dorm? "It was such a small environment that there was nowhere to hide," one of the boys remembers today. "So, if either of us was pissed off, the other guy would know about it. At that time, neither of us had a great deal to smile about, so it led to a few arguments that usually started for no reason or about something really petty. It's funny to reminisce about, now."
What they shared in common was that they were outsiders in Grand Prix racing. Due to their respective nationalities, there wasn't an easily found set of steps to the good equipment and sponsors as Spanish or Italian riders could seemingly sniff out. A place was made for the pair, certainly, but it wasn't easy, nor did it come with good equipment. If they were going to get anything, it was going to come the absolute hard way, from finding the limit of equipment and riding as hard as possible, timing for the draft of a fast bike, saving tires for the best lap possible and then just pushing to a place few riders who take the easy path even know exist.
"The trailer" would have been just a forgotten detail in the history of GP racing if it weren't for the two teens who inhabited the bunk beds, sat in front of the lowly fan, refused to shower, and did all of the infuriating things teenagers have been doing for eons. Eight years later, the pair each won a world championship. Chaz Davies won the World Supersport title and Casey Stoner won the MotoGP Championship.
Indoor-outdoor carpeting, clenched timesheets and crude bunks in a small trailer. From these humble beginnings is where Chaz Davies (floor) and Casey Stoner's (bottom bunk) 2011 world championships began.
image by casey's playstation 2
Today, Stoner and Davies remember "the trailer" with a laugh. They duel when asked who had it worse back then. Davies says Stoner did, his family selling everything in Australia and moving to Europe on little more than a dream. Stoner says with all the sacrifices Davies and his family made, and how hardscrabble it all was in 2003, Chaz's world championship must have felt sweet.
In January 2011, Davies visited Stoner in Australia. At one point, over some beers, they realized that if things went well, the two former trailer-mates could simultaneously win world titles in 2011. The irony was not lost on them, then or now.
"To actually realize the dream of myself getting a title and Casey getting his second in the same year is something really cool for both of us. I think we're almost happier for each other than for ourselves. Casey knows the hard times that I've had, and I know what he's had to put up with ... all in all we've both kind of done the rounds and are pretty content at the minute," says Davies.
Just Kids
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK00XHthn1Y
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This was the story of the fastest kangaroo of all time !!!
<span style="font-size:10px;Because, i am bored to post all the time , i will finish this thread (maybe) here
