Wildays 2018
By Ross Sharp - 06 Jun 18
It's no surprise that motorcycle events have taken on a festival vibe in recent years given that a large proportion of the attendees are consuming live music and life in general in this format. Wheels & Waves set the benchmark a few years ago, which we've enjoyed on numerous occasions, and now the summer calendar is jam packed with choice. In fact there's usually more than one date clash for every weekend all season.
Last year Marco & Phonz, the guys behind Anvil Motociclette, launched Wildays - a motorcycle racing bonanza set in the idyllic Verano de' Melegari facility just outside Parma, Italy. Flat track, drag racing (both dirt and asphalt), hillclimbing, enduro and traditional circuit racing were on offer again last weekend and from the looks of things we missed out - big time!
I was going to head over to spin a few dirt track laps but with our show being finishing just a few days before, I had nothing left in the tank. Handily 'Shed regular, bike nut and pro photographer Fabio Affuso covered the event for us. deBolex Engineering loaded the van straight from Bike Shed London 2018 and headed for northern Italy to show the Italians what a Brit could do with their Ducati Scrambler 800 and 1100, displaying both bikes in the Bike Exif exhibition. Wes from Exif was over from South Africa and we'll see what he has to say when he posts his event report but from what we gather, a lot of fun was had by all.
Here's what Fabio had to say;
"Sometimes you go to a full-on event and you’re taken by the so called FOMO (fear of missing out) - you want to see every act and you want to run every race, but for the love of God you still haven’t managed to clone yourself, and so comes the anxiety…Just not at Wild Days!"
"In the Italian countryside of Emilia Romagna you can bring your bikes and just be who you want to be. Across 3 days there is time to camp as you please, eat great Italian food, get drunk, dance to live bands, swim in a stream…and did I forget race flat track, enduro, drag, track and hill climb?! You literally have it all, and it’s not crammed all together either. You are just relaxed, and feel no pressure to be anywhere. Just breathe and sink in those Italian vibes, or sit on your arse in that lovely mountain stream. There might not be a more idyllic place to hold such an event and with the free practice going on all day, moto-nuts to make make friends with the Wildays name is really quite spot on. Up to you to get your arse over there and find out next summer, just don’t forget your suncream like I did!"
Click on Fabio's images below to flick through the gallery.
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And if you want to find out more about what you missed and keep up to date with next year's events be sure to follow Wildays. If we can find a helicopter to extract us from post-show London we'll be there, cooling our feet in the stream.
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