Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126061
'Corsa Pacifica' - or golf course? By Lane Campbell Picture fo r yo urself a lap at Corsa Pacifica. Fro m th e start/finish area y ou angle onto th e co urse, a sh ort straight and t o th e f irst turn. It 's a right-angie right horuler that plunges you st eep ly d ownhill - second gear and every thin g gets ligh t righ t at th e ap ex as you nose do wn ward no t quite fu ll. th rottle and im· m ediatel y set up for the left at th e bottom. Whu mp ! Yo u bot tom every thing at the apex of th is one, gas it up a short straigh t, up two gears, down two, and _ whump again, carefu l n ot to ground yo ur lef t side as you go lef t up hill again. At th e to p, right, ov er th e crest and h alf-airborne, gas it hard. S weep ing, gentle bends lead you uphill sligh tly, ,with th e sea below to your right. You can 't accelerate quite hard eno ugh to reall y scratch here, bu t some people, with more ho rsepower, can. Only a short relaxa tion break , tha n hard on the binders and back down through th e gears. Lef t, be ware th e rough pavem ent ridge as you accelerate ou t, loo king for m e skein of p owder sand th at the wind has laid at the nex t co rner, ano ther left. No w for th e scary part. Still accelerating, the rough, ripp ly pave ment slams yo u about as you reach for fifth gear. Th ere it is, the fa st, blin d esses. You see the road edge curv e left and just disappear in to emp ty space. Can you leave it wicked on ? Almost tapped in fifth, barely kissing the pavemen t at th e apex / crest; you're dialed in and beginning to pick th e ma chine up and lay it right even before you can see th e track. Blo ody flagman had better be awak e, as you rush downhill flat out, fin din g y our clipping point in th e right-hander right where you hoped it would be. N ow hard on th e brak es, fight the machine as again rough pavemen t tries to throw you off, do wn t o second gear and left downhill right im m ediately in to th e infam ous Merry -go-roun d roun dab out with only on e clean line, immediat ely left again and ou t ont o another bumpy stra ight. At th e end, lef t again to the very short straight past th e paddock. Had en ough? N ot blo od y lik ely! Corsa Pacifica - the scratcher's circuit by th e sea. Minutes away from anywhere in Greater Los An gele s. Are yo u ready to get an gry ? Ar e yo u ready to hear how close to reality it might be ? If yo u want, you can go ou t now and ride it on y o ur street bike, to check it ouL Just observe all the st op sign s an d do n 't do an ything blatantly illeg al in sight of th e security guard. You see, the very pavement I' ve been talking abou t is in place, righ t off the ends o f t he m ain runway s at Los Angeles International Airp ort. • It u sed to be a swank seasi de resid ential are a. But the residents kept suing th e airport over the noise of jets t aking o ff overhead. So after abo u t 10 years o f legal BS, the Airport Authority said " O K, you win," bought everybody o ut, and moved ou t all the houses, leavin g nothing but t he sw ee ping, swoopin g streets on th e coast al dunes between the airport and th e sea. In case you ha ven't caugh t th e drift, ye t, it is an id eal spot for a Pavement Vehicle Recreation Area. Fo r yo u serio u s ra cers , it fulfills a defin ite ne ed - a close-in place to tu ne and p ract ice. For t he p ublic, it add resses a larger so cial need, namely a sa fe alternative for hordes of can y o n racers who cur re ntl y fr eak o u t the tourist s each Sunday. It can 't possibly have a noise problem, as th e overflying je ts alrea dy peg your eardrums at gro u nd level. Nobody lives there, be ca use fo rce majeu re has long since moved them out. The area is alre ady fenced and p at rolled, so co n trolle d acc ess is provided for without spending an y add itio na l mo ney. T ho ugh the p ave m ent is a tad co bby , roadside hazards are few and removable. T he Airport Authorit y and th e City o f Lo s Ange les, who own it , are at a lo ss as to what to do with it, now th at it is cle ared o f res idents. T he general co nsensu s is that the au th or itie s would like to find a priv ate conc essio nnai re to d o something with t he facility that would earn money. CMC' s Pat Manning is one potential co nc essio nn aire that would jump at the chance. Th ere are two big, bad stumbling blocks, however. On e is the Coastal Planning Commission. They would lik e to see it returned to nature. Yeah , ano th er bunch of Bro...n app oin te es. Pose y-sn iffers, They've chosen to ignore v th e fac t that, in ad d iti on to a view o f the oc ean, the property also overlooks a ste am generating plant and a Standard Oil tank farm. Hardly a pristine natural are a. But if they get their way, the pavement would be broken up and the sand allowed to roll in th e wind, forever. The Airport Authority, which would lik e to make a little money on its he avy investment, doesn't agree. They are fighting the Coastal Commission de cision . But if they get their way, the pavement will also be plowed up. They have decided to make it a golf course. Sure, fellas, you line up a crucial putt, and " Whoom!" o ver rues a 747 in he at. Are the golfers that desperate, as your spokesmen would have us believe ? So "Corsa Pacifica" is a long sh ot. Wave bye-bye .. . or are yo u willing to figh t for it? There are many avenues to approach to try and obtain the area for roadracers and sports car types to use . One is to call the Governor's office. Another is to bug State Parks & Recreation. And Los Angeles City Parks & Rec as well. But of all, the most immediate thing you can do, is call the office of Mr. William M. Schoenfeld, Deputy General Manager - Planning, (213) 646·7393. Tell him, politely, that you 're very upset th at golfe rs, wh o already have dozens of facilities, cro wded or not, got first cra ck at this, while you , who have nowhere to go a t all, got ign ored . Be firm , b e frank, but be nic e. If enough of yo u do it , we might just get the whole area opened up from scr atch . Or for scratchin'. BLM Organic Act Update I H P iH[ EL L ~-_.lIi!~~ We're cookin' now ! Got a co m plete list of th e Senators and Congressm en who h ave been ap p ointed to t he Senate-House conference co mmittee. Th ey are the ones who have to wo rk out th e di ffe rences be tw een the Senate vers ion '(S .5 0 7) and th e House versi o n (H. R. 13 77 7) of th e BUt Organ ic Act. They are th e ones yo u should be co n ta cting if yo u're interested in preserving yo ur rights o n publi c lands. Chairman: Sen . Henry 1\1. Jackson (D-Wa.) Senators Frank Church (D· Idaho ) J . BennettJohnston,Jr. (0.La.) Floyd K. Haskell (D-Co lo.) Dale Bumpers (O-Ar k.) Mark O . Hatfield (D-0r.) James A. McClure (Rv ldaho } Lee Metcalf (O·Mont.) Congressmen J ohn Melcher (O·Mo n t.) Harold T. Johnson (D-Ca.) Morris K. UdahIl (D· Az.) Ph illip Burton (D-Ca.) J ohn F. Sieberling (O-0h .) James Santin i (O·l\'v.) Jim Weaver 10 -0r.) Sam St eiger R-Az.) Del Clauson (R-Ca. ) . Don E. Young (R·Alaska) What to tell them (or their staff)? Tell them you support the multiple use concept of public land management. Tell them you support the principle of sustained yield. T ell them you oppose turning th e BLM rangers into a police fo rce; that they are trained and educated to be educators, interpreters, and naturalists - not cops. T ell them what you fell about riding open lan ds , tell th em what you need and wh at you think your taxes sho uld pay for. Finally, tell them you think the bill in its present form should be vetoed. How to get in tou ch ? You can send a public opinion telegram to any public official by ca lling (800) 648-4 100 (toll-free) and giving your message to Western Union on the phone. Often, th e operator will be able to he lp you with the address. Another thing most p eop le fail to do : Learn th e lo cat ion of your Congressman's home district office, drop in an d have a qu iet chat with th e st af f there. Be prepared to educate and inform rat her than get angry. It really works. 26 the committee members in Washington, address it to: (name) - o r(nam e) U.S. Senator U.S. Congress J oint Con ference Committee on S.507 Washin gton, D.C, 20515