MEDICAL FACILITIES
MotoGP
Medical Facilities
Racing motorcycles at more than 300 km/h (200mph) can be a risky business at times and the number of crashes during practice or races over the course of the season often reaches more than 500 – so medical assistance onsite at each circuit is of vital importance.
Seemingly defying the laws of gravity, riders lean into the track while moving at phenomenal speed and sometimes lose control of the front or rear end of their bikes and take a tumble, often sliding across the asphalt or gravel traps to safety at trackside.
Clinica Mobile
Some crashes are more serious than others but the number of rider referrals to hospital in emergencies is now very low (4-5 per season in recent years). This is thanks to the increasing safety features of the riders' protective equipment, the increasing reliability of their machinery, improved safety features, permanent medical facilities at the circuits and in no small part the work of the dedicated staff at MotoGP's travelling medical facility – Clinica Mobile.
Dr. Claudio Costa and his Clinica Mobile unit celebrates 30 years in 2007, and it has become part of the fabric of MotoGP, as the ever present Italian and his dedicated staff play crucial roles at each Grand Prix.
At one stage or another all Grand Prix riders have visited the famous little mobile hospital, but it is not just the competitors who occasionally need help. Everybody working at the circuit on Grands Prix weekends can seek advice or treatment at Clinica Mobile, from journalists, stewards and chefs to mechanics and team managers. Whether the injury is a broken leg for a MotoGP star or sore throat for a commentator, Clinica Mobile is always ready to provide help.
Clinica Mobile: History
In the early days of World Championship road racing medical facilities were often far from adequate, while safety standards at tracks were nowhere near the level the have been brought up to in the modern era.
Dr Claudio Costa, the son of a race organiser, decided to do something about it in the early 1970s. The travelling medical facility has its origins in Italy, where Dr Claudio's father Checco was the organiser of the first 200-mile race at Imola which took place in April 1972. Costa Senior asked his son to manage the medical facilities for the historical event and Dr Claudio soon realised that he and his team of specialists from Bologna could be of assistance at Grand Prix venues throughout the world.
Those early days were far from easy for Dr Costa's valiant staff, travelling to each Grand Prix by rail, road and sea, carrying boxes of medical equipment to attend to patients.
A mobile clinic that could be transported to each event was clearly what was needed and five seasons later it became a reality when a Clinica Mobile unit took its place in the paddock at the Salzburgring in Austria on May 1st, 1977. The 24-hour availability of medical assistance at trackside is of reassurance to everybody who works in MotoGP and a testament to hard work.
On that very first weekend the medics onsite were called into action when five riders were badly hurt during the same incident in the 250cc class, including Franco Uncini who was given life saving emergency treatment. Sadly, the medics attending to Swiss rider Hans Stadelmann discovered that his injuries were tragically so serious they proved to be lethal despite immediate assistance.
Were it not for Clinica Mobile many more riders may have suffered the same fate over the decades which have followed, with the lives of Uncini, Philippe Coulon, Michael Rougerie and Virginio Ferrari almost certainly saved by the travelling doctors in those early years.
Since the 1970s there have been five new editions of the Clinica Mobile unit, as it has evolved to keep pace with medical advancement often thanks to donations from the riders who have received treatment from Dr Costa and his team. The esteem in which the facility is held has been illustrated by a blessing in person of one unit by Pope John Paul II in Rome in 1988 and a visit from King Juan Carlos of Spain to a later incarnation of the clinic in 1997.
Present Day
The role of Clinica Mobile has also changed with the times, with the introduction of a Medical Director - Dr. Claudio Macchiagodena, and the building of permanent medical centres at each circuit to provide the equipment, staff and hospital back-up to deal with life threatening emergencies – the importance of which was driven home years earlier by the work of Dr Costa and his assistants. There are now also helicopter ambulances available to transport any stricken riders to the nearest specialist unit should such a service be required.
The unit still treats all injuries outside emergencies, while he and his staff still provide support to local doctors and hospitals when specific advice is required. So, the clinic now essentially assumes the role of a casualty unit at a hospital. Apparently it also happens to be the place where several riders choose to have lunch - such is the camaraderie between the mostly Italian staff of the unit and the rest of the MotoGP fraternity.
The present day clinic was opened in Jerez in 2002 by a group of World Champions including another five-time title winner Mick Doohan - a rider who of course is intrinsically linked to the history of Clinica Mobile. The popular Australian Doohan was treated by the clinic's staff when he suffered an accident in 1992 which was so serious that he nearly lost a leg, before returning to Dr Costa's treatment table in 1999 with another leg injury which ultimately resulted in his retirement.
