Pôle Mécanique Alès Cévennes

The Pole Mecanique Ales-Cevennes lies in the Vallon Fontanes at Saint-Martin-de-Valgalgues, about five minutes from the centre of Ales. It is not a single track but a 90-hectare complex with several courses: a speed circuit that can be run in both directions, a karting circuit, an asphalt rally stage and two gravel rally stages. The operator gives the karting circuit as 1208 metres, of which 156 metres are straight, eight metres wide and surfaced with elastomer-modified bitumen; among its homologations is an FFM one for 125 cc, so explicitly for motorcycle use. It opens daily from 8 am to 8 pm. Open track sessions are organised by outside promoters, usually in 20-minute runs and four groups split by ability, at day rates of roughly 110 to 139 euros. The infrastructure includes over 6000 square metres of workshop space, 20 garage boxes of 45 square metres each with water and power, and a restaurant on site. On an eight-metre-wide strip of asphalt with only one straight worth the name you live off turn-in: the corners arrive back to back, and a bike that steers lazily costs you time in every single one of them. When the bike will not hold a tight line, in our data that is usually too little rear ride height - raise the rear or drop the front and it turns in more sharply.