Writing this im sat in my hotel after a night out in Rio,  a city renound for partying, for beautiful beaches, for drug wars and generaly a place for a good time. And there was no exception for the street race that took place y day in the Favela, The Redbull ” Desafio no Moro”
RedBull took a risk with this one i think, it could have gone one way or the other, a street race turned kidnapping, or one of the most groundbreaking street races to have ever been held. It defianatly went with the later. The Race started at the top of the mountain, on a ridge that overlooked the whole of Rio, underneath the famous statue of christ. You sprinted out of the start gate, hit a kicker, then literaly dropped into the slum. The track was made up of steep stair sections, wooden platforms and concrete ledges. It was a seriously steep hill for a street race, and it cut straight down the centre of the favela….. There was no pedaling here, you just had to lay of the breaks slightly and you would be charging through narrow alleyways, hitting steep steps that would be randomly wet, there would be dogs, cats , chickens and children wandering over the whole track. but still you had to ride past them like you were hitting some fast section on Maribor wc track. I think the thing that really made the race was the atmosphere though. All the way down the crowds were screaming and cheering and so stoked that the race was coming through their hood, through their part of the world. At the podium, it turned into a carnival / street party. They called the boys up ( polc, markolf, athy) gave them the prizes then it just erupted. The dj hit Jacko on the music system and literaly the entire crowd just started dancing and partying like they were in a night club. i’ve never seen anything like it. everyone there was hands in the air, killing it. I was even told that some of the locals were selling vip watching spots in the ghetto for the friends and family to watch the race from. It definatly set a benchmark for street races.