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The Baikal Mile, perhaps the most insane motor racing
course on Earth, and the perfect strip of ice to trial an
Indian Motorcycle. You read right. It’s held on ice, on
the frozen expanse of Russia’s Lake Baikal, during the
Siberian winter.
“I couldn’t believe how amazing this event looked,”
grinned Brice Hennebert, the builder of Appaloosa, an
unbelievably bespoke Indian Scout Bobber built to race
during the 2019 Sultans of Sprint tarmac series.
“For a start, the lake is huge,” Brice shows his enthu-
siasm for this most unique of landscapes. Lake Baikal is
over 600 kilometres long, 80km wide and contains more
than 20% of the world’s fresh water.
Version 1 of Appaloosa was built with just a few weeks
spare before the season started, effectively meaning it
was racing without any testing. With an updated design
Brice looked for events to trial the bike before the 2020
season proper. Lake Baikal came to the fore.
“It was just so different from anything I am used to,
thousands of miles away and with extreme temperatures.
On top of that you have all these people building crazy
machines, from mad one-wheel contraptions to luxury
vehicles on tank tracks, who come together to share the
fun of pushing themselves and their creations to the
limit,” he laughed. “I just had to be a part of it, and it was
amazing to get the go ahead when I put the idea to Indian
Motorcycle.”
With the support of numerous motorcycle related
businesses and Indian, Appaloosa 2 was shipped to Sibe-
ria and the fun began.
“I had been talking with Seb and Dorsan,” nodded
Brice, explaining that his two best friends were in on the
project and in on the adventure to Siberia. “This trip was
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