| Montreal Grand Prix |
Welcome, race fans, to my Formula 1 page. This page chronicles my Montreal Grand Prix trip. I hope you find it informative and interesting. You might also want to check out my Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) and Honda S2000 pages. Background My interest in racing dates to childhood, when my dad, who will be attending the Montreal Grand Prix with me, took me to the Long Beach Grand Prix. I was probably 10 year old, didn't know much, and don't remember much, except that I really liked it - the sound of screaming engines, the weird looking cars that looked nothing like the cars on the streets. The other race I remember my dad taking me to was an IMSA GT race in Del Mar, California. Again, don't remember much, except I was really excited about getting a poster of a Porsche 962. So that's how I got into racing. Thank you, dad! The Road to Montreal Originally I wanted to go to see F1 in Japan, but the logistics are more difficult for the Suzuka race and the cost is prohibitive, so I decided on Montreal. I visited Montreal last year for a weekend while working out in Michigan and found Montreal to be great. I actually was in Montreal the weekend after the grand prix and there were still Ferrari flags hanging in many stores. Getting to Montreal is no problem - all major carriers have flights into Dorval International YUL. We'll be flying American Airline, connecting in New York. Lodging during the grand prix weekend, for lack of a better word, sucks. First Montreal visit I stayed at Le Square Phillips for ~$120/night, now they want something like $300/night. So we'll be staying at a cheapo Motel 6 type of motel, but even then, expect to fork out some serious cash for lodging. I do highly recommend Le Square Philips though, very nice hotel. Right in downtown, very spacious, very new. Race tickets you can buy directly through Gilles Villeneuve Circuit. I ordered it online and the next day a lady with a French accent called to confirm. Bought the tickets in January, got them in March. Be warned, they come in a regular, unmarked envelope that you might easily throw away thinking it was junk mail. So look out for anything coming from Canada. Ended up getting grandstand 12 since it appears from there you can get a pretty good view of the action. Looks like a good choice - as of March 24 grandstand 12 is sold out while others are still available. 
This is what the tickets look like. One expensive piece of paper! 
Essentials Flight, checked. Lodging, checked. Tickets, checked. Now for the other essentials. F1 cars are loud, 130 dBA from 15 feet away. To protect your hearing you'll need ear plugs. After searching around I bought some ear plugs from Beneficial Products. They are rated NRR 34, which roughly means they'll reduce the noise level by 34 dBA (actually it's more like 27 after the conversion factor). Comes in a little carry case too.  04.26.2005 Update Those ear plugs turned out to be really weird - just clay-like dough you stick in your ears. I'm sure they work, but I just want regular ear plugs. Probably will get Leight ear plugs. Bought a Coby radio. Not bad.  06.14.2005 Update Wow. What an experience. Here are the pictures from the Grand Prix. Couldn't ask for a better time, except DO NOT get grandstand 12. Grandstand 11 is much better. The map didn't show that grandstand 12 would have its view blocked by a big tent. 06.18.2005 Update One of these days I'll chronicle the trip better, but until then I have to say one of the most exciting part of the trip was rushing toward the podium after the finish. Right as the race ended people started opening up the fence and sneaking onto the track, headed toward the podium/pit area. Mad rush of people. Probably the equivalent of when you see college fans rush the stadium to bring down the goal post. Very surreal. Here's a picture of everybody running 
....to be continued... |
