Hey, Kids, I'm Home from Montreal

[EERO]

I got home Tuesday afternoon after spending four days in Montreal with my wife. It was her first F1 race and she's hooked; she even got to cheer for her boys Mika and Kimi. We had dinner with Liz, Jay and djb in Old Montreal Saturday night and I will post pics in the Trackside forum when I get them scanned.

It was a real thrill to see Ralf win his second, all I could think of was Moffat's ensuing despair; this made me truely happy. We sat in the stands at the Senna Corner, with a view up the main straight towards the Pit exit, the cars slowed just below us before accellerating onto the back part of the circuit.

Before the race, we waited on the opposite side of the course on a knoll which is one of the few places to get close to the track for the driver's parade. They where driven around the course in Austin-Healeys, perched upon the cowl. The Ferrari drivers got the biggest cheers, the McLaren drivers the most boo's, though my wife was completely taken by Mika in person, I'm told that he's got "IT", (whatever THAT is) DC was smiling and waving cheerfully. Fisichella was barely acknoweldged and I yelled out a loud "FISI!!!!" and got a big smile and a thumb's up. Kimi also waved at us when we called out his name. Zonta looked pleased that some one knew or cared who he was.
I also called out "Saint Fernando!", and the poor boy looked so embarrassed.

The race was incredible, the noise and the speed simply cannot be conveyed on the TV screen, its pure sensory overload.

A few impressions from the race: Raikkonen was unbelievably smooth-the car was like a train on rails, he had one line and hit it every time. Alesi was fighting that dog of a car on every lap, it was pure brute force to get that thing home.

Hakkinen seemed really listless for the first part of the race and appeared to really be struggling with the car. I had pretty well written him off, and then suddenly he was setting fast laps and driving so much more smoothly after his stop-tires, a wing adjustment?

Ralf was all over the back of Michael, it was apparent that the heat on the track would favor the Michelins and about 1/2 hour before the race, a huge cloud settled over the track, cooling it considerably. About fifteen minuteds before the race, the sun came out again and the temp rose dramaticly- 7 degrees C in five minutes. At that point, we knew Ralfie had a shot at it.

Verstappen nailed about six p[laces at the start and he and Panis and Trulli had a great battle. Panis should be very disappointed because he was headed for a podium.. Panis also got a lot of cheers this weekend, but I cannot help thinking it was a partisan crowd cheering for the local boy who didn't know the difference.

It was an amazing four days, we ate like Gods, wore our feet down to stumps walking and smiled non-stop the whole time.

[Bononi]

Buddie, I couldn't hardly wait for your come back and so long waited impressions...
Glad to to read all that !
I'll wait to read Liz and Jay posts too !

Thanks EERO ! It's like we were there !

[Wrex]

Thank God your back EERO, this place has been a madhouse. JMP is the only topic we can talk about, and Moff has been strangly quiet for some reason since the last GP.

Welcome back EERO, Liz and Jay.

[Liz]

My cousin and I are home from Montreal this morning on the sleeper train and have been madly rushing about to prepare to leave tomorrow for Le Mans.

We had a wonderful time too - had seats right at Pit In, and across from the Prost and Scrutineering so we got to see everything. I have a nice collection of photos of breakdown trucks with broken cars dangling on hooks! (I think there are about 10.) Rubens and Nik hit the wall right in front of us, and I have pictures of that too. And we saw Alesi leap the fence as if he were Saint Fernando and toss his helmet into our grandstand (but we were at the top and nowhere near where it fell). The whole Prost team climbed onto the wall and cheered him home as if he had won the WDC and everyone around us cheered him as if he were Ralf. The battle between Ralf and TGF was wonderful fun and I was positive they were going to touch, but they never did. Perfect racing and no danger at any time, from the look of it.

And of course THERE WAS MY DEAR ZONTA on the big screen as we arrived Saturday morning, pulling on his pretties, and I was absolutely overjoyed to hear that he would be racing on Sunday! Of course I was not happy that Frenzy was injured and hope he is soon well. But what a wonderful chance for Zonta, and he used it well. He was the only Honda to finish, he finished 7th, and he beat those prats at B.A.R.

As Eero said, we had a wonderful dinner together and chatted about 10-Tenths and racing of all sorts, as well as other things now and then... and djb graciously drove us home as we had to climb Mt. Everest to the dorms at McGill where we were staying, which is not easy even if you are Jays age. The food was good and the company was even better, and we hope to meet up next year, same time and same place. And SAME SEATS!

The best thing about the people at 10-Tenths is that without exception the ones I have met have been exactly as advertised. There are no phonies on this discussion forum. And that is something you won't find in this world often, much less on the internet.

There were 350,000 people at the GP for the weekend. Absolutely all of them behaved like ladies and gentlemen. Well, except for a group of people in kilts and Viking helmets, who showed us what Scotsmen wear under their kilts.

[Valve Bounce]

Hey!! Are you guys coming to Melbourne nest year? I'll be there, promise. I haven't been to a Grand Prix for such a long time - I'm not going to miss out next year.

[Jay]

Glad I wasn't in the Scot section!

I am always impressed to hear, feel and smell F1 cars as they shake the ground around you at 170mph, a mere few feet from you. Except the TCS makes the cars sound as if they have broken engines as they exit the corners. A terrible sound!

My grandstand seats were in the cheepest grandstand (40), but we still got a semi-view of the hairpin, sat very close to the cars, and a nice big TV nearby. Next year I will spend a little more...

I spent most of the weekend wandering from spot to spot on the track trying to get "up close and personal" with the F1 cars. In the end the hairpin turned out to be the best spot. I was very impressed with both the Saubers, but not at all with the Jordans. Trulli could never get it right at the hairpin, spinning once, and coming close several times more. Zonta and Frentzen weren't much better, sliding the car through the corners. Montoya was his ussual self, pushing the car to the limit on every lap, although not necessarily for faster times.

We had a great dinner in Old Montreal. Special thanks to Eero for buying the beer, and to jdb for driving Liz and I back. I stayed at the youth hostel, which was very reasonable at $60/night in downtown for a private room with a shower. It was just far enough from the ruckus in downtown that I could sleep.

The ruckus is on Cresent Street, where there is one of the craziest street parties in the world. Girls in tights, lots of expensive beer, and of course all the locals are smoking. Villeneuve's new restaurant is there too. It looks like a nice trendy place that you would just go to have a coffee or a beer with friends. Obviously it was packed for the weekend. Nearby is St. Catherine's street, famous for its plentiful strip joints(no I didn't visit any). On GP weekend every store puts Ferrari flags in their windows weather they sell clothing or coffee, in the hopes that someone will come in.

Now I just need some time to heal my sun burns!

[EERO]

Liz, sorry i forgot to mention Linda. She was very charming and knowledgable and told me off a few times, (though politely) over my more idiotic opinions.

The "Scotsmen" seemed to be everywhere mooning and flashing the crowd.

After the race, we got onto the track to walk along the Pit straight and DC was still in the McLaren Garage and would step out to wave cheerily to the crowd. At the Jordan Pits, a lovely young woman filled us in on Frentzen's condition, (nothing more than we have heard in the press, but I got a gracious thank you for best wishes-even if the PR machine is well-oiled, its still nice to know your concern is appreciated) At that moment, the team started to hand copies of the Jordan Magazine through the fence, and who but Jay ducked below my wife to grab a copy. This is the second year in a row that we have run into each other by chance at the track after our arranged meeting. Liz, I got a promo pic of Zonta if you want it. Let me know.

Jay described the scene on Crescent Street pretty accurately, I was stunned, it made Times Square at New Years Eve seem tame. It was loud, there were writhing bodies everywhere (Molson Dry Girls in teal spandex go-go dancing on bottom lit platforms just in front of Jacques' place Newtown.

A special thanks to djb as well for being a great guide to his fair city and helping a bunch of anglophones, who have all studied french, order dinner. I hope we get to see more of his posts here, he's a very charming and witty guy.

Liz is absolutely correct about 10/Tenths people-everyone I have met is just as they are in the forum. This is a great place filled with great people and spending time with Liz and her cousin Linda, Jay and David made the weekend.

[Wrex]

You guys are so lucky to be able to hook up. The only member I might run into is AMoffat

[EERO]

Yeah, but I'll bet he more than makes up for it in the noise he makes.

[senna12]

Thanks to EERO, Liz and Jay for the stories and information. Maybe next year for me.

[Valve Bounce]

Originally posted by Wrex
You guys are so lucky to be able to hook up. The only member I might run into is AMoffat

Don't despair WREX, I'll be there, and we can both give him hell.

[Liz]

Eero, Linda concedes that you may have a point about Jean Alesi, however painful her concession was.

Yes, please, I do want the Zonta pic! Do you have my address? I'll e-mail it to you if not.

We stayed in town an extra day to have a tour of the city and do some things, and were very pleased to see how quickly they cleaned everything up. There was not nearly the amount of trash on the streets that they usually have to deal with at the Molson Indy Toronto, but they had it shining clean by Monday morning.

[R]

Thanks for reporting on how your weekend was. It really has expanded my horizon on what it's like to experience a Grand Prix Weekend up close. I thought of you being on location as I watched the action over the weekend. I'm glad you enjoyed yourselves!

[Airhead]

Originally posted by EERO
I got home Tuesday afternoon after spending four days in Montreal with my wife. It was her first F1 race and she's hooked (considering the company she had this is hardly suprising); she even got to cheer for her boys Mika and Kimi.

It was a real thrill to see Ralf win his second, all I could think of was Moffat's ensuing despair; this made me truely happy.

Charming isn't he! I studiously ignored this race. I believe the whole thing was done in a film set in Hollywood and beamed via Bernievision to the world.

[RaceFreak]

Great post. Two questions

Anyone try a scanner ? Last year at USGP the rumor that all freqs were scrambled waqs wrong. The only ones we could't get were MacMerc and Ferrari.

Where did you stay ? I think you've talked me into going next year.
May have to dust off my kilt.... (only joking)

Duncan

[bghaw]

GREETINGS TO YOU ALL!. So glad to hear that all who went up for the Grand Prix enjoyed it and more importantly, returned home safely. I too had a chance to smell the exhausts and hear the screams of 10 cylinders engines whine at 10,000 RPM's, albeit from the mole holes available for general admissions.

Sorry Liz, Jay, and Eero and whoever else met up this past weekend for my no show. I know you were to meet on Saturday by the sculpture, but b/c i didn't have a ticket for qual., i left for old montreal that afternoon. Being that it was my first Grand Prix weekend, and being new to this forum yet, having the opportunity to meet enthusiasts as myself, needless to say I was extremely optimistic about the rendezvous this past weekend. Although i was disappointed that i could not make it Sat, i was thrilled to have found (bought) GA tickets for Sunday's race. Sure i paid too much according to some, but i thought the experience was worth every Canadian penny!

I took many pics this past weekend and anyone who wants a gander is more than welcomed to email me at: bghaw@aol.com I will then send you the zip file. They consist mostly of last year's grand prix cars on display on St. Catherine's, but i have a few action shots from turn 6 and 7. There are also pics of Ralf, Mika, David, JPM, and i dunno who else. I have a few pics of the Modena's that were racing in the morning as well. In any case, anyone who wants the file, let me know!

Sorry for the lengthy reply. I'll shut up now. Cheers!

[Speed]

Originally posted by AMoffat
Charming isn't he! I studiously ignored this race. I believe the whole thing was done in a film set in Hollywood and beamed via Bernievision to the world.

He, He, He...

Moff, are you a comedian ???

Because you are losing a lot of money if you aren't.

Black humor pays...

[EERO]

Racefreak, i'm staying at a B&B North of Downtown.

I know that accomadations for the GP weekend fill up quickly; I've already put a deposit on rooms for next year. Try searching through the internet for rooms-there are a lot of Hotels and B&B's in Montreal and Subways can get you pretty much everywhere you want to be.

[RussianFriend]

Great report, guys!!

I wish I may watch the race with somebody of you. But only Peter Mallet is in Russia (in Siberia, which as far as the rest of you).

My one was together with German fans crazy of TGF (Oh, please, do not look, I realy meant Michael, sorry).

[Ralf's Girl]

Welcome back Eero, Liz and Jay - sounds like you all had a wonderful time.

Eero, the thought of Moff's annoyance (to put it mildly) at Ralf's second win of the season gave me reason to celebrate even more...

You're all very lucky to have the opportunity to meet up with each other - hopefully I will have in future (being old enough to drive might be a good start ).

[Jay]

It was a fun little trip, and I am already planning next years. I just wish I knew when the GP will be. Maybe I should book every weekend in June! The other problem is that most of the hotels don't have a clue of what the rates will be. Also, many hotels jack up their prices sky high. For example, I was going to stay at a Best Western downtown, but they raised their prices from $129/night to $440/night!! So I cancelled and stayed at the youth hostel.

[EERO]

RG, I have a pic of Ralf to email you later.

Here's a pic of the crew at dinner Saturday Night at the following link

http://tentenths.com/forum/showthrea...923#post104923

[Jay]

oh good god no... I look I have just eaten some really bad shrimp or something. I'll be sure to put sunscreen on my face next time!

[EERO]

Geez, Jay, I thought you looked fine, I'm the one with the blotches all over my forehead.

[Tristan]

Wow, it sounds like you lot have had a wonderful time. When are you gonna put the pics up?? I can't wait to see what you all look like (and of course the vistas of the track). It must have been wonderful to hear the cars, see the sights etc. Why do I say this?? Well I have shocking confession to make; a secret that I have never revealed to this forum.....

I have never been to a motor race. Of any description. Anywhere. Ever.

After my confession, can I be a true member of this forum still?? Please don't reject me!

Anyway, good to have you back, and at last a topic that has nothing to do with flippin' JPM!!!