Soooo..... We awaken for race day. Excitement fills the air. Make the Monreal Bus/Train trip to Ile Notre Dame.
We decided to walk towards the hairpin for a hopefully fantastic vantage point. We come up to a clearing next to the straight between turn 9 and the hairpin. Seems like a decent spot. We figured we could check a little harder for a super awesome spot. We come to an opening right at the braking point for the hairpin. You can see the cars dive down the straight into the hairpin under hard braking, make the turn and catapult out the other side. Plus, there are huge screens within viewing distance. Seems like a sweet spot but there are lots of people here. There are people that have apparantly been here for hours before us. We ended up watching the parade lap and the first few laps of the race from the first spot. Cool, yet not cool enough. Just a quick glimpse of the cars as they pass.
Here's a video of the entire field passing on lap 2 from that spot.
We walk back down to the spot at the hairpin. Much better. You get to experience every sound an F1 car can make. Full throttle near top speeds, heavy braking and downshifting (the backfiring when decelerating is a great sound, you don't get to hear that on tv), low speed cornering and full throttle exit. This spot is awesome! Plus, don't forget the screen! The screen kept us updated on things we couldn't see (like Hamilton rear ending Raikkonen in the pitlane, that SOB)
Here's a shot of our view complete with a view of the entirely sold out grandstands...
(Notice the number on the braking marker. Yes, that's how late they can brake.)
It may not look like much but it's just what we wanted.
Here's a video of the speeds they were passing us at. Mind you, the cars were probably no more than 15 feet away. If you listen when the hairpin is empty, you can hear the cars coming out of the chicane down the straight.
Here's a video of the cars coming back out of the hairpin. Again, it may not look like much but you could see all you needed.
Well, like I said, once the race was over we headed straight for home. The drive was relatively uneventful. Oh! Except for the gas station near the US border where I asked if there was a washroom inside and the guy pointed to the building next door and told me through the glass doors and up the stairs. Seemed odd, the building next door was dark and appeared closed. Upon entering, I could hear a television playing loudly. Up the stairs, the was a room with a huge tv playing some movie and there was no one around. Well, on the way out of the washroom I find that the movie is actually pornography. Hmm... I head out to the car and Eric goes to use the washroom as well. He comes back....
"Did you see the porn....."
"Yeah, lets get outta here"
After that, nothing else happened. Some rain and I almost fell asleep a couple times.
All in all, the trip was outstanding and I can't wait to do it again next year.
Thanks to all for reading. Huge congrats to Robert Kubica and Team BMW Sauber, big WTF to Lewis Hamilton and all my condolences to Kimi Raikkonen.
Johnams
