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Why being there is better

6/18/2012

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I love motorracing which goes without saying. I also love sport in general and any sports fan knows that it is always better being there than watching it on tv. With motorsport there are always doubters though. They say that you can only see a tiny part of the track, that the noise is unbearable, and that sitting in the summer sun all day is not their idea of fun. To some degree or another I agree with these three points but obviously I keep going back for more and there are reasons for that.

If you know what you are looking for, you can see a lot more at a race. This isn't easy. It is easy to turn up, sit down and watch cars go around but if you really look you can find things that the tv never notices. At the hairpin at Montreal you can notice which teams constantly lock up early under braking (are they running low wings or have they screwed up the balance), you can notice which teams lift up their inside fronts at the apex (plenty of roll in the setup, soft suspension settings and therefore probably plenty of wing) and during the race you can notice which cars are sliding into the corner (front tyre wear) and which ones take a fraction of a second longer to get on the gas (rear tyre wear).

It can be annoying to only see a fraction of the circuit but with big screen tvs and now with fan vision tv you really don't need to worry. Fanvision, for those who don't know is a portable little tv screen. With it you can watch the race on screen, choose any onboard you like, watch the live timing, listen to commentary and team radio. So long as you don't treat it like you have come all the way to the track to watch tv it is invaluable. I left it on the timing screen for the duration of the race, so you know instantly who has decided to turn it up and by how much. It adds a lot to watching at the track.

Lastly (although I could keep on going here), the great thing about being at the race live, is that you are there for three whole days amongst like minded people who love to talk about the sport. Belgium has the added bonus in that you also live amongst them in the camp site. Each year I go to the Grand Prix with a group of friends that I met in the stand and who I only ever see trackside. We spend three glorious days living out of each others beer coolers and wallets. There realy is nothing like a live race. If you haven't been, then go. 
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Home Race

6/18/2011

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How great is it to have had a home race. Not too many people get the opportunity to have a race right on their doorstep. Silverstone might be the British Grand Prix, but how many Brits can wake up in the morning, get out of their own bed, head out the door and 30 minutes later be at the track for the first session of the day? For the Montreal Grand Prix I don't have to worry about hotels, taxis, directions, meals or bags. I don't even have to worry too much about a crowded metro system since I get onto a train before the downtown crowd and therefore always manage to get a seat. After this years race I was home and starting to dry out 40 minutes after leaving the track. No wet clothes to stuff into suitcases.

The only downside to a home Grand Prix is that your city gets filled with people who don't seem to know how to use it. For 362 days of the year you can walk up and down escalators because everyone not walking will stand on the right and leave the left side free. But come Grand Prix weekend every American travelling with a friend will invariably come and stand side by side on an otherwise empty escalator. This used to piss me off. For one of my first Grand Prix I would tell people to get out of the way in french. I'm sure they all went home saying that the race was great but the french locals are assholes. Now I just accept it and use the stairs for the weekend. Usually I avoid downtown for the Grand Prix weekend since I usually try and avoid downtown for every other day of the year. But this year I headed down to Crescent st for a Friday night drink. Holy crap it was full. The only other time we get the road so full is for free Stevie Wonder concerts during the Jazz Festival. I was heading to the Winston Churchill pub which is about 3 doors down from the corner I arrived at. It took me 20 minutes of shuffling to get to the door!

Lots of people in the city don't like the Grand Prix. I'm sure this doesn't come as a big surprise. People say that Formula 1 motor racing is ecologically irresponsible and noisy. Because the Grand Prix is in the city and accesible by public transport, though, I would venture to say that the Grand Prix is a lot greener than it appears. Sure 24 cars run around and burn off 100 litres of fuel in a couple of hours but on the other hand 100,000 people turn up at the track by Metro having not burnt much fuel at all. The circus flies around the world every couple of weeks but a hockey team flies around the continent every couple of days and F1 teams send gear by ship and truck when it's possible. I bet that keeping a hockey rink frozen at the Bell Centre would use up plenty of energy as well. Maybe the locals should embrace Formula 1 as the pillar of environmentalism and gt rid of these polluting hockey players.
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    Tony

    I am a race fan. I cannot claim to be an expert on anything, but as a fan I am apparently the most important part of the sport. So I assume everyone wants to hear what I have to say.

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