Any opponauts been to the Montreal GP?

"Deputy Kovacs" (grandbudapest) 03/30/2014 at 22:49 • Filed to: None

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Ok everyone, so my buddies and I are thinking about making a trip out to Montreal for the GP this June. None of us have ever been to an F1 race before, so if anyone reading this has, please chime in with advice for travel and being at the track for the weekend. For those who have been to this particular race, PLEASE chime in more! Where is the best grandstand, hotels, things to keep in mind, you know what I mean.

Help me out oppo!

Suby555 > Deputy Kovacs 03/30/2014 at 22:51

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All grandstands are ok. But definitley fork out for the grandstand. General admission is terrible, nowhere to stand at this track.

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > Deputy Kovacs 03/30/2014 at 22:54

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I go every year for the qualifications because I'm cheap, there are other races there too, which is awesome. Beware of getting tickets off of scalpers, as they can scam you.

getchapopcorn > Deputy Kovacs 03/30/2014 at 22:55

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What I've always done for all GP I've gone to is purchased GA to early events/friday/saturday if possible or the whole weekend if necessary then picked a grandstand for Sunday that had the best "all-around" view — not necessarily pit/start/finish straight but would allow good views of areas that would not only allow for overtaking but also to witness the awesome power that is a GP car with its brakes fully applied.

That being said — I don't remember the GA being very good at all at this event.

beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard > Deputy Kovacs 03/30/2014 at 23:06

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bring a rain coat, the Montreal GP rains just about as often as it doesn't.

The emergency poncho's are shite if you're sitting in a temporary grandstand, the wind can come up through the cracks in the wood.

Bring a hat. Don't bank on buying one at the track because they can be incredibly expensive, or all the good ones can be sold out. (when I went to Melbourne last year they Lotus was still selling 2012 because all the 2013 stuff had sold out already and the new shipments were going to go straight to Sapang)


Normally I'd suggest ear plugs, but you don't need them for the F1 cars this year.

TamerlaneBlog > Deputy Kovacs 03/30/2014 at 23:11

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I had a great time. Here is my summary.

Friday: http://karakullake.blogspot.com/2011/06/canadi…

Saturday: http://karakullake.blogspot.com/2011/06/canadi…

Sunday: http://karakullake.blogspot.com/2011/06/canadi…

BadMatt > Deputy Kovacs 03/30/2014 at 23:13

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Hi!

I am a Montrealer and been to the F1 GP a few times.

The best stands where you see the cars a lot and get a lot of action are #11 and #12. They are expensive but at least, get them for Sunday.
In the cheaper ones, #33 are pretty good but you don't have half the fun of 11 and 12.

Pit lane is too fast, you almost see nothing... But the teams working...

Forget getting to the track with your car, follow the crowd and use the Metro (subway).

All hotels are pretty expensive during the F1 race week... Just book online if you don't mind paying 3x the normal fee... or try b&b, couchsurfing, staying up all night.

You can eat very well in many parts of the city but you'll likely be hanging out downtown... If you don't mind taking the metro or cab to get to a restaurant, go on Mont-Royal avenue or Laurier Street, near St-Laurent blvd. you'll find a lot of nice places.

You may contact me if you would like more details!

BadMatt > BadMatt 03/30/2014 at 23:18

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RotaryLover > Deputy Kovacs 03/30/2014 at 23:30

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Buy food way before entering the ile saint helène. Much cheaper this way and bring binoculars! (cheap one dont cut it) Very important. If you wanna park your car near the circuit, expect to pay about 20-30$ per day. Everything else is covered by other Montrealers in the replies.

interrogator-chaplain > Deputy Kovacs 03/31/2014 at 00:07

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Wow, there's a lot to cover here.

First things first: You're making the right call. You should definitely do this. The atmosphere, the race and the experience are something you have to do AT LEAST once!

Now, my dad and I have done this 4 times and he's done it 5 (I was layed up in hospital when he experienced The Atlantis Grand Prix, A.K.A. The longest F1 race ever .) so we've got a bit of experience here.

We've been on both pit lane, but since we got tickets to the grandstand on Turn 1, we haven't looked back. Pit lane was great, but there wasn't a whole lot of action that happened there (Although I did see Hamilton rear-end Raikkonen in 2008 (That was a sad day, but I saw him win in 2009 and 2012 which is more than I could've ever asked for. I've not complained since.)) and so we made the move to the Turn 1 grandstands. So you want to identify the grandstands in which a whole lot of braking occurs. Turns 1, 2, 3, 7, 9, 10 are going to be the best and will also sell out the fastest. (Top Tip: A lot of people who can't get seats together for the Turns 1 and 2 grandstands will buy single seats and just bring pop-up chairs or blankets and sit together on the small hill just in front of grandstand 2. So there is hope for you there.)
I can't really speak much about the people on the other side of the island. Seriously, they're like 3 km away, so you'll have to look elsewhere for info on Turn 10. But get your tickets now, like ASAP, you don't want to wait long before pulling the trigger on this.

Some people only come for the race. Some people come for qualifying and the race. We go for the whole shebang, practice, qualifying and the race. (There's a media day on Thursday in which you can apparently meet the drivers, but we're always driving in on those days.) It's cheaper, but there's a lot to enjoy on those days. Some of the support races are dynamite and always sound good. Figure out which you'd like to do and get there (at least) a day in advance of it. (Pro-tip: On the day of the race, there will be the drivers parade about 2(?) hours before the race. Find yourself some prime spots by the fences 45 min before it starts and you'll get to see the drivers up close.)

About the venue. Do you like walking? I hope so, because if you care to go for all three, by the end your legs will be bloody nubs. This is a slight exaggeration, but get ready to hoof it. Unless you're rolling in an S-Class, you'll be schlepping it along with everyone else on the Métro. It depends on where you get seats, (If you choose to go with grandstand 8 or 9, you're golden only about a 1 km hike from the Métro to your seat.) but if you go for either Turn 10, 1 and 2 or the Pit Lane, you're going to walk about 2-3 km each way from Métro to seats, every day. Break in those shoes/orthotics.
Also, this place is an island and you're a captive audience. $$$. I have seen people bring their own booze and spirits, but we've never tried it. It doesn't look like they're confiscating coolers full of alcohol though, so there's that.

Hotels and accommodations. Want a hotel downtown. You're either Rich Uncle Pennybags or mad as a shithouse rat. Don't bother with those hotels, they aren't for the likes of us. The good news is the Métro has never let us down, as such, you can hunt for hotels in the Anjou, Montréal-Nord, Ahuntsic-Cartierville or LaSalle neighbourhoods of the city. The hotel we stay at in Anjou emails us in October on whether we want to stay there again come next June, so we've already reserved rooms.
I would highly suggest that this be the immediate second thing you do after securing tickets. Hotel rooms are a finite resources, secure some ASAP. I would also highly suggest staying the night after the race. You'll be fucking tired after, so DO NOT BE A HERO AND DRIVE 6-7 HOURS AFTER. My dad attempted this in 2011 and says he should've died that night. Just don't do it, stay the night.

This is a tourist magnet in every sense of the word. So independent restaurants will be on full gouge mode, sure there's fantastic cuisine there, but you'll pay. That said: there's this one pizza place in Anjou called Champion (Shahm-pee-yohwn.) Pizza. Greasy as all hell, but it's the best damn pizza I've ever had in my life. No visit is complete without getting a pie from there, for me at least.
Also there's a huge party that happens on Crescent Street, my dad went to it in 2011 and saw some guy driving his Veyron Grand Sport. There were concerts and a number of other festival like activities. Worth checking out, me and my dad usually just opt to check out a movie instead. (In 2010, we were headed to the theater, on the highway just driving along when VVVRRRRWWWWWNNNNN a white Lamborghini Gallardo LP560 races past at full trot. No sooner had I gone "WOW", VVVRRRWWWWWNNNNN a second white LP560 races off with its twin. It was unbelievably awesome.)

Hmm, what else... couple things to note. Driving in Montréal is a terrifying beast. As the saying in our family goes: "You can't turn right on red, but you sure as hell can go right through it.". If you're driving in, you'll have to tackle the Met(ropolitan) highway which is unforgiving and also places you among some of Québec's finest. Bring your A game and choose your navigator wisely. There is also a huge casino in the middle of the island track, so if you fancy a few games of chance, bring your wallet. I regularly drop $40 on Roulette and walk away so I don't get the itch and lose my shirt.

So wow, that's a wall of text. If you want answers to more specific questions let me know.
If I was going sum up:
TL;DR: You should definitely do this, as you'll see above there's plenty of memories that are made at events like this and you'll have a blast, especially if you're doing it with friends.

Deputy Kovacs > interrogator-chaplain 03/31/2014 at 08:12

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I read it all. Let me get back to you in a few hours when I get more time. Huge thanks in advance!

KoenigSTIGg > Deputy Kovacs 03/31/2014 at 08:20

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I've only been to it once, in 2011. Almost everybody left after the first red flag, so we could basically sit wherever we wanted to. The best spot was at the hairpin turn 10. This might be different for a dry race, but you can usually walk to another grandstand. Come early too. I recommend getting their to see the practices on Friday. Take the Metro. Also get there for the supporting races they are always fun to watch. I can't help you with the hotel front; my mom is right below the C.E.O. at Starwoods, which basically owns or operates every hotel in America, so we can get great deals. I forgot what hotel I was in, but everybody else on our floor was from Team Lotus, and the Ferrari guys where a floor above us.

vorspringing > Deputy Kovacs 03/31/2014 at 12:30

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We went up for the week and got a vacation rental apartment next to McGill Uni, which was a pretty sweet deal. It was right on the Metro line, close to plenty of places to get food, and easy walking distance to Crescent St. and Rue Sherbrooke. Most of the supercars we saw were on Sherbrooke, except for the Jag XJ220 that stayed parked in front of a restaurant on Rue Saint-Denis the entire week.

We were in grandstand #33, which had a pretty good combo of cheap/getting to see cars cornering and at speed, particularly since the seats were on the track side of the bleachers so we could see all the way down the straight past the grandstand. There's a runoff area right in front of the grandstand, which got used a couple of times as well.

I've only been the one time, but would absolutely go back - the racing was awesome and it's a great city.

M3BimmerBilly > interrogator-chaplain 03/31/2014 at 15:18

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This race weekend is insane expensive. Expensive transport, hotels, plane tickets, race tickets, and restaurants in Montreal aren't cheap either. Not like the US for sure - closer to Europe expenses. If you dont have a hotel room now, you may not get one. We rented an apartment using flipkey.com.

The Metro rail system is really good. Plan your stay along a route with easy access to it. Cabbing or renting a car will be a pain in the ass and costly.

Having also been to Indy, Valencia, and COTA for F1 I will say the facility is sub-standard. The island structures are literally falling apart. If it rains the place is sloppy and messy.

Austin has so much more to offer IMO, but being late in the season it isn't as drama filled as the June race.

Best part about Canadian GP is that the F18's that flyover the track were less than 1,000 ft off the ground, shook the hell out of the island at full chat, and soared into the bright blue sky. They showed Americans how a flyover is done. Period.

TheStraightSixKid > Deputy Kovacs 03/31/2014 at 17:02

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I went to in 2003. I was only seven or eight years old, but i sat at the hairpin. Ithink they are the best seats because you get to see the slow down so you can see them up close and then power away at full speed down the back straight.