- 5,987
Hey GTP.
If any of you remember, last year I attended a "Ferrari Festival" track weekend at beautiful Circuit Mont Tremblant. I again had the oppurtunity to do so this year, but things were slightly different. I wouldn't show up in a black Testarossa, or get treated to VIP Hospitality, but I was still there which is the most important bit.
Me and 924Superwagen went up to our respective cottages the night before, because we would be a lot closer to the venue when we had to leave at 8 in the morning. We woke and headed out on time in his 97 Jetta. The roads there were fairly decent, nothing too rough, and nothing too straight.
Upon arriving, we immediately parked and started watching the Ferrari Challenge cars do a few practice laps.
We continued moving along the infield fence to find some better views. We were both amazed at how accessible the track was.
We then crossed over to the outside to visit the paddock area to get a closer glimpse of the cars getting off the track and the mechanics who worked on them.
Soon after, the sound of the vintage racers filled the air and we went trackside to spectate the decade-old monsters tear up the track. There were a pair of 250GTOs, a 288GTO, some older LM racers and other older street cars.
We then went back to the infield and watching from a bridge going over an uphill section of track. Because the bridge is level and the track is sloped, you can get a wicked-good view of the cars as they pass by. The other three corners of the bridge also offered excelent spots to watch the aciton.
This is Ferrari of Ontario's green Reebok Hockey-sponsored ride.
Some pretty close action.
Back on the other side of the track, we had a vantage point of a tall hill to watch from. We would've liked to watch the race from here because it looked like an easy passing zone, but nothing like that was going on during the practice and qualifying laps.
I decided to rest the camera on a fencepost to get a sequence of shots, and later stitch them all together. It worked out pretty good, I guess. I think the camera shoots 2.5 frames per second, so this'll give you a little idea of the speed the cars took this corner (although I do believe that this is the second-slowest of the track).
Again, I cannot tell you how amazing this track is in person. It's nature-enclosed setting make it amazing for both drivers and spectators.
We then headed back over the track to the outside to try and meet up with a friend of ours, the owner of the black Testarossa that I arrived in last year.
We met him, and after a bit of talking about the day, he told me he may have an oppurtunity for me to get a ride on the track in a car of his friend's. There were two Ferrari dealer-run track sessions where if you had the right connections with the Ferrari clubs or dealership in Montreal, you could get some track time. I was delighted to hear that I would get a half-hour ride later on in the day in a 348 Spyder. Unfortunately, Superwagen couldn't get any time, but my friend assured him he had priority next year
Back to the infield to grab something to eat and get a glimpse of the historic racers.
Back over to the hill to watch the other section of track while the historic cars were still out, but this time it was the drum-brake models. These things looked like far more difficult to drive over the newer, lower racers.
It looks like he's drifting a bit in this shot, but he's just on a later line.
This thing looked like a handful to drive, the pilot constantly slicking in some opposite.
And back around to the front straight again.
After that, it was time for the Challenge race to start. The drivers are often rather inexperienced and lack racing judgement, so it was rather entertaining watching them spin out or crash like a 12-yearold's birthday party at the go-kart track.
Some passing carnage. This driver got black-flagged but ignored it and kept racing.
One of two spins by the same driver right infront of us.
Nice little pair of Porsches in the infield parking lot. 924 took these shots.
Some post-race carnage:
And the parked historic cars
Then came my turn to get some track time. I met the driver, a nice French fellow, and we lined up to go on track. They were to be guided laps, nothing too hard, but not slow either. We kept it below 200kph, but still some nice jaunts into the higher gears.
I had a pretty good time out there, and all in all, it was a happy day. I'm hoping to be around for the event next year for another round of Italian excitement.
Enjoy!
If any of you remember, last year I attended a "Ferrari Festival" track weekend at beautiful Circuit Mont Tremblant. I again had the oppurtunity to do so this year, but things were slightly different. I wouldn't show up in a black Testarossa, or get treated to VIP Hospitality, but I was still there which is the most important bit.
Me and 924Superwagen went up to our respective cottages the night before, because we would be a lot closer to the venue when we had to leave at 8 in the morning. We woke and headed out on time in his 97 Jetta. The roads there were fairly decent, nothing too rough, and nothing too straight.
Upon arriving, we immediately parked and started watching the Ferrari Challenge cars do a few practice laps.
We continued moving along the infield fence to find some better views. We were both amazed at how accessible the track was.
We then crossed over to the outside to visit the paddock area to get a closer glimpse of the cars getting off the track and the mechanics who worked on them.
Soon after, the sound of the vintage racers filled the air and we went trackside to spectate the decade-old monsters tear up the track. There were a pair of 250GTOs, a 288GTO, some older LM racers and other older street cars.
We then went back to the infield and watching from a bridge going over an uphill section of track. Because the bridge is level and the track is sloped, you can get a wicked-good view of the cars as they pass by. The other three corners of the bridge also offered excelent spots to watch the aciton.
This is Ferrari of Ontario's green Reebok Hockey-sponsored ride.
Some pretty close action.
Back on the other side of the track, we had a vantage point of a tall hill to watch from. We would've liked to watch the race from here because it looked like an easy passing zone, but nothing like that was going on during the practice and qualifying laps.
I decided to rest the camera on a fencepost to get a sequence of shots, and later stitch them all together. It worked out pretty good, I guess. I think the camera shoots 2.5 frames per second, so this'll give you a little idea of the speed the cars took this corner (although I do believe that this is the second-slowest of the track).
Again, I cannot tell you how amazing this track is in person. It's nature-enclosed setting make it amazing for both drivers and spectators.
We then headed back over the track to the outside to try and meet up with a friend of ours, the owner of the black Testarossa that I arrived in last year.
We met him, and after a bit of talking about the day, he told me he may have an oppurtunity for me to get a ride on the track in a car of his friend's. There were two Ferrari dealer-run track sessions where if you had the right connections with the Ferrari clubs or dealership in Montreal, you could get some track time. I was delighted to hear that I would get a half-hour ride later on in the day in a 348 Spyder. Unfortunately, Superwagen couldn't get any time, but my friend assured him he had priority next year
Back to the infield to grab something to eat and get a glimpse of the historic racers.
Back over to the hill to watch the other section of track while the historic cars were still out, but this time it was the drum-brake models. These things looked like far more difficult to drive over the newer, lower racers.
It looks like he's drifting a bit in this shot, but he's just on a later line.
This thing looked like a handful to drive, the pilot constantly slicking in some opposite.
And back around to the front straight again.
After that, it was time for the Challenge race to start. The drivers are often rather inexperienced and lack racing judgement, so it was rather entertaining watching them spin out or crash like a 12-yearold's birthday party at the go-kart track.
Some passing carnage. This driver got black-flagged but ignored it and kept racing.
One of two spins by the same driver right infront of us.
Nice little pair of Porsches in the infield parking lot. 924 took these shots.
Some post-race carnage:
And the parked historic cars
Then came my turn to get some track time. I met the driver, a nice French fellow, and we lined up to go on track. They were to be guided laps, nothing too hard, but not slow either. We kept it below 200kph, but still some nice jaunts into the higher gears.
I had a pretty good time out there, and all in all, it was a happy day. I'm hoping to be around for the event next year for another round of Italian excitement.
Enjoy!
, lol.
