When I go travelling with my son things get very confused when people ask the question: “Where are you from?”, as they tend to do quite a lot in North America. ‘Well’, he says, ‘I was born in France, but I live in California’. And I say: ‘I was born in England, but I live in Paris’. Life being as it is, we meet up when school holidays and Formula 1 races coincide. This means that we meet up is in some unusual places. Last year it was New York City, Paris and San Francisco; this year – thus far – it has been Tokyo and Quebec. It is good to have time together, and the travelling makes the meetings more memorable. I drag him to motor racing places and he makes me look at fortresses and stuff like that. It works fine.
Canada is a convenient place each year, being halfway between Paris and California and at the start of the US school holidays. This year we decided to check out Quebec City, and then go on to Rimouski, which is further east up the St Lawrence estuary. This is a place that featured strongly in the family history, which readers of my book “The Man who Caught Crippen” will understand but which takes a while to explain.
Anyway, a few days before I set off I received an email from those awfully nice people at Infiniti asking me if I would like to try out one of their fancy FX35s over the Grand Prix weekend in Montréal. I don’t do road tests, as I do not feel that I am qualified to judge a good car from a bad one and have very little experience in these matters. A few years ago I won a Toyota Prius in a quiz in Belgium and I love it. I am happy to be ridiculed by my hairy-chested colleagues who want only to be seen in big red throbbing beasties, but for me a car is something that goes from A to B without too much fuss, rather than something to be used when wit and repartee fail to get the girl. Ferrari were very kind a couple of years back when they offered David Tremayne and me a Ferrari California to drive from Budapest to Maranello. I had a nice time. The car was great and I was very happy that Ferrari made such a gesture, not that I will ever be able to afford such a car. I keep hoping that McLaren will loan me one of their swoopy bolides to take from Paris to Spa, so I can really impress the gendarmes I will inevitably meet on the way home… unless, of course, I go by my new sneaky route home from Spa that goes to Chimay and uses roads where no self-respecting policeman would be seen dead setting up a speed trap.
Anyway, the point of all this is that I asked if perhaps I might borrow the car for a few extra days and take it off to Rimouski, and they agreed and so we set off this morning from Montréal with all 303 horsepower well-stabled and asleep. The sleek black number would have been unobtrusive but for the Official Red Bull Racing Partner stickers on the side, which were a small price to pay…
One has a number of choices of route from Montréal to Quebec, although all of them involve lots of trees and signs saying that Moose are going to jump out and hit you if you travel faster than 100 km/h. I decided that the road on the north side of the river would be more fun, because it passed two places that F1 fans either know about, or should know about: Berthierville, and Trois Rivieres. The first is the birthplace of Gilles Villeneuve; and the second is the street race where he made his name. So our first stop was the Musée Gilles Villeneuve… on the Avenue Gilles Villeneuve.
This was much better than I expected, although I have no idea why I had any preconceptions at all, and featured all manner of artefacts relating to the Villeneuve Family, with not only Gilles, but his brother Jacques and son Jacques as well. There were probably a dozen racing cars of one form or another including the very first Formula Atlantic car that Gilles raced in 1974 and two BAR F1 cars that were raced by Jacques (one of them being the zipper car with Lucky Strike sponsorship on one side and 555 sponsorship on the other.
There were a lot of great photographs, including a marvellous picture of Gilles with Enzo Ferrari and several of Jacques as a child. I did watch Gilles race on a few occasions but was too young to have reported on him. I did not begin writing about motor racing until the year after his death, at Zolder in 1982, but there is no doubt that I loved his style of racing and his extraordinary talent. It was a visit filled with memories and worth the visit, although I did not subject young Mr Saward to a visit to the cemetery as well.
Instead we motored onwards towards Trois Rivieres, which I made sound rather glamorous by calling the Monaco of Canada. It is a nice little town with the feeling of being in the Deep South because of all the verandas and balconies that they have in the downtown area. I was not prepared at all for the visit, so it took a while to find the track, but it was immediately clear when we were there, as the barriers seem to be there all year round. The race itself is in August this year, but much of the racing infrastructure was there and we did a couple of gentle laps, the first one going the wrong way, until we figured it out.
The race began in 1967 and it there in 1976 that a young Villeneuve raced against the visiting soon-to-be World Champion James Hunt, who went away and told McLaren boss Teddy Mayer to sign him. The contract was in the museum in Berthierville. It must be quite an event, not least because it passes through the Porte Duplessis, a narrow concrete gateway, which constitutes Turn 3. I was amused to see that on the other side of the gate was the local cemetery.
I thought it might be nice to take a picture of the Infiniti on pole position, and was fiddling about reversing to the right spot when it struck me that the car was far cleverer than I am. not only does it show the driver what is happening behind the car, but by some miracle of modern technology, which is completely beyond me, it also shows the entire car as though a camera was 15 feet overhead (I checked there was no camera), but here is a photo from the dashboard of the Infiniti on pole.
The car keeps making occasional quiet bleeping noises at me which seem to indicate something of note, but we are still trying to figure out what.
“I feel like a co-pilot in a airliner,” said Saward Jr, as we took off towards Quebec City…
Indeed so.
I think you should have a competition to find the most creative ideas for what the bleeping sounds may have been for…
Aliens detection noises.
Keep it coming Joe.
Reblogged this on eagleash.
Enjoy the travelogue posts. Always put me in mind of Jenks’ “From our European Correspondent” type essays.
On your next visit to SF, how about an audience with Joe? Lots of F1 fans here.
Kudos for making family time. Time with my son is priceless. I am sure it is for you, too.
What a nice little piece. I enjoyed it very much. Thank you.
Joe, thanks you for making our/my country sound fantastic, I appreciate it more than you can ever know. As you know I am proud of all our Villeneuves, but hearing you describe them, in your way, somehow makes me more proud.
Appreciate your comment about Prius driving. While I’d like to count myself as a red blooded car enthusiast, and had I my druthers I’d certainly pilot something a little more ‘red blooded’, but having one as my daily driver for many years has turned me round to the notion that they’re perfectly competent transportation boxes which are well screwed together and don’t cost a fortune to run.
Learning that a motorsport sage runs one does a lot to counteract any notion that there might be a level of counter-intuitiveness in driving a said such vehicle to race tracks around Europe.
There is nothing that beats a good road trip with one’s son. Great bonding time.
I’m envious now my 16 y.o. is sullen and snotty unless he wants something.
He’ll come back around eventually. Having been a snotty 16 year old a little over a decade ago, I was very happy to take my old man to the Monaco GP this year. He seemed pretty chuffed with it too.
The noise is probably a speed warning.
I’m not sure whether to take seriously your intimation that a car is either a way to get from A to B or a way to attract the opposite sex. Some people quite like the art of driving, I’ll point you towards them
A close look at the photo of your on board display seems to show a grapic of the car over what appears to be a photo off Google Maps, courtesy of GPS I should imagine.
No, it’s done by cameras mounted on the vehicle, which then recompose the image to make it look like it was taken from above the car.
Arguably even more clever than your suggestion, especially as Google Maps data is often several years old so wouldn’t be much good at showing you what you might be about to bump into
With the utmost of respect, Welcome to our side of the pond. A place that few folks from the old countries actually get to embrace. We trust that you have a memorable time here, in a very positive way.
The beeping signals that the MRT or ‘moose repellent turbine’ is functioning.
Lovely warm piece Joe.
That Infiniti gadget sounds very spooky and Big Brother. I’ll stick to the folding OS Map and school atlas.
“…it was there in 1976 that a young Villeneuve raced against the visiting soon-to-be World Champion James Hunt, who went away and told McLaren boss Teddy Mayer to sign him.”
I still have the full copy of “Motoring News” that reported this race. GV made that much impact.
We now have generation that cannot read maps! (Regulars will know who I blame
)
Thankfully, nobody can become a UK pilot without being able to read charts and maps, despite all the modern navigational aids, I suspect pilots will always have to carry a laminated paper chart in their flight case.
Most school atlas’ have enough topographical features like lakes and railway lines to be useful for VFR.
I wish you were my dad.
Funny
I am 100% honest. Humour was not my intention. But I’m happy to help people smile.
Well, that was wonderful…
Nothing amuses me more then following a Prius driver at 75 mph+ on a highway only to follow them off an exit ramp and get stuck behind them as they attempt to go into electric mode and save gas.
Regardless of the car I am driving I am never in point A to point B mode; as long as traffic and weather are conducive, I’ll always maximize the driving experience.
Great piece on bonding with your son. Had similar experiences with mine going to Toronto Indycar races and The Glenn for NUTCAR while he was a student in upstate NY. He went on to GP Canada on his own while I never quite managed it. Enjoy it while you can!
I said I use a car to go from A to B. That does not mean I do not enjoy the experience.
There is a fundamental dichotomy in your comment. You want to enjoy experiences with your family and make their lives better and yet you pay no attention to the fact that one day (and we can argue how long it will take) the world must face up to a need to change its habits relating to burning hydrocarbons, which will affect future generations of your family.
My view is that the longer we give Mankind to find a solution, the better we are, so every saving that can be made, should be made. This is why I think, for example, the anti-nuclear power debate is daft. Many many more people die in the traditional coal-burning process (think of the mining disasters that happen every few months) than have ever died in the history of nuclear power.
There is nothing wrong with maximising the driving experience, I just think we should do it in cars that consume less, be that a car powered with rubber bands or a compressed air-mobile. This is why I think firms like Ferrari should take the lead, producing mean green hybrid machines and why F1 must move that way.
I agree that the driving experience should not be dependent on burning gasoline or rubbing two kittens together for the static electricity and I too think that F1 and it’s teams should be spearheading that change in the motor industry. I disagree however with the implication that current hybrid technology is the way to go, or even a valid stopgap for the next step in the process, the carbon footprint of a prius is much larger than the gas consumption would lead you to believe, much larger than that of a gasoline car of the same category (midsize hatchback); making the current batch of hybrids nothing more that a very expensive exercise in marketing for the car companies to bolster their eco-cred. The real problem with this is that it becomes a distraction from developing real solutions for the problem at hand.
I think the current hybrids need to be viewed as experiments. I accept that they’re not that good yet, but we don’t get good technology unless somebody makes a first attempt, learns from that and then starts to improve. Unless the manufacturers start looking for ways to have cleaner, greener, less polluting cars we won’t get those vehicles.
I agree. Personally I do understand the enthusiast who longs for the big, dumb and loud of motorsport – I can see the appeal, but F1 is about technology and I do think it’s a lot of fun putting these great racing engineers to work on technologies that might some day be of use to normal road cars too.
F1 has done a lot to get people talking and thinking about crash safety over the years. If it could help do the same for environmental concerns it would be great.
I understand as a non essential entertainment sport the circus has a bigger impact than the cars environmentally but it’s more about projection. Showing that smaller hybrid engines with energy recovery harnessing can still be loud and fun and impressive is a goal worth aiming for. If nothing else is future proofs F1 for the days when it gets told to change or cease.
Philosophically I agree with the points of your article and comment response. We’d all have to be blind not to read the writing on the wall.
Having said that I don’t expect that a sporty affordable hybrid or all electric car will be available to me within my lifetime. The Prius (as you no doubt can attest to) is not meant to be sporty or corner well with their skinny hard tires. From what I have read, only the Tesla at this time is intended for that purpose.
The cost/benefit ratio of more expensive sporty hybrid cars has been proven to be uneconomical, not to mention the cars are radically heavier. As you say, these are the entre level transitional cars which will someday lead into electric/hydrogen/whatever powered vehicles; they too have to start at point A to get to B.
Absolutely, this past Sunday on Wind Tunnel with Dave Dispain, they talked about giving people 5 gallons of gas and saying they had to go 500 miles at Indy. The thought was that the first few years people would go super slow to accolmplish the goal, but in 20 years they would be pulling 150 mph, and saving the planet at the same time. I think this would be an amazing race to watch, especially through the years. No longer would qualifying day be about top speed alone, but about top speed with mph/kph mixed in. It could be fantastic. Now imagine if F1 engineers had a go at this????
Sorry, that should have been mpg/kpl
That was an interesting reply Joe. Of course the de-contamination of Nuclear waste is another subject…….
On different note, but in some ways linked, I was going to say viz a vie French police speed traps that more effort should be spent on improving France’s driving habits rather setting up fixed radar points to generate income for the state/department. Routinely cutting corners, overtaking in same regardless of oncoming traffic, tail-gating (everywhere not just motorways) – the list is endless these days. It is why French have double the accident rate of the UK. It’s not as if they’re not taught to do better – I’ve had ‘brush up’ driving lessons in France and asked the question.
As always it’s question of improved education and proper sanctioning of offenders. Your more macho readers who don’t believe this should pay a visit any hospital to witness the after effects of road accidents. Driving better has the knock-on effect of reducing consumption and accidents at the same time.
on the burning of hydrocarbons: Joe seems you haven’t yet heard the latest, which is the planet is self correcting due to variance of speed of earth rotation: within 20 yrs the earth will face excessive cooling: we will all be asked to burn as much fossil fuels as we can. I refer you to the work of prof Berninger and his group at Heidleberg Univ. [link to follow]
Not to be argumentative Herman, but variation in earth’s rotational speed? As long as the planet doesn’t stop rotating (which would release an enormous amount of energy) the surface area remains the same; if sunlight intensity doesn’t change we would be receiving the same amount of heat from the sun. How would extremely minor changes in rotational speed cool the earth?
It shouldn’t have amused me, I know, but it did. I was on I-80 in Nevada a couple of years ago. Parked on the shoulder and in sight of a petrol station was a Prius. Walking back up the off-ramp was a bloke carrying a can of fuel.
Perfect Mr. L.! Thanks for sharing
When my daughter was 16, I took her on a summer road trip from UK, through Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland, including a blast up the Stelvio. 10 years later, she talks about her memories of that trip even more than I do. Magic moments are utterly priceless. Good on you for doing it because he’ll value those magic moments too, I’m sure.
That’s a fantastic road trip, summer or winter.
IndyCar has been threatening to have a race in the streets of Quebec’s old city. It’s hard to imagine a better setting in North America.
Nice article Joe. Always following your blog. But why isn’t any more articles on Lotus and Danny Bahar : He was suspended last week.!!!.I keep searching but to no available..
Who knows? The sad thing is that, whatever happens to the buffoon and his silly goons, they have done probably irreparable damage to the great Lotus car company. The key question is whether they did this knowingly, with the intent of personal profit, or whether they are simply naive airheads. It will be interesting to see if that question is tested in a court. Either way no-one involved in this mess comes out of it looking good. The other people who should take the blame are the executives who were gullible enough to believe the Bahar bullshit. I think that they too should be examined to see if they were simply stupid or whether there may have been ulterior motives.
Joe, you should write something on this Mr Bahar and his silly goons as he had in many occassions slandering and accussing you with sorts of name calling and caused damages to Lotus / Group Lotus. Furthermore, he created trouble to Proton itself. Bahar and the two top Proton directors (asked to resign) sure got some ulterior plans when they put the borrowed money to every motorsports all over the world. I hope Norfolk folks and people at Lotus will be better off without this guy around. Nice article and wish in Montreal this weekend.
A very nice touching story and your title coul’nd be more apt, well done joe keep up your great work, we need it……
Delightful. I know many others have said this already; you’re a natural writer. It’s a gift. Thanks,
Tim
Wonderful.
Hang on, hang on…
…You won a car in a quiz?!
In my local pub quiz, the most we have ever won is £40!
Yes, actually I won it for three years but then bought it.
The top view camera combines the information from your rear view camera, side cameras (most likely situated in your mirrors) and a front camera. Very cool feature and useful when reverse or parallel parking.
Thanks. I worked that out after the initial amusement
Using four cameras to parallel park your car is not maximizing the driving experience.
I don’t believe you. Obviously they are signals from invisible UFO’s flying over us.
Father and Son touring through some great country side…
Though i use my sons as a pit crew as well as my dad…
What a fabulous photo of Gilles and The Old Man.
A quick search describes it variously as being at Monaco, at Imola or simply after a test session, 1981. Any ideas of which it actually is?
No idea
I would bet Fiorano after a test as I believe the Old Man didn’t go to races by that period.
Imola.
Roberto Nosetto (Circuit Director) appears in the shot after…
Joe,
There should be a camera under the tailgate handle, and under the front door handles, nor sure at the front.
I envy you your visit to the Villeneuve museum and Trios Rivieres. After being drawn to F1 by watching Ajay win his Championship in 1980 on TV I went to my first races in 1981, they being Silverstone, Hockeheim and Zandvoort, the latter two courtesy of Page & Moy and their ‘fast and cheap’ service (or ‘the quick and the dead’ as we came to know it). It was during that season that I saw Gilles race and, even to my inexperienced eye, he seemed… well.. different! He didn’t last long in Silverstone (4 laps) or Zandvoort (0 laps) but watching him take that dog of a Ferrari through the old pre-chicane Ostkurve at Hockenheim is an abiding memory. The next race I visited was Monaco 1982, but Gilles wasn’t there having lost his life a fortnight earlier.
Hope you also got to the statue of Gilles Villeneuve in the park along the river in Berthierville.
No, but I saw the statue outside the museum. Are there too, or might one have been moved?
Certainly possible it was moved…I was only there once in 2002.
Thank you, Joe. I so enjoyed this piece, as I did that of your trip to Monaco.
Still chuckling in approval of Wisemaker’s comment, not very far from my reaction. Maybe Joe should start a cult, so we can all be adopted? The vision I had was of a extremely funny Robbie Williams video, song called Sin Sin Sin, where he plays a cult leader. Don’t care what you think of the man or his singing, that is one scream of a video, challenge you not to see the humor.
But I also had a serious thought. Car adverts are a total turn off for me. The only one I ever got the point of was produced by wonderful lot called The Mill, in IIRC 2004, set up through the streets of Prague, for MB. Everything was syncopated to a jazz track, as objects passed by turned themselves into hearts, a lady’s black on white polka dot dress spots similarly, then floating off and bursting. So very simple. But technically very hard. Sadly, I don’t think there’s a free source for review.
What I mean is, selling with a light touch is very hard. If you have a budget, well, there’s so much choice, and you can muck off for reviews, Clarkson quips or test drives or whatever. However, I must confess to thinking that Lexus is cool, and much cooler for the context. Can’t help myself. What we really want to be doing is just what Joe’s been up to. I’m sure the boys at Lexus know the value of such emotional connexions. So I just think they should have at least paid for dinner also, or sent some very fine wine to your hotel!
Nice shot, Joe. Simplest tip I can suggest is get lower when shooting. Or a lot higher. Low to knock off perspective lines, high to exaggerate them. Not saying anything wrong with eye height, but it’s obviously over used. Pity your downscaling seems to be fuzzing your small pics. Don’t know what to suggest, because don’t know what you are using.
Lexus, Infiniti, whatever… This light-touch promotional spend obviously scored a bullseye, JoJ!
Yep!
It’s the WordPress compression probably.
I finally got my head around it by installing a free plugin called “add from server”. That way you can crop your pictures yourself in whatever program you want to use (Photoshop, Paint, GIMP) and the result is much, much better.
Probably still too much hassle for you, Joe. But still, now you know.
Excellent piece by the way.
Hi verstappen,
good thinking. There’s a few neat command line tools like opt-png that do good jobs with images, so I searched, and found this related plugin:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/cw-image-optimizer/
GIMP uses that same routine. You can go better with Photokit Sharpener (awesome for automation) or Topaz Infocus (which is decidely impressive) without the nice workflow unless you script it ugly ways.
wordpress, like a lot of “oh, screw it, just get it done” outfits, uses mysql, the database people who do not know about databases think is a database. Databases are several parts, the query language, encompassing the index plans, the data control routines defined by Cobb as A.C.I.D. (which are what the mysql lot told not to darken their door and have had to eat their words ever since, causing all sorts of hell for the gullible, I think Oracle bought them just to stop poisoning the market . .) and finally the store. So you can replace certain parts for better, and run better, often with no change at all. I don’t think Joe’s traffic is quite at mega levels where that’s necessary, but you never know . .
Don’t laugh about animals jumping out in front of your car,I have experienced it twice now. The first time was in Aus with a Wallaby, hit it perfectly, we drove over it with just minor damage to the car.
The second time was in December, the car was totaled as the deer ended up in the passenger seat. I glad I was alone the that time…
Enjoy Quebec City !!!! I try to find an excuse to go there every year !!!
GV was indeed a character, but in addition to Hunt driving the second Ecurie Canada March,there were three other F1 drivers in the ’76 Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières field:
Alan Jones,Brambilla and Patrick Tambay driving for the Opert semi-works Chevron team.Imagine that happening today!
’76 was a great season for GV in the Atlantic series but it was hardly a level playing field. He had two complete chassis at every race,fully works supported with Ray Wardell, while competent guys like Bill Brack were essentially club racers…kind of like bringing a gun to a knife fight.
I remember an incident in the paddock when an unsuspecting journo approached his motorhome, unaware of the security system GV had had installed (overeager tifosi),and got the shock of his life.I wonder what ever happened to that motorhome.
Whatever happenned to Bertil Roos? Ws a pretty good driver inFAtlanti in those days wasn’t he. If you do know let us know please.
Joe, did you notice how much narrower the Duplisse Arch is that the downhill road/race track is leading down to it..? Very exciting place to race any type of car. Really hope you enjoy Quebec City, fab, unique place in N.America…I’m sure you know that the Atlantic cars raced there back in the 70′s..what a fantastic place ,most beautiful women in Canada…!
Hi Joe,
now surely, with your connections and part time employment situation, it must be possible to get the odd Caterham to mooch about in?
Realy nice, I relate to your “where are you from?” I am a Frenchman in NY, my son was Born in NJ and we travel as a family to Paris we have a great time. except the best I could rent was some kind of Opel…not exactly the thrill of a life time!
The Villeneuve museum is a nice place, it puts a human face on such an icon of motor racing.
The canadien country side is always such a nice place to visit, an amazing place to take your motorcycle to for a summer ride.
thanks joe , lovely piece ; however big they get you never stop being a father [ or mother , as the case may be ]
ps , what was the quiz about …F1 ?
Thanks for sharing your experience Joe !
The bleeping noise is installed in all Infiniti sold to english speaking countries & comes on when some one in the car swears , to cut down on road rage .
One thing, which you may have missed on your walkabout, a piece of sugar pie, and a cup of strong coffee. That alone, is worth the trip up the north shore.
Some good in-car footage of Trois Rivieres here:
Ha Ha! I spent ages going round the track in google street view.
The beeping is likely the lane departure warning. If you turn it on full-on mode, it’ll even steer you back in your lane. Combine it with the adaptive cruise for a creepy hands and feet free highway cruising experience. (P.S. Don’t do this, my lawyer is rich enough already.)
Joe! You come to my racetrack and you don’t event stop by the office to say «Hi!» ! What gives? I don’t remember you being this shy back when I covered F-1 a few years ago! Make sure you come back on August 3rd, 4th and 5th for the Grand Prix of Trois-Rivières. Who knows?! Maybe you’ll be able to play Teddy Mayer and spot the next Gilles Villeneuve!
Yes, echo Rich T’s comments. The Monaco piece was hilarious (the stranded Fiat) and this piece was really cool. You should post more about your Son! Is he interested in F1? How old is he? Does he “get it” as far as what you do for a living? I had dinner with my friends on Sunday and I thought it was funny; one of the moms said “Do you know what Bohn is going to do?” and the kid said “Yeah, he’s going camping with all his friends” We all laughed because I think if he was a year older he would have understood, but he’s still at that age where my job (as well as that of his father who is on a 3 month mission with the U.N.) doesn’t quite register yet. I’m pretty upset that our moving out happens during the weekend, so it looks like I’ll miss the Canadian GP this year – not sure how the internet has improved since last time but I’ll probably miss it. At least I’ll always have enough bandwith for GP+!
I love the photo of Gilles with Enzo. I have never seen Ferrari look so alive in a photo. It really shows how Gilles got to him.
The Villeneuve Museum was always on my bucket list but this just made me want to go more.
I even ordered The Man Who Caught Crippen after reading this even though I can’t see how it can possibly be as good as The Grand Prix Saboteurs. Anyone who hasn’t read that book should go order it now.
Steven I can assure you it IS as good a book…
I’ve been hoping for an e-version (as have others) but, alas, no reason for hope has been forthcoming…
So, I guess I’m just gonna buy a paper one… saw the dang binding off… feed the pages through a scanner… then convert the PDF to EPUB (to get rid of the fixed page size, headers, p#’s, etc.) so the text will flow…
Then my little e-tablet and I will be happy as clams… except for all the guilt about having sawed a book apart… (with my Mom the school teacher spinning in her grave, etc…)
You learn all kinds of stuff from Joe’s books.
Joe – Have you ever considered putting an F1 travel book / blog together. I love to visit places with an F1 and racing heritage but don’t have the time to do the research always required. But reading your blog I often think “I need to remember that place”
Its all there really, if you read GP+ and The GP Saboteurs every one an F1 history lesson.
Nice piece. thx
When not coming up with new holes to blow in floors, I am a dutchman born in the US living in Australia.
I have fond memories of dog sledding north of Trios Rivieres in -30 degree temperatures. Beautiful place.
*Awaits comments about bias to Infinity/Red Bull in the Montreal race report. *
Joe, how are you getting on with the Joual ?
Really enjoyed reading this, Joe. Reminded me of so many trips with my dad, usually to racing or skiing places. We went to Montreal a couple of times…once I remember had to go into the customs building on re-entering the US, and found ourselves standing behind Jackie Stewart!
Mike Hodish
A great read as ever Joe, but, while I do respect your un sheep like decision not to go for a cliche’d Macho car, the choice if a Prius I found deeply worrying.
You can never call yourself a Petrolhead, I now have filed Mr Saward under “Quitters”, this is an unforgivable move, in a world threatened by wimpy green lefty nonsense, students threatening to disrupt GPs, you, until now a bastion of F1, have sided with the Enemy. You ride in their vile plastic and tinfoil eco chariot of choice, shame on you.
Fin: If you noticed how he got the Prius, and have gathered from his blog some idea of the difficulties of being an F1 journalist these days, you would be more sympathetic !
afraid it all points to ulterior motives rather than stupid. Bahar managed to get Kimi to go all the way to Beirut to attend a promo!!! And I think to Zurich also, but that’s where he lives anyway. Nevertheless, that’s some achievement.
I believe Joe attended a lunch that Bahar gave to some journos at the RAC?
No I did not.
I am sure that Joe is currently writing upon:
JV’s poor opinion of current drivers, something which echoes a similar opinion the other week.
Lotus’s loss.
Italy’s sinking to sky for most races from 2013 on. Exit Bernie rubbing hands, wallet now two paces behind on small handcart tended by minion, nervous look as weighbridge approaches.
And much more?
Not to mention Bahar sacked. (could it have happened to a more deserving fellow?)
The Lotus loss above refers to the F1 team not the unfortunate Norfolk Hethel outfit.
Bahar is out!
Wonderful blog. If you have time take a drive down to Vermont. They have IMO the most scenic highways there. Beautiful breath taking views.
FYI
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-18361446
Joe take the young fella,
F1 race attendees F.Y.I – Things to do in Montreal:
Took my Brother and Nephew on this during the GP weekend in 08 and it probably is one of the best uncle nephew memories to last a lifetime, to see a kid overwhelmed and engaged by the power of nature.
If you’re walking to the race look down at the river as you cross the bridges and you will see a yellow Jet boat down there doing donuts in the current with passengers. The outfit that runs these boats departs from the old port area, they run another bigger boat with rows of passengers out to the Lachine Rapids which is a longer run (Mclaren commissioned these boats a couple of years ago to expedite Lewis and the privileged from the track to a port Mercedes private party) These boats are custom built to go out and ride the currents of the Lachine Rapids (lachine was named after China as early explorers believed this was the route to,China), they have massive diesel horsepower and are flood proof, you blast out past the race track to the rapids and ride the currents of the mighty St Lawrence. This will be one of those sublime moments when you realize the power and serenity of nature, you can appreciate and enjoy the experience made possible and safe by the high horsepower vessel (Man tames nature, a little like F1). Ideally you do this if it is after some baking sun (qualifying session at the track) blasting down the river is amazingly refreshing and the odd splash will cool you off. It will change your headspace for sure and then back top tackle your evening in then city when refreshed. Trust me on this one, unique rugged Canadian experience that will last a lifetime (if you appreciate the power of nature)