The Ontario Thread!

Honestly, how do you guys get so many pictures of these cars in the wild.... Are your cameras glued to your hands?

 

Ford GT:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/forza355/5826664517/in/photostream/lightbox/

 

Nice sighting. Haven't seen one in that color yet. Where was it?

 

Ferrari track event @ Mosport last year.

 

Nice Shot Derek !!

 

A little birdie told me a few things (hes friends with one of the buyers)....one of those things is they are going to work to get F1 at Mosport! I'm down with that!

Chris

 

They have a lot of plans and the $$ to back it up. It will be a destination, not just a track in the middle of nowhere.

Chris

 

Fair enough. Time will tell. I'm standing by my comments for now, though.

 

Chris, F1 returning to Mosport would be an amazing feat to say the least.

I like to think of myself as being an optimist, I'm all for growth and adventure here in Ontario.... but unfortunately we all know an F1 scale track is far fetched.

I'm glad that Ron Fellows and a few other wealthy individuals have purchased Mosport, but it would take millions of $$ to get it up to F1 standards. Montreal GP was cancelled in 2009 because they didn't want to pay the license fee...and do you think Mosport would be better able to afford it ? With the new Austin GP coming next year, I would guarantee that the Montreal GP will be on the chopping block again. Look at yesterday's race...it was not sold out, and supposedly the city of Montreal always loses money on hosting the F1 race.

I know Mr. Fidani (Mosport new owner) is a very wealthy man, but he is made of hard earned, honest money, and I doubt that he would dump $100 million into Mosport unless a GP was secured first. Also, Mosport does not have the infrastructure, and support of a large metropolis (like Montreal) to host the 150,000 people for a GP weekend. We can't compare Mosport to a Hockenheim, or Spa...where tens of thousands of people can camp out for the weekend. Everyone in Ontario and Northern US likes their Hotels and Steak houses too much..not enough volume of 'hardcore' F1 fans compared to Europe here. And if you were to camp out, you probably are not allowed to smoke, drink beer or wine on the Mosport camp site anyways.

Lets not forget about noise and environment by laws which would have to be passed..Too many hurdles to jump over in Ontario to make this happen, we are 'anti-racing' to say the least. I would be the first one to buy a ticket at Mosport F1, whether it be 5 or 10 years down the road, I wish the new owners good luck with their endeavour.

 

It can work, look at Talladega, it's in the middle of nowhere. You land in Atlanta and the next morning you take the bus for what feels like for ever (2 1/2 hours). When you get there there is 175,000 fans. The return trip is even longer as exiting the grounds is quite long. The isolation allows for better control on security, less stingent noise laws. It may be possible, (read very expensive), realisable is another subject altogether.

 

This conjecture about Mosport hosting F1 is just that. Conjecture. Ain't ever gonna happen. The existing track is too small, even if it were improved to meet F1's needs. They'd turn probably sub-1 minute laps. Talk about looking stupid on TV.

Lucas is right, it would take a significant investment to make that happen, but the regulatory environment won't permit it. Any investment would have to be in a new, permanent road course, or at least a major renovation of the existing one, which would destroy its charm and character.

Right now, Mosport's going to be lucky to hold on to its ALMS race.

 

Vasco..I was being a bit hasty with my comment there. I've been to Mosport many times, and you literally have a sea of beer cans to navigate through in order to find your camping spot. I'm just saying that whatever 'good ideas' are promised to us, usually the opposite ends up happening. If there was ever to be a major racing event (120,000 people somehow) at Mosport, its guaranteed NO ONE would be allowed to bring their own alcohol or food into the circuit. Tail-gating, BBQ's, kegs etc.. would be banned. Thats just how its done in Canada, we just don't get the real deal here. (As Denis mentioned Talladega... American's do it the right way)

I'm just a bit pessimistic about "government vs. racing" struggle in this province. It seems that every year there is a new track owner who is going to do the next best thing, usually resulting in nothing at all. Look at Mt Tremblant....Lawrence Stroll purchased the track a few years ago with hopes of creating a world class racing venue. And he is a man with giant $$$, and giant pull in the racing community, and he can't even make it work. Supposedly they can only race at Tremblant during certain hours and certain days...the noise echoes across the valley to neighbouring houses who have lobbied to close the track permanently...and the track is in the middle of the mountains!? Mt. Tremblant lost Indycar, IMSA etc...after Mr. Stroll dumped millions of $$ into retro-fitting the circuit at his own cost. Now it hosts a handful of cup events, and motorcycle racing, and a few test sessions.

Mosport is lucky to have the ALMS, and a few other high profile races. They need to build on that strength and attract an Indy Race, or even an FIA sactioned event to get on the map. There is alot of potential in the track, but it would need a major overhaul to get to the FIA level.

Where there is racing, there is resistance, and as long as we have a Liberal and "green" government in this province, it will be a constant uphill battle.

 

Denis...US and Canada are 2 different animals. The racing in USA has different fans, different venues, different promoters. Fans in Ontario get the shaft when it comes to entertainment value...but ticket prices are double than everywhere else. It doesn't make sense, so it doesn't work..pretty simple.

 

The game is different for sure! Unfortunatelly the Montreal F1 frenzy is quite unique (don't know about the european locations) something the Molson Indy never caught on (maybe it's the 'apartenance' translates to membership but not quite, that Quebecers have thru Gilles Villeneuve)

Talladega had something similar, but not on the same level for sure. They have a alrger more loyal fan base with more affordable tickets, the NASCAR fan will go to several races on a beer/camping budget, sorta like going to see the Expos or Jays in the parks when we were teens. Where today here F1 is like going to an NHL game save up your loonies and toonies cuz it's not cheap.

Eckeltone has a waiting list, and it going to have to be a financial gain for him, to add/move a race, and for a track promoter to cash-in is nearly impossible. In this case if the Federal govt and the Prov govt were to HEAVILY subsidize the venture for 1 weekend a year, then maybe. So NO, I know, it ain't gonna happen.

 

Last time I checked..you couldn't bring a can of beer, let alone a bottle of water into the gates of the Montreal F1 race. Thats Bullsh*t...probably the only circuit out of 20 in the F1 calendar that has those strict rules. Fans at F1 weekend in Spa, Monza and Nurburgring have all nite parties with booze, DJ's etc on the camp grounds....Its an experience to behold in Europe, but of course we get the lame, "RCMP" version at x2 the price here in Canada.

Moose would fly before McGuinty ever gave $100 million to support racing in this province. Thats a fireball waiting for the NDP and Green Party to rip apart in the upcoming election. Its also local citizens who shoot these projects down...whether its a power plant, airport or factory, the GTA tree huggers will kick and scream to Alaska before they allow a motor racing development to go thru.

 

Lucas, Don't hate me, What I meant is the passion by 'locals' is unique and special in the 'F1/ Montreal' situation. I have not seen it elsewhere.

The Taladega-NASCAR culture has been built over the course of 50 years (very different)

Tremblant (before my time) most probably had more of the European flavour like Spa or Nurburring

And you are absolutely right about the 'green people' who will never let anything thing 'noisy' or leaving a 'carbon print' ever happen again.

Denis

ps here in Ottawa the EX has been canceled and next year moved out to the burbs for similar reasons (noise/traffic/congestion) Let's see how many people from that neighbourhood will have lost income from parking revenues, and restaurant revenues.

 

Everytime you move a 'business' to a new venue you add layers of security and layers of revenue to protect the vendors. Again go back to Belmont Park/Tremblant/Exhibition Stadium, you could bring your lunch back then. The old races had volunteers, now its all multiple levels of paid security.

D

 

Anyone know if the white Veyron GS is coming to Toronto this week? I have heard rumour that it will make an appearance for the Yorkville Exotic Car Show.

 

Grigio Ferrari F430 & Nero Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano

High Res:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/liquidsilklp640/5833481094/in/photostream/lightbox/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/liquidsilklp640/5836444749/in/photostream/lightbox/
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Love the 599 shot

I work in the financial district so I see exotics all the time but here are a few honourable mentions:

LP640 in that dark green ish colour.. looked great
Aston DBS white
Aston Vantage
F430 Scud
R8 V12 - it was parked on University and a tow truck was in front of it... not sure if it was getting towed or not.

 

A few shots from the Canadian GP in Montreal...
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as in "VERDE DRACO" ???
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You mean R8 V10?