www.sportriders.com - 2002 Rides Page

As we got closer to Saint Hyacinthe, I had realized that we didn't know where the hotel is. A couple of truckers at the border we were talking to said it was easy to find, as it was next to Rt.20, and the tallest building in town. I had us next to the highway and running around, but we were entering farmland, and lots of it. In fact, this entire area east of Montreal seems to be a vast network of farms. Very flat, and very green. They were even mining the nearby mountain range. It was about this point that I had lost Bill. One moment he was a few cars back as we passed a big intersection, and later he was gone. I road around a bit looking for him but could not find him. Thinking he found a way to the hotel, I hopped on the highway and headed East. I then arrived at the hotel but he wasn't there. After running around for a bit, I stop at a bank and use my ATM card to get to cash. This was better than bringing cash with me as I would get the best exchange rate that day (my $200.00 withdrawal was $135.00 US). Still no Bill, so I got back on Rt.20 and headed West towards the exit I entered before. As I got off, there he was looking for me. Come to find out, his Concours had a problem....

Before the trip, Bill put new tires on his Concours. The front was replaced a few weeks ago, but the rear just recently. In fact, his rear Dunlop 591 says Harley Davidson on it! That tire is about $70.00 anywhere, but at a HD dealership its $146.00. Willie G. says thanks! The problem right now is that the right front brake caliper fell off. As the day went on, Bill figured that he forgot to tighten the mounting bolts when he replaced that tire. What had happened was that he heard some knocking noise in the front end, and when he looked down saw the caliper just hanging there. He then pulled over, used a shop rag he had to hold up the caliper to the fork leg, and a rubber band he found on the road to keep all the together. It worked, but it wasn't pretty! The search then began to find some metric cap screws!



Here we are at the Rona near the hotel, the bad caliper, the bike itself, the Toyota dealer that saved the day, and a restaurant with a great name, but not as good as the Bikini World we passed!

We went from store to store looking for metric hardware. The Rona, the Canadian Tire, a local John Deere dealer that was closed. NOTHING. Everyone has US standard, no metric at all. We tried some car dealers, but they were all closed at 5:00pm. As we gave up, there was a small Toyota service center near the hotel that was open. We gave that a shot and found a guy there that spoke English. After a bit, on the second try as we were leaving he found two bolts that would fit. trip back to Rona for some washers and we fixed it! Bill had brakes again. We get to the hotel, and at 6:30pm check in. The hotel itself is clearly an older building, and we are in the cheap section. I called it the "white trash" accommodations. We were nowhere near the nice tall building on the website! Inside, it was neat and clean, and the rooms were good. The place could have used a remodeling, but for the price it was fine. After a dinner at the Chinese Buffet across the street, we returned to our room and watched some TV. There were a few stations in English and we were set. Time to rest...

Friday, June 7th, 2002

We are up at 5:00am, and on the road by 6:00. We want to be at the track for 7:00, so as to miss the huge rush that we encountered last year at the Metro Station. We have breakfast at our haunt from last year - L'Eggxotic! In fact, we even had the same waitress and she remembered us! We asked about her schooling and how it was going, and she asked about the Grand Prix. The food was excellent, and after making sure I was right about getting to the Metro we were off. The Friday morning rush traffic was just as bad as we had remembered it, and wasn't helped by the road construction Rt.20 was undergoing. In no time we were approaching the Metro Station and the decision to get there early was paying off. The crowds were staring to come in, but there was no wait. We went right to the motorcycle / bicycle parking section and found a spot. A car has to pay to park at the station, but we can park for free. If its free, it's for me! We changed out of our riding gear and into comfortable clothes, hats, shoes and backpacks. We went shopping the night before for lunch snacks, including bottled water, fruit, snack bars and trail mixes. This was very inexpensive and saved us a ton of $$$. It was expensive to eat at the track. We went in to the station and bought our three day pass to use the train. It was $14.00 Canadian for the pass, and the trains were quick and clean. Everything was clearly marked and you could not possibly get lost.




Our breakfast spot, the Metro station, exiting the Metro before the track, a few shots of the park before the bridge, a few shots on the bridge, Turn 8 of the circuit, the path to our seats, and finally the Casino itself. The park on which the track is part of is beautiful.

We exit the Metro and proceed up the stairs to the main area of the station. The HUGE stand selling F1 merchandise is there, and I buy a new McLaren hat to go with the one I bought last year. Bill buys a new Grand Prix event hat to go with his old one, and we exit the station into the park. Right away, we are assaulted by people buying and selling tickets, with security right behind them. Apparently, scalping is legal in Canada! We take the path towards the bridge and onto the track. Along the way, people are selling ticket holders, programs and ear plugs. We have our holders from last year, we do buy an event program (for $10.00, it was a deal and very nicely done. It was a book!), and we don't want ear plugs! We drove this far to hear a three liter, normally aspirated V-10 spinning to 18,000 rpm's in all its angry glory! I don't want that muffled!

The walk to our seats wasn't that long, and we just took in the park. By now, the crowds were getting a bit heavier. The track opens at 7:00am, and cars are on the track at 8:00am. In fact, F1 will be the first cars out this morning for practice. It will be there first circuit of the course this year. In the past, this was the only event held at this place, but the US CART series will be having an event here in August, though they will run the event in the reverse direction to avoid time comparisons to F1. A look at the track shows that it will be a mess running in reverse, but that the management will make the changes. Also, you could never run motorcycles here, as there are too many walls. It is a very interesting circuit, and I enjoy running on it with my F1 gaming simulations. It is a horsepower track, that also demands good stability under braking. You are either hard on the gas or hard on the brakes, nothing else.




The official program, the support classes, a view of the track from our seats, the Can-Am cars being lead by a sweet Acura NSX, and finally F1 cars on the track!

We watched the events unfold and we very happy overall. The facility was clean and well organized. Our new seats were just fantastic, and we had a nice crowd of people around us we were chatting with. The cars sounded just incredible, and the new Toyota was a great looking car in person.