Brice: So, it's that time of year again. Time to remind ourselves how much we hate ten hour drives, and time to remind us why we do it. [Ethan: Twice.]
This time, we left Friday afternoon to go visit Adam in Albany. He gave us the unofficial Air Traffic Control Tower tour! It was fascinating to see what goes on behind the scenes, and how much optimizing controllers do in order to efficiently route planes while maintaining safety margins and relaying relevant information to the planes in a structured format.
After that we caught up over pizza, beer, and flying micro-drones into each other / walls / the turtle tank.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday morning left mid-morning to head to Montreal. We were barely on schedule, but a rain shower here, a border delay there, a little slow-down everywhere meant we missed all but the last lap of Qualifying.
However, we had plenty of time to take in the support races. First came the Formula 1600 drivers with zero downforce and cute little fireballs on downshift, then we experimented with different viewing positions to watch the Ferrari's and found a great viewing spot where you can look out under the grandstands right at the hairpin. Meaning - for one unsettling moment - the cars drive directly at you.
 |
Lis: “That beautiful spark-glow when they brake hard enough for the hairpin”
Brice: "That was super blurry I'm sorry"
|
Ethan:
There was a brutal crash with the green and black Ferrari. He was safely tucked aside, then tried to get out (which went okay), then lost it when he tried to accelerate in the pack. He put his nose into the back half of somebody and they left for the grass where they started throwing smoke.
Brice:
After the Ferraris we made our way to the pits to see them up close. Beautiful cars, amazingly clean (except for the ones that were rather broken). Overheard fact of the day: One of these cars will cost you $500,000, with all the included support equipment, with fees of up to $25k for a race weekend - which includes gas, tires, maintenance, etc.
 |
| Only $500,000! |
We got back to the track just in time to see the Porches run, and try out another position further back in the hairpin. The view was good, but not great. Just like Porsche traction, which makes for a very entertaining race.
Now that the races were done we left the Island to head into the city and found old town (literally: Vieux-Montréal) on the first try! All this practice is finally paying off! The evening was split between watching street performers, sharing three dishes three ways, checking out cars (Model X!), and racking up a surprisingly high bar tab while people watching and discussing seating strategy. People watching was reasonably tame until a bachelorette party crossed paths with a bachelor party, and then loud, cheery chaos broke loose. I'm giving away all my secrets here, but if you ask "Can we have that table?" instead of "Do you have a table?" you always get a streetside seat!
Ethan:
Back to the hotel. This is probably the simplest part of the day, right? Well maybe not so much. As we approached the stoplight just past our hotel (as it was on the other side of a divided roadway), our phone GPS told us to pull a U-turn and drive 100 yards (metres?) into our hotel parking lot. A quick check of Canadian traffic signals/signs yielded nothing negative, so we followed that instruction as soon as we had the green arrow.
This maneuver was rapidly succeeded by flashing red and blue lights in our rearview mirror. I pulled over (into our hotel parking lot) and, for the first time in my life, had to deal with a cop.
Cop: “Bonjour.”
Me: “Bonjour…parlez-vous anglais?”
Cop: “Uh...a leetle.”
So why did I get myself pulled over?
Cop: “Zere was a left arrow wif a… uh… a *schwit*.”
After a very polite delay, Ethan was returned his passport and registration, and told to “haf a good night.” A cursory inspection the next morning (as we left the hotel) yielded no “schwit” present.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brice:
Sunday Sunday Sunday!
We almost hit our goal of being in line by 7:30am - a bit further back than last year, but still pretty good. The gates opened and those in the front literally ran to claim seats. We settled on a brisk walk popping through whichever gaps appeared. Ethan peeled off to claim our first priority... and we aborted the rest of the strategy when we saw he'd aced the best spot. Now to wait in the cold! I wrapped a poncho around myself as a blanket, Ethan pulled out random hiking equipment for more layers, and Lis took to wearing the chair-bags as leggings.
Ethan:
Today, they ran the support races first. They started at 9 am with the 1600s. This was a great race that involved lots of spinning out in the hairpin. As they flew into the last lap, Brice mentioned that it was “time to do something heroic. Or stupid.” Sure enough, two turns later, 4th place’s left front wheel overtook third, and the two cars ended the race prematurely. Very enjoyable.
Brice:
Second were the Ferrari's, which started out under a safety car since the rain had started spritzing, dampening (or possibly moistening. We spent an hour debating the scale of wetness during our travels north) the track. This was also a great race, with 3rd place spinning 2nd out before being penalized and working to make his way back up the points. The best part of the Ferrari race was it meant we could start drinking, so we broke out the wine juice-boxes and took the edge off the cold. Actually, the best part was the crashes, followed by the victory donuts, but the liquid jacket was very appreciated.
The last of the support races were the Porsches. This was always destined to be great, as porches are tail-happy in the best of weather, let alone on a drizzle. They started under the safety car and doubled my sarcastic prediction of someone losing it under caution. Amazingly, they mostly kept it together after that, mostly. There were a few interesting moments of course, (off course?) including someone who came into the corner way too fast. And backward. I was too distracted watching him to notice the other crash happening simultaneously, but no real damage was done and everyone got back underway. The skill required to fight off other drivers while your own car is actively trying to kill you made it my favorite race of the day.
 |
Finally it was time for the parade! Woo! And the flyover! Woooo! And the second flyover! and the actual race! More Woo!
Lis:
The first year I was just trying to figure out what to watch for (passes and wrecks). The second year I knew the racers a bit more and was invested in who was winning. This year, I didn’t care who won. I was just inspired by the talent, the competition, and by what minute actions caused changes in speed: tire wear, pit stops, angles through the hairpin (for which we were in the perfect spot!). I was also more aware of less obvious variables - the speed of the crew in the pit, the design of the car, or a new and unfamiliar adjustment - which can cost fractions of a second and make the difference in making or a pass or not.
Brice:
We timed gaps to gauge progress, shared our awesome photography spot with neighbors, our neighbors shared beers with us, and generally everyone had a great time.
Lis:
For the ride home, we were beat. We felt like we had just pulled all-nighters, being so light-headed and thin-muscled. But we traded driving and sleep so it wasn’t so bad. We also had interesting conversations about travel, space, chemistry, high school, and family traits. As someone who bonds strongly through conversation, it’s a part of the trip I’ve always enjoyed. :)
