Ferrari Mailing List: 2010 Montreal Grand Prix January update and information

[Dennis Liu (BigHeadDennis]

Howdy, all.  

For those of you who haven't been on one of our Montreal / Grand Prix du
Canada adventures, at the end of this email are a few write-ups from prior
years that will give you a flavor of what we do.  But, in a nutshell, a
large group of tifosi, both old friends and soon-to-be-new friends, descend
upon the most European city in North America for a long weekend of revelry,
fine dining, and Formula 1.  It really is like going to New Orleans for the
superbowl, but with even better food.  Take a look, and come along with us
in 2010!

For those of you that have told me you want tickets and/or hotel rooms:
here's the update!

First off, after spending nearly 2 hours on the phone with no less than
three ticket sales reps and their supervisor, everything has been sorted out
and I purchased my standard block of eighty tickets.  And, amazingly enough,
I only have ***EIGHT PAIR*** left available!  So if you're thinking about
coming, speak up now or hold your peace (and envy) forever.  :-)   And if
you take a ticket, that means it's yours - though I can't imagine that this
event won't sell out, and there were desperate folks scrambling for tickets
in Montreal in 2008.

I will be sending an email to everyone that's reserved a ticket; if you
don't get an email from me, that means that I don't have you on my list!!!!!

Again, this is NOT an official FCA event.  As always, I'm doing this for my
friends, because we all just have such a good time, in Montreal at this
event.  SO, this means that this is NOT an open invitation to every Tom,
Dick and Harry - just specifically to our friends (and your assorted family
members and usual guests, of course).  You all mostly know one another;
you've either gone with us to Montreal before or gone on one of my FCA
trips. 

For those of you who haven't been, we take up a huge chunk of Section 2 of
Grandstand 34, in the Hairpin.  Our block of seats occupies nine rows, so we
can chat amongst ourselves - always more fun to sit with friends.  You can
see the action in the hairpin, as well as the big video monitors.  Great
view of the cars flying down the straight and braking HARD, then
accelerating out.  Usually a few brave passing attempts here, and more than
a few off road excursions (I used to call it Ralf Schumacher corner, but
it's now "I can't believe Kubica walked away from that wreck -- corner").
It's a fairly simple walk from the Metro station, or from our usual Ferrari
parking area.  It is ALWAYS the first grandstand to sell out completely.

After the CDN/US currency exchange, the Amex 3% forex fee, the S&H charge,
the total cost is US$250 per THREE DAY TICKET.  Yes, each ticket package is
good for Friday practice, Saturday qualifying and race day Sunday
(individual day tickets are not sold for the grandstands).  And since I now
have a MASSIVE credit card bill (and, of course, the sale goes through on
the last day of the billing cycle), if you reserved tickets with me last
month, PLEASE send me a check TODAY (I'll hand you the tickets the next time
I see you, or toss in $10 if you want me to overnight it to you, or $0.44 if
you trust the USPO).  Thanks!  
 
Dennis Liu
130 Lexington Rd
Lincoln, MA  01773
617 512 8116
 
------------------
HOTEL
------------------

Narrowing down on hotels, and hope to have a signed agreement in hand by
next week.  I'm not getting much love in terms of discounts for our group;
it's a challenge finding rooms, period!  The hotels are always insane during
GP weekend, and they've jacked up the prices even more given the strong
demand this year, after missing out on 2009.  
 
Here's where I could use your input:  it looks like it'll be around
$350-$375/night for a Holiday Inn Select, Marriott Residence Inn, or other
very nice,3+ star hotel.  Or $450ish/night for a high-end, Hyatt or Delta 4+
star hotel.  I've ruled out the really nice hotels, which are all in the
$650+ range, mostly because I'm too damn cheap to spend that kind of money
for a place I'll be seeing only for 8 hours of sleeping!  Note that I'm only
getting a group rate at ONE hotel, so it's not we'll be able to choose from
one or the other, but if you let me know your preference now, I'll try to
make the majority happy.  And, yes, it's a THREE NIGHT MINIMUM -- Thu, Fri
and Sat nights.  You can also get Wednesday and/or Sunday night too, if
you'd like.
 
When the actual hotel is finalized, with rates, I'll get back to you.  At
which point, you can let me know "yes" or "no".  If "yes", then I'll need a
check for the whole amount, which will, unfortunately, be NOT REFUNDABLE, so
tough noogies -- though if you can't make it for some reason, I will help
you find someone to take the room off of your hands.  No one has been stuck
with a hotel room in the past, but no promises.  As always, hotels are
EXPENSIVE in Montreal for this weekend, but we usually end up with a pretty
good deal.

NOTE - again, I can only get a certain number of rooms, which will likely
exceed the number of rooms requested, so it is FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED!!!
Really!
 
------------------
MEALS
------------------

Nope, I've had zero bandwidth to focus on restaurants, but will focus on
that after I sort out the hotels.  Expect a NICE meal on Saturday night,
where we'll probably take over a place entirely, and a somewhat more casual
meal together on Thursday or Friday night.  Obviously, will let you all
know.

That's it for now.  The write-ups for prior years are below, and start
getting psyched-up for the 2010 F1 season!
 
vty,
 
--Dennis


=========
2008

Ok, so we've had over a week to de-compress (and many of us enjoyed Concorso
over this past weekend).  I think it's safe to say that we had a great time
up North of the border.  Weather was nice and comfortable on Thu and Fri,
and sunny but bearable on Sat/Sun.  And though Ferrari did not do well, it
was a very exciting and memorable race nevertheless.

The only shadow on my trip was the now-infamous speeding ticket.  Our convoy
left greater Boston early on Thursday, so that we could get to Montreal in
time for lunch (and avoid the terrible rush hour trip across the river in
the afternoon).  We were making good time, our little caravan of minivan,
Ferrari, Lotus, Porsche, BMW and VW.  In Northern Vermont, the sports cars
took off, with one driver hitting, ahem, 140 (the rest of us did respectably
keep up).  After crossing the border, I took the lead again, cruising
comfortably with the girls in back watching "Enchanted" on the DVD.
Suddenly, the V1 screams.  Motorcycle trooper on the side of the road points
at me, and waves me down.  Doh!  Very politely, he informs me that his laser
reports that we were doing 140 (kph) in a 100.  Taking my license and
registration, he writes me up a ticket.  He returns, hands me the paperwork,
wishes me a safe and fun journey.  That's it?  No lecture?  No questioning?
This is the least painful stop ever!  I look at the ticket: $249 -- you know
you've lived too long in the People's Republic of Massachusetts when you're
amazed that it's so "cheap"!!!  Initial research seems to indicate that it's
not chargeable against my license (phew!), so I can retain my safe-driver
rating of 9.  Huzzah. 

Funny enough, we pull back onto the highway, with the cop right behind me.
We crest the hill, and there's our convoy, pulled over, waiting for their
fearless leader (actually, they were waiting because I was the only one who
knew where we were going).  The cop pulled into the breakdown lane, sparking
panic among the tifosi, who all sprinted for their vehicles like the Dukes
of Hazzard, to pull away before he came to a stop.  One generous member on
the convoy called over the radio to ask how much the ticket was, so that
they could split the cost, but I told him not to worry - it wasn't that bad,
so I'm happy to take one for the team!

In Montreal, everyone got to do their own things.  A few of the wimmenfolk
accumulated fairly large bags of shopping booty; a couple of guys had some
luck with bootie of another kind; and great food was on order for all.  At
the track, as ever, it was great to sit with friends and cheer and share
color commentary.  We brought Charlize and Frankie to the track for the
first time; they didn't like the sound initially (even with sound muffs on),
but then they hung out with Dan Watkins in the Ferrari Challenge pit and
came around, really enjoying themselves.  For dinner on Saturday, we took
over a tasty little neighborhood restaurant only a few blocks from the
hotel.  Rob Lay from FerrariChat.com was kidn enough to have some very cool
t-shirts made up for all of the dinner attendees.  Steve Oldford and Ferrari
Maserati of New England were generous and picked up the tab for the first
and second round of wine for everyone -- thanks Steve and Rob!!!

My pics are here:

 <http://picasaweb.google.com/Charlize.Liu/FerrariClubGrandPrixMontreal2008>
http://picasaweb.google.com/Charlize.Liu/FerrariClubGrandPrixMontreal2008


---------------
2007

What a race, eh?  Yowza!  While one may have wished for "our" team to have
done better, still, it must be somewhat palliative to see history in the
making.  And the action!!!  I hit rewind on the tivo so many times, just to
figure out what the heck was going on.  My heart was in my throat when I saw
Kubica's accident, and grateful to learn that he only had a sprained ankle
and a mild concussion!

I hope everyone made it home ok (or are in the process thereof as I type
this).  We took the most Eastern route - due East from Montreal, then south
on I-91 to I-93.  ZERO cops the entire way down, and free running, so we
made very good time (especially considering the whining from the back seats
about having to leave the hotel and the pool).  A group of my friends from
DC and South Carolina came up I-87, and every single Ferrari, Porsche and
Lambo in their group got a ticket!  Hope the border crossing was not too
rough for all of you.  The ride up on Thursday was great fun, especially as
I was feeling very safe doing 110 in the minivan, figuring that the last
vehicle to get a ticket would be me, surrounded by Ferraris, Porsches, an
AMG and an Aston.  Much thanks to John Nichols, who treated us to lunch at
his new pizza joint in Williston, VT!

Charlie and Frankie loved the hotel room and especially the pool.  We had a
fabulous meal at L'Express with the best fries in the world, dim sum with
our friends from down south, and bought pounds of paté, cheese, sausage,
pastries and bread for the ride home.  We shopped in the street fair on
Laurier, strolled up and down St. Denis, got a caricature portrait of the
girls in Old Montreal, bought some jewelry at Marché Bonsecours, biked
around the port on a Quadricycle (so named not just because it has four
wheels, but because the seats are set up so a 5'0 person can pedal, so when
a 6'3 guy tries it, his knees come up to his ears, burning his quads -
luckily, I managed to convince Jamie that I could pedal faster than her,
so...), toured the scenic sights of Mont Royal, and ended up not even
walking down St. Catherine, Peel or Crescent!  Next time.

A few of us were lucky enough to have gotten invitations for the Ferrari
North America party at Ferrari Quebec on Friday night - great fun, and ran
into some other New England folks there.  Messrs Jean Todt and Maurizio
Parlato made an appearance, and I could not believe the size of the cocktail
shrimp.  Heck, it might even be worth buying parts, service or a car there,
just to get onto the prized invite list!

Hands down, the best times of the weekend for me, though, were our dinners
out.  We had a nice, casual Italian meal together on Thursday, with great
camaraderie and a good opportunity for new folks to meet the usual suspects.
Saturday night dinner was a lot of fun, though I've learned to make sure
that the air conditioning will be working next year!  Thanks especially to
Dave Friar and Shach Tauber for showing all of us their thongs (and if
anyone has a good pic of me manually assessing the comparative size of their
"packages", please forward to me!  The pic in my album below is a little
cropped, alas!).

Pics are here - and as many of you know, I am TERRIBLE with names, so
apologies in advance (I need names for:  Emmett's friend, Andrew's friend,
Bill's daughter, Glenn's girlfriend, Steve's wife, and any mistakes!)

 
<http://www.photoworks.com/photo-sharing/shareSignin.jsp?shareCode=A563A72C3
C6&cp=ems_shr_alb_pml&cb=PW>
http://www.photoworks.com/photo-sharing/shareSignin.jsp?shareCode=A563A72C3C
6&cp=ems_shr_alb_pml&cb=PW
or
 <http://tinyurl.com/2twnfd> http://tinyurl.com/2twnfd

===================
2002

Friends, Romans and Countrymen:

Ok.  I know that those of you who tried to read the tremendously elaborate
report on the FCA/NER trip to New Hampshire that I posted a few days ago are
probably still stunned (eyes agape, mouths open) and in shock, looking much
like the waiters at the Brazilian churrascaria restaurant last week who
stared in wide-eyd wonder as Dennis and friends proceeded to eat a cow, two
pigs, and a gaggle of poultry (and a baby lamb tossed in for good measure).

So, I'll try to keep this short (with ?short? being a relative term, mind
you).  As I type this, the Lovely Jamie (tm) and I are on the way home from
another great weekend, this time in Montreal, where we visited for the
annual running of the Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada.

Pictures are here:
 <http://www.photoaccess.com/share/guest.jsp?ID=AA4BB523CAC&cb=PA>
http://www.photoaccess.com/share/guest.jsp?ID=AA4BB523CAC&cb=PA

We departed Boston at Noon on Thursday, leaving about 29 hours late due to
too much work to complete.  We made Montreal in good time, however, managing
to arrive at the Peel Street Ferrari gathering in the midst of the
festivities.  Organized by the Luigi Ferrari club, they had two Ferrari
parades from the Luigi Sports Car shop in St. Laurent down to Peel Street.
We then found friends Dave and Beverly Craig, Pat and Gerrit Visser (with
their red 308 GT/4), and the legendary clyDe and Denise.  TLJ and I also
caught up with Charlie Vest, his delightful daughter and his silver 308 GTS.
It was Charlie's first time on Peel Street during this madness, as hundreds
and hundreds of tourists and locals swarmed all over the cars.  He was still
in a bit of shock from participating in the parade, when cops on BMW
motorcycles were screaming along, stopping traffic everywhere. 

Then the crowd parted like the Red Sea, as the trailer with Gilles
Villeneuve's Ferrari F1 racecar showed up.  Thanks to the efforts of the
Luigi Ferrari club, the car is now on display at the Gilles Villeneuve
museum in Quebec.  Wow; 20 years of history right in front of us, serving as
the embodiment of the legend of the most beloved Canadian race car driver of
all time.  I ended up being interviewed for some radio show (gee, a chance
to pontificate on things like attending the GP, the surprising affordability
of Ferrari ownership and the joys of driving in Boston v. Montreal?  Dennis?
Nah?).

We had our now usual delectable evening repast at L?Express (3927 St.
Denis), one of the best traditional Parisian bistros in North America (and
quite reasonable too ? dinner for two, with some wine for TLJ, came out to
CDN$95.  Walking back to the hotel, we wandered through the street festival
held by Jaguar on St. Laurent.  Fashion show to the left, new and racing
Jaguars to the right, acrobats to the front, and the hippest Quebecois all
around.

On Friday, being the boring old married fart that I am, I convince TLJ to
skip schlepping all the way out to the track just for practice.  Instead,
we?d stay in town and play dumb American tourists (as usual).  Of course,
TLJ shifts into Stalin mode and marches me back and forth across town,
checking out nearly every interesting thing in the city (and stopping for
these unbelievable pastries every 4 blocks, unless, of course, there was
something closer).  The Crescent street area was filled with the usual F1
madness, with a tire changing skill contest, video driving simulations and
(of course) attractive young native women dressed in nothing but a piece of
(very small) shrink-fit polypropylene handing out free samples.  Heck, even
the police cadets were cute babes.

We grab a quick bite in one of Montreal?s many underground cities and head
for Vieux Montreal.  We wander through art gallery after gallery, with me
trying to convince TLJ that we reaaaalllllyyy don?t need a $5,500 portrait
of Holsteins grazing on St. Paul in the square.  Then back to St. Denis and
St. Laurent to visit all of the trendy boutiques that we didn?t have time to
wander through on Thursday.  I finally have to admit defeat, beg off, and
wander back to the hotel to either take a nap or chop off my feet at the
ankles. 

On Friday evening, we clean up and meet up with David and Holly in their 348
to attend the Ferrari Quebec cocktail party.  We take the scenic route up
Mont Royal for some pictures, then off to the dealership.  Ferrari Quebec is
quite impressive, with a very friendly staff and brand new facilities.  We
sample some wine and chat with some familiar faces.  They had also arranged
for another police escorted parade to dinner (sold out, alas!), so we
watched as they formed up and 550 Maranello followed 360 Spider followed 308
followed Daytona followed, well, everything.  (BTW, why does it seem like
fully ½ of worldwide 348 production was sold in Canada?  I?ve never seen
more 348s in my life.)

As the parade (replete with Montreal Police on BMW bikes stopping traffic,
natch?) pulled away, we stopped by the Euro Karting facility to catch up
with a giant gang of friends ? Lashdeep, Brian, Charles, Katja, Creampuff,
Leo, Lillian, Dave, Bev, David, Fellippe, Buck, Nick, Michael and many
others.  As David, Holly, TLJ and I headed back to our cars, this gaggle of
teenage girls celebrating a 14th birthday party was giggling nervously
adjacent to them.  Mom and Dad asked if the birthday girl could pose for a
picture sitting in the 355.  Sure, but now she was WAY too embarrassed at
her parent?s actions, and tried to run away.  Dad scolded her, saying ?hey,
go ahead, you?ll probably never ever sit in a Ferrari again.?  Well, that
was kinda of a bummer thing to say to your child.  So, we insisted that she
sit in the car and pose for pictures.  I also whispered to her to ignore her
father ? if she really wanted a Ferrari in the future, it was a fairly easy
thing to achieve, if she really wanted one and applied herself.

The four of us then left for our dinner reservations at L?Eau à la Bouche in
Saint-Adèle, voted the best restaurant in Quebec a few years back (and a
member of Relais & Chateau and Relais Gourmand).  It also has an impressive
wine collection.  The restaurant and inn is about 45 minutes North of the
city (about half way to Tremblant), where we had a truly memorable meal.

On Saturday, we met up with Krispy Creampuff and Young-Mi, Chuckles and
Katja, Burdette the karting monster, and Dave & Bev ?Specifically
Challenged? Craig for brunch at Marché Mövenpick.  This group then headed
out to the track to watch qualifying.  I know that many of you have been to
F1 races, but despite having gone to the Canadian GP for over a decade, it
still awes me.  To have these 900 hp race cars screaming by while standing
trackside creates an impression that you?ll never forget ? the shockwave
from the sound literally creates a physical impact. 

After qualifying was completed (with a light rain dusting the track in the
last few minutes), we were vastly entertained by the Can-Am challenge race.
Ah, to see a Porsche 917 with 1000+ hp on pure racing slicks (which
qualified a full EIGHT seconds ahead of P2) try to dance through the
hairpin, and see the tail dance left then right as the driver tried to apply
boost? magical.  The Ferrari 512S was beautiful, with a bravura scream, but
was a bit outclassed (it finished the short race after being lapped by the
917, which was the winner).  Lolas and McLarens left and right, everyone
sliding back and forth.  Now, this was a taste of what racing used to be.

After fighting through the mass of wet humanity trying to force their way
onto the Metro, Creampuff and Young-Mi headed out to hit the shops at Eaton
Centre (because, really, we hadn?t done QUITE enough shopping yet) with TLJ
and me.  Jim and I played dutiful husbands and did laps of the mall,
discussing Sartre, the rise of fanaticism, string theory, and checking out
the, uh, scenery.

For dinner on Saturday night, TLJ and I met up with the FCA/NER gang from
Connecticut for a big casual Italian feast at Galiano?s in Old Montreal.
Really, very little beats sitting down with good friends over some Chianti
and gnocchi at the end of a long, fun-filled but exhausting day.

Walking back to our hotel (surprise, surprise), we pass thousands of
revelers in the street.  I really can?t say as I?ve ever seen better
nightlife spread throughout such a large urban area in North America than
Montreal on GP weekend.  A bunch of guys out celebrating a bachelor party
with the lucky guy wearing an inflatable sheep strapped to his groin ran
into a roving bachelorette party with the lucky gal wearing only the top
half of a wedding dress and a set of garters and stockings.  A match made in
heaven.  And blasting down the street?  A yellow Lamborghini Murciélago.
Pretty nice.

On race day, we stopped at our usual shops for picnic provisions.  We bought
two loaves of bread, some smoked salmon, smoked ham, goat cheese, some St.
Andre, some really creamy camembert, salmon and spinach mousse and two
different types of fois gras pates for . . . CDN$29.  Did I mention how much
I LOVE Montreal???

We drove to Ile St. Helene, and parked in the exotic car parking area inside
the historic fort and Museé David Stewart.  The guides lead us under the
portcullis into the inner courtyard.  Surrounded by dozens of Ferraris, we
had our picnic and watched a platoon of Scottish guards (with Kilts and
stockings) train.  I think this was a pretty safe place to park.  New 360
Spiders and Modenas littered the lot, with plenty of 355s and 348s too.  A
few 308s showed up, and Todd Lockwood?s silver 456 GT.

And then, of course, the race!!!  This time, I came prepared with a TV,
radio, headsets, name it.  There wasn?t enough room in the grandstand to set
up the satellite dish, so no telemetry information.  Oh well.  The coverage
on Canadian broadcast TV was excellent, with Johnny Herbert serving as one
of the commentators (and the CTV coverage was all in English).  The race was
very exciting, with lots of passing in the early laps, and interesting
strategy as the race progressed.

After watching the finish, we walked back to the car, drove up onto the Pont
Jacques Cartier, and made a run for the border.  [Ah!  Just pulled into the
driveway!]  Thanks to a great tip as to a shortcut back to Boston, we made
it from the racetrack back home to Lincoln in four hours and 25 minutes,
including two stops and the border crossing. 

vty,

--Dennis



.