Girrl drives around Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.....
Discussion
Let me elaborate 
I went on my annual trip home to Montreal to visit my Mom and sister. Phillip (FireBlade02) came with me, to meet the family 
On the list of things to do, as it's Phil's first time in the great city, is see the F1 racetrack known as the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, site of the Canadian Grand Prix. The track is located on a man-made island (in the St. Lawrence Seaway) known as Ile Notre Dame, purpose built for the World Exposition in 1967. The track is located in a park called Parc Jean Drapeau, named after a former Montreal mayor. I follow the road signs for Ile Notre Dame. We cross the bridge from the city to this island, and find the entrance to the Parc. There are no signs for the Circuit Gilles Villenueve. I state this obvious lack of signage to Phil, who is making his own discovery - WE *ARE* ON THE TRACK!!! 
Indeed, there were the red&white stripes indicating the apexes, and black tire marks indicating chosen driving lines, all remnants of the race day in June. How cool is that???!!! There is a posted speed limit of, ready? 30km/hour. As if! There were also sectioned areas of the track to be used only by roller-bladers and cyclists. Bummer! We drove around, tentatively picking up speed, but didn't want to push our luck as there was too much 'road furniture' to try anything foolish. Besides, we were driving a hire car that would not have appreciated accelerated speed! I drove 2 laps around the track, practising my lines, and in complete disbelief that I was driving on hallowed ground. This is the track of my home GP! (calm down, Girrl, it's only asphalt...) We passed the empty pitlanes, and other than a few cyclists, there was no one else on the 'road'. It is solely used for the GP, is nestled in parkland and is mainly for cyclists, their training, and roller-bladers (and crazy visitors)
We were driving a hire car, a Mitsubishi Lancer ES. No, certainly *NOT* an Evo Lancer VI, VII or VIII! We nicknamed it the Lancer Minus 10. And it was white ('nuff said
)
Now all I need to do is get tickets for the GP next year....
edited as my excitement caused a missspelling
>>> Edited by RiverGirrl on Tuesday 28th October 15:53
I went on my annual trip home to Montreal to visit my Mom and sister. Phillip (FireBlade02) came with me, to meet the family On the list of things to do, as it's Phil's first time in the great city, is see the F1 racetrack known as the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, site of the Canadian Grand Prix. The track is located on a man-made island (in the St. Lawrence Seaway) known as Ile Notre Dame, purpose built for the World Exposition in 1967. The track is located in a park called Parc Jean Drapeau, named after a former Montreal mayor. I follow the road signs for Ile Notre Dame. We cross the bridge from the city to this island, and find the entrance to the Parc. There are no signs for the Circuit Gilles Villenueve. I state this obvious lack of signage to Phil, who is making his own discovery - WE *ARE* ON THE TRACK!!! Indeed, there were the red&white stripes indicating the apexes, and black tire marks indicating chosen driving lines, all remnants of the race day in June. How cool is that???!!! There is a posted speed limit of, ready? 30km/hour. As if! There were also sectioned areas of the track to be used only by roller-bladers and cyclists. Bummer! We drove around, tentatively picking up speed, but didn't want to push our luck as there was too much 'road furniture' to try anything foolish. Besides, we were driving a hire car that would not have appreciated accelerated speed! I drove 2 laps around the track, practising my lines, and in complete disbelief that I was driving on hallowed ground. This is the track of my home GP! (calm down, Girrl, it's only asphalt...) We passed the empty pitlanes, and other than a few cyclists, there was no one else on the 'road'. It is solely used for the GP, is nestled in parkland and is mainly for cyclists, their training, and roller-bladers (and crazy visitors) We were driving a hire car, a Mitsubishi Lancer ES. No, certainly *NOT* an Evo Lancer VI, VII or VIII! We nicknamed it the Lancer Minus 10. And it was white ('nuff said
) Now all I need to do is get tickets for the GP next year....
edited as my excitement caused a missspelling
>>> Edited by RiverGirrl on Tuesday 28th October 15:53
,but im not sure how you actually ended up getting on the track
glad to hear you had a good time .. Congratulations - sound like you had a lots of fun! 
Incidentally, we did much the same at Monaco.
Having spent hours and hours driving the circuit on various racing games and simulators, it was very spooky knowing your way round some of the roads in a place you have never visited before!
We did about 3 laps of the circuit in a Renault Kangoo hire "car" (I use the term loosely
) but it was pretty emotional nonetheless.
We actually did a lap, then parked up near La Rascasse (only it is now called "Cafe Grand Prix") and had a beer there, had some lunch nearby, and then did a further two laps before driving back to Cannes.
Anyway, sounds like you had a similar experience to us. Great, isn't it?
Incidentally, we did much the same at Monaco.
Having spent hours and hours driving the circuit on various racing games and simulators, it was very spooky knowing your way round some of the roads in a place you have never visited before!
We did about 3 laps of the circuit in a Renault Kangoo hire "car" (I use the term loosely
) but it was pretty emotional nonetheless. We actually did a lap, then parked up near La Rascasse (only it is now called "Cafe Grand Prix") and had a beer there, had some lunch nearby, and then did a further two laps before driving back to Cannes.
Anyway, sounds like you had a similar experience to us. Great, isn't it?
JonRB said:
Having spent hours and hours driving the circuit on various racing games and simulators...
It is a great feeling when you alrady know a track well from a driving game to then actually drive on it.
Would love to drive Laguna Seca.
Californian track day anyone?
I practiced on Thruxton (TOCA) for ages before I drove it in real life making sure I got all the corners right. I then got taught in an Elise by a BTCC driver how to do it properly in real life and tried it on the game when I got home. I managed to knock a few seconds off my previous best time!
It proves how accurate these games are if tutition on the actual circuit can improve your lap time on a simulator!
on the way to Le Mans this year, i was trying to remeber the route from the year before as my brother was driving solo in the car behind (not much use when it comes to map-reading) and my passenger - Adam - had never been before and doesn't have too much common sense in this situation
basically, i took the wrong road out of Rouen and ended up heading towards Elbeuf (sp) and was completely lost, but decided to head in a direction i thought would take me back to the main road - it runs through a hill, i headed towards hills!
on doing so, we came upon a hairpin and took the right-hand junction following the signs for the road we needed, after going through some sweeps it clicked... i pulled the car over and excitedly ran toward my brother who was looking at me in astonishment...
i'd found the Rouen-les-Essarts circuit and although its public road and hasn't been used for a race track for many years i was still almost as excited as topping 110mph down the mulsanne!!!
i then followed the road round the sweepers down the pit straight (doing the track backwards) past whats left of the pits (foundations only unfortuantly) along a long straight to a 90 degree left (90 right, last corner of circuit) then down the VERY long back straight past the long sweeper until we got to the main road so i took the turning onto it and carried on south to Le Mans
i wish now i'd followed it round as i wasn't too far from the hairpin again but thats something to do next year!!! (we said we'd go find it and Reims in '02 but never did either!)
needless to say shortly after getting back i had to do a lap on GPL and i can say its remarkable how the "track" has followed the same route but the very detailed surroundings have changed in nearly 35 years!
basically, i took the wrong road out of Rouen and ended up heading towards Elbeuf (sp) and was completely lost, but decided to head in a direction i thought would take me back to the main road - it runs through a hill, i headed towards hills!
on doing so, we came upon a hairpin and took the right-hand junction following the signs for the road we needed, after going through some sweeps it clicked... i pulled the car over and excitedly ran toward my brother who was looking at me in astonishment...
i'd found the Rouen-les-Essarts circuit and although its public road and hasn't been used for a race track for many years i was still almost as excited as topping 110mph down the mulsanne!!!
i then followed the road round the sweepers down the pit straight (doing the track backwards) past whats left of the pits (foundations only unfortuantly) along a long straight to a 90 degree left (90 right, last corner of circuit) then down the VERY long back straight past the long sweeper until we got to the main road so i took the turning onto it and carried on south to Le Mans
i wish now i'd followed it round as i wasn't too far from the hairpin again but thats something to do next year!!! (we said we'd go find it and Reims in '02 but never did either!)
needless to say shortly after getting back i had to do a lap on GPL and i can say its remarkable how the "track" has followed the same route but the very detailed surroundings have changed in nearly 35 years!
JonRB said:
Congratulations - sound like you had a lots of fun!
Incidentally, we did much the same at Monaco.
Having spent hours and hours driving the circuit on various racing games and simulators, it was very spooky knowing your way round some of the roads in a place you have never visited before!
We did about 3 laps of the circuit in a Renault Kangoo hire "car" (I use the term loosely
We actually did a lap, then parked up near La Rascasse (only it is now called "Cafe Grand Prix") and had a beer there, had some lunch nearby, and then did a further two laps before driving back to Cannes.
Anyway, sounds like you had a similar experience to us. Great, isn't it?
Sounds great - and I've also driven round the Monaco circuit but, you know what? I found WALKING round the circuit much more rewarding. It's so urban and you've got to spend so much time watching the usual hazards that you can't help admiring the speed at which those guys rocket round those narrow streets...
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