After about 6 years of having the "in" of my sister Cat and her boyfriend Evan living in Italy and being associated with a certain Formula 1 team, I figured it was finally time to go attend a race in person. (Not counting my abortive attempt to go see a race in Italy in September, 2001.) As luck would have it, we were able to go see Evan at the track in Montreal in advance of the Montreal Grand Prix, and this allowed for some excellent photo opportunities.

When we arrived in Montreal, we went straight to the Casino de Montreal, which is conveniently located in the centre of the race track and has free parking! It took a little bit of hunting around to figure out how to get outside (something that is apparently not encouraged!) and then phone Evan to arrange where to meet him.

Our instructions were to get as close to the pits as we could and then call him again. Cat used an unexpectedly successful line on the security guy manning the entrance to the track ("OK, I'll let you through this time, but don't try it tomorrow")...




And so we made it onto the track. Once the guard who'd let us in was out of sight, we whipped out the camera and started to take some pictures. This is on the long straight heading towards the pit entrance and final chicane.




As this was several days before the race, lots of gear wasn't even unpacked yet. The equipment travels by cargo plane, with stuff from different teams all mixed in together. This flatbed had stuff from at least Renault and Ferrari on it, if not other teams as well.




The track wasn't ready for prime time at this point, and these guys were setting up the braking-distance signs as we walked past.