About Mosport...

[macdaddy]

Instead of going to Toronto's ChampCar race this year, I'm thinking about taking the entire family to the ALMS event at Mosport.

Basically, for three reasons...
- Cheaper (and kids are free!)
- More kid-friendly (there's a playground!)
- Opportunity to go camping

Anyway, I was wondering what the circuit is like in regards to seating. Are there any grandstands, and do those seats need to be reserved? I get the impression from their website that it's all General Admission. If that's the case, then I assume that you can bring in lawnchairs?

Also, what is the track policy regarding BYOB? Are you allowed to walk around the grounds with your own beer, or do you have to stay in the camping area, and buy beer from a vendor at the track itself?

Thanks in advance...

[Mags]

You haven't been to any ALMS races, have you??? Last year, I went to my first to camp at Laguna Seca. I got offered SO many drinks by the friendly campers, well, lets just say I woke up the next day, and had to retrieve my keys from one of the motor homes, my cell from another camp site, and my jacket from a 3rd!! They couldn't believe I was awake at 6am and ready to go to work!! LOL. The atmosphere is VERY friendly.

[macdaddy]

Michigan International was exactly the same way.
Race fans are the cream of the crop.

[Adam43]

Mags, your like a really cool Porsche. Unless you post again...

[Liz]

There are no grandstands at Mosport -- well, there's one, but hardly anybody ever sits in it and it's free if you want to go there. The real place to sit is on the hillside right across from the Start/Finish line, or perhaps at Turn 5a/b where you can watch the cars come flying down the hill and fall off the track. The former is best though, as you get a great view of pit out too. In most other areas of the track you have to stand in order to see. You can bring blankets or lawn chairs if grass makes you itch.

We hang out at Corner 2, which is crowded at race time and also has good sight lines. Rumour hath it that Dr. Panoz would like to put natural terrace seating at Corner 2 and thus evict the eccentric crowd of long-time campers, but to date this has not moved beyond the planning stage.

Be sure to keep your children in hand when walking anywhere but the grassy areas around the playgrounds, and caution them often that they must watch out for cars because the cars/bikes/scooters do not watch out for them. My grandson has learned to jump like a frog when he hears the sound of a race car motor.

As for BYO, you can bring anything you like in the matter of alcohol,and carry it with you, provided you behave yourself; however, Maurice has no patience with people who can't handle their liquor and become troublesome, and usually gives them a one-way ticket off the premises without warning. (For people who are merely trending in the direction of leglessness, he'll ask accompanying friends to take them back to their campsite, or otherwise contrive to let them know that their time is running out, but you have to be sorry enough to get his attention, and he is no Puritan so ordinary good cheer passes unnoticed.)

The general atmosphere at Mosport is that of a large family picnic with race cars added in, even at Corner 2 which caters to the eccentric side of the family!

[paul-collins]

Further to what Liz has offered, there are a few other good places to watch, all on grassy hills:

bottom of two
my campsite , infield between 7 and 8
outfield (driver's left) at 9

You can take your bev's wherever you wish, but as Liz said it's all about control.

It's a very family-friendly venue. We have a few youngish boys in our crowd, and they pretty much go where they want (with nominal or surreptitious supervision).

Anyway, if you come to camp, you'll have the whole weekend to explore the track and its various seating areas. Believe me, you won't be sorry.

[macdaddy]

Thanks, all. Weather-permitting, it sounds like it's gonna be a blast! We're going for sure, as I've been able to talk my wife into it. (I'll be ordering tix tomorrow). I especially look forward to meeting up with fellow members, I believe that Paul, Liz and Mags will all be there too! Anybody else? And thanks for the tips about drunkenness, but need not worry 'bout macdaddy.

[macdaddy]

One more quick question, this one posed by my wife...
If somebody wasn't interested in the race, are there any decent beaches nearby?

I am SOOO looking forward to this - I haven't been to a race of any kind since 2001! And we haven't been camping anywhere since MIS in 1997!

[paul-collins]

Y'know, it's never come up!

There might be a Lake Ontario beach within about 15-20 minutes (Bowmanville). Just downwind from Darlington!

[paul-collins]

Oh, also Fogelhund should be there, as he's joining our compound for the weekend.

[macdaddy]

[racerkeke]

Macdaddy, make sure your children wear shoes at all times -- even at the campsite. Mosport has been around for a LONG time, and broken beer bottles keep surfacing from the wild and woolly days when drunks used to drop stubbies off the Players bridge at 4 to see if the groundsucker Chaparrals would "eat" them.

Another attraction might be the Saturday night oval races next door, if they still run 'em. I remember you used to get some money off or free admission by showing your ticket to the "big track".

Of course I haven't been there in a few years (and miss my "home track" terribly) so maybe it's changed. But I bet the shoes thing hasn't.

keke
-whose first trip to Mosport was June of 1960-

[Liz]

Yes, the "roundy round" racing, as Corner 2 calls it, is free if you show your ticket from the ALMS weekend. You can walk to it if you're ambitious, but in any case it's not much of a trip there.

I didn't mention wearing shoes at all times because I even wear shoes in the shower, at Mosport or any other track, but it's a good idea not only because of broken and sharp objects but because of fluids that may leak out of racing vehicles.

[paul-collins]

...also the grasses are a bit tough and stringy, so I wouldn't recommend sandals. Closed shoes are best.

[Liz]

Anybody going to Mosport for Victoria Day in the Rain?