It will be good for Meyer Shank to have someone of Helio’s experience and record. Already this season has plenty to look forward to, especially with the schedule of races
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He who dares wins!
He who hesitates is lost!
He's just that voice I hear for motorsports on ESPN2 with the certain graphics those of us of a certain age can still picture. When ESPN2 was the wild child of ESPN and "edgy"
Ditto. (Almost as much as I can still hear and see Chris Economaki)
Prayers Mssr Jenkins.
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"Those were the days my friends. We thought they'd never end..."
Yes I hope he pulls through too, he's been a big of part of the Indy broadcasting team as plenty who have been before him. Just have to hope for the best, all we can do
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He who dares wins!
He who hesitates is lost!
It appears there's now more concrete planning for development at Exhibition Place in Toronto. It involves a new entertainment venue and a "Phase 2" hotel tower, to go along with the hotel property already there, where the pit lane and grandstands had been for the IndyCar race up until a few years ago.
Assuming this project happens, and it's difficult to see much getting in the way since it's apparently privately financed, it looks like it will take up the space where there has still been one of the grandstands, and some of the outdoor space used by support series and vendors area. https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/m/3d635...-releases.html https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/...ile-157860.pdf https://www.theglobeandmail.com/spor...venue-by-2025/
I am hopeful this avoids the track as it seems it will (thanks for the plan views). The renderings in their promotional video also seem to suggest it won't touch any roadways currently used by the track.
The CP24 article mentions that the site is the one previously approved for the second Hotel X tower, and purchased from Hotel X by OverActive Media. That makes me think that the archeological surveys that hamstrung the Hotel X development for so long may have been completed for the new site, which would be encouraging.
I was also wondering about the heritage buildings on the site but it's clear from your plan view that they are completely missed by the new building, so that's good.
I wonder how this venue might be used by the three big annual events on the grounds (Honda Indy Toronto, Canadian National Exhibition, and the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair). The RAWF only uses that area for parking but as noted, HIT paddocks (in recent years, NASCAR and Porsches, although I believe NASCAR's contract with HIT expired in 2020 and they're certainly not back in 2021) and vendors are going to take a space hit. Presumably the CNE uses this area too but I haven't been in decades so not sure.
As they did previously with the first hotel, I assume they will be able to shift things around and fit them into the smaller available infield space. The biggest problem I can see is going to be that the new hotel construction will eliminate the present largest grandstand at Turn 11, which looks like it has almost half of the crowd. https://hondaindy.com/festival/festivalmap
I think the best option to replace it would be to move or reduce the Honda World area to put up some grandstands there at Turn 9 and 10.
After this past year, I wonder if they've been able to keep enough sponsors to break even. The races in Vancouver and Edmonton were both eventually going to have their sites become unavailable because of development, but the real reason both were discontinued was that they lost money, unable to attract enough corporate sponsorship to cover the cost of the event.
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