iMatt :: The Blog of Matt Clare

I want to invite everyone with any interest in Formula 1 to sign-up for Mitch & Brooke’s Fantasy Racing League.

It makes the races that much more fun to watch and gives you five drivers to cheer for.

My siblings and I all had our own teams last year. The inside tip is my sister’s strategy that proved to be the best of three of us was choosing drivers by hotness.

This is why I want to encourage you to sign-up this year. It’s a far better experience when you know the “owner” of the other teams racing against you because the excitement of the race doesn’t end with the chequered flag, but when you find out how your fantasy team did — well in my case, that’s when it ended. You may do well!

Mitch & Brooke’s Fantasy Racing League just opened up registration for this year. If you can look past the web 0.9 appearance of the site I promise you’ll enjoy the experience: www.fantasyautoracers.com/f1_01/

On January 3 2010, with much excitement, I ordered three tickets to the Formula 1 race in Montreal this June. I gave www.circuitgillesvilleneuve.ca / www.admission.com my billing information and bought three seats (and a program). My friends and I were excited that we got great seats in grandstand 34 in middle of Montreal’s best corner “the hairpin”.

Twenty-five days later I get an E-Mail from Pamela Rodriguez of admission.com that reads

“.. you filled an order form for seats in grandstand 34 or 11 in regard of this year’s F1 race in Montreal.
At the time we treated your request, there was nothing left in those grandstands either because your order got in late or because the seats you requested never were available during presale.”

I filled out a web page, it only took me about a minute, I’m pretty sure they didn’t run out of seats in that minute. The E-Mail confirmation they sent me seemed pretty sure that there weren’t any problems.

I’m left curious when in those 25 days did they run out of seats? Did it happen sometime in the next 24 hours and it took them 24 days to contact me, or realize that they ran out? Did they run out today and it took them 24 days to process my order?

I called within 15 minutes of getting the unconfirmation E-Mail and made sure that my Master Card had yet to be billed for the rescinded tickets and then bought a “new” set of tickets at grandstand 34 – where we’ve been before – but I can’t help but feel misled and disappointed.

If you are thinking of buying tickets to for the F1 race in Montreal I’d recommend dealing with a broker or just watching the race from home. It’s the only way you can predict where you’ll be this June.
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A report on F1-Live and GrandPrix.com suggest that the return of the Canadian GP to Canada is imminent as talks are ongoing and all parties (teams, drives, manufatures, Quebec politicians and the FIA) want Formula 1 back in North America.

The GranPrix.com article goes on to cite The Niagara Falls Review and Dean McNulty’s series on the proposed new race track in Niagara region as a possible location for an F1 race. At the very least it could host top-level North American racing, and one can hope that with the major backers being Kuwaiti national Azhar Mohammad and NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon (known as a NASCAR driver that loves to turn right as much as he turns left) the track should be interesting.

Here’s hoping!

According to the Toronto Star and F1-Live.com Bernie Ecclestone is in talks with race organizers in Montreal to put Montreal back on the racing calendar for 2009. This is because the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the race added when Montreal was removed, might not be ready in time.

I’d love to have the Canadian GP back in the Formula 1 Calendar, but I share the concern that it should be a long-term agreement. Bernie Ecclestone needs to learn the consequences of rash and follow-the-dollars decisions.

I’d be happy to see the Canadian GP back on the Calendar for the next five years and I’d still be pleased if the agreement was to have an alternating position in the calendar with the US GP (Possibly at Watkins Glen?).

On a related note: Congratulations team Brawn! I’d also like to thank Honda for footing the bill for creating such a great team but being courteous enough to get out of the way once all the success started happening.

The international Race of Champions is a mixed competition of drivers from all forms of motor sport. This year’s final was just amazing and there’s more races to be found at freecaster.tv/rally