Our "Grand Prix Tours" Trip

[stusegal]

We went to an F1 race with Grand Prix Tours (www.gptours.com) this summer, and I promised a couple other members of this community I would report back on Grand Prix Tours, and how it went.

Let me first say this.  I do a little travel, both domestic and international, and I make all the arrangements myself; I have never before this used a travel agent or a tour operator to either help with, or plan, or be involved in either travel or vacation plans.  And let me also say, I went into this very skeptical about what value, if any, I would get from a tour operator.

So you have an idea where this is going, I will tell you now that we had a fantastic time at the race, Grand Prix Tours far exceeded our expectation in ways which were completely unexpected and made the trip a very memorable experience.

So to the beginning  -  we decided we wanted to see the Grand Prix du Canada; we have been avid F1 fans for about 5 years.  We never miss a race on TV, but had never been to an F1 race in person.

So I got on the internet and the phone, and I priced out everything.  Race tickets, hotel, travel (plane, train, car), metro pass, etc.  And let me say – I am pretty good at this, at getting good rates at hotels, and figuring out the best places to stay at the right prices, etc.  When I got all done I went online and started looking at the handful of F1 tour operators who offered GP Canada packages.

A little review and it became clear Grand Prix Tours offered the most comprehensive package, and the most flexibility (choice of hotels/price ranges) of all the tour operators.  We decided we were going to stay for 4 nights  -  this way we could arrive on Thursday and get settled, show at the track for Friday practice, watch Qualifying Saturday, the Race on Sunday, and follow that with a relaxing dinner and a good night’s sleep and leave on Monday.

And we decided on the Hotel Gouverneur Place Dupuis based on its’ close proximity to the track (it’s across the street from the Metro Station, and the metro is a 3 minute ride to the racetrack), its’ location in Old Montreal, its’ proximity to lots of mid-priced restaurants, etc.  And when I figured out our best price for 4 nights + tax, Metro Pass, and Race Tickets it came to $3,358 (for two people) – of course, about $800 of this was race tickets.

When I called Grand Prix Tours and went through my plans with them, their package was $3,415  -  virtually the same, except that their package included a Friday night cocktail reception, and a Saturday night Theme Party, both with F1 Drivers as hosts (read on, because these two events were amazing).  So I figured, having never been to an F1 race before, and not knowing anyone else attending except my wife, that for the extra $57 we would sign up with Grand Prix Tours, have someone in Montreal who could steer us in the right direction, and we would get both Friday and Saturday night events as part of the deal.

So the next day I called Grand Prix Tours with about a dozen questions.  (And remember what I said earlier about being very skeptical  -  so I really wanted to get to the bottom of this)  I was on the phone with them maybe a half hour; I told them I would think about it and get back to them.  They were as nice as could be.

I called them back the next day, told them it was a “go”, and gave them a $1,000 deposit – the remainder to be paid no more than 4 weeks before the GP.  (A side note is  -  since I’m not used to this idea of giving a deposit up front, then paying for the trip in advance, I was a little nervous about suppose the trip didn’t happen?  Rain, health, disaster?  So I called AIG Travel Guard and bought a policy that insured the trip as well as giving us medical insurance for any emergency while we were out of the US for that week).

Unexpectedly, I got a call from Grand Prix Tours the next week.  “Hadn’t you mentioned you want to take your wife out for a nice dinner in Montreal?”  Well yes I had, and Noreena who was assigned to be the onsite coordinator in Montreal was calling me back with her personal recommendations for a nice restaurant for Sunday night dinner for Rashmika and me.  Very nice, unexpected and quite welcome phone call.

I had a few more conversations with Grand Prix Tours before the trip.  They were always helpful and friendly.

About a week before the race a package arrives at our home.  It contains 2 Grand Prix Tours t-shirts, some wristbands, document holders (to hang our tickets around our necks), and personalized Guidebook which contains all kinds of race info, as well as information and directions to the dinner and the party.

So on the appointed day we show up at the hotel in Montreal.  Just as promised, Grand Prix Tours has a reception table set up in the hotel lobby.  Noreena who I spoken to on the phone, and her colleague Tessa, greet us – they immediately recognized our names (which is always nice).  They had our Race Tickets and Metro Passes  ready.  We wanted to go walk around town and get some dinner and they gave us directions to a few restaurants.  They also gave us both their cell phone numbers so if we had any issues over the weekend we could reach them.

OK – I won’t spend a lot of time here talking about the race, or our seats, or the venue, because that would have been the same with or without Grand Prix Tours.  My only comment is that they procured the seats for us, where we wanted (hairpin turn), at a “pass-through” price – so we didn’t have to go through the hassle of getting the tickets ourselves.  And they got us special 4-day Metro passes so we had unlimited access to the subway, which is how you get to the racetrack.

But let me tell you where they really surprised us –

Friday night we went to the Grand Prix Tours cocktail party.  I’d say 75-100 people showed up.  Very nice hors d’oeuvres and cocktails.  Then Peter Windsor (commentator for Speed TV) showed up and told us all kinds of interesting stories - - then Mark Webber showed up and spent about a half hour speaking to us.  It was a relatively small group and it was really interesting to listen to Webber, who had been out on the track practicing just a couple hours earlier.  (Read on – the Saturday night event made the trip)

So Saturday night was scheduled as an F1 Theme Party & Charity Dinner.  It actually didn’t sound very interesting to me, but the Friday night event with Mark Webber was so interesting that we thought – hey, why not?  So we donned our dressier clothes and showed up to what was a much fancier affair than the cocktail party had been.  An absolutely beautiful gourmet buffet, complete with carving stations, pasta chefs, etc  -  tons of food, and lots of variety – we spent about an hour eating and mingling, and then the program got underway.

James Allen, a BBC Commentator who covers F1 was the MC for the evening.  I am unfamiliar with him, but he did seem knowledgeable.  His first guest was Pedro de la Rosa, who is now a test driver for McLaren – de la Rosa spent about a half hour telling us of his experiences with McLaren.  Then he brought out Sam Michael, who is the Chief Engineer for the AT&T Williams team – and Michael tried his best to give us some insight into the engineering aspect.  And then  -  a HUGE SURPRISE  -  because as Michael left I turned and who is walking in behind us but Sir Jackie Stewart!!!  Well apparently Sir Jackie saw this party as an opportunity to mention his favorite charity – the Mechanics Trust.  So he spent maybe 30-45 minutes telling us racing stories.  Also, earlier that day Jim McKay the TV commentator had passed on; apparently McKay was Sir Jackie’s mentor after he retired from racing and went into broadcasting.  Just the week before Sir Jackie had flown to Maryland to visit with his close friend, who he knew was dying.  So Sir Jackie reminisced with us about his friend McKay.

So the two night events far exceeded our expectations.

My overall evaluation is  -  for the same amount I would have spent (actually maybe a little less as we got a great meal Saturday night), we had the support of knowledgeable onsite Grand Prix Tours staff, all our tickets were arranged for us, there were two social events where we got to meet other fans and actual Formula 1 drivers and team members (and can you believe they arranged for us all to meet Sir Jackie Stewart?).  They made the entire trip very easy to do, and arranged more for us to do than we could have ourselves.

I don’t know if or when we’ll go to another Formula 1 race; when we do, my first call will be to Grand Prix Tours.