Honda Indy Toronto

[meteorite]

If you know the background, there is a rather fun item in the Star today. In the first place, it's in the Business section, not Sports, even though it deals with the Honda Indy Toronto. And it's written by a columnist from the Life section. Furthermore, said writer must have had a really tough time keeping it calm and impersonal. Which needs explaining...

A while ago the Business section acquired a new reporter, Josh Rubin, who deals quite competently with the general business news. However away from the shop, among his avocations he is a beer aficionado. And of late the Star has invited him to exploit this specialty, with an irregular column on beer in the Life section. He quite regularly writes about new imports to be found in the government store, and events on the local brewing scene.

Enter the Indycar race. It used to be the Molson Indy, but they dropped it and Labatt's (Anhauser - Busch - InBev) took it on for a little while. But neither expressed much interest (intere$t?) in the current running. So this year the organizers, Andretti Motorsports, approached the Ontario Craft Brewers group instead, and came away with a three-year agreement.

This year being pretty close-in to the race, only two breweries - Amsterdam and Muskoka - will be participating. Since sponsors get exclusive pouring rights, it should be a big deal for both of them. Amsterdam is a very well established brew pub that expanded its range over the years, offering a variety of interesting custom brews on draught on local restaurants and, of late, bottled in the government stores. Muskoka is a craft brewer that established its reputation as a seasonal supplier in cottage country, with a sufficiently favourable reception that they are penetrating the market in Toronto too. I haven't sampled either producer yet - too many other ace craft brewers around to try - but such reports as I have heard have been flattering.

So it looks like an all-round winning situation. The race gets its sponsorship money, the audience get a quality treat, and the brewers get not only huge sales for outfits of their size, but tremendous exposure too. We wish all concerned the best.

[meteorite]

CONSTRUCTION IS UNDER WAY

Honda Indy Toronto construction officially begins at Exhibition Place: For more than two decades, Jim Tario has led the construction of the race track at Toronto's Exhibition Place.

With this season's race weekend fast approaching, Tario, the director of operations for the Honda Indy Toronto, and his highly-skilled construction team began the conversion of the city's streets surrounding Exhibition Place into the 1-86-mile, 11-turn street course that continues to feature the fastest, most versatile race cars and drivers in the world.

"The Honda Indy Toronto has one of the most challenging and exciting layouts among the street courses in North America," said Roger Peart, president of FIA Circuits Commission and ASN Canada FIA. "The build is a complex process and it's amazing what (Jim) Tario and the team are able to construct over such a short period of time. Organizers of the event in recent years have invested in new track infrastructure, making the racing experience at Toronto not only thrilling, but safe for everyone involved."

The Honda Indy Toronto race track, built by approximately 200 construction workers, takes 39 days to build, and 21 days to tear down and remove all traces of the race. It is comprised of over 2,000 steel-reinforced concrete barriers each measuring 12 feet long and three feet high.

The total length of the blocks span over 12,000 feet and are each made using approximately 8,650 pounds of concrete. More than 1,200 sheets of fencing surround the track with each fence standing at eight feet high and 12 feet long. The track also features over 1,600 feet of tire wall, each one standing at five tires high and four race car paddocks.

"There is a definitely a delicate balance in the work involved with constructing a race track that's fast, exciting, challenging and, first and foremost, safe," Tario said. "While the track remains largely unchanged in its 26-year history, we continue to invest in the race track infrastructure to ensure it exceeds all international standards and maintains our status as one of the premier street race circuits in the world."