CAMPING RVing AT THE TRACK &

By Bryce Turner

is an outdoor sport that usually takes place away from big cities and hotels. As such, racers and fans have long embraced camping as a fun, affordable and convenient part of their racing experiences.

Racing

The culture and atmosphere created by this experience have become beloved traditions for racing fans across the country. Camping and RV companies have responded to the demand by offering a wide variety of products to serve people who embrace the camping lifestyle.

Camping At Ctmp

A track that’s well-known for camping is Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP). Nestled in the forested and hilly landscape of Clarington, Ontario, the huge multitrack racing facility offers countless areas throughout the property for fans and racers to setup their campsites.

“To have the ability to reserve a camping space and park directly beside Turn Two or Three (at the legendary 10-turn Grand Prix Circuit) and literally wake up to race cars driving past your campsite is pretty unique,” said CTMP Brand Ambassador Sam Fellows. “It’s part of the culture for us, part of the history, so it’s something that we pay attention to, and we try to market it all the time. If you’re not going to just come for the day, then consider camping.”

Fellows says that the original way to camp at ‘Mosport’ in the ‘60s and ‘70s was to sleep in a car or station wagon. While upgrades have elevated the experience over the decades, he says that the main aspect of making the track your home for the weekend remains the same.

Fans camp in a variety of ways at CTMP, ranging from tents to trailers to large motorhomes. There’s often creativity involved, and comparing ‘rigs’ is part of the experience.

“People bring all different types of vehicles and tents and it’s pretty cool to see the way they set them up,” said Fellows. “There’s one guy who comes every year for the Labour Day race and his RV (has) murals of NASCAR and famous cars and drivers. I think he’s had a lot of guys sign the RV and I did it one year, as well.”

Camping and gate attendance totalled about 50,000 people for this year’s Victoria Day SpeedFest, which Fellows says is stellar for that weekend, compared to the usual 7075,000 for IMSA weekend. The atmosphere is also worth noting.

“There’s a family section, I think it’s on the outside of Turn Eight; there’s a playground there, as well, and I think people have an understanding to shut it down relatively early for the kids,” Fellows continued. “There’s a big rivalry at Turn Three between outfield and infield people, which is kind of funny, and they yell at each other in the night (that) ‘outfield is better’ or ‘infield is better.’”

CTMP has multiple tracks, with wash- rooms and showers, while some camping spots also offer electric and water hookups.

The Iwk 250 At Riverside

At Nova Scotia’s Riverside International Speedway, there are over 800 campsites for fans to take in a weekend. The grounds typically see their first visitors roll in mid-day on a Thursday, where campers stay for the weekend, even when it’s a one-day show. But for the prestigious IWK 250, the experience is much greater than that.

“When we started this event back in 2006, campers were arriving on Friday and it got to the point where the volume (of vehicles) was so big that we were backed up on the Trans Canada Highway,” said Riverside manager Joan Roué. “So, we decided we would do a tailgate party on Thursday night to encourage people to come earlier. When we did that, we started to open at noon on Thursday and we were getting backed up.”

The track moved back the opening time twice more, to the current 9 a.m. on the Wednesday. Roué says that people are planning their vacations around the camping experience at Riverside on IWK 250 weekend. She noted that there remains a tailgate party on the Thursday night but that fans create their own entertainment for the nearly week-long affair.

“There are people who only see each other year-to-year. You’ll take a drive through the campgrounds and they’re out playing cornhole or various yard or outside games,” said Roué. “We have five different camping sections and there are pods in each section, where they’ll have meals together, potluck meals and bonfires… breakfasts together, all that kind of thing.”

Riverside has dry camping, with no hookups or facilities beyond portable toilets. While Roué says that all spots are good, she notes that fans have the opportunity to renew their locations from the previous year, which leads to some legacy sites.