Racing fever grips Toronto

Toronto city is gripped in race fever, with a 10-day build up to the race including parties parades and charity events, as Autosport.com's Andy Hallbery writes. The climax of the festival is Sunday's Molson Indy 200 set around the streets by Lakeshore Blvd.

Streets in the city centre have been closed, and bars are full of show cars, pit stop competitions, and race fans having a good time. And, seven days into the festival, no cars have actually yet run on the track.

Work is cracking on at a pace with the circuit, the temporary stands getting their finishing touches, and the safety fences being put into place.

Among the charity events was Wednesday's inaugural Greg Moore Memorial Golf Tournament. A number of drivers took part, including Paul Tracy, Dario Franchitti and Patrick Carpentier. It certainly wasn't the most, erm, professional of games, ("There were more hackers there than on the internet" said one driver), but it was certainly played in the happy-go-lucky spirit that Greg instilled on the CART scene.

The money raised went to a number of charities that Greg supported, and his father Ric was on hand to cheer on the players and accept the donations on his son's charities' behalf.

The media build up to the Toronto race is now in full swing, and it's no surprise that Tracy, Carpentier and rookie Alex Tagliani are centre of attention, being Canadians. Tracy, an early points leader this season, was in demand throughout Thursday by a continuous string of TV crews.

Tracy is also racing with a special paint scheme on his crash helmet this weekend as a tribute to friend and countryman Moore. Designed by the infamous Troy Lee, who designed the radical colourschemes used by Tracy and Moore, among others, it is a fitting tribute to a driver who is still sorely missed.

Over the other side of the paddock fence, the TV crews have been replaced by film crews as shooting is now fully underway for Sylvester Stallone's film based on the ChampCar scene, which has a number of working titles, including "Champs" and "Driven". Based at the PacWest team, today's filming concentrated on paddock action. However, there are scheduled on track filming sessions each day throughout the weekend.

And as the Director shouts "cut" once more, the sun is setting and the teams are making the final preparations to the cars for Friday's practice and qualifying sessions. Meanwhile, the drivers are off to a black-tie gala dinner, and the fans head back downtown for the numerous street parties.