the gates of the marina bay opened at 1pm local time, with support races Formula BMW, Aston Martins and Porsche Carreras throughout the day from 3pm till 7pm. and from 7pm to 11pm, there were 2 F1 practice sessions, with a break in between.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
now that i got that outta my system, it was a fabulously grand moment hearing the F1 engines in singapore for the first time. i was half bored to death i admit sitting in stamford grandstand watching the aston martins and porsches driving by. the weather was good, slightly sunny but not blisteringly hot. but the seats were hard plastic and definitely not kind on the fundaments. i had a good view of the track though, a short strip of circuit bounded by 2 sharp turns which made for excellent camera opportunities because the cars can't travel fast in that short piece of track. plus the turn to my left is a good chance for cars to crash or skid off the circuit during wet weather or in the heat of the competition. not very nice of me, but i'm hoping exciting things happen at that turn, i'm paying good money for that to happen anyways.
the facilities are good too, plenty of toilets, watering holes etc etc, merchandise shops at every turn. but there was a tremendous lack of F1 related activities for the ticketholders, no car simulations, competitions or the like to get the hype up before race day. in melbourne they had a competition to change real F1 car tyres in the fastest time, winner gets pitstop grandstand tickets! that is what the singapore gp needs!
besides that, had dinner at the makansutra gluttons bay, before that, i was tempted to go to max brenner's for a drink but settled for thaiexpress' thai iced tea instead.
man, it was extremely amusing when brendan heard his FIRST ever F1 engine in real life. he was shouting and pumping his fists and shaking me and yelling like noone's business, hilarious stuff. must be heaven for him. think he couldn't sleep that night. i'd like to see him on race day, or rather, race night.
and i also had a lot of fun seeing people run towards the circuit when they heard engines. highly amusing.
the track was good stuff too, bright, with plenty of turns for cars to overtake (and crash out).
sigh it was really cooooool. and i was trying to memorise all the helmet colours for the diff drivers, like trying to study for an exam. haha. i'm looking forward to later's qualifying session, alonso set the fastest flying lap in the practice session but hopefully raikkonen gets a good starting position on the grid. man oh man. i can't wait to see what happens.
GO KIMI!
