Sunday, September 28, 2008

Singapore hosts World's First Night Grand Prix..

"... and we dont have the tickets to it!! We must be the worlds biggest losers!!... "
This is the desperate post I was about to post until on Saturday, my luck struck big time, and finally I ended up getting tickets to the Formula One Grand Prix !!!!

Its an amazing experience, in that you feel the sheer raw power of the vehicles as they blaze past you in thunderous speed, the ground virtually shaking under their speed and sound. We had to wear earmuffs to reduce the damage of the sound. The engines and fuel for GPs apparently challenge even airplanes. You can feel the flash as the car goes by at speeds of around 300 kmph, and wonder at the beauty of the car and the drivers skill.

But unfortunately, unless you know what car belongs to who, you cant even make out whether it was a Hamilton who zoomed past you or a Raikkonen :-). We had to stand at the turnings where the cars slow down to even get a look at the cars. You can see the 'whoosh' in some of our pics even (not uploaded yet, will do soon).

The Singapore GP, the worlds record-setting first night-time GP, was held over 3 days. Friday: the Practise sessions for the drivers, Saturday : the Qualifiers, which is what we went to, and Sunday : The main race We went at around 7, watched a practise session, then walked around the place seeing different angles of the circuit. The funny part about the GP (similar to what happens at a cricket match) is that you cant follow anything at all about the race unless you get to a good old TV somewhere. So ultimately we saw in a TV screen that Massa had got Pole position through the qualifiers :-).

Other than that, the atmosphere was thrilling, and the scenery of skyscrapers against a backdrop of the Singapore Marina and some nice hotels was awesome(it was at the heart of Singapore city). There were plenty of Europeans around I can say(theyre apparently crazy about F1), and lots of food stalls and entertainment camps scattered all around the place too.

Could'nt catch much of the finals though :-(, and missed seeing Alonso fight it to the top from the bottom of the list, while Massa, who was at pole position, went all the way to the bottom by the end of the race.

9 comments:

Vinitha Vasanth said...

WOW .. you were one of the lucky ones to be a part of such a huge event .. gr8.. do upload the pics soon :-) !!

Abhi said...

I'm so green with envy that you got to see a F1 race LIVE. :( i sat glued to the tv the entire race and had loved the way Alonso fought from the last to Win th race. Loved the moment when the force india driver was third on the grid when the crash took place and my roommate said, Mallya will bribe the electricity incharge to switch off the lights then itself, so that atleast then his team wins a podium position. So envy you man. F1 race, that too the first night race in history. So green :)

Mahesh Mahadevan said...

Once in a while, I hear roars of the engines of Lamborghini/Porsche/Aston/Corvette/Viper supercars of the super-rich here. And I can hear that from my apartment. One can imagine how loud the F-1 engine screaming past you would be :-)

Hari Vishnu said...

@vinitha, krik krak

Thanks ppl :), will upload pics soon

Hari Vishnu said...

@abhi
hehe dont worry dude.. i diehard fan like u has a chance.. indias gonna start hosting f1 soon from 2010 onwards..

@mahesh
yea.. the sound was soo much most of our speaking was through sign language :)

Unknown said...

hey harikuttttaaaaa i misd it ....god i wish i ws one among the audience.....man i love racingggg..u r too too tooooo lucky....u made me jj nw....idiot :-)

Drunken Mind.. said...

great, dude...really having fun out there huh...nice

Hari said...

Lucky you! :P

*Sigh*, When F1 comes to India, I'll go see it and blog like you! :P Hehe...

If India could well start an F1 team, we could host an F1 race Grand Prix too! :P

Hari Vishnu said...

@nami, drunken, hari
hey.. the intention of the post wasnt exactly this, but my post seems to be increasing the greenery around here.. so dont worry, f1 will come to india soon, and den u ppl can watch :-)