cooper Posted September 27, 2008 Posted September 27, 2008 Looking forward to the race on Sunday Come on Hamilton!! After all thats been going on he deserves a win.
laserblazer Posted September 27, 2008 Posted September 27, 2008 Just got this email from a mate. Well I have tickets in what has proven to be a superb spot – and you won’t believe it. Wednesday I go to check everything out, walk the circuit (about 200 miles in a steaming heat mate, it’s a long tight hot circuit) and the cops just ignored me and lots of locals just walking what is already a closed off circuit to pedestrians but still open to traffic so squeezed between railings with no footpath and trucks missing me by inches! – Then into the paddock and the pit garages!!! A guy (Ozzie from North Queensland) said he took loads of photos at waist high of the Ferraris; of the pit crews and then got some of Jenson Button poncing about for a Honda advert. NO SECURITY. Now to the Grandstand. Mate I can walk up top (I’m 5 rows from top which is highest grandstand I’ve seen) and look over the top to see three other bends and out front I’m looking down onto T17; the harbour straight; T18 and into the harbour itself – AND THERE’S ONLY ABOUT 2 BOATS BOTHERING TO HAVE A NOSE – nothing like Monte Carlo or Valencia. This is unbelievable and surely will change for next year. Any way that’s not the best. To get to my Grandstand we all wander through from the back under the grandstand and that’s the garages for the other cars, Aston Martin’s; Porsches etc. So you just chat to the pit crew, unlike European Supercup races I don’t know any of the drivers, then the cops come and hustle you to one side as their feature practice session starts and they all start up and go out driving over our feet, it’s like the old days when I was racing but with 100,000 people AND THAT’S JUST FOR THE FRIDAY PRACTICE, THEY SOLD OUT IN MARCH AND HAD TO BUILD EXTRA AREAS TO RELEASE MORE TICKETS. Sunday will be hectic. OK, ready? - That’s still not the best bit – remember the good old days when you could view around the track and from bridges? Well same here but better. The track goes under and sort of inside the Grandstand I’m in!!! I didn’t realize until I walked down you can literally just stand above the cars as they drive under you – no fancy fencing, nothing. You can stand inside the grandstand on the first floor and the cars go right under you, 10 foot below and you can lean over and slap Kimmi’s helmet (if you’ll excuse the expression). Needless to say the noise is phenomenal. It’s where Alonso spun so the burned rubber just literally wafted up to us 10ft above and my ruddy battery had gone flat so I couldn’t take a picture. Anyway tonight for final Quali I will be on the Singapore Flyer which is like a bigger London Eye. It’s right by our grandstand so I can watch the last half hour from there. They were selling GP specials for about $300 but believe it or not I just wandered along to the tourist office last week and bought a standard $29 ticket for the last “flight” at 8.30 (between practices) then exchanged it at no cost on line for the 10:30 flight. Beaut. I used my press pass for the Singapore Motorshow to go the day before it opened to the public and although press days are always good and I got lots of freebies (some of which I left on the bus) the show itself is tiny compared to UK or even Melbourne. However I made a couple of good contacts with good blokes including an Italian who runs a car design mag and went to Coventry University and the main press film cameraman for Asia who is a Brit. On Monday I’m having lunch with Ian de Cotta who is sort of the James Allen of Asia being the Motor Sport editor for Media Corps and he’s been talking to all the guys, not just the drivers but he also interviewed Jackie Stewart and Sterling Moss (Two Sirs) so I’m hoping to enjoy that and also he’s spent many years researching for his book “Singapore Grand Prix (50 Years In The Making” and it’s sold out. Luckily he’s signed a copy for me before they go into a re-print so it’s a first edition and I should pick that up then Lots of Indians here supporting Force India and I assumed they would be from Chenai as the IT sector there have lots going here but so far they’ve all been from Bradford!
timbo343 Posted September 27, 2008 Posted September 27, 2008 This should be a good race... Just checked out the F1 website, and the cars look ace under the street lights
KWestos Posted September 27, 2008 Posted September 27, 2008 COME ON MASSA! COME ON MASSA! COME ON MASSA! COME ON MASSA! COME ON MASSA! COME ON MASSA!
tech_guy Posted September 27, 2008 Posted September 27, 2008 Night race - blaaaaaaah. After what they did to Lewis over Belgium, I've lost all interest in F1. The only thing that will entice me back is naked female pit crews....
ITWombat Posted September 28, 2008 Posted September 28, 2008 Congratulations must go to Toyota for managing to sneak Jarno Trulli in a milk float in to the race, under the noses of the FIA. Everyone has praised the facilities at the Singapore track but the one thing they seemed to be short of was blue flags
torledo Posted September 28, 2008 Posted September 28, 2008 Congratulations must go to Toyota for managing to sneak Jarno Trulli in a milk float in to the race, under the noses of the FIA. Everyone has praised the facilities at the Singapore track but the one thing they seemed to be short of was blue flags ...another thing they were short of was overtaking, quite important i think when it comes to keeping the viewing public interested. Or did bernie really think the novelty of night racing really would compensate for 60-odds laps of a processional 'race'....thank god for the safety car and the ferrari mechanics having another frank spencer moment is all i can say, otherwise it would have been the most boring race since the the michelen cars were withdrawn from the indy grand prix a few years ago. Sure seeing the sparks fly from the rear of the cars was cool and the singapore landmarks lit up at night was a unique backdrop.....but that is ultimately style over substance....di montezamalo was right, street circuits are a major letdown, it's only the drivers and the playboy tax exiles who still reckon monaco is the jewel in the F1 crown. Spa and imola have long since surpassed monaco as a proper racing circuit. Get a grip bernie, how many more billions do you need ?? How about giving something back to the fans who have to put up with ITV's p****poor coverage of the grand prix. And enough with the chicanes already, if your going to have these rubbish street circuits then atleast have the grace to provide atleast one or two bit of high speed seat of the pants corners instead of trying to sanitise everything.
FN-GM Posted September 28, 2008 Posted September 28, 2008 COME ON MASSA! COME ON MASSA! COME ON MASSA! COME ON MASSA! COME ON MASSA! COME ON MASSA! Not today
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