my first F1

and with  this ticket and a pair of ear plugs each, we were among the 100,000 who made history as we attended the world's first formula 1 night race.

and what a night! 

the papers were filled with the do's and don'ts leading up to the race and that scared me. fear of the human crush, rain (weather forecast was 50-50), heat.... but too late to back out. glad i didn't, though.

the weather was good. and the choice of the marina area for the singapore grand prix was excellent.

honestly, i think i have been staying home too much. i have not stepped out to the marina area for yonks. yes, have been to the esplanade for shows and plays but have not really ventured out beyond that area. as in take a stroll.

we reached there at around six, having parked the car at oz's office at raffles place and then did a walkabout of the circuit.

and it was really, really spectacular. the circuit snaked around marina bay and into city hall area. as daylight faded and the night came alive, we were all spellbound. 

i never knew my country is so beautiful. *heart-thumpingly proud*

and all this was showcased to the rest of the world. and if i ever meet a foreigner who thought singaporeans live in trees, i'd box his ears AND eyes.

that's city hall in the background. you can see the back of the grandstand where our seats were.

buying the F1 programme. of course, all F1 merchandise were horribly expensive, esp ferrari tees. but looking at the hordes of people at the booths, you would have thought they were free! wei took a peek at one ferrari tee and quickly recoiled when she saw it was $150! we settled for two F1 tees at $35 each. got one for xru who was mugging at home cos she is in the midst of her final year exams.

hah, i had to take this picture. can't see this happening in the monaco GP for instance. 

food and crowds! so singaporean. stalls selling local food like chicken rice, hokkien mee, and satay did a roaring business. 

the dinner crowd spilled onto the padang, lending a very festive air to the whole place. in fact, many had already 'choped' places in front of the big screen in the padang. 

the human crush i feared turned out to be non existent. because the circuit covered such a wide area, the crowd was well scattered. still, we were glad that we had taken an early dinner at raffles place before making our way to the race. 

the merlion is doing its thing behind us in this photo. 

got to the stands by 7.20pm. 

the skyline behind us was magnificient as night fell.

we were lucky the screen was just in front of us. since we were in the straight, the only action was that of our eyeballs zipping from right to left as the cars zoomed past. so we watched the screen most of the time.

tho' i had been told it would be loud, i didn't know it was THAT loud. so loud it hurt. we all scrambled for our ear plugs, giggling away. to see thousands of people doing that at the same time WAS funny.

the first few laps, i sat up straight, my eyes trained to the right as i heard the approaching roar and when all had zipped past, i would look at the screen and wait for the next roar in about one and a half mins time.

but multiply that by 61 and you get into what wei called ' screensaver mode'. you don't shut down but you aren't exactly alert either after a while. only when there's action do i jump up and take note. plus, it's near impossible to hold a conversation. however, the crowd's reaction pretty much electrifies the atmosphere. many of them were not F1 virgins like me. i saw them punching their fists in the air, waving flags and clapping periodically. 

me? i probably only understood half of what was happening but it didn't matter.  :-)

when it was all over and we had gotten mom and wei onto the train, we changed at oz's office and made our way to meet the rest at nikolas at keong saik street.

e.t. knew the owner who stayed open for us.  we had a four course dinner with great red wine.

so relaxed were we that we chatted and chatted. until we realised that the staff had changed out of their uniforms and were politely milling around the door. by then, it was almost 1 am.

 

later, as i drove past the ecp and saw the bright lights under the benjamin sheares bridge where half the crowd was still partying, i knew i wouldn't mind attending the next singapore grand prix.