Sepang Sunday
In contrast to the whole "light rail + shuttle bus" thingy I had to deal with to get to Sepang on Saturday, Sunday was a delight. The hotel I was staying at offered a shuttle to the track. So I rode in relative comfort (not in standing room only smashed up next to sweaty Finns on the bus) to the track. They even handed me a bottle of water as I stepped out of the van (saved me RM5!--about $1.25).
Sunday's schedule saw no action of the Formula 1 cars until the race at 3pm. I arrived at around 9:45. What to do, what to do? Well, the good news was that there were support events as well. A single-make race (Porsche Carreras) called like Formula Asia (10 laps) or something, and then a demo of some AMG-tuned Benzes (3 laps). The lead Benz actually had a passenger, too; that must have been a fun ride.
Speaking of Mercedes, their tent/display area in the Mall was kind of cool. They had a bunch of different makes of car that you could actually touch, get into, have your picture taken next to, etc. Like stuff I'll never own: SL65 AMG V12. Yes, twelve. But their display was actually two cars short. A serious downpour the prior night, combined with wind, collapsed the tent, and a support beam smashed two of their display cars. I think the quoted damage was about 300,000 Euros.
After the support events were done, there was a lot of waiting to do. So, I fueled myself up and wandered around a bit. Did a bit of souveniring, then headed back to the stands. From where I was seated, I couldn't really get a good look at the grid girls as they started setting up the cars. Bummer. But before long, the national anthem played, and we knew it was getting ready to go.
The cars tear around the track for one lap, driving in fast esses and spinning their tires to heat them up. Then they come back into place at the starting line for the standing start. Such a great noise to hear all 22 cars rush past on that first lap. After that, they start to space out, and you never get that same blast of thunder again.
As I mentioned in the Saturday post, half the population of Finland appeared to be in Malaysia for this. The other popular color in the stands was Ferrari red. As the first lap progressed, and the giant screen showed that Kimi Raikkonnen had spun out and hit the wall on the first lap, a lot of red shirts cheered. I thought that was bad form. Sure, Schumi fans are concerned that Kimi might get in the way of Michael claiming an eighth world championship, but shit, that's not cool.
Anyway, during the time that I had fed myself, some dude had taken up residence in my seat. There were plenty of others, so I wasn't worried about it. But I had to kind of laugh; this guy clearly hadn't planned ahead. When I posted about the Ministry of Sound, and I said "if you're in front of the stacks and plugging your ears, move", it could have applied to this guy. He hadn't brought earplugs. So every lap as cars came around, he plugged his ears. I wonder if his arms got tired.
After the race, I headed back to the hotel. Even though Sunday wasn't nearly as hot as Saturday had been, I was still looking forward to a dip in the pool. Well, that won't be happening, says the sky. Lightning, and a heavy downpour. Ok, so no swimming. So I put on my trunks and sat out on my balcony in the rain anyway. It was a welcome chance to cool off.
So after witnessing my first Formula 1 event live, I have to say it was pretty fun. But I also have to add that it was a pain in the ass to keep track of everything that was going on, since I couldn't see the whole track. I think from now on I'll sit in my climate-controlled house and watch races on the wall of TV.
Sunday's schedule saw no action of the Formula 1 cars until the race at 3pm. I arrived at around 9:45. What to do, what to do? Well, the good news was that there were support events as well. A single-make race (Porsche Carreras) called like Formula Asia (10 laps) or something, and then a demo of some AMG-tuned Benzes (3 laps). The lead Benz actually had a passenger, too; that must have been a fun ride.
Speaking of Mercedes, their tent/display area in the Mall was kind of cool. They had a bunch of different makes of car that you could actually touch, get into, have your picture taken next to, etc. Like stuff I'll never own: SL65 AMG V12. Yes, twelve. But their display was actually two cars short. A serious downpour the prior night, combined with wind, collapsed the tent, and a support beam smashed two of their display cars. I think the quoted damage was about 300,000 Euros.
After the support events were done, there was a lot of waiting to do. So, I fueled myself up and wandered around a bit. Did a bit of souveniring, then headed back to the stands. From where I was seated, I couldn't really get a good look at the grid girls as they started setting up the cars. Bummer. But before long, the national anthem played, and we knew it was getting ready to go.
The cars tear around the track for one lap, driving in fast esses and spinning their tires to heat them up. Then they come back into place at the starting line for the standing start. Such a great noise to hear all 22 cars rush past on that first lap. After that, they start to space out, and you never get that same blast of thunder again.
As I mentioned in the Saturday post, half the population of Finland appeared to be in Malaysia for this. The other popular color in the stands was Ferrari red. As the first lap progressed, and the giant screen showed that Kimi Raikkonnen had spun out and hit the wall on the first lap, a lot of red shirts cheered. I thought that was bad form. Sure, Schumi fans are concerned that Kimi might get in the way of Michael claiming an eighth world championship, but shit, that's not cool.
Anyway, during the time that I had fed myself, some dude had taken up residence in my seat. There were plenty of others, so I wasn't worried about it. But I had to kind of laugh; this guy clearly hadn't planned ahead. When I posted about the Ministry of Sound, and I said "if you're in front of the stacks and plugging your ears, move", it could have applied to this guy. He hadn't brought earplugs. So every lap as cars came around, he plugged his ears. I wonder if his arms got tired.
After the race, I headed back to the hotel. Even though Sunday wasn't nearly as hot as Saturday had been, I was still looking forward to a dip in the pool. Well, that won't be happening, says the sky. Lightning, and a heavy downpour. Ok, so no swimming. So I put on my trunks and sat out on my balcony in the rain anyway. It was a welcome chance to cool off.
So after witnessing my first Formula 1 event live, I have to say it was pretty fun. But I also have to add that it was a pain in the ass to keep track of everything that was going on, since I couldn't see the whole track. I think from now on I'll sit in my climate-controlled house and watch races on the wall of TV.
posted by Sanford Owings at 1:34 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home