Singapore - F1 - Days 134 - 138

A couple of days before arriving in Singapore Kimmy and I both realised that our arrival would co-incide with the inaugural F1 GP night race. Accommodation would not be easy to come by let alone cheap so when we found a spot on the web for 5 Euro a night we grabbed it. It was by no means the Massa Inn with pool and double bed but, it served its purpose and we've also added a new friend to "that list" as a result. We'd stupidly only booked one night online and when it came time to extend our stay for the weekend our host informed us that the price had gone up to 50 Euro/per night! This in itself would have been OK, however, Friday night was spent walking the track around the CBD during the practice round and after experiencing the adrenaline rush of the cars doing 290km/h towards turn 5 from outside the circuit boundary we both decided then and there that we had to get tickets for the race proper. So it looked like we were going to spend more than we bargained for in Singapore
On the way to the gates

On Saturday morning after being swindled for extra cash at the hostel we ventured into town to find a ticket tout to bargain with. Trust us to find an English larger lout with a handful of tickets around his neck. After a "good cop-bad cop" session(Kimmy was the bad cop) with the pasty Pom we managed to bargain our way from S$1000 to S$600 for a pair of general admission tickets for Race Day on Sunday - There goes the budget! We justified it by telling each other that this was a once in a life time opportunity (and I could send some pics to Meehan to make him green with envy - Sorry Dawie!) but, after race day had come and gone we both agreed that it was well worth the expense.
Kimmy and Me with our tickets for the 1st ever F1 night race in Singapore. Dawie, we highly recommend this trip buddy.

We spent Saturday walking around the CBD, which is just one massive retail haven selling top end brands. Our financial situation allowed us to window shop only and buy a few mini rolls for lunch. Back at the hostel we made a few mates in Christian, Matti and a "nutter" from Chester, Emma (more about her and Matti later). Our hostel wasn't exactly in the plush part of town so when we finished ordering the only thing that the waitress could say in English we were expecting seriously dodgy food but, were pleasantly surprised with a large plate of SPICEY SEAFOOD NOODLES - the emphasis was on Spicey and I needed at least 4 quarts of Tiger beer to extinguish the flames.

(From the left - Christian, Matti, Me, Kimmy and Christie sitting 2m away from the track at turn4)

Kimmy and I are F1 virgins but we can't imagine a better setting for a Grand Prix than Singapore by night. It's a beautiful clean city by day and is lit up like a high-tech Xmass tree by night. Matti had walked the circuit the last few days and knew a spot at turn 4 that did not seem too crowded. We walked the length of the circuit to get there and agreed that it was a perfect spot for the start of the race(check out the video below). We were 2m away from the barriers and the noise was deafening!

A few laps later we moved on to Anderson Bridge where they cross the water over the harbor after turn 17. We were lucky enough to have a guy next to us in the crowd who had hired a portable satellite TV which had interactive access to all the circuit cameras and pits. We had the best of both worlds - the track right in front of us and a tv to understand the race situation.

2 yellow flags and a 8lap sprint finish with Alonso starting from 15th on the grid taking the race honours. The perfect night was rounded off by the race itself which turned out to be corker!


(Lewis driving past us during the driver's parade just before the start of the race - Believe it or not , the sun is already down and the lights are on)

(Movie clip below: Coming out of turn 4 on lap 2 preparing to fly in between the retail buildings at 290km/h)