Wednesday, September 30, 2009

At the Singapore F1

Last Sunday, I went with Pierre and Ming for the Singapore F1. I've never been for an F1 race before. Can't say it was something I was interested in at first but with all the hype over it and after watching it on TV last year I decided to go to Singapore to watch the night race this year.

The three of us got the walk-a-bout pass which only cost like SGD100 each. I think it's like the cheapest ticket there. The other tickets can cost like SGD 300 onwards.

The bad thing about the walk-a-bout passes is that there's no fixed place to sit with a good view. The good thing though is that you get to walk around along the entire track and get to stand right next to where the cars are driving past.

We spent the whole night walking around and stopped by the river at some point to have some drinks and Mister Potato, enjoying the view of the city.

Took a picture of Pierre too.

If you're wondering why my pictures are so dark. It's because all these pictures were taken with my iPhone camera. Princess took my real camera with her that weekend.

Later in the night we found ourselves in some part of the tracks where you had emergency teams waiting in place in case an accident were to happen. There was like a fire truck all waiting full of fire extinguishers at the back along with an ambulance all with people already inside them waiting to drive out the minute something went wrong.

It's like they weren't going to waste a minute by even standing outside the cars.

Funny thing though was that the next day we watched parts of the race again on TV and realized that there were a lot of things that happened on the race that we missed because we were at the wrong side of the tracks to see it. You know, car banging one another and all.

Overall, the experience of watching the Singapore F1 was AMAZING.

I mean it's one thing watching the cars from an aerial view on TV. It's another thing altogether standing right next to the track when they drive past. It's really loud when they go past, so loud that we all had to buy these little ear plugs to put in our ears whenever we were near the track.

In the midst of buying the ear plugs, Ming also bought a Singapore F1 cap for all three of us.

It cost SGD55 each... something I thought was waaaay overpriced but Ming decided that it was worth it for the memory. Ming is like that sometimes. He has a slightly different view of life than a lot of people have (including myself).

Like if I were going to spend RM100, I would evaluate to see if this material thing I was getting was worth it or not. In this case for example, I would ask myself if the cap is really worth that much.

Ming on the other hand would value something not merely for its material worth but for the memories it brings. So in the case of the cap, the cap probably wasn't worth SGD 55 but the memory of the 3 of us being there was... at least to him.

So in the hope of capturing the memory of it all in the photos we took, we all made sure we wore the caps the whole night.

I really really enjoyed the night. It was good fun walking around the track and watching the cars go by even if we could only see a car for like a few seconds before it zoomed right past us. I tried taking some pictures of the cars driving past but couldn't manage to get any good shots with my iPhone camera.

So I ended up taking a video.

Here it is guys.


Cool huh?

I think I'll go again next year :)

19 comments:

pinkpaperplane said...

Awesome! I saw it on TV, and wow the track is nothing I've seen before. It's basically like a tunnel the whole track! Reminds me of NASCAR.

KY said...

NASCAR? but NASCAR is a circular circuit with .. no tunnel, or are you talking about the video game?

pinkpaperplane said...

I don't know what video game you're talking about. But I'm talking about NASCAR. Not a tunnel but like a tunnel. Caged sides. So when you're actually looking at the view from inside the car it's like you're driving along a tunnel the whole track.

Boss Stewie said...

pink: ahh.. at first i thought u were talking about the old computer game nascar. ah that was a fun game! but i get what you mean about the cages :)

ky: i love the computer game!

Sharon said...

oh i was at the training session on Friday :D and my friend got us FREE grandstand tickets hehe..
but as opposed to u, I got bored of the zooming fast cars after half an hour :P maybe i dont know how to appreciate it as much as u :)
but i do agree with u, the experience being there was definitely different and amazing!

Ken Wooi said...

i went once in sepang..
and never wanna go again..
it's so noisy.. just staring at cars pass by.. lol..
once will do.. =)

kenwooi.com

Crystal Hew said...

cool cool! i hope i can go next year :)

Vy said...

Wow! I've never been to a F1 race before. However I reckon that the F1 Singapore will worth the watch as it's done at night!

Boss, I think most of us would think like that when evaluating the quality that we are paying for. But sometimes, it'll be nice to think like Boss Ming. The memory that comes with it is PRICELESS...

~Elaine Tam~ said...

F1...hmmmm..not a big fan though..but would be great if could there for once......in a lifetime.. :)

How good if we can be IN THE 300 km/j speeding car.....*vrooooooooooooooooom*

fourfeetnine said...

anonymous: what, are you the inventor of phone cameras or something? the iphone doesn't have a flash so of course the photo comes out dark. when did he blame the camera? you'd think your mother was the camera, the way you're offended.

when people say "real camera" it means a camera that is a camera and is used regularly to take photos. you're the one misinterpreting everything.

do everyone a favor and do something useful. like shut up.

pinkpaperplane said...

Good on ya ff9.

Kathryn Ng said...

Whoa! Wish I went! Take me with you next year please? lol I LOVE F1. :)

Boss Stewie said...

sharon: aww luck you! the grand stand tickets are not cheap

kenwooi: i quite liked it :)

crystal: yes.. worth the experience.

vy: heh... PRICELESS.. like the mastercard ad

elaine: yah.. i'm sure it felt like a rocket ship

fourfeetnine: aww baby! haha no matter i deleted the comment anyway. i pay little attention to trolls

pink: hehehe protective gf huh

kate: u should make it some time. just a bus ride down to Singapore :)

pinkpaperplane said...

Yea we all need a protective gf! Or bf.

Suzanne said...

hey Tim, is the walk-a-bout pass SGD100 for whole 3 days or just on the actual race day? Cool video u uploaded here, i think i am going to watch the real race NEXT YEAR, for sure!!!

Joshualaw said...

Such a great experience..and memory too! =)
I never been to F1 live like this..will consider to go someday...;)

Hannah said...

I was here too, traveled all the way from Manila. It was an experience like no other... I just feel the hype even by just hearing the cars go zooom

Huai Bin said...

I love F1 races too. The sound is just so visceral when you hear/feel it you feel the adrenaline pumping in your veins. =D

siawkia said...

Well, you will going to see 1Malaysia F1 team pretty soon! And definitely cheer for them. ^^