The first Ever Night F1 Race

Vroooom.....not the name of the character from a Chetan Baghat book...just the closure of another wonderful year of F1, where yet again....we have new champions...and some hope for Force India, yes folks we are ahead of STR Ferrari...not the last on the list!! For most Indian F1 enthusiasts, watching an F1 race is closer to reality with a possibility of a race track coming up near Delhi...but how affordable is it going to be, is something we need to see. My job, thanx to my company, takes me to many places in the world...am sure all of us, well atleast most of us heard of the much hyped F1 night race in Singapore. I was fortunate to be in Singapore during the weekend when the event happened last year..."The first Ever Night F1 Race"…..well, I’d let you, the reader decide if I was fortunate or not, I guess it’s the F1 fan in me that tries to be optimistic about the whole incident. So read on...

My quest for a ticket or a pass started the day I landed in Singapore. I learnt from the website that, Singtel, Singapore’s largest telephone company (similar to BSNL), was the official sponsor of the race. So at the airport I picked up a Singtel Prepaid SIM card and got a 10% discount coupon to the race and a complimentary F1 T-Shirt, which today my cousin proudly sports, ‘cause when I wore it, it looked like a stuffed pillow cover.

I held on dearly to the 10% discount coupon and started hunting for a ticket. Mentally calculating, if I get a USD 150 ticket, I save USD 15, yippee!! Typically Indian you see....$ 15 = Rs. 750/-!! Websites, contacts, friends, colleagues…..all exhausted in just 2 days and no good ticket in sight. This was almost 5 weeks before the event! Unbelievable, eh? Well, that’s thanks to the brilliant HYPE the marketing agency created around the event. After all, it was the first ever F1 race in Singapore and that too a NIGHT race!

After 3 days of research I gave up and decided my destiny was to watch the race in my apartment with my feet up and over a few beers. Sounds just too good, but the F1 enthusiast in me would not shut up and kept egging me to watch the race from close proximity. I kept imagining the power of the engines when they whizzed past....the deafening noise......I had to get a ticket.
Tickets were ridiculously priced, well atleast that’s what my wallet felt. At sharp turns, where the cars slowed down, the price went almost to USD 2000!! My quest for tickets sprang to life when I learnt tickets were suddenly made available owing to an additional stand that was added. They were priced at USD 500 and USD 350. Like most of us, I immediately converted it to read INR 24,000 and INR 16,000……a thought crossed my frowning head…“oh, I would get slaughtered if my wife or parents learnt of this”.

It took another 2 days to decide if I must go for it….my mind pendulum’d between, “well it’s a lifetime chance, dunno if I can make it to Delhi when it comes to India, if it comes to India etc etc"...."its so many years away, what if Kingfisher airlines and the ever crashing Force India cars makes Mallya bankrupt, all will be down the drain......"

Finally after 2 days of contemplation and a lot of extended hours at office, I decided I deserved a reward for the hardwork I had been putting in and went to the nearest ticket booth, a MAN deserves his kicks you see………..SOLD OUT!! All I ended up with was superb looking complimentary post card, courtesy Singtel "the official sponsor of the race."

With all options exhausted, I traced the 5 KM track by foot, on a Saturday, to identify a restaurant or a pub enroute the race track where I could sit and watch the cars and the race on TV……guess what, all booked!! With 2 weeks to go, all that Singapore was talking about was F1. The side protectors for the tracks and the light fixtures started moving in….traffic diversion notices were put up at almost all traffic displays in the city.

Finally, I though it was god send....an e mail from my own Office in Singapore, inviting employees to its lounge to watch the race from there. I was simply thrilled and excited……was it true, it was!! I immediately accepted the invite and waited eagerly for RACE DAY!!

Saturday...QUALIFIERS - The Eve of RACE Day!!
I was thrilled that Saturday…I finished laundry and cleaning in record speed.......had watched the pre qualifiers/practice sessions on TV the previous evening and the setting looked AWESOME! I could even picture myself watching this from the office lounge....Come evening and I was on my way to the nearest MRT (public trains) station and reached the office. As I got into the elevator, I could feel pangs of joy in my stomach….and a hungry one too, was beginning to growl asking for food. I was so excited that I had forgotten lunch! As the elevator started going up and I saw the floors increasing on the display…..the ladies chit chat in the lift, speaking the typical Singapore slang…. "Hope the race is good ‘la’….." the thought that had never occured to me for so many days crossed my mind…..floor 18…..19…..20 and kept climbing…….the office lounge was right next to the track allright...but...on the 33 floor…….Bing! The lift had arrived….at the 33 floor.

‘What can I see from here???’

I was greeted by a full house in front of a large TV screen, watching the a pre show on TV...a lady dressed like a film star was speaking very animatedly. I couldn't hear a word in the din of the crowd. A host of people lined along the lounge’s glass walls overlooking the race track. I walked upto the glass excited, the qualifiers were about to begin…..I wanted a small gap to squeeze in to the front to watch it. I had made it to the front finally…and as I watched, all the excitement just washed away, I felt like I was watching toy cars race far below on a well lit race track. Many had come well prepared with binoculars and people took turns to watch from the sole telescope on the floor.

After spending about 20 mins watching the large screen and a Tiger Beer, I decided to head home. I took the lift down and walked out of the building….as I walked on the street parallel to the street where the race was on I could hear the booming sounds of the cars…..how I want to drive one of those atleast once in my life and here I was trying to catch a glimpse of it. Then a shimmer of hope shined to my left. There was one street which was barricaded at the end and a crowd stood watching the race.

I couldn't believe it, I ran toward the crowd…..pushing through like a few others there. In a few minutes I was drenched in sweat owing to the Singapore humidity and the crowd. After 10 minutes of pushing, I had navigated through just half the crowd. Suddenly a car whizzed past followed by a booming noise, I think it was Kimmi….or Alonso, no idea, I was ever more intent and focused on reaching the front row. I diligently continued navigating through the crowd.....this reminded me of my childhood while traveling in crowded buses back in Mangalore. The humidity in Singapore was bang on as if I were in Mangalore....

Finally reached the front line, feeling all sticky with sweat...mine and others....much to the dismay of a lady standing there, who was now behind me…….I could hear a car…..yes I could finally see an F1 car less than 5 feet from me……I could feel the Doppler effect I learnt about in school….and Vrooooomm…..a car painted in red whizzed past…..in I think less than…well less than a split second…..it was unbelievable. The thundering engines that sped past and the deafening sound that followed, left just a beep in my ears. It was awesome, though just for a split second…..I could feel goose bumps under the sweat. As I stood there I realized, there was no way of knowing who was leading and if anyone crashed, watch them overtake, lap speed etc etc….I guess I was so used to watching F1 on TV. I managed to stand there without being evicted for 10 full minutes, until another guy bigger and stronger than me evicted me of my space. I then looked around for another spot and found only angry frustrated faces trying to move to the front like I was a few minutes ago.

I bailed out and returned home soon.....watched the rest of the qualifiers and the race the following day in the comfort of the apartment and over a few beers. An amazing experience nevertheless...a few months later I learnt that one of the crashes in the race was intentional!! It pretty much ruined the careers of a few people....well...the race must go on...this year the race finished its second year...and it still rocks!! Hoping that we will have an F1 race in India by the promised 2012....See you soon.