Yeh, I'm jumping the gun a bit...

but the race and quali times have been released

A bit miffed at quali being at 10pm. Are they crazy?!

Anyways, it looks like I might be there!

Wow, only three weeks to go...

Quali at 10pm, has anyone told them that we are used to quali at 1am..

You better start packing, Deezee....

hehehe yesh

I think it's a bit rich for them to start the race so bloody late just to have a nice timing for Europe....

I mean, the race will finish at 12am local time!

Yeah, everything is done to make it easy for Europe..

Btw, tell your Mum not to go to much trouble for me, as I don't mind sleeping on the couch and I have a very eclectic tast in food....hahaha....

HAHAHAHA

The couch is mine!

Do you have a dog kennell.?....

LOL! no...

Don't you want a bed?

Oooyeah....

LOL!

See what you make of this video. Deezee....?

Mark Webber & Red Bull take you on a lap of Singapore..

Great simulation,......... Yes??

http://www.redbullracing.com/4th-Sector/Webber-Singapore/

EEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKK!

It's all so exciting!!

It's so weird to see all the building I've seen all my life with the cars!

hehehe and Mark says 'Padang' funny

Oh oh, and they drive on my bridge!!!

I've loved that bridge since I was a child. This is crazy surreal!

I thought you'd like it..

Totally!

Kimi better win that one!

Yeah, we'll beat him up if he doesn't..

Yesh.... I'll get the Rai family ready....

Mark says 'Padang' funny

I think most Aussies would say it like that..."Pa-dang", is it pronounced "Pad-ang"?

Are the Rai family tough....

It's pronounced - paa-daang. The 'asian' a, not the western one

Oh, think of the Rai family like the mafioso...

(A bunch of us cousins all read Mario Puzo when we were young and were so taken with it, we made our own 'family')

Thanks for the pronunciation, deezee,    I get it now..

So I guess that would make you the godfather mother then?

Nah.... I'm but a small player...

The real gangsters are there, running things

hehehe

Is your bridge the Anderson Bridge?

I think you mentioned it before somewhere.  Maybe in the Cars topic.

Yesh

It's such a pretty bridge... and old too

Webbie said that it was centuries old....

I just watched the video again....(obviously)

hahahaha

given that we're in the 21st century, that might just be true!

Oh wait, it's barely 100 years old -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anderson_Bridge

This is my other fav - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavenagh_Bridge

He may have said "the century old bridge", oops...

LOL!

Must be the accent....

So the Cavenagh bridge is older then

Yeah

Yeah, bloody Australians....

hahahahaha

So when are we going to Singapore?

Will you be picking me up as you go past Brissie, or do I have to fly to Syd to catch the flight?

I haven't recieved my ticket yet either,  You did buy me one......didn't you?

You know, I was thinking about you just now. My sis can get a 3 day pass for me, but I alreayd have a tic, and I was thinking 'Now if only andro was in Singapore...'

So no GP for andro then?

So (as you said previously) Quali is at 10.00pm Sat night= 12.00am Sun.AEST.

Quali shown here on Ch10 at 1.45am..

The race starts at 8.00pm Sun=10.00pm AEST.

No idea (as yet) when the race will be shown here on TV.

Gosh.... this time I need to find all the other timings on the schedule, just so I can plan my weekend!

Thus far, I've seen a LOT of F1-related advertising... You'd think the whole country were fans!

I walked into the 7-eleven, and found the betting odds

Wow, thanks for those pics, deezee..... this is stuff we never normally get to see.

It's geat to have our very own reporter/photographer on site.

I've just discovered that the Ch10 TV coverage here in Aust will be at 1.45am, same time as we will see the quali, only 24 hours later of course.

I've just found some pics of Singapore..

This will be the grid......

Getting things ready.......

The pit area......

The track at night....... (lights are much brighter when cars are running)

That's all for now..

Oh cool! Thanks andro!

I've been avoiding that area, but guess where I'll be tomorrow?

Guess who got her hands on some tickets?

They're actually really pretty, and make of hard plastic, like credit cards sort of...

Wow that's great, deezee, you must be getting excited now, there's nothing like being there and feeling the buzz and smelling the (burnt) racing fuel.

Great pic's of you and the tickets and of the tickets themselves, my guess is that they'd be pretty expensive.\

Once again it's great to hear from 'F1 Fanatics' personal representative at the Singapore GP.

Have a great time, Deezee..

Actually, they only cost me $300, so I'm happy about that. The ones my sis got were $500.

Meanwhile, in the land of the GP - I was sleeping this morning, and a loud crack of thunder woke me up and the first thing I thought was - OH NO! It's Practice day!

heheheeh

Meanwhile have you seen this, from the F1 site?

Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari:
“I don’t know what time the race is. Is it in the evening? Good. I enjoy evenings and night time more anyhow. I like to sleep until noon every day so for me this seems the perfect venue. I am more awake in the evenings than in the mornings. I am very much looking forward to that experience, but honestly I don’t think there is much difference for us as drivers as I assume the lights let the track look similar to all the other tracks that we race at daytime. It will be a bit cooler in the evening - and there is a much bigger chance of rain than during the day time in that part of the world, so we should see an exciting race. I will fly out one week before the race to get accustomed to the climate, with a stopover in Dubai where I have some work to do.”

http://www.formula1.com/news/features/2008/9/8405.html

hahaha, no I hadn't seen that one, deezee.

That's our Kimi, laid back, and seemingly carefree...

$300 seems a pretty reasonable price to pay for the tickets, considering that Aman paid $500 for hers...

I've been very busy the last couple of days and haven't beem online very much, but I am now looking forward to the weekend and concentrating on the GP.

I will attempt to find some more Sing GP pics shortly....

Yeah, I feel so disconnected with the GP because I have been out and about, and not keeping up with GP news of any sort!

I've only just found out that P1 is at 7pm. (Somehow I thought it would be earlier!)

Yeah P1 at 7pm, I was going to watch it on live timing, but don't think I will, as there will be no commentary and the times of P1 aren't really meaningful in the long run..

Yeah, true...

It's mainly to keep people who've got tickets happy any ways

So you'll be a happy camper then?

Of course!!

hehehe

This pic was taken on Thursday, I believe....

Lovely pic of Singapore.....  (almost a shame to hold the race at night)

Oooh... it's gonna look brilliant at night!

Sure will......    (looks like from the big wheel) 

Sing at night.......

Hamiltom will become impaled if he cuts this chicane.....

hahahahaha!

Actually, they've been complaining about that... me thinks that's the safety guys checking it out

Ron must have complained....

LOL!

My money's on the Safety car......

Gotta go now, hope you have a great night, deezee.......catch you later..

Not the bikes?

See ya andro!

It was EXCELLENT!!!

At one point, I was 2 metres away from Kimi and his car as he drove by

I took more videos than images cos it was just too hard to photograph something zooming by at a gazillion miles per hour. But I found a better vantage point for tomorrow's session, so there's still hope

Oh oh, and the commentator - I'm 90% sure it was Neil Crompton!!

Many many more to come

Last one for the night, this one with KIMIIIiiii! (I kept squealing everytime I saw him on the track. I swear people think I'm mad)

Good videos, deezee, it must be exciting as the cars were heading straight for you at some stage.

I'll bet it was noisy there.. When my son was above the pits at the Melb GP, he said they had to wear ear plugs when they were outside.

I am very envious of you being there at the GP while I am stuck here in Brissie.

You should have asked Kimi for his autograph as he went by you .

Oh and Neil Crompton as well, sounds like you are enjoying yourself, deezee..

Dont know whether to watch live timing or wait up for the telecast tonight, I'll see how I'm going when it's closer to the time.

Anyway enjoy yourself, as I'm sure you will and I'll catch you later..

Kimi for king.......hahahaha..

Yeah, it's unbelievably loud, especially since it is closed up, not like a regular track. So even when you're away from the track, it hurts your ears.

Oh oh, and some other 'goss'.

Jean Todt is here!!! But he wasn't wearing Ferrari colours when they showed him on screen.

Frank Williams is here too.

Well Jean Todt is CEO of all of Ferrari now and prob does not wear the uniform. as he is no longer Ferrari F1 team principal. (But that is just my theory)

Also good to see Frank Williams there, they must be due for a comeback soon..

Just watched F1 live timing, as 1.45am is getting a bit late for me (for TV), seeing I have to do it again tomorrow night....

1. Massa
2. Hamilton
3. Raikkonen
4. Kubica
5. Kovalainen
6. Heidfeld
7. Vettel
8. Glock
9. Rosberg
10. Nakajima

  Off to bed now, look forward to your reports tomorrow..

Auf weidersehn, deezee....

Ah, you beat me to it!

Today was really really fun, especially quali!

There were a bunch of Finns near me, Lewis fans infront of them, and then loads of Massa/Ferrari fans.

I think I kinda set everyone off by yelling at Kimi. (It was looking really scary for a while there, in Q1.)

When he made it, we went nuts! hehehe

And then in Q2, we were hoping that Webby would kick Lewis off the last spot, and when he didn't, there was a collective groan! hahaha

And finally, as you saw, Q3, first Kimi took pole in the final stages, and then Lewis took it, and then Massa did. It gets interesting when Kimi fans support Massa. As long as someone beats Lewis!

So yeah, with every lap, and every posted time there were cheers and jeers. We were noisy enough for the stand to be shown on TV!

But it's just so different to sitting at home and watching it alone - for me at least. It's nice to be sitting among fellow fanatics and yelling to my hearts content!

Oh, and then, later on, there were some Aussie guys who were hassling this Kimi fan who was sitting infront of me previously - so I walked up to them and yelled 'C'mon Kimi! Kimi for the win!!' kekeke!

Oh oh, and I got a better view because my bro very graciously offered his (better) seat to me. The stand at turns 17 and 18. He was in my slightly crappier one

Great report, deezee...... almost makes me feel as if I was there

I've just checked it out on the circuit map and you appear to be in the Bay grand stand, looks like a good position....Was good of your bro to give you his better seat..

And yeah, I too was hoping that Hamilton would miss out in Q2, but he just scaped in by the skin of his teeth..

I'm really looking forward to tonight,as indeed you would be too, so lets hope that Kimi can have a good race and we can get a Ferrari 1-2..

Good news for us in Aust.....I've just noticed that the F1 telecast time has been brought forward from 1.45am to 11.20pm.

That's great for me, as I intended to tape it and watch it first thing in the morning, but now I can watch it live delayed by only about1½ hours.

WOO HOO! Excellent!

Meanwhile, I have bad news. It's looking very very likely that it's gonna be a wet race. Very very dark clouds overhead

Oh no!

What a bloody boring race (novelty of darkness aside). The only moment of excitement was Ferrari's bi-weekly attempt at killing a memeber of their pit crew.

HaHaHaHa

Yeah, my sentiments too Mr K. It was indeed amateur night at Ferrari...again... LOL

I just love to see the so over-rated Raikkonen slam his car into the wall each week

Wait up...I hear there is a move by the FIA (Ferrari Intelligence Agency) to disqualify Lewis Hamilton for smirking after the race

Hamilton had nothing to smirk about, he was beaten by his best buddy in a slower car.

I'll ignore the other smart ass comments from those in the cheap seats, as they know no better..

Disappointed is how I feel.

The whole Ferrari race was dogged by a mixture of bad luck and mistakes in the pits and this is not the first time that pit stuff ups have cost us dearly this season.

Anyway I hope you had a great time, deezee, even though the results were not exactly what you would have wished for..

But to me the disappointment goes further. I think a lot of finger pointing and "shame on you" needs to go to the FIA. This pitting under safety car situation has been a problem since day one, and its still not fixed.  Penalizing someone that has no choice but to pit because that is their strategy, just because a safety car is on the track is ridiculous. I have many thoughts to what maybe could be changed, but really it doesnt matter because the FIA wouldnt listen anyway....

I know I'm late to the game but.... IT WAS A GREAT RACE!!

I'm pleased with the result - if it can't be Kimi, I'd rather Alonso over someone else

Webby's retirement was a disappointment as well. I really wanted to see him drive more, and do well.

The only thing I would change is keeping Hamilton off the podium kekeke
Having said that, it's a bit mad how many people here support him. I think it's because his face is plastered every where, and people only really know him. He must have great PR people!

A great race! Great spectacle I'll give you (much like Monaco), but a great race? Bernie will be happy with the success... prepare for F1 darkness all over the far east.

Here's my fav F1 piccy...

"Amateur Ferrari Mechanics Turn Professional Anaconda Hunters"

Just look at all those cameras in the McLaren boxes recording the embarrassing   moments...

What are you on about Taki?

Heller - you should have seen it there... I wonder if everyone is so shutter-crazy at other races.

Piquet crashed infront of where I was, and the stand went mad!

I was just saying it was a boring race in a very interesting setting... unless of course you enjoy safety cars and penalties?

Dek, I'm so glad that you had a wonderful time. Really and truly. it must be wonderful to be with family and F1

I'm afraid that others didn't see it through the same rose-coloured glasses. I have been reading so much stuff from internet, newspapers and forums. The general opinion is that it was a boring circuit, only livened up by the entrance of two safety car periods, the Keystone Cops (aka the Ferrari Team), and that the general organisation was overwhelmed...

A typical forum example from someone who was there, states:

  Well we seem to have heard everyone in F1 praising Singapore to the hilt, but what was the reality? I was there and for the spectators it was awful! I and many others that I spoke to have no intention of going back next year.
Main points:
1) The Singapore authorities had not planned on 100,000 people trying to leave simultaneously. After most (day) races such as Melbourne, fans will hang around for a while, maybe have a drink, and disperse gradually. After a night race (or qualifying) all 100,000 people tried to leave at once. I guessed about 20,000 through Gate 1 alone, and the police had just kept open a 6 foot gap to squeeze everyone through! They then guided us out onto the Nicholl Highway with traffic still on it! One of our contingent was nearly hit by a coach.
2) Catering was utterly inadequate. Queues for drinks and food in the Start/Finish lane grandstand averaged over 45 minutes to an hour on Saturday and Sunday. The beer stalls just had one beer tap each! Compare with Melbourne where the beer tents have several machines each pouring multiple beers and where the queues are always less than 5 minutes. (I am sure that those in the Paddock Club did not have to suffer this!)
3) Rip-off. The Singapore Government was requiring all businesses (hotels, restaurants etc.) to pay 35% of their takings to them. As a result hotels and restaurants were massively overpriced, on top of a ticket that cost about US$1,000!
4) Processional. Why build a new circuit that no-one can overtake on?
5) Poor coverage of large screens. Even in quite expensive seats the views of the large screens were very poor. TV coverage was also not up to scratch because of lack of helicopter and gantry camera shots.
6) Weather. It was (luckily) OK this year, but if there had been a downpour like that on Friday morning during either qualifying or the race it would have been farcical.

Some wag also wrote this:

 Ferrari International Assistance - Making it up as we go along for over 100 years

Like it...

Loved the piccy of you btw. It's in my 'For Future Fotoshopping' file.

HaHaHaHa...watch this space...

Taki - I wasn't boring from where I was sitting, and I'm not just saying that. I guess it's different when you have rivalries going on in the stands and pictures to take.

Heller - All those points are probably valid, but that wasn't my experience, except for number 1. I don't even know why number 6 is there on that list.

As for number 4 - funny, isn't that what everyone says for EVERY track the circus visits these days? I've said it before - drivers are averse to taking risks these days. And a lack of overtaking spots isn't the reason a track is boring. A lack of effort is the issue.

And you leave my piccy alone!!

*shaking fists*

I can't vouch for the accuracy of this report, but if it is correct it will really put the cat among the pigeons.

Jo Bauer, the FIA F1 technical delegate, is rumored to be set to announce official disqualifications on six of the top 10 at the Singapore Grand Prix due to excessive plank wear.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And if you think that's weird, then have a look at this.........(from PF1)

'Tram charge to blame for Webber's DNF'

Friday 3rd October 2008

Red Bull have blamed an eletrical surge from a tram for putting an end to Mark Webber's Singapore GP.

Webber, who had been on course for a strong points finish if not a top-three result, retired from last Sunday's inaugural night race when his gearbox failed on lap 30.

And according to team boss Christian Horner, it was an electrical charge from nearby tram that caused the problem.

"At Turn 13 the gearbox selected two gears at one," Horner told Autosport. "The moog valve controlling the gearshift had been triggered into changing to seventh while he was still in fifth.

"Yet after interrogating the software we can see that it at no time was allowing for this. We can see a momentary electrical surge at the precise moment, which seems to have triggered the moog valve.

"It was exactly what (Toro Rosso) suffered from with (Sebastien) Bourdais in Friday practice, at exactly the same place.

"A tram line runs beneath the track at that corner and it seems as if static from a passing tram at the very moment Mark was in the corner passed through the ground."

Not so much a rumour as wishful thinking by a Ferrari fan...

There are trams in Singapore? That's news to me

I ran a news search for the disqualification, and apart from that bleacher report, there isn't anything else on it.

I'm thinking that the other F1 news sites would have picked it up if the rumour had any whiff of possibility

"A tram line runs beneath the track at that corner 

Apparently they run under the ground, that's why no one has ever seen them!!

Heller - All those points are probably valid, but that wasn't my experience, except for number 1. I don't even know why number 6 is there on that list.

As for number 4 - funny, isn't that what everyone says for EVERY track the circus visits these days? I've said it before - drivers are averse to taking risks these days. And a lack of overtaking spots isn't the reason a track is boring. A lack of effort is the issue.

Hey heller, I knew they weren't yours, I was just commenting on them. Yeah, you're spot on about #6.
What time did they show the race here?

andro - LOL!

Ohhhh... I think I know what they're talking about. The TRAIN system. Wow... they obviously didn't explore Singapore much. *rolling eyes*

Okay, so I've finally started uploading the photos and videos from my time at the GP. There are just SOOOOOO many to go thru, so it's taking a while to find the best ones. (Note to self - next time take a better camera)

Friday - P1

I've got to go to Grand daughters B/day party in about an hour, so I will look at pics later today...

Oh, it's that time already? Gosh, time flies...

Happy Birthday to her!

(Which reminds me... I should call my bro)

Loved the pics Deezee, haven't had time to watch the vids yet.(too much partying).

Good pic of you with BMW guy, he certainly looks Teutonic..

LOL!

I still can't place who he remind me off

He was a bit taken aback when I asked him, but very obliging. Nice guy