Oct 01, 2008 09:26 AM
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From my office at the 21st floor of Suntec Tower in Singapore, it looked like a pearl necklace strewn over a
beautiful black velvet blanket. It was not an imagery from the top of
the skyscraper but the reality down below of the first night racing of
Formula 1 cars in Singapore. The necklace was a string of 1600 white
lights - four times brighter than used in soccer - fitted on the
aluminum truss that run parallel to the either side of the circuit
spanning 5.06-kilometer track that encircled the down town of Singapore
over few sharp bends and a run over a bridge without causing any sign
of penumbra.
Things started fitting into the playing arena as
the D-day approached. It began with the relaying of street tops,
putting up the facilities, arrival of equipments, fitting of
night-lights. We walked through the streets adjoining old parliament
house. Final touches were being given to search lights, alternating red
and yellow plastic bucket seats and the safety barricades. As the DHL chartered planes started descending Singapore airport unloading the Ferrari, Mercedes, BMWs, another one ferrying Bridgestone
tyres, I realized the enormity of the task and the money power
involved. My journey from the office to home in the evenings did pass
through the part of the racing circuit. As I drove my Honda through
basking of white lights- I felt thrill even at 60 Kms/hour.
However, thoughts did persist ‘how is it possible for racing cars to
overtake in three lane narrow downtown streets of Singapore’?
A
day before the event, road were sealed leading to the track. Even
residents of glitzy hotels like Conrad and Ritz Carlton had to travel
by taxi with approved stickers. I had to know about rules of Formula 1.
The help came from Formula 1 website
that answered most of my questions. I was amazed at the pricing of the
tickets and amount of money splurged by the sponsors. Nevertheless,
question remained in my mind ‘How a person sitting on a bucket seat can
capture a car whizzing past him at 300 Kms/hour”.
I asked a colleague of mine who is big aficionado of racing cars. His
answer was’ Just smell the engine and hear the noise ‘. I kept
wondering if I would spend S$600 plus to just vet my nose and ear?
On
Friday afternoon, noise started emanating from my office window. A
whirring sound with increasing frequency. It sounded more as if it came
from a diesel generator in action. From the window, I could see pygmy
cars going one behind the other. They looked like colorful toy cars and
their speed appeared ordinary. I guess they were just sizing up the
bends of the track. Next day, we reached office to feel the noise but
we reached early but we were in for a big surprise on our return. When
we reached the beginning of Benjamin Sheares
Bridge – a thunderous roar ruptured at the breakneck speed from one
side of the bridge to the other side. Racing track passed just below
us. As the reverberations of the first car, receded second one would
come by. And there it was. Our first true experience of deafening noise
as cars raced to secure pole positions for the final race.
On final day, everything was centered on 5 Km circuit with loud noise of vroom... vroom
at deafening decibels. In no time, cascading of noises filled up the
whole arena. It was an amazing experience. The power of the sound was
at its peak. This time it was not diesel generator humming – it was
full-blown mastery of machine speed with man’s precision and courage.
3/10th of a second was the gap between number two car by Hamilton- McLaren and third car by Räikkönen -Ferrari with unbeatable lead for Massa
Ferrari at number one. At this speed taking 60 laps in two hours, I
wondered if car driver could even afford to battle his eyelid. However,
within 12 laps, all the pre-race predictions and calculations started going haywire. Mishap of fuel hose pipe getting stuck up in his car, caused Masa to relegate from Number 1 to Number 16 in just few seconds. A dangerous collision of Piquet - Renault made him bow out of the race and so was the situation with Räikkönen-Ferrari. Barrichello Honda went out due to engine trouble. My fear of sharp bends being deterrent proved wrong as Alonso- Renault and Rosberg-Williams
raced away overtaking others at high spends and grabbing number 1 and 2
respectively . A conventional wisdom of ‘Driver in pole position
becomes an eventual winner’ proved wrong at Singapore Night Racing.
When
I look back at this event, it appeared more like an opulent wedding
than a mega spectacle of any sports event. Deafening roars of noise
combined with high speed soaked under white lights amidst 100, 000
spectators transformed the event into Kaleidoscopic entertainment .This
must be the only sport where performers can silence the spectators
forcing them to acknowledge the ‘man -machine’ excellence by wide
mouthed ‘awe’ than ‘act of clapping’.
