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Monday, March 14, 2005

klcc sauber f1 street demo


fuck yeah! my f1 blood was bubbling in excitement as i drove happily to klcc.

klcc is the venue
i reached there around 1pm just in time for my breakfast and lunch. however, my excitement exceeded my hunger as i totally forgot i needed to eat to survive the rest of the day. i have no time to waste as i rushed to the center court to grab several close up pictures of a mock sauber petronas f1 car. it's even a mock car of an older version, but who cares.

a mock sauber petronas
i took it from several angles as well. here's one from the top:

a mock sauber petronas
i took some car stickers that they were giving out for free. i even saw a ticket booth which reminded me i still don't have a ticket for the event. i moved along and decided to then move out from suria klcc to check out the perimeter although it was still early before the street demo begins.

once outside, i can't believe the amount of people who were already waiting, booking their places right next to jalan ampang for the best view. i slowly inched towards the street, taking pictures along the way.

petronas team
petronas team
security was terrible as i was actually walking around the 'motor preperation area'. i walked past the petronas trailers which probably house the teams, and also next to the sauber engineers preparing for the sauber f1 car. it was a pretty cool sight!

petronas trailer truck
sauber engineers
i decided to park myself at the opposite of klcc, thinking that the view was more magnificent. i stood right in front of menara public bank looking towards the twin towers and the v.i.p section. i figure that the road is also paved, thus the cars would be zooming in front of me, but later on i discovered that i've made a huge mistake.

i saw some interesting figures of the media:

local media
star sports chinese commentator
helicopter reporting
later these media people pissed me off by blocking the whole view of the spectators. despite being told to move away as their position was in danger of being knocked down by a zooming f1 car, these stubborn photographers and reporters (even the bomba people) have grown roots to the divider and weren't moving a muscle.

all discontent soon faded with the appearance of the sauber c24 f1 car and the drivers, felipe massa and jacques villeneuve, in style:

side view of sauber c24
front view of sauber c24
felipe and jacques
although rain started to pour, it didn't really dampen the spirits of the fans. however i was pretty annoyed with the organizer for wasting so much time with band performance, local racer karamjit singh racing on the waja (even though he was awesome, i was there to see f1!), and the petronas team motobikes before getting on to the f1 demo. well, it was worth it.

felipe doing some tricks
massa performed brilliantly (but he almost stalled the car after a pitstop performance), spinning his car in the rain but controlling it with sheer percision. jacques' performance was alright, nothing special in particular. but the engine does sound amazing, and the speed was blindingly fast. cool stuff.

after the street demo, the fans rushed forward to where the car was parked and mobbed it with pictures and cheers. i too rushed forward to try and get some glances of the car and the drivers up close. well, i got more than what i bargained for:

fucking close
full view of the drivers and peter sauber
all in all, a fabulous experience. i didn't expect to be so close to the actual car. i was so close i was standing right next to it. i could feel the heat of the purring engine, smell the burnt rubber of the tyres, and i could actually feel its weight next to me. that was amazing. not forgetting being so close to the drivers. shaking hands and patting the back of an f1 world champion (too bad i didn't get jacques' picture, but i got felipe), that was totally amazing!

shaking hands with felipe massa
it was a once in a lifetime experience. i'm so glad i made the trip!



previous posts:
melbourne: the wait is over!
pre-season: the viking
pre-season: nose job
pre-season: b.a.r. unveiled a goose
pre-season: sweet sauber
pre-season: evolution not revolution
pre-season: sauber ain't coming