Singapore F1...

Did you hear this conversation? It took place at a hawker centre:
“You know, this Singapore Formula One is my kind of race.”
“Why?”
“Aiyo, just see who brought it in: Ong Beng Seng. So, the F1 is for Ah Bengs and Ah Sengs like me lah.”

Not sure how this well-respected hotelier reacted to that joke on his name but I think the guy at the hawker centre got it right. The Singapore Grand Prix (GP) looks like a race for any people, held on the very same roads and under the same kind of weather any Singaporean driver experiences every day.

We don’t see any of those high-tech, designer-built racetracks which we normally see in almost all the other GPs. The expensive racecars and “expensive drivers” on September 26 will have to negotiate the same bends and straights that our normal office goers do when they go to work every day.

Gary was overwhelmed since the day the race was announced to be held in Singapore. He even volunteered to be a official so that he can be closer to the race happenings.

He gets higher as the race draws nearer that he would ask me to go with him for a spin on the GP circuit in his BMW Z4. Starting beside the Singapore Flyer, Raffles Avenue, Esplanade Drive, Fullerton Hotel, cross the Singapore River to the Empress Place, St Andrew's Road, Beach Road, Raffles Boulevard, Temasek Boulevard, Temasek Avenue, back to Raffles Boulevard, a 90-degree lefthander and back into the Marina Promenade Park. He really imagines himself to be Kimi Raikkonen on the straight, going as fast as 130-150 km/h! However, the mood did not get into me because most of the time, I was watching out for the 'traffic uncle'…

Look here Gary! This is the real racer, Kimi Raikkonen, world champ with wins in Australia, France, Britain, Belgian, China and Brazilian GPs.