After a long, boring and grueling break for the fans, the 2012 Formula 1 Season kicks off in less than a month in Melbourne [March 16, 17, 18 to be exact]. Me is truly excited!!! For those of you who couldn't care less, well, you're on the wrong post, cos I am going to be just spilling my guts out over my F1 obsessions here, getting all technical too, so run along now. For those die hard F1 fanatics, wooohooo!!!
What (the hell is F1)?
This bit is for the one who couldn't care less but decided to read on anyway (cheeky bastards!). A Formula 1 car is like a big ass superfast go-kart where the drivers are chucked into a cockpit just enough to accommodate their torso. And the drivers go hurling around a very twisty-curvy track for about 2 hours, usually in the hot sun (sometimes in pouring rain), sweating buckets, losing about 2-5kg in the process, accelerating from 0 - 320kmph in a matter of seconds, then braking down to 80kmph again in a matter of seconds at each corner, experiencing G-forces 10 times that of Earth's gravity each time they accelerate or brake at every corner (usually about 10-15 corners on a track), doing about 50 laps on average over the 2 hours. Just to give you an idea, have a look at this episode of TopGear where Richard Hammond takes an F1 out for a "spin". So next time you see one of these guys smashing through on some TV in some sports pub, HAVE SOME RESPECT!!!
How (do I go to an F1 race)?
Ok, so this maybe beneficial to some of you who maybe planning to splurge on moving your butts to watch an F1 racing event either in Malaysia, Singapore or India (the three locations closest to Sri Lanka where the F1 races are scheduled to take place - the full race calendar can be found here). Surprisingly, the F1 fever is on the rise in Sri Lanka and I have found a few interesting options this year. I will start with the obvious, then move onto to the not-so-obvious:
1. Do-It-Yourself: buy airline ticket, buy F1 ticket, book hotel. Ideal if you have experience traveling to such events and aware of the logistics involved.
2. F1 Tour Packages: so far I have learned that Classic Travels and Hemas Travels have tour packages for the F1 races in Malaysia [23, 24, 25 March]. While the Classic Travels F1 flyer has no details listed, though you could call them up on +94772577527 and find out (which I haven't bothered doing yet), Hemas Travels F1 offer looks tempting (ignore the offer deadline, it's bullshit as I found out). If any of your know of any other non-rip off F1 packages, please do post a comment with the details.
3. Roam & Win F1 Trips/Tickets (from Dialog): the only competition to WIN an F1 trip/ticket so far is offered by Dialog. According to their F1 Roaming Competition flyer, they're throwing away 5 fully paid trips for 2 to the Malaysian F1 and 100 consolation prices of 3-day pass to the Citrine Grand Stand. May seem like a long shot if you don't plan to travel overseas over the next couple of days, but if you are, I would suggest getting your hands on a Dialog roaming connection or even convincing a friend who is traveling to do it for you (like I am, teehee). Btw, the Citrine Grand Stand is at the end of the Sepang Circuit, on a long straight before the last corner, in case you were wondering.
Well, those are the options I am playing around with. Again, if any of you know of a better alternative, do keep me posted, pweeeettyyy pweeease!!!
Why (go through all this trouble for an F1 race)?
Well, if you belong to the "couldn't care less" category and still reading, I just maybe able to convince you here. First off, nothing is as good on TV as it is in real life. Secondly, you have not experienced F1 until you have heard the sound of those monster engines revving at 15,000+rpm and smelled the mixture of burning tires & fuel all around the track. Thirdly, nothing can prepare you for the adrenaline rush of seeing an F1 car zoom past you at 300+kmph.
Time to get crackalackin' with my plans to catch atleast one race this season. I am putting my money on option 1, cos I am a control freak and I like this done my way, and option 3, cos I am a cheapskate and anything free is good to go!
*cue DJ Visage - Schumacher Mix* Adios!
