Woke up a bit later due to the late arrival and broken sleep in short bed with very noisy air con plus didn’t set an alarm. .. and change of time zone.
Hadn’t heard back from the host with wifi password so had to call and ask for it.
Found out first practice started at 10am and it was just after 8. Decided to pay for a taxi to the track. ..160 ringgit omg but it was clean and comfortable and got us there in a little under an hour so we got to see most of the last hour of practice one.
Free entry today even though we bought 3 day pass so we could sit anywhere. Tried the main straight opposite the pit area. Red Bull were at the far end so we went down there. Cars come around the corner so you couldn’t see who was coming until they were almost in front of you. Tried taking photos very hard. Trying to remember who is driving for which team with so many changes from last season. Cars have numbers on them but being half blind I couldn’t tell the two cars apart from each team.
After practice one we went to get something to eat. Limited choices. Opted for the seated area which had KFC and Nando’s…almost everyone was choosing Nando’s…fresh cooked vs hot box wins every time. Reasonable price for a major event venue.
Went into the big F1 gaming and merchandise tent. David and Amanda had Red Bull gear already as I had bought it for Christmas. Amanda’s shirt was actually mine…sizing is ridiculous…an XL ladies shirt that is only a tiny bit big for a 13 yr old girl that isn’t overly developed. Went to the Red Bull counter, helpful girl let me try on a few of shirts until I found one that was okay. Also got Amanda a blue one too.
At one end they had a game zone set up where you could try racing a f1 car sitting in a moulded seat with pedals and steering wheel. 8 at a time. Entry allowed if you had spent a qualifying amount on F1 merchandise. ..I’d spent enough for all three of us to have a go. I raced for Toro Rosso, David was with Red Bull and Amanda was in a Vodafone. I was coming 4th most of the way but ended up 5th after running wide on the second to last corner. Amanda did well to come 6th…it was quite hard to steer and she doesn’t know how to drive really. ..but all of davids practice on the xbox at home helped him a lot and after running second most of the way finished in a third. This entitled him to have a go at the reflex test…a big board set up with several light buttons. ..When a button lit up you had to push it as quickly as you could. ..he got to 32.
If he had of come second he would have been able to race again in the next race. ..If you win the race you were able to have a turn in the simulator which shakes you around somewhat like a real f1 car. The winner with the quickest time of the weekend will win a Paddock Pass for 2 at next years Sepang GP.
We finished racing just in time to head back out to watch practice two. This time we sat in the stands along the back straight. Could see them coming through several corners. Saw Daniel go into the ssnd though thankfully he made it all the way across and drove down the grass on the other side and back to the track.
Clouds were building up and the sky got very dark. We had watched a bit of the a and b support race practice but decided to head off before the rain started…we were too late but even though there was lightening and thunder the rain wasn’t heavy as we made our way back out and down to the shuttle bus. Took us around the outer edge of the circuit grounds and back to the bus stop where we bought our bus tickets for the rest of the weekend. ..so much cheaper than the taxi of course. RM30 pp return for each day.
Bus was cold maybe because I was damp
Met a guy on the bus from Austria (sitting beside Amanda) who was a Red Bull fan too…he had met Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber and Daniel Ricciardo and knew loads about the cars…it turned out that he used to be an Engineer for Red Bull up until a couple of years ago…wow…
Took the monorail from KL Sentral to Raja Chulan then stopped to have some dinner on the way back to the apartment. Had Bbq…went against our usual rule of eating at places busy with locals…food was average…not really hot and not enjoyable. ..I usually love roasted duck but not today.
Sort out photos. ..took lots today but not many good ones. .lucky it was only practice today so I have another chance to refine technique tomorrow before the race on Sunday.