F1

F1 is "gila terus"
Gila Terus means absolutely nothing in Malay but Casey and I have decided to make up our own Malaysian slang and gila terus means "straight crazy". F1 is gila terus.

I never thought I would enjoy a car race - a demolition Derby maybe but just a car race? I was totally surprised. The F1 circuit was just here in Malaysia and there were three days of racing. Friday and Saturday were the qualifying days and Sunday the race. Tickets in the grandstand were ridiculously expensive but we bought the cheap general seating on the hill for USD$15. Everyone warned us that the seats were terrible - we would have to fight for a spot on the hill, there would be no shade, and the view would be awful. True to form we ignored any and all advice. You did have to jockey for a spot and there was absolutely no shade but these are things we have become quite accustomed to. The view was perfect. We were at turn 2 and 3 just before a straight away. This meant all the cars had to slow down right in front of us and then explode out of the turn into the straight away. I can't describe the noise. All your senses are bombarded. The cars fly by and you can barely focus on them, you can feel the vibration and the power, you can smell the exhaust, and the sound is deafening. The cars sound like jet engines. When you watch the video turn the volume up as loud as it goes - this should be about 1% of the actual sound.

This is the Prime Minister

I must admit that I got a little confused towards the end of the race as to who was actually winning. I did know the winner but I had 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th place all mixed up. To Casey's credit she had the top five cars in correct order. I must also admit that I chose the car/team/driver that I was rooting for based on a very embarrassing criteria. I picked the car I thought was the prettiest. That's right - I picked my favorite team based on their uniforms.