Well it is best to take the tour before the hundreds and thousands of ‘guests’ of Singapore visit…that and because as of 00:01 this morning (Wednesday), the road closures were in full effect (until Tuesday 05:00).
This meant that for once, you can walk around the circuit without the risk of getting run over. Okay that bit is not entirely true, as there is still that risk that this will happen, as the folks were driving around sorting out the various aspects of the circuit…including speeding around in their FIA vehicles to ‘test’ the circuit. There was also a lot of road-sweeping going on, I guess you don’t want to risk of driving million pounds worth of motor-vehicle to have to pull over and to call the AA to change one of those expensive race tyres!!
-
- The wiring is not quite finished 🙂
-
- Can’t recall the name of this sponsor!
-
- Looking towards the Fullerton Hotel – a nice piece of track to put pedal to the metal!
-
- I wouldn’t like to see the electricity bill for Singapore Gov for the month of September 🙂
-
- The track leads to a corner to the left…no doubt a lot rubber will be left on the track … with the Esplanade backdrop…
-
- Well I guess I can see where the media and celebs will be (left!)
-
- A nice curving stretch with the Flyer in the backdrop…going to be a great view from the top of that!
-
- Well everything is coming together…especially the sponsorship hoardings!
-
- Lots of red and white paint required around the track 🙂 … and a bit of black for the UBS Sponsorship emblem 🙂
-
- Turn 2 leading away from the Grandstand and the Pit-Straight
-
- The guys (and their cars) will be zooming along here in a couple of days time 🙂
-
- It’s getting very close – you can feel it in the air (and see it with signs like this!)
-
- Another corner, another opportunity to be some rubber strips down 🙂
-
- Shielding the spectators from some of the action on the actual circuit…this is in front of a hotel…so I guess you don’t want cheapskates viewing the race without a ticket:)
-
- One of the underpasses and well-lit parts of the circuit…I told the other photographer that we would charge him S$100 for this photo 😉
-
- Even at dusk, the lighting was incredibly bright in the underpass…
-
- Blue seems the colour for this year…for all of the safety barriers
-
- Where’s all the cars gone…well this will be re-opened as a main road again on Tuesday at 05:00SGT!
-
- Getting ready to race…
-
- Another segment of the circuit…as we head away from Marina Bay
-
- Rubber Stripes….bolted to the ground…
-
- Bit of a confusing part of the track…the cards veer to the right…(I hope!)
-
- Stole the idea from Raffi – interesting effect 🙂 I can’t do this on race day without the fear of being run over though!
They were still putting the finishing touches to the main safety barriers, viewing screens (to prevent gate-crashes trying to ‘view’ the race) and the various paint-jobs that had to take place to make it look perfect…Oh and of course adding the sponsorship flair around the race circuit. The guys were also still installing the cabling for the sound-system (mics etc), rubber-curb strips added to the various corners to make it far more interesting, the visual-system installed around the circuit (more cabling). You can start to feel the atmosphere already!
So I met up with Raffi after work around the Merlion and took a nice scenic tour around the Circuit…the best thing about it, is that it was great watching the various elements fall into place, and how you start to feel the vibe even before the crowds of people appear!
T-Minus 2-days and counting!