Short race report
The race tonight was cool, not that it rained (it was a warm night), but the spade of activities which occurred could be one of the most interesting to watch for this whole year- interestingly cool I will put it. Though there is no record for the number of cars which crashed for a race tonight (sorry destruction fans), there were 2 major crashes and the safety car was called out not once but twice due, which to the dismay of many is rather drenching for leading cars to fall back and lose the lead they are trying so hard to maintain.

The favorites for tonight’s race have to be the McLaren and Ferrari, but that didn’t seem much of the case after the race started given the spade of activities which happened for team Ferrari themselves. Given Nelsinho Piquet first spectacular crash at one of the bumpiest high speed corners, the rush for impromptu pits stops by many teams created some rather interesting pit drama (not to mention large re-shuffling of positions as well), such as the Massa’s Car laughingly pulling the fuel line, not only giving the pit crew the full knocks of the sub 700 bhp engine and ripping the fuel line off and trailing off till the end of the pits lane as. Well now that’s entertainment from discord! Massa disappointment on that incident really affected his race performance, dropping from pole to finishing 13th on the race, questioning not only the bad performance as a whole on the team but the reliability of the stop go pit light system (in absence of the lollipop man) as well. Just as you can visualize Michael Schumacher possibly jumping up and down in dismay at while watching the race, Kimi’s crash at Lap 58 gives Ferrari the final blow for tonight’s race for them.

The Renault and Force India made a rather bold moves at the start by cutting the first chicane for position. Being the real rookies, Force India kept on in the race as cars just get plucked off the track one by one, a good start for the newest F1 team this year for a finish tonight. Team Toyota is impressive as well, considering their entry into the sport at 2002 (which I stopped following till now). Timo Glock just simply paint the fact that besides having a German at the wheel this largely Japanese “branded” team is coming up rather quickly and not just one that is just always there, or not “up” there, but one too also never far from from the back either (they are 4th in the constructors now), something I guess you have to ponder to Team Honda (pka BAR) who entered F1 since 1964 but still yet to win a championship.

Lewis was cool and steady, despite pit penalties, but he managed to pull of quite a good sint from the back of the pack to finishing top 3. About the decision not to pull and aggressive stance for the 2nd position at the last 5 laps from his 3rd could largely due to the “play safe” strategy- Lewis has taken many risky overtakes to get up to 3rd, all that could come to an end on just a false move for that 2nd position, and I glad that the team kept to that and secured the points rather than risking it all, nevertheless, a perfect finish for the Brit Rookie as well.

Whether you say Fernando Alonso deserves the race title today is very much open to comments by many. The facts are, despite an engine failure on qualitfying and starting 15th on the grid, it’s not small feat to find yourself slowing inching up to pole and getting the checkered flag, impressive on it’s own. After all he has the 2005 and 2006 championships under his belt, so that is still something not too far fetched and the very large possibility of a win by him as well. The renault team was one the only few who openly came to Singapore early to test out the race, they have a considerable amount of pre-race preparation even before the season started, so it’s only deserving that I say, Fernando to take the chequered flag for Formula 1 first night race.

Now as you can hear all the contractors packing and cleaning up the place overnight for the road opening tomorrow, it will be a year before the race comes back to Singapore, for now, its Fuji speedway (Japan) to go next.

Drivers/teams who did not finish

Interesting notes of the race:

• Various cutting of the chicane at the 1st lap (IMG Renault, Panasonic) - Various pit penalties metted out
• AT&T Williams (Nakajima)- Wheel lock on brake first spectacle and tire flattening smokes
• First crash Nelson Piquet Jr. (BRA) Renault after making the Suntec straight- notoriously bumpy area at the junction
• Impromptu pitstops- Ferrari pit-crew failure to disengage fuel line, ripped from station and crew injured as Massa leaves and as Kimi enters
• Impromptu pitstops- Various pit drive through penalties and pit (hold) penalties
• Rubens Barrichello (Honda) - Engine failure, retires in pits
• Mark Webber (Redbull)- Engine failure, retires in pits
• Jarno Trulli (Toyota)- Transmission/engine problem crawling on track, retires in pits
• Minor Fuel hose problem for the Red Bull Team (Coulthard) at the pits, car stopped in time and not ripped off like the Ferrari’s
• Felipe Massa (Ferrari)- Skids trying to overtake Jarno crawling at the floating platform, spins into barriers (No damage) spilling accumated water from barrir onto track
• Adrian Sutil (Force India)- Crashes right into the barrier which Massa knocked into, just seconds after Massa left the area
• Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) Crashes at the Suntec straight- notoriously bumpy corner

Current Driver standings and Constructors on the click:
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Had some time over lunch with my mum today and talked quite abit on Singapore’s racing past given the Formula 1 fever up now over the past week and running up the race weekend. Despite it’s introduction in the 1950s, formula one was a sport I’ve always followed since the late 90s even before the fever touched Malaya with Sepang. That was a hidden interest I never saw surface (and something limited to watching on the TV screens either).

Or I can say that at least my love for motorsports is something I have out of a genuine personal interest, even given at times where the sport was know from nothing to none compared to soccer here. It’s weird sometimes too, besides Go-Karting as a pasttime here or overseas. Neither will my bike or driving instructors keep yelling at me on the way I tend to naturally take my turns from the outside into the inside of a chicane on the exit. I enjoy driving just for the joy of driving, and I believe not anyone will just get their car out just for a relaxing “aimless” drive.

Thompson GP Track
Though my mum is more of a backseat driver now, my dad once said that she was quite heck of a driver if you put her behind the wheel. My mum is no stranger to the racing scene either, having lived at Nee Soon when she was growing up. Her old home was situated right next to the race track along the now defunct Upper Thompson road- Sembawang Hills. Exposure to racing elements such as GP, vintage-racing, bikes, touring to formulae-based races, or “pointed loti-cars” (bread cars) as they call it in dialect typical of the rocket shaped Formula 3 cars back then.

She remembered they had walls and fences up almost like that we see at Marina bay circuit now and her family will always be there to watch even if they didn’t pay for tickets. Whenever there was a race weekend, she and her family who get up as early at 5 in the morning so that they can move into the track compound and book a place before the ticketing staff come so they can enter for free. Tickets cost from $1 to $25 back then its almost an equivalent of the exuberant prices we see today as well. Drivers come all over the world to race, such as New Zealand and Japan.

There you can give a try of racing the route. The unique thing about the old Thompson route is that it is not only a street circuit, but one which can be made out of closed roads and form a continuous looping circuit. There are many hotspots around the track and driving the route is a thrill of it’s own with it’s own spectacle.

Racing were not as safe back then and the old winding roads of Thompson is one you can easily make out of the winding country roads typical of that in the WRC. There was a combination of terrain factors together with low and high speed turns as well as the rather notorious Devil’s Bend which is a hairpin smacked right in between 2 high speed straights.

A history lost?
Piecing together the stories my mum always casually told over the years (but I never seriously listened), Singapore’s motorsport heritage had came a very long way. Strangely, to many people I know it seems that it had never dawned to many especially for most of us youngsters, given those born in the early 1980 are almost as clueless on about Singapore’s long lost racing history. (Or is it just because that this phase of motorsport history was never taught in school, thus we need not know). It not until the early 70s around 1972 where racing was halted in Singapore due to increased traffic demand (thus unable to close roads for races), actions from authorities as well as developments around the area, taking a whole rich racing history into the dumps. The old roads cease to exist now, the stories only told as wise tales now only from those who lived and swear by the old Thompson track and never to be unearthed, till today.

I remembered catching a glispe of the Book “Snakes & Devils” presumably one named right after the few most notorious bends of the Thompson track, contrary to our rather generic way of naming our Marina turns as “turn 1″ or “turn 2″- typical to our naming scheme for the attractions we call around Singapore. The book will be quite an excellent read for those wanting to find out more of Singapore’s racing history.

We can only move forward in time. Unlike Monaco, the idea of the Asia’s first formula street night race is cool, well not just the fact that Bernie Ecclestone wanted it to be. Formula 1 is new in Singapore, but calling it the start of motorsport history in Singapore is laughable- one you say possibly say, nothing to do with the indecent lack of racing exposure our people have. Singapore is famous for it’s economic and resource citizens and there are of course exceptions, but on the front we are still barely past the infant stages of exposing or embracing such international events.

Promising motorsport future
But I won’t be one bit worried about what we can achieve with this new track, it will an event one can look forward to as anticipative as how one come across one’s birthday annually. And I am sure that Singapore’s short but rich racing history will guide us along this path for motorsports glory. Moreover, I can’t deny that history will pen itself further with many more great things to after this Sunday’s race. I believe the Marina GP track will be the start of many more smaller racing events to come and enjoy, given it’s isolated Pit-location by the bay- kart racing, figure racing, there are just so many possibilities, all made possible by just this one event on the 28/09/08.

More of the Singapore GP as illustrated by the Red bull team on the click:
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Collected my phone yesterday at the Wheelock Nokia service center. The service was rather good on my personal opinion, besides the long string of complaints and comments the service center is notorious for. I mean, come to think about it, dealing with customers at the service is not an easy job, having to put up with downtime for the customers who area already fuming mad about their phones, only to put up with long waiting queues and slow service just makes it worst, well that’s what most people say of it. So in the benefit of the doubt to only people who are only good at complaining, here is a commendation for you Nokia.

I sent my phone in last Friday after it’s screen went blank after taking it out for an evening jog. Nothing fancy, just using it for the plain usual music. Same as what I did for my marathons and half-marathons, only that the screen was like not powered/no data went I took it out to make a call thereafter.

Having said that, my phone is almost about a year old already, so I wonder the warranty was still on. So I have to call them. My only gripe was trying to contact them with regards to warranty issues before dropping down. Apparently, based on their web contact they had their fax and phone lines switched- Calling their fixed line gave the fax buzz, while calling their fax line resulted in a ring tone but with no answer even after 5 consecutive calls. I went to search for more updated contact info on the web only to be bombard by complaints and dissatisfaction you get from the Nokia “Care-less” center, turns out Google is not a good place to get info on Nokia repairs.

So I went down to Wheelock anyway. My N95 8GB warranty without any warranty card is set to expire next October month by using the launch date as a reference. I was tended to on a weekday evening and sent my phone in in 10 minutes after getting my number. Collection was fast too, within 1 1/2 days I got a call that my phone is ready for collection. Collection was slower, as about an 18 minutes wait, but it was still bearable though. The counter and service staff were friendly and courteous, despite having to put up with so many customers for the day. They said they changed the screen and make my phone slider tighter, making it more firm now.

I think if I were to use my phone as a phone, it will bound to fail right after the 1 year warranty period, it’s like there is a time bomb in there waiting to go off. I think just like how IKEA stress test furniture for premature failure, bringing your phone for a jog/run accelerates the impending failure of your phone, just as how manufacturers rate failure rate and the corresponding warranty period. So I guess it was a blessing in disguise to get it repaired now so it can last till it’s next possible service.

Now to reinstall all my S60 3rd ed programs, it’s quite a pain to get anything installed on a Symbian phone now, maybe I might switch back to Windows mobile for my next phone.

With the Formula One season coming up this Sunday. I have a treat for all your you. This photo was taken onboard the Singapore Flyer last week, overlooking the finished pits area for the big race coming. This photo is to be part of the Singapore Flyer review I am writing over the past week, covering all the various sights of the ride itself. I aim to get it finished by end of this week, so in the meantime I will release the photostitches and updated them on the photo stitch gallery. This particular paranoma is my first attempt of taking non-linear nucleated shots compiled using 6 photos shot in portrait, this 180 degree photo shot at the first quarter loop of flyer’s revolution showing a bird eye’s view of the Singapore Grand Prix Marina Bay Street circuit starting grid.

Taken from a Nokia N95 8GB with Carl zeiss optics in Landscape mode with no paranoma assist, forced non-flash. For more paranomas, check out my photo stitch gallery.

Check out this rather cool advertisement showing the change of time, over the new, fresh and modern over the dated and old- All in a rather interest video that is pure Audi, too bad we do not get such Commercials aired in Singapore (maybe Premium autos can take a hint of there) If you watch BBC’s topgear, I think Jeremy Clarkson really needs to rethink this remarks on Audi driver’s now, or maybe he is still too in the “stone-age” with this English Cottage house.

I like the part where the Mercedes C300 is swapped for the A4, it’s like so in-the-face for the Merc. Progress Is Beautiful, yea.

You can you view the full higher resolution video at the source on Audi America.

Held in the posh confines of the Raffles Convention center, the FOW derivatives world asia 2008 is an annual event where trading firms come to showcase their latest online trading software and market solutions. Well don’t ask me why I am at this event today, as this is the first time I am actually attending this event. It was my mum who was invited to the event, but well, being a derivatives trader herself, she had the honor of “inviting” me to meet her at the event after I was done with business on my side in the morning.

Besides the buffet and myriad of free gifts at every booth, there was an extensive showcase of SGX, GL Trade, Progress, Tokyo Exchange and Patsystems were there. I never caught on with trading software and stuff, neither the amusing sign languages my mum used to make when she worked as a trader in the SGX pits previously, (aka Simex during her time) so this was an eye opener to me. The most I know about what she does is only helping her install her PC and multi HD screens setup shes uses to trade from home.

Now, digital trading seems to be the only way to go now, which sad to say, saw the demise of regular pit trading in Singapore which I think my mum really misses as well, not to mention meeting many of her ex-colleagues at today’s event where she came to know after catching-up, many now left the job due to the roughness and competitiveness of online trading now. Things are not like the old glory days, times had changed.

Far out in the Franco–Swiss border near Geneva, CERN’s (The European Organization for Nuclear Research) first phase of single directional beam fire was successful. It will be a matter of no time where the 2nd opposing beam is fired for some atomic smashing fun, allowing physicists learn about more about the laws of Nature as almost “recreating” the big bang and the following bolts and nuts of the details which follows. A possible consequence of this is the possibility of the project creating mini black holes which could pull all forms of matter (including planets) into, marking a possible impending dooms day, also as shunned upon by activist’s worldwide boycotting the experiment. Haha no one’s listening! Go science!

Geneva, 10 September 2008.
The first beam in the Large Hadron Collider at CERN was successfully steered around the full 27 kilometres of the world’s most powerful particle accelerator at 10h28 this morning. This historic event marks a key moment in the transition from over two decades of preparation to a new era of scientific discovery.

Starting up a major new particle accelerator takes much more than flipping a switch. Thousands of individual elements have to work in harmony, timings have to be synchronized to under a billionth of a second, and beams finer than a human hair have to be brought into head-on collision. Today’s success puts a tick next to the first of those steps, and over the next few weeks, as the LHC’s operators gain experience and confidence with the new machine, the machine’s acceleration systems will be brought into play, and the beams will be brought into collision to allow the research programme to begin.

Once colliding beams have been established, there will be a period of measurement and calibration for the LHC’s four major experiments, and new results could start to appear in around a year. Experiments at the LHC will allow physicists to complete a journey that started with Newton’s description of gravity. Gravity acts on mass, but so far science is unable to explain the mechanism that generates mass. Experiments at the LHC will provide the answer. LHC experiments will also try to probe the mysterious dark matter of the universe – visible matter seems to account for just 5% of what must exist, while about a quarter is believed to be dark matter. They will investigate the reason for nature’s preference for matter over antimatter, and they will probe matter as it existed at the very beginning of time.

CERN Press release

Got a email from the NYAA office on Sunday with regards to some rather good news (and as confirmed with a snail-mail letter few days ago), I am awarded the NYAA gold award! After 2 long months of waiting anxiously after the interview, finally, I can come to rest with the news of the award! I’ve made it!

The National Youth Achievement Award (NYAA) is a prestigious award as accredited as an international award by the The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Awards. There are bronze and silver categories in which younger students and youths alike can start and move on to higher levels, undertaking for challenges which each passing “DIY” goals through various sections (5 in the gold). The Gold standard is the highest one can achieve in the program.

Looking back, I’ve came a very long way in the award, almost 3 years in fact. I never saw the public-spirited side of me clear enough if I never took up the challenges of the award and the good it did to people all around me, whether it’s a simple thing such as helping out in charity events, fund-raising, selling flags, to overseas community trips involving teaching children in rural areas to cleaning up old folks home in Medan Indonesia. These activities left me the deepest impression of the award and it will definitely be a way of life for a long time to come.

Besides inculcating discipline to accomplish all sections on time, it is the “DIY” factor and the openness of the award which I found rather commendable- it made the award a supplementary to daily activities- one which requires planning, responsibility and yet being so flexible for youths to undertake it from all walks of life. For me, the award is really a “do or miss” thing, considering that this year is the last year I am able to qualify for it. I am glad I got it.

The awards presentation will be held in early October, with the awards given out by President S R Nathan and accompanied by Mr Mah Bow Tan, Minister for National Development and Chairman NYAA Advisory Board during the whole ceremony.

Will be looking forward to it!