World Class Experience Indeed!
I found myself woke up earlier than my alarm clock. It was only 4.30am when I’d fully woken up from sleep. In fact, I woke up 15 minutes before my alarm went off. It must be the excitement which had been cooking all night in my stomach. The day had come! The day I, Adeline, the V.I.P of the Sepang Grand Prix shall be cheuffeured and introduced to the cute drivers!
With that happy thoughts, I rose from my feet and headed straight to the bathroom. At forsaken hour like that I managed that with no grunts but smile. I just love the whole process of getting ready for an important event. I love to dress and doll myself up with anticipations of bumping into some cute guys. I am not DESPERATE, okay! I was just excited… Besides, what’s wrong of getting excited at the prospect of meeting some eye candies?!
I checked my reflection one last time before stepping into my heels. Perfect. They wanted me to dress in blue and here, this was as blue as I could go. White prairer blouse with baby blue tube + body hugging blue jeans + blue heels and I topped it off with a blue purple-ish flower I got from Evita. I might not look anything like a sport-bum (well, to certain extend, I might even look like a bimbo) but who cares. I was supposed to dress like a V.I.P. 
Contended, I headed out.
It was 6.45am when I reached Sheraton Imperial. Buzzed Audra before I went up to the room. Gosh, that girl was still sleeping! I thought breakie was at 7.00am! Anyway, there was nothing to be panicked about. I was all dressed up after all. Oh, have I mentioned that I single handedly drove all the way to Sheraton Imperial? That, that itself was an achievement. No wonder they say, when you really put your thought into something you can make it happen! 
I could barely eat my breakfast. All I thought about was the Pit Lane Walk. It’s supposed to start at 8.30am and there we were, 8.40am and still not yet departed from the hotel. Geez! That’s supposed to be the hightlight of the day! As soon as the Estima arrived, we hopped in the car and the driver wasted no time vroooming off to the highway.
The level of adrenaline in my blood shot to a record new high when I smelt the grease and the burned tyre in the air! There we were, finally! We were being cheuffeured straight to the Paddock Club area. I could already see piles of tyres piling up at the side. Many kwai lou guards were standing near the gate directing the human traffic. On the right, it was some warehouse lookalike place. Blimey, there were at least 10 porches stood proudly in there! I glanced around suddenly realized there were people thronging the entrance. It was a hussle bussle near the gate. For the first time I didn’t complain about the crowd. I loved it!
Without wasting any second, we headed straight to the Pit Lane. Gosh, there were so many people already! Almost everyone came with a camera! Ohhh-Ahhh, I couldn’t stop myself!!! There, I saw David Coulthard talking intensely with his mechanics. There were girls standing beside me trying to take a photo of David Coulthard. I was in awe. It’s so different seeing these people on the telly than seeing them in real life; talking right before me! I thought I wouldn’t get star-struck but I was wrong! It’s only David Coulthard and I was already lossing myself! 
I should have just called out his name and snapped a picture with him! Just before I conjured up some courage, he walked right into the garage… Blimey! I hadn’t even use my line with a little fake british accent… ‘Excuse me, Mr. Coulthard. Do I have the honour of taking a picture with you? I have always admired your skill on the racing track.’ Of coz the latter was a lie! He’s never my favourite driver! Well… I didn’t even get to lie…
Never mind, there should be other drivers further down the lane. Oh boy, the noise of the engines… It’s deafening! It’s like a parade. Everyone just hopped from one garage to another, snapping pictures. Finally we reached the garage of AT&T Williams. Richard the person in charge came to greet Audra, Carmie and I. He looked like a nice guy. We took a picture together before I moved on to the next garage. He told us that he would come up to the Paddock Club area after the Pit Lane Walk to talk to us.
That’s Mark Webber’s race car, and Jenson Button’s… I couldn’t contain myself. I know all the drivers! Carmie was impressed. Hehe… Little did she know little missy here follows F1. Suddenly everyone including the press went rushing to BMW Sauber’s garage. There, the full BMW crew were posing for photograph! I squeezed myself passed a few big guys, determined to take a few shots. I heard myself saying, ‘Excuse me, do you mind me squeezing in for a little bit?’ The words worked like magic. The big guys moved aside instantly. Gosh, the reporter’s cute and he was smiling at me! I looked up and grinned at him and got lost in his smile. Boy, I must have looked really stupid.
Quickly, I fished out my camera from my bag focusing on the boys and the cars… There, Nick Heidfeld, I was so sure he looked at my camera and posed!!! I should have just run to him and gotten someone to snap a picture. Maybe, maybe I would even appear on some international newspaper with the headline ‘Mentally unstable girl ran towards BMW first driver Nick Heidfeld, causing hoo-ha in Sepang Circuit…’
Anyways, I was on the quest searching for the scarlet car. Maybe I was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of Kimi Raikkonen! I heard some really loud noise from a really powerful engine. I knew I need not look any further. I found the car! The Ferrari team was testing their pit stop timing. That was the closest I ever got with a Ferrari! I pinced my face, I wasn’t dreaming. But there was no sign of Kimi Raikkonen. It was the test driver who sat in the scarlet red stallion. Who cares, I snapped a few more pictures before the guards started chasing us out from the pit lane.
On my way out, I heard Carmie said to me, ‘Quick, look behind. There’s a guy checking you out! Quick! There, again. He is looking at you. Look behind, the guy with the ponytail!’ I didn’t know how to cope with her sudden remark. I looked behind but didn’t see any guy with a ponytail. Carmie urged again, ‘there he is, leaning at the wall. He’s checking you out! His head turned when you walked past just now! He’s still checking you out. Quick, turn back!’ The guard was urging people to leave. With one last attempt, I looked back. There he was, the cute guy with the ponytail. I smiled at him and walked away… Wow, this was getting fun!
Okay, everyone out of the Pit Lane. The practice session was about to start.With Audra and Carmies’ help, we managed to get into the Paddock Club. It’s a whole new world there! At the garden area, the aroma of coffee greeted my nostils. There were people milling about. Cute waiters and waitresses approaching people who stepped into that area with chilled drinks and some great smiles. Suddenly it seemed like your needs were their priorities. Eveytime I emptied my glass, within second a cute waiter would come by with a new glass of drinks.
At another corner, there were people massaging some tired feet. There was a caricaturist ready to draw anything you requested with ZERO charge. In fact, everything was F.O.C! You don’t pay USD4000 for nothing after all! I spotted an ice cream stand. I made an immediate mental note to come back for that later. I looked around, there were cute guys everywhere!! There, the cute guy I saw at the Pit Lane. He was giving me the look! I swore he was smiling! I smiled back… hoping that he would be one of the Williams’ guest.
There we were, at the AT&T Williams Paddock area. Too bad, that cute guy wasn’t a Williams’ guest. What a disappointment! Anyways, Richard showed up and ushered us into the room. Again, the waiters came. Juices, champagnes, wine, you name it, it will be yours the next minute… I felt like a royalty… It felt like a million dollar. I was a V.I.P!!!
The chef that day was a cute Austrian from Vienna! His name is Christian. It’s a pity that we didn’t exchange contact details! Else I will have a tour guide when I visit Vienna next time. He looked like an earnest guy. Slightly chubby but not too bad overall. We just talked and talked until an older chef came out… Then there was this Oxford dude. He was a funny guy. Reminded me of Nick. He was really funny and easygoing. So he got my name card. Boy, was I daring! It’s like being nude in a nude beach where no one on the beach knows who you are! I know it’s an odd comparison! But didn’t they say Carpe Diem?! Even though he isn’t all that cute.
Oh wait, I managed to take a picture with the Williams’ legend - Sir Jackie Stewart. I didn’t even know he’s a legend until I was told by a senior manager. He’s a 60’s champion and I am an 80’s baby… hehehe… Pardon my ignorance!! And yesterday, Audra even got that picture autographed! No wonder she’s a marketing girl!!! She said it might worth some money! Yeah, what a brilliant idea! An autographed picture, my first autographed picture with some important people!!!
I had a blast, I really did. My day ended with a strawberry ice cream. Yummmmy…
It was a life-time experience, I swear! I only hope that this kinda opportunity does come by again next year! I need a Paddock Club ticket on the Race Day this time!
