We were in Grandstand C2 which is back to back with the Grandstand overlooking the start/finish so right where they hit the fastest speed, 330kph, and almost immediately after passing us at fullchat they slowed down to 80kph for the last corner. Hadn't realised they popped and banged so much when slowing...you don't hear that on the TV. We could also see across to more of the circuit below the "hill". I reckon we could see about 20% of the circuit...nothing like the 70% it said in the leaflet.
The Porsche race was fairly tame and 10 laps was plenty enough. After that there was 2 hours before the F1 race. Very little do do apart from get a hotdog and look at the overpriced "Official" merchandise...250Ringgit for a Ferrari shirt (probably made in Thailand) and quality no different to the knockoffs here for 500baht. In fact the 2 lads I was with were wearing Thai Ferrari knockoffs...which caused a few comments when we were in the casino at Genting in the night as they played along saying to anyone who asked that they worked for Ferrari
But 30 minutes before the race one of the lads pulled off quite a coup. A week ago when they were on PhiPhi they'd met a guy who worked for F1 and he'd said to let him know when they were at the track and he might be able to do something special for them. So they'd texted him when we arrived but only got an answer from him 30 minutes before the race telling us to meet him at the entrance to the pit tunnel. When he met us unfortunately he'd only been able to get 1 extra pass and as there wasn't much time only one of the lads, Adam, got to go on a pit lane tour
His dad is a major Ferrari fan and while he was in the pits sent him a text saying he was there and got an answer back saying "the fcuk you are!" but later Adam sent him some pics to prove it.
The race itself...well the speed and the noise is awesome but after just a few laps already there are one or two stragglers so from then on it means there's a car passing every few seconds andso it's impossible to hear the commentary for the rest of the race. This means, unless you buy the eardefenders with the inbuilt radio, you spend most of the remainder of the race watching the big screen to find out what is going on and who is where.
Also, for me anyway, after a few laps of 20 cars screaming past, the buzz from the speed and noise wears off and becomes very monotonous and quite frankly boring. We didn't see a single overtaking manouevre and the only "action" was a BMW that did a spin and reversed into the kittylitter and another BMW that coasted past us with a dead engine.
I'm a motorsport fan and have done a fair bit myself...hillclimbing; sandracing; bangerracing; sprinting...but to be honest found the F1 race pretty boring after a few laps. I went because I had a free ticket and I doubt I would go again if I had to pay! However, if you want to see F1 I believe the Sepang race is the cheapest on the tour to see....cheapest tickets were 200Ringgit to sit on the hill. I think the cheapest ticket for the British GP is 99 pounds.
For me there just was very little actual "racing"!...and no entertainment between the races.