Bahrain GP - Day 2 - Qualifying

After a very good nights sleep at the Bahrain Mansion we were up bright and early, mainly because the co-pilot had been left in charge of setting the alarm clock on the mobile and hadn't adjusted for the hours time difference to Dubai.....still all in forgiven.

So we booked a taxi and agreed a collection time of 10:30 and, to the utter amazment of this traveller used to Dubai Taxis, we were stunned to find him there at 10.30 on the dot. When we then insisted on the meter being turn on her frowned at us confused and replied "Of course, all taxis are required to use meter by law" and low and behold it cost us jsut BD8 to get to the circuit this time.....I'll say no more.

So with the early start we were able to get ourselves installed in our seats, cameras ready and looking forward to a good days racing:

And with the early start we were there in time to see the Porsche racing:

and then the GP2 Asia race, which are cars that look like F1 cars did a few years ago, have reduced power and make for LOTS of very close, very competitive and very fun racing.

But the highlight of the day, as it should be, was certainly the Formula 1 qualifying.






















And how to describe the F1 cars........well......the only words I can think of are horrendously noisy. Yes they are supremely fast, they take corners at impossible speeds, they accelerate at incredible rates and they are are super sleek beautiful works of art but the thing that hit me most about these beasts is definitely the noise.

But how to describe that noise. As they turn on to the start finish straight you and hear a demonic whine like a thousand hornets straight form hell, as they come along the straigh it gets loader and loader. By half way along the straight the whine as built to a scream and your ear drums are physically stinging.....and then by the time they pass you you feel like you ears have been torn apart and your spleen is going to rupture.

It is like being in a small concrete bunker with a hungry 3 month old baby screaming through Metallica's sound system.

It hurts.

Its horrendous.

And its BLOODY BRILLIANT!!