The whole facility was impressive to see, and I was immediately looking forward to driving around and learning the track. I did get some laps in on the Playstation, but I kept crashing, so I gave that up. I thought I should step into the new 'World of Playstation' and get a head start with the real thing, leaving the kids to play and getting back to what I know.
When I did get out onto the track, I found the layout tighter than I thought for what is a new circuit but, with the way
F1 keeps destroying these circuits with tight hairpins, I guess should not have been surprised. The surface was also very slippery, with sand being blown into the air like it was the sort of rooster tail you normally associate with wet weather racing. However, despite all that, I have to say that, as we got to grips with the car and track, I began to like the layout more and more.
The
Ferrari 550 I was driving was not as balanced as I would have liked, so we made a lot of changes during the practice session. When it came to qualifying, I put the new tyres on and put the car on pole position. The DDO Saleen was only two-tenths slower, though, so I was expecting nothing other than a close race.
With the event rules stating that each driver in the line-up had to start two of the four scheduled races, Allan started heat one on Thursday evening. He immediately pulled out a great lead, and was miles in front when the race was stopped. Now you might wonder why an event taking place in a country where everything appeared to be very organised should have to be stopped.... but it got very dark very quickly - and some cars that didn't have lights!
It was during qualifying and the first race that we first reckoned that we were the strongest driver pairing in the field, as the Saleen and Viper proved very slow in race one. I duly started the next heat - and found that I had the Saleen, now with fast Frenchman Dominique Dupuy at the wheel, right up my backside the whole race!
