Okay..... so a bit of a report for you guys before i put pictures into Flicker or somewhere.
ladora: it's a pity i didn't have your mobile number......you probably would have got inside. We took the River Taxi from Clarke Quay, arrived at the Flyer and headed for Gate2. We never found Gate2 but we did manage to walk right through a Marshals post and stand on the track side.
Nobody was checking tickets...... i had mine in my pocker ALL afternoon.
There is a little bridge connecting the two halves of One Fullerton, i saw easily half a dozen people on it when i looked during the BMW qualifying. Report in todays paper has people at Marina Square able to watch the race free from somewhere.
The Marina Grandstand was quite a big disappointment..... none of that vibration in the seat of your pants as the cars went under it. Looks like they really know how to build a grandstand!
The plus point was there is an Air Conditioned bar at the top of the grandstand but at peak time you'd have to wait easily half an hour in the queue for a beer or food. Just beside that we looked over the back of the grandstand just above the track.....no nets, no nothing, just a great view directly above the driver.....pity i had no eggs, one would have ended up on Massa
Going round that right hander there is a huge bump on the exit, the Porsches were really having a tough time bottoming out
Under the grandstand was LOUD as hell, access was given to the Support Race pits for the whole day. You could get right upto the cars etc. and talk to the mechanics when they weren't so busy.
TIP for next year: Get a Walkabout ticket. There is so many places to see the race from and still see a big screen. I ended up about 4m away from the cars as they headed passed the Esplanade Theatre, after their 90-degree right turn and half way towards the Marina Grandstand. Could see the whole length of that straight. They were over 200kph passing me, and me without earplugs but still not so bad. All will be revealed in my photos but its tricky taking cars as they pass at that speed and the one i do have with even a car in the shot is really a blur but a great effect of speed.
I walked basically from the Flyer to the Fullerton and there is some really great places to sit by the trackside and watch the action. Definately would not go into a grandstand.
Overall a really good day except for one incident as we tried to get from Marina Bay Grandstand to the Esplanade just before the end of F1 first practise. The police in their wisdom blocked the pavement through but people were walking the other way.....a thousand odd people held hostage for 15-min or more until the more inspired took down a barrier to the marshal's path and created two way traffic with the police trying to stop us going through. A few tempers started to fly but i suppose once incident in the day is not bad...... although i didn't count the fact people were not checking tickets and we managed to get in without passing through a gate......we missed it because signage was hopeless. It was a last minute deal to allow the River Taxi to go to the Flyer so infrastructure was not prepared.