Monday, April 09, 2007

Sepang getting 'shabby'

I just blogged about Singapore joining the race to host F1 few days ago and how Malaysia will need to buck up especially when we are well known for having 1st world infrastructure and 3rd world maintenance.

In the latest news, Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone claimed that Sepang circuit is getting 'shabby' in a press interview. There can only be two possible reasons - either the fact is true (which is not a surprise) or Bernie is already showing his preference between Singapore and Sepang, revenue wise, that is. Actually there's reason number 3 - to get rid of Mahathir's son who is managing SIC, even though I think this is highly unlikely. How would Bernie bow down to Khairy?

Hope we won't end up with another white elephant. We already have enough to make the Thais envy.

By the way, I read somewhere that not even half of the stands were filled in yesterday's race, contrary to what was reported by the Star, which further support the revenue reason above.

Excerpts from the article.

"It has become, if you don't mind, like an old house that needs a bit of redecorating," the New Straits Times quoted him as saying in an interview. "It's starting to get a little shabby and looks a bit tired."

"There is rubbish all over the place and it's not really a good sign for Malaysia. We're on worldwide television and it needs to look good, much like in the beginning."

2 comments:

Ozzy said...

main problem is the grandstand tickets are just too damn expensive... from my experience sitting there once, almost all the locals who sit there get (mostly free) corporate tickets...

but the cheaper tickets on the surrounding hills are always full, and i prefer sitting there, if not for the view, but for the terrific atmosphere

Ozzy said...

another thing to add based on my observation when i was in the grandstand at sepang... i won the tickets thru a contest, and sat in the stands with other Honda corporate guests... problem was, most of them who were there only went because they got free tickets, nothing more.... so basically they turned up, shouted a bit at the start of the race, then got up every 5 mins or so to get more beer/go to toilet (distracting true fans like me from enjoying the race!)... and then just left for home after about 15 laps!... so you could say that the grandstand tickets were indeed sold out, but most left soon after the race started... a pity though, considering the many thousands of local F1 fans who were priced out....