Sleepless in Singapore

Singapore— It’s an invite you can’t refuse. Go to Singapore for a week to watch the Grand Prix. But before the actual race weekend, take a couple of laps of the challenging Marina Bay street circuit in Ferrari’s half-a-million-dollar simulator, interview Fernando Alonso and Ferrari test driver (and former Formula One pilot) Marc Gene, visit the Ferrari pit garage, check out Shell’s amazing pit garage-situated self-contained portable fuels laboratory (while trying to get two Shell fuels scientists to reveal their fuel strategy), watch the exciting Ferrari Challenge where identical 458 Italias race wheel to wheel, and—time and sobriety permitting—learn to make Singapore Sling, not from a bartender at Raffles Hotel’s iconic Long Bar (where the cocktail was invented), but from a Shell “rock star” fuels scientist in a function room at, yes, the Raffles Hotel.

I didn’t expect to be allowed to take photos inside the Ferrari garage, but the Ferrari crew were so confident about their work, they just let me keep snapping away.

It was simply an incredible and unforgettable week-long series of events. And it’s a story where words simply won’t do justice. Which is why I feel it’s best to give a few thousand words’ worth of pictures to tell it.

Ferrari fuels scientists explain the difference between Shell’s V-Power Nitro+ versus ordinary fuels. The difference is that they use fruits, juices and liquers to represent chemicals. We followed their step-by-step instructions and in the end…voila!...we had Singapore Sling in our cocktail glasses. Cool!

Ferrari and Shell celebrated their 500th race as technical partners in the 2012 Singapore Grand Prix. The partnership was commemorated with this special Ferrari 458 Italia, which was driven by Marc Gene as a guest driver in the Singapore leg of the Ferrari Challenge.