The Japanese grand prix 2006!

Author: Matt Preston Become a contributor

It’s weird that we should look forward to the last full day of a holiday so much! But when that day happens to be the day we watch the Japanese Grand Prix right in front of us, it’s a day that couldn’t come soon enough!

The journey to the site was pretty easy. Arriving on site earlier than the day before even though we left later. A seat all the way was much appreciated as everyone around us stood up, squashed together.

The parade before the race was great fun. Each driver stood up in a vintage car each and waving to the fans. We clapped and cheered as our favourite drivers went past and when Jenson Button went passed we stood up and went crazy. He’s popular here, being a Honda driver, but i think we shouted so loudly he actually heard and saw us and gave us a special wave. I’m sure all the fans around us think the same thing but who cares!

Minutes before the race we were unbelievably nervous. After 2 days of practices and qualifying we were more than ready. Then suddenly they were off! Speeding down to the first turn where i was sure there would be some accidents right in front of us on the narrow circuit but alas there was none! All 20 cars made it round with only one knock unfortunately happening to Barichello who came in on the next lap for a new nose.

I wont bore you with all the race details we saw, if you’re interested you probably watched the race anyway. We were surprised how much we could read the race, work out who things were going for particular cars, guess times between cars, etc. We were both expecting to be totally oblivious to what was happening. Unfortunately all of the incidents during the race didn’t happen on the turns we could see but we saw them all on the rather small video wall in front of us.

An hour and a half later and it was all over. One of our favourites, Fernando Alonso won the race, we legged it out of the site, cutting corners where possible (like through a car park for VIPs) and getting a seat on the train home with a British guy (who arrived in Japan on Saturday and is flying home Monday!) and an Canadian guy living in America who was in the country on business. We had great fun chatting about peculiar Japanese ways, Grand prix knowledge and much more. Exactly what you need on your last day of a holiday, somebody that speaks the same language so you can chat about how great your holiday has been!

And wow what a holiday! More of a travelling experience really. As we sit in our tiny hotel room in Hotel number 7 AKA “Universe Hotel” sipping Asahi beer, reflecting on the past 16 days.