Grandstanding at the Macau Grand Prix

We were told we would take our special seats at Grandstand A when the official races were actually run for the Macau Grand Prix on the weekend of Nov. 21-22.

On the eve, Friday, some 70 of us that had been invited as international media from over a dozen countries would be treated to the vroom-vroom and blur of practice runs. For this we were herded to another section of the grandstand, where too the grand photo op with the Grand Prix officials would be conducted.

Fast and furious cars zoomed by on the tracks before us, causing ear-splitting drones. The grandstand seats remained colorful as the paying crowd still had to show up for the official races, the 56th edition of the Macau Grand Prix, as sponsored by Windsor Arch.

Formula 3 racers as well as WTC or World Touring Car entries whipped past in lap after lap, the action also engorged by giant LED screens facing us.

The Formula 3 race would be the special feature for the 27th year, since the legendary Ayrton Senna won it in 1983, followed by the likes of Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard who were then also in their early 20s. The FIA F-3 International Cup has since enjoyed the reputation of having launched the careers of the world’s most talented young drivers. And it would be no different this year.

Someone beside us who knew about international car racing explained that while Singapore may have pipped Macau with its first staging of a Formula 1 race, the F-3 was still considered to be more exciting, since it was always wide open among drivers still ascending the highest echelons of the sport. 

Macau can’t stage an F-1 race because the streets given over to the Guia Circuit course were too narrow. But it was just as well, since F-1 races usually wound up being won by entrenched names that enjoyed all the support apart from experience. The F-3 was said to be simply more exciting, as there were no favorites.

For its part, the FIA World Touring Car Championship would be run only for the fifth year in Macau. The WTCC also sees intense competition as weight handicaps or what’s called a “success ballast” are adjusted depending on earlier results, thus equalizing performance among the technologically sophisticated machines that are still recognizable as road-going vehicles. Large-scale production cars of two-wheel drive and two-liter, normally aspirated engines with a maximum of six cylinders are modified with a Super 2000 or Diesel 2000 kit.

Our Pinoy media team of four, led by Macau Government Tourist Office’s marketing manager Jet Cabuslay, had an opportunity to get right down to the metaphorical pits and check out these cars, their drivers and crews up close.

And then there were the chinky-eyed “umbrella girls” that are better features than those in certain golf courses. Fast cars and leggy models have been a staple in glamorizing the sport, and so it was but natural for everyone with a camera to first gravitate towards sacral dimples before focusing on much-adorned hoods and pit-crew activities.

We would be back for the official races the next two days, but meanwhile, there was still much of the constantly developing enclave to check out. Since our last visit to Macau a couple of years ago, developments have kept to their regular fast pace despite the global recession. While it caused temporary stoppage of major hotel construction, what has gone up and been unveiled since 2007 is still a marvel to behold.

The Hotel Grand Lisboa that rises as the highest building in the peninsula dominates all views, enhanced as it is by its distinctive lotus-shaped crown. At night, colored lights constantly streak around its facade, turning it into a modern beacon of fantasia calling on all comers.

It’s the same with the Cotai Strip, reclaimed land around what used to be a narrow causeway between Coloane and Taipa Islands, and now the setting for grandiloquent attractions seeking to rival Las Vegas’ fantasy world. 

Finally we got to set foot on The Venetian, which has physically trumped The Bellagio in Vegas with its humongous recreation of Italian splendor — with its colonnades of medieval moderne, we might say, arches and columns rising in golden flight towards vaulted ceilings rife with frescoes, and all throughout the elaborate maze on the ground-floor level, faux skies as canopies for street scenes bordered by cafes, through which gondolas float by in canals.

The ornate spectacle is a feast for the eyes, but hell on rubbernecks and tired feet, as it’s virtually kilometer after kilometer of hallways one wanders through, past all of the world’s signature brand shops. And of course there’s the main casino that stretches right smack between the north and south wings of the mega-hotel, meaning it’s unavoidable to cross through.

There are also twin curving escalators that border a grand cupola with another cafe that pretends to be al fresco, on a corner of which sit a bevy of gorgeous ladies in tight shorts, all essaying come-hither poses. When we walk past as oglers, one says something in Tagalog, and we realize that Adam’s apples are another feature — which probably explains why we hardly see their attractive kind anymore standing by lampposts at midnight on Ayala and Makati Avenues back home.

A whiff of fresh air on one of the grand terraces that border The Venetian makes for a wonderful respite. Macau is a great destination for Pinoys at this time of year, as the temperature dips to as low as five degrees centigrade. Coupled with constant breezes from the sea, it is bracing to stand outdoors. One has to be on the move constantly, all the better to appreciate much more of the cornucopia of visual delights on the Cotai Strip, especially at night.

Across is the City of Dreams, a resort complex made up of Crown, Hard Rock and the Grand Hyatt hotels, all of which are said to be under the aegis of old hand Stanley Ho’s oldest son. The towers complement one another with their light displays racing up and down their facades, changing hues from resplendent reds and oranges to serene blues.

 At the Crown, there’s a regular freebie presentation at The Bubble: a liquid-wall video spectacle billed as “Dragons’ Treasure” — with sea creatures streaming all over in sensurround, and five dragons materializing as large figures whizzing by or adopting menacing poses. There’s a quasi-mythic narrative as well, and it’s all so wondrously tongue-in-cheek, that the 15-minute immersion “underwater” can only leave one breathless in delight.

At the Hard Rock, a lobby feature is a similar liquid wall that displays mermaids in motion, while standing before it is a pair of Chinese-costumed ladies who hand out flyers. Another wall displays glass-encased rock memorabilia, such as guitars used by Michael Jackson (and boots) and hard-rock stars.  

On our last night we take in Cirque du Soleil’s “Zaia” at its own theater at The Venetian. A 90-minute spectacle, it may not be quite up to par with Cirque’s classic vintage offerings such as “Alegria,” or its new-edition “Love” that utilizes The Beatles’ memorable music. But it’s still a visual and aural treat, with aerialists, pas de deux acrobats, jugglers, clowns, skateboarders cyclists, trampoline artists filling up the stage, and all that space above the audience, with highly stylized derring-do.    

But the real exploits as far as pulse-pounding challenge goes belonged that weekend to the daring young men in their speed machines.

Enzo Pastor, Pinoy, a brother-in-law of our buddy and Philippine Star columnist RJ Ledesma, joined the ranks of winners by placing third in the CTM Macau Touring Car Race, a popular 12-lap sprint that involved 36 drivers from across Asia competing in Super Production cars.

The FIA World Touring Car Championship had a shortened final round when the race was interrupted by a safety car on Lap 3. A driver had crashed in the Solitude Esses before the race was red-flagged at the end of Lap 8 following a spectacular crash at the R Bend final corner. With debris all over the track, there was no option but to halt the race. After a brief delay, it was decided that the event would not be restarted. Augusto Farfus on a BMW took the victory, while SEAT’s Gabriele Tarquini of italy became FIA World Touring Car Champion.

In the Macau GT Cup, Japan’s Keita Sawa finally claimed victory after four attempts, on his LKM-backed Lamborghini Gallardo GT3. Darryl O’Young in a Porsche Cup S, of LKM-Team Jebsen, crossed the line just 0.285 seconds behind Sawa at the end of the 10-lap race. Third was Briton Danny Watts in a Porsche 997 GT3 Cup, with Malaysia’s Tunku Hammam Sulong winding up fourth in a Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S.

The finale that was the F-3 championship featured a race-long duel between Signature teammates Edoardo Mortara and Jean-Karl Vernay in state-of-the-art single seater Volkswagens. The race also featured a multiple-car collision when Daniel Ricciardo crashed into the wall at the Solitude Esses and was clipped by a number of other cars.

At the restart, Mortara got away cleanly, but Vernay managed to get into his slipstream and overtake him into Lisboa. From there, the Signature pair were locked in a tight battle for the lead, until coming out of the Melco Hairpin on Lap 11, Mortara swooped past Vernay and into the lead. The young Italian pulled away for the victory, with Briton Sam Bird finishing third.

As for the Pinoy media team, well, we can proudly say that we managed to pose on the pit with second-placer Vernay on the eve of the climactic race. Maybe we brought him luck, which in Macau comes in good supply.