Weeee! Back from an eventful weekend at the Suzuka race track for the F1 Japan Grand Prix.

Saturday, the weather was crap, and the qualifying races were not totally fair, since the rain got a lot of the later races destroyed... as far as times go. However, we had passes as guests of BAR Honda racing team to the terrace, which is pretty much a dining area built on top of the pits. Excellent view, even better food, and free promotional goods and alcohol!

Sunday had very nice weather and many surprises. We get there and, instead of tickets to the grandstand like we were expecting, they give us Paddock Club access passes as guests of Suzuka. Unfortunately, we didn't get access to the terrace like on Saturday, but we still got free food and all that...

starting line up //// final results

1. Ralf Schumacher //// Kimi Raikkonen
2. Jenson Button //// Giancarlo Fisichella
3. Giancarlo Fisichella //// Fernando Alonso
4. Christian Klien //// Mark Webber
5. Takuma Sato //// Jenson Button
6. David Coulthard //// David Coulthard
7. Mark Webber //// Michael Schumacher
8. Jacques Villeneuve //// Ralf Schumacher
9. Rubens Barrichello //// Christian Klien
10. Felipe Massa //// Felipe Massa
11. Narain Karthikeyan //// Jacques Villeneuve
12. Antonio Pizzonia //// Rubens Barrichello
13. Christijan Albers //// Takuma Sato (EXCLUDED)
14. Michael Schumacher //// Tiago Monteiro
15. Robert Doornbos //// Robert Doornbos
16. Fernando Alonso //// Narain Karthikeyan
17. Kimi Raikkonen* //// Christijan Albers
18. Juan Pablo Montoya //// Juan Pablo Montoya (RETIRED)
19. Jarno Trulli //// Antonio Pizzonia (RETIRED)
20. Tiego Montiero //// Jarno Trulli (RETIRED)

*Check out Raikkonen's final placement. Rising to the top!

Unfortunately, if you sit on one turn of the circuit, it's kind of hard to tell what's going on. We watched the first nine or ten laps and then went back to the Suzuka tent and pigged out while watching it on TV. Then, we left early to avoid an inevitable and horrible traffic jam. In other words, we missed all of the interesting parts of the race (Montoya's car splitting in half, Raikkonen passing Fisichella for first place in the last lap, etc.) but Kikko's company probably recorded the live broadcast, so maybe we can watch it again.

GREAT TIME. I came back with four programs, four Paddock Club passes (two for each day, courtesy of Kikko and the Dome chairman, Oku-san), pens, earplugs, cocktail swizzle sticks that look like the sign that they hold in front of the car during a pit-stop (BRAKES ON/FIRST GEAR), ponchos, tissues, and wristbands.

A few pictures too! Click here to view. I took two rolls with my 36 mm for photo class, so if any of them turn out properly, I'll scan and present.

Time to get back into school mode. Boo hoo hoo.