| An Account of Rally Race In Shanghai |
| Written by Lancy, Translated by Janice 2003/3/22 Cloudy, highest temperature of the day: 13C Today 7.15am, we rushed to Shanghai Sports Stadium, and upon reaching the main opening, we saw 4 Jia Tong's yellow cars drove past in front of us. Jimmy was driving his No. 16 speeding past us. They were going to join in an opening ceremony at 9am in another complex. As time was tight, we didn't go for the opening ceremony of the race but directly headed for Song Jiang car maintenance centre. We reach there at 9am. At this time, all the mechanics were busy preparing for the race. We got the permission from the team's person in charge to let us display our banner of support for Jimmy on the tent of the car maintenance centre/pitstop and it looks really striking. At around 10, all the cars arrived and were queuing to enter the pitstop. Jimmy's car 16 was surrounded with lots of people. Flashlights from the reporters and fans were seen everywhere. Not a while later, he and his female navigator, Zhou Li alighted from the car and entered the pitstop. He was very happy when he saw our banner, we also wished him success. We can see that he's filled with confidence, but it's different from his usual liveliness. From his eyes, he looks firm and serious, slowly adjusting his condition, his seriousness also led us to quieten down. After he went into the pitstop, he began to eat his breakfast. Seeing him eating dumplings and banana, I suddenly remembered that I've brought some chocolates for him, and went to pass them to him. He accepted them happily, and another racer beside him said, "This is good, this is good. Come at the right time." Seeing him focusing on the preparation of the race, we just stand outside the pitstop and waited. Not long later, he went into his car and slowly drove out of the pit stop. Once on the road, the engine gave out a thunderous roar and sped away. After abt 40 min, his car returned, but this time, lots of residents and students nearby came and surrounded around his car, trying to get him to sign. They surrounded the car for quite some time while Jimmy was trying to enter the pitstop. He kept honking the car horn trying to disperse the crowd and the scene was chaotic. We looked on anxiously. It look him quite a long time when he finally went in. Once he alighted, more people gathered around him and even shouted wanting his autograph. With a straight face, he told them, "Please let me concentrate on the race, Ok?" His tone was heavy, we could sensed that he was angry, but still, this didn't stop those students. Jimmy just walked into the resting tent and many people actually followed him in, still wanting his autograph. Eventually, they were all chased out by the workers. Actually, they kepted the resting area open, but after this, they closed it. But those student actually started to tug at the tent, I really couldn't look on and went to asked them if they're Jimmy's fans, one of them hesitated for a while and said yes, I said if they're fans, please don't disturb him at this time. If you really want his autograph, now is not the time. Not that he don't want to sign but now he's not to be disturbed, so please let him concentrate on the race. They were starting to listen to me, but there was a plump girl who was trying to pull open the tent and at the same time argued, if it wasn't for this spring tour, I would have want to see Jimmy. My god, this girl hasn't been properly taught! In this end, because of their continuous barging, Jimmy's assistant, Jun-ping came out. In order not to let them disturb him, she agreed to help them get Jimmy's autograph and mail it to them. Finally, calming the situation. After a while, Jimmy went into the car and started out again, and the crowd began to disperse. The following racing routes had been going on smoothly, the results were: Postition / Car No. / Category / Time taken 09 / 16 / N4 / 06:21.9 09 / 16 / N4 06 / 16 / N4 / 06:17.1 17 / 16 / N4 / 06:59.6 17 / 16 / N4 / 07:06.9 06 / 16 / N4 / 06:09.0 12 / 16 / N4 / 06:49.7 06 / 16 / N4 / 06:09.2 There's a total of 8 race routes in today's race. Among them, in the 4th route, Jimmy's car didn't return after a very long time. We began to feel anxious. Later we hear that the car had overturned, and need to drag him out. This really scare us to death, then we realised that it's another car, not Jimmy's, but Jimmy didn't do well either for this lap. He looked a bit frustrated when he returned and we didn't dare to say a word. But following on, he's going on very smoothly, and began to liven up. When a reporter interviewed him, he said the situation of the road wasn't good, he had to step on the brakes very often and wasn't able to increase his speed. Moreover because the road is of tar, thus he couldn't drive too fast, or else this would cause the tyres to overheat very easily and may lead to tyres explosion. He said that he would try his best to complete the race. Today's race ended at 6.30pm, we also pack up and went home for the day. 2003/3/23 Cloudy and windy with drizzles of rain in some areas, Highest temperature of the day: 14C Today's weather isn't too good. When we reach at 8am, it was already beginning to drizzle. The team began to pull up a tent for shelter from the rain, and even took out the rain tyres. We went to the result board to look at Jimmy's result. Someone told us that most importantly is to take note of Jimmy's timing difference from the opponent in front of him, if he is more than 5 min away, it would be less likely to be able to catch up. We all prayed that he would have good results today. A while later, all the race cars had entered the pitstop. Jimmy's car 16 has also entered. Today, Jimmy seemed quite stern, doesn't quite take notice of others. He discussed with his team about the car's situation once he alighted, suddenly bringing about an atmosphere of anxiousness. The 9th racing route was going to start. Jimmy put on his anti-shock helmet. The car returned just a while later after it set off, but he didn't drove into the pitstop, just stopped outside to change the tyres. He called over all the mechanics and we weren't sure about what they were discussing. It seemed as though there was something wrong with the car. He left again as soon as the tyres were changed, but this time, he didn't return after a long time, we all began to turn anxious. After about one and the half hour, he came back. However this time, his face was even darker. He called over to 2 foreign technicians once he alighted, and told them about the situation of the car very sternly. The 2 foreigners checked the car for a long time and told him that there seemed to be no problem with it at all, then was there a smile on his face, and started to chat with people. Not long later, Zhou Li and him were eating their lunch in the car. Then when the car was started on the proper track, a sudden great gush of smoke was produced upon stepping on the accelerator, he slowed down the car, and even wound down the window to look, the car was shaky as it was driven away. As once the car is on the road, there is no more turning back. We could only wait patiently for the outcome. The result in the 9th lap wasn't satisfactory, placed at 42. I asked another racer of the same team what was the problem with Jimmy's car, he said it was only a minor problem, then I asked why was there suddenly so much smoke produced, he said that wasn't much of a problem, so we could only pray that everything was going to be ok. But after a very long time, his car still didn't return. Other race cars had already completed the route and going for the next round, I saw that the result was out and immediately went to take a look. I saw on Jimmy's No 16 was the word 'Retired' stated there, then knowing that his car had broke down and had no way of restarting, so he had to withdraw from the race. I heard that of the 4 gas tanks, only 3 were working. At 12 noon, Jimmy returned in a van, and without staying long here, he headed back( to hotel). Just when he was leaving, someone from the team allowed a policeman to get his autograph. Jimmy agreed, but after signing one, more and more people began to gather around him requesting for his autograph. He didn't seem very happy and he was pulled away by Jun-ping. When he was going into the car, lots of people refuse to let him go in, and eventually, even Zhou Li got angry. The whole situation ended chaotically, leaving us still standing there looking blank. At 4pm, there was a closing ceremony in Shanghai sports stadium, Jimmy's car 16 was pushed in, of course, Jimmy didn't attend this ceremony, he only attended for the prize giving night function at 7.30pm and from here, the rally race has officially ended. |