"That was the first time I saw them," says Lynn, "and I was totally blown away. Being a bit of a motor sports fan, I immediately thought of how great it would be to have a cat car race -- but as good as I thought the idea was, I couldn't get anyone else interested in it."
The idea for the cat car race was revived in March 2001. The catalyst was the cancellation of the live coverage of the Malaysian Grand Prix. "The race organisers believe that cancelling the live coverage would drive Malaysians to the race track in droves," Lynn remarks, "I thought it was the right thing to do -- if money were to grow on trees, of course."
Co-race organiser, Shila, clarifies, "Like a lot of Malaysians, we wanted the see the action up close. I mean, this is a world class event and we have one of the best tracks in the world but we just could not afford the high ticket prices. So, we depended on live telecast. And when they cancelled it... well, we we decided to organise our own race."
This year will mark the first time a cat car race is being held -- ever. "I'm sure other people have held impromptu cat car races before," say Shila "but this is the first time that it is being held on this scale." And what scale will that be? "Two of our friends will be coming to watch it," pips Lynn brightly after a few seconds.
"Well this is our first time organising a race and a last minute one at that too," declares Shila. "There are bound to be some hiccups along the way but, once cat car racing catches people�s imagination -- as I�m sure it will -- this sport will be huge!" Adds Lynn, "We�ll even give Formula One a run for their money."
*For those interested, public opinion forced race organisers to allow the live coverage and Malaysians went on to watch Michael Schumacher went on to complete his sixth consecutive victory.
Basically, it's two (or more) crazy humans pushing around two (or more) equally crazy cats in paper boxes around a race track (which may be indoors or outdoors -- depending on whether the players involved mind that the world sees them as crazy). The cats are the drivers, the boxes are the cars, and the humans, the 'engine'-er.
Probably because you've never been around cat lovers. It is a well-known fact that cats love boxes and sometimes their pet humans would push them around in their boxes just for the fun of it, and occasionally, they would have races.
The rules are pretty much made up as it goes along but the basic ones are:
2. Driver are not allowed to scratch competitor engine-ers but may scratch other drivers
3. Any drivers that jump out of their cars during the course of the race will be disqualified immediately. However, if the car crashes or overturns, the driver is allowed to get back into the car and continue with the race
4. Dirty tactics are allowed -- as long at it does not does not cost any of the driver's nine lives
A really well-built cat car would look something like this:
(Click here if you'd like to learn how to make a cat car)
Cat car photo courtesy of www.bluebirdgardens.com