MALAYSIA AIRLINES BOOTH AT PERTH’S FESTIVAL OF SPEED DRAWS HUGE CROWDS

MELBOURNE, Nov 29 (Bernama) -- Malaysia Airlines staged a hugely successful
Malaysian Grand Prix promotion in Perth over the weekend.

The capital of Western Australia staged its first Festival of Speed on Sunday,
with a demonstration of a Red Bull Formula One car driven by Australian F1
driver Mark Webber.

The festival attracted a huge crowd, with many people who were driving to the
venue on the northern outskirts of Perth, turning around and going home because
since the wait to get into the circuit took two to three hours.

"The amount of interest in the Malaysia Airlines stand at the Festival of Speed,
the first event of its kind to be held in Perth, was not only very noticeable
but quite staggering," former Australian Grand Prix official Geoffrey Harris
told Bernama Monday.

"A Perth newspaper, The West Australian, had run a 16-page supplement about the
festival with a half-page advertisement on a competition to win a trip to the
Malaysian Grand Prix.

"An enormous number of people were entering the site. It was also noticeable
that neither the organizer of the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, nor the
event's airline sponsor Qantas, had any presence at the Perth festival, Harris
said.

"Yet if you wanted to entice F1 fans from Perth to KL, they all were at the
Barbagallo Raceway. I think Malaysia Airlines kicked a big goal on Sunday.

"Webber visited the Malaysian stand to draw the names of two winners who will
attend the Sepang Grand Prix, as guests of the organizers."

Webber was the winner of six grand prix and finished third in this
year's world championship.

The Perth youngster on the brink of F1 racing, Daniel Ricciardo, also
demonstrated the Red Bull car on Sunday.

Ricciardo, 21, was named, as the third driver for the Italian-based Scuderia
Toro Rosso - Red Bull's second, smaller F1 team.

In that role Ricciardo will take part in Friday's morning practice sessions at
all 20 GPs next year.

The Malaysian GP will be the third round of the F1 world championship and
scheduled in mid-April.

Webber's visit with the Red Bull car was the first time a contemporary F1 driver
and car had been seen on a track in Perth since 1962 said motorsport lovers.
-- BERNAMA