What a time for the Formula One circus to reach our neck of the woods. By the end of this week's grand prix in Shanghai we may well have a new world champion.
Lewis Hamilton needs nine points to ensure he is the first rookie world champion and the youngest ever at just 22.
That last record will be taken from his teammate - although that's probably stretching the term - Fernando Alonso, which no doubt will be one of the sweeter moments, should it happen.
There's no doubt Hamilton deserves to be crowned champ, especially after his heroics in Japan last weekend. I've argued before that all you need to transform a procession into an action-packed, spin-a-minute race is a spot of rain. Actually a monsoonal deluge was nearer the mark, which is what you get when you stage a race next to Mount Fuji at the end of September.
If you've ever doubted the courage of F1 drivers, watching the on-board TV footage on Sunday was enough to make you realise how brave - or stupid - they are. There are few people who would want to, let alone be able to, drive like that without doing serious damage to themselves and the car. No wonder they earn so much more than the rest of us.
Perhaps the most stunning moment was on the start/finish straight. We watched as the all encompassing grey spray was punctuated by a small red light. The red light slowly disappeared to the left of the screen. It transpired that we had just witnessed an overtaking manoeuvre at 320km/h.
For Hamilton things couldn't have gone better. It was a triumph for his skill and temperament in untested waters (almost literally). It was also a graphic illustration of why Alonso is so angry not to get top status in the team.