Vincent Chan Fook-shing undoes the buckles of the five-point red seatbelt and climbs out of the boiling hot modified Volkswagen Polo he has just taken for a spin around the Shanghai Tianma Circuit. He takes off his white helmet, a huge grin on his face. 'That was better than sex,' he says. 'That was awesome.'
The 43-year-old art dealer-turned motor sport enthusiast unzips the front of his fireproof suit. He is one of a group of elite Hongkongers who can afford to take their expensive car-racing dreams north.
'Finally I have raced at all the racetracks in China, and this one has probably been the most fun.'
Chan has just competed in the Polo Cup, a race under the umbrella of the China Touring Car Championship (CTCC), the country's largest motor racing competition, with eight events at seven racetracks.
Still holding his helmet, Chan dashes to catch up with his 'little master', another Hong Kong driver, Andy Yan Cheuk-wai, who is competing in the next race for the Changan Ford Racing Team. Yan, 27, is going head to head with blogger Han Han, who made Time Magazine's 100 most influential people list last year thanks to his well-read, and occasionally controversial, blog. Han became a champion driver in 2007, with the Shanghai Volkswagen 333 Racing Team.
Engines are thundering on the track as drivers wait for the green light. Skinny models in ultra-mini mini-skirts pose next to the cars, breathing in petrol fumes through plastic smiles. Fans roar when Han makes his entrance.
The sport on the mainland attracts not only Hongkongers such as the wealthy Chan and aspiring professional Yan, who cannot realise their dreams in their track-less home city, but also international car manufacturers that know a good marketing opportunity when they see one. China is becoming a powerhouse of car manufacturing and sales. Last year, motor sales on the mainland hit a record 18.6 million, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.