Thursday October 7th, 1999

Eddie Irvine today sets out on 'The Marco Polo Tour', a three week worldly meander which will take him from Italy all the way to Japan and the final round of the 1999 Formula One World Championship. On the way, he will visit the Pyramids, train on a Thai beach and see old friends in Macau, as well as many other activities.

Irvine left this afternoon from Bologna, the nearest airport to Maranello where he has been testing for Ferrari at their Fiorano circuit. "The last few days have been very positive," says Eddie of the recent testing, "and we'll be going into the last two races doing all we can."

This afternoon he flew to Cairo where he will visit tomorrow the Pyramids and the Sphinx. "In a way, I'm not really a sight-seeing person, but I'm really looking forward to seeing the sights in Egypt," he said From there he flies to Dubai to see the desert and visit the Ferrari collection of Mohamed Bin Sulayem, Marlboro's rally driver. "Being a Ferrari owner myself, I love to see other people's Ferrari collections, so I will be looking forward to seeing Mohamed and hearing about his kind of rallying," says Eddie.

From Dubai, he flies to New Delhi. "I really like the idea of hopping from one country to another in my plane," Eddie says. "It's a great plane, a Falcon 10 and the nice thing is that we're only in the air for about three hours at a time. It's like being on a bus that keeps stopping - but every time it stops, the sights are completely different!"

The Scuderia-Ferrari driver spends Sunday morning sight-seeing in New Delhi before flying on to Phuket for three days of rest and relaxation prior to the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang on October 17. "I'm going to be relaxing by the pool and keeping fit on the beach with friends in Phuket, but I know that in the back of my mind, I'm going to be thinking of the championship all the time.

"Malaysia is going to be interesting, because none of us have raced there before. I've driven a Ferrari F50 around the circuit, but nothing more than that. I want to keep the championship alive through to Japan, because I'd really like to win it there. It's my favourite circuit in the world."

After Malaysia, Eddie flies to Bangkok for the start of part two of the Marco Polo tour and then on to Macau, the Portuguese colony 40 miles west of Hong Kong. "Not only have I raced in Macau but I used to live there when I was racing in Japan, so it's going to be like going home," says Eddie. "I'm looking forward to stopping off for lunch in my favourite noodle bar!"

While Eddie will be spending most of his time in Macau, he will be popping over to Hong Kong for some nostalgic rides on the Star Ferry and sight-seeing on the Peak. And with a week to go, he'll then head up to Tokyo to see more old friends at the end of his Marco Polo tour. After that, it will be all hard work as he battles to win the 1999 Formula One World Championship.

Atlas F1 will bring you special updates on Eddie's progress on the tour with daily reports and pictures.