THE real Grand Prix of Macau has nothing to do with turbo-charged engines and nymphettes in neon mechanics' overalls. ''Gentlemen, start your engines'' has changed over the past year to ''Gentlemen, light your fires.'' Hong Kong diners used to flock to Macau for Portuguese specialities, wonderful cheap wine and four-hour long lunches, riddled with garlic. Now, they're jet-foiling for pizza.
The battle of the brick ovens is being played out at the Mandarin's new Mezzaluna restaurant and on Coloane, at Ristorante La Torre.
Beyond the crisp crusts and olive oil, the toppings of acidic, salty and crunchy ingredients are two distinct personalities - restaurateur Luca Marchetti and a bright eyed, 24-year-old Australian, named David Laris.
Marchetti, 30, makes gutsy, Tuscan-style pizzas while Laris's are designer arrangements, Neapolitan-style, that vary according to whim. What divides them is the theme of any good epic - old versus new, tradition versus au courant.
It was love and marriage that lured 30-year-old Marchetti to Macau from Pisa five years ago. A wife and a four-year-old daughter, a generous father-in-law and two restaurants keep him here. In fact, Italy's dire economy drove his 20-year-old brother to Asia to help him with the restaurants.
Marchetti has the size and girth of a professional American football-player. He lives on heady Italian coffee, cigarettes and a bite or two of pizza, when he has time. He's always on the phone, in his car racing between Pizzeria Toscana, his 40-seat closet on Rua Formosa, and La Torre. In the next month or two, he will open a snack concession on Hac Sa beach.