Mirage77

F1 in Singapore: Almost there

By Julian Lim - 17 Jan, 2007
AsiaOne

Fernando Alonso brakes late to overtake Ralf Schumacher at the Fullerton hairpin, Felipe Massa and Kimi Räikkönen thunder down the St Andrew's straight at 300km/hr. Is this for real?

Maybe.

If one of two local magnates manages to wrangle his way to a deal with the powers that be, a warm-up, pre-cursor race to full-blown F1 madness could be coming to Singapore as early as August this year, if preliminary reports are to believed.

Property tycoon, Mr Ong Beng Seng and SUTL Group's managing director, Mr Arthur Tay, are engaged in a race of their own to win a contract with Formula One Management, as well as convince the local authorities of their plans.

Insiders have Mr Ong as the odds-on favourite based on his connections with F1 mogul, Bernie Ecclestone.

Leading F1 circuit designer, Mr Hermann Tilke, has already made the trip to Singapore to draft out what the eventual course could look like. According to reports in The Straits Times, the 51-year-old German promises "high speeds, tight cornering, and an exciting spectacle for spectators and drivers alike."

His design portfolio boasts the likes of the F1 speedways in Malaysia (Sepang International Circuit), Bahrain (Bahrain International Circuit), China (Shanghai International Circuit) and Turkey (Istanbul Park). Come 2010, it will also include South Korea's new circuit.

The concept of Formula 1 street racing brings to mind the scenic, but narrow Monaco course which measures 3.34km, shorter than the proposed 5km circuit Mr Tilke would like for Singapore.

When asked for a comparison between Monaco and the possible Singapore circuit, The Straits Times quoted Mr Tilke as saying that Singapore's would be a more "modern" course, but cautioned against further comparisons as "it's not fair to compare circuits because each race has its own character and personality."

And another possible "Uniquely Singapore" element to the race to be found nowhere else on the F1 calendar: Night racing

This would reduce the need for traffic disruptions within the vicinity of the circuit (i.e. the Central Business District). Better alert the traffic wardens though, lest they book any of the F1 drivers for bus lane infringements.

Other potential race highlights

- Start and finish lines on a floating platform to be constucted at Marina Bay, which will also house the pit lanes and race paddock

- Long, four-lane straight leading into a two-lane hairpin at the end of Esplanade Bridge.

- Raffles Avenue four-lane straight measuring 700 metres, which will allow cars to go beyond 300km/hr

- Local landmarks that could feature in the course include the Esplanade, Merlion, Padang, Raffles Hotel, and Suntec Convention Centre, the Fountain of Wealth, and Raffles Hotel

- VIP suites located at the Swissotel and other hotels along the race strip, affording commanding aerial views to those with deep pockets on race day.

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Curb Zone

 

The Emperor

So, James, are you about it or?

Mirage77

Definitely !

Singapore has been throwing around this idea since 1991. In fact, F1 was offered to the government in 1991 but they declined. Now they are opening up.

The Emperor

Man, i understand you...

Croatia also have one track where they do GTI racings with Skodas, Polos, Clios and stuff. The track is located in town called Rijeka. That's the place where Mrs. Slavica Ecclestone was born ( the wife of that old fart ). Some years ago Bernie proposed to us to do some track modifications and to prepare it for F1 circus... Even Slavica wanted to "help" us, but nothing happened. The stupid goverment of ours was like:It's too expensive, we don't need that!

Yeah, it's better to watch some crappy Skoda Fabias and Clios racing and loose the money instead of investment which would only bring money... A $h!tloads of it! Morons, f'n morons!!!

Mirage77

I'm pretty surprised by your government. Ours is very, very conservative so it is understandable - we didn't even allow casinos or even Disneyland, until recently. That's why the SG government didn't want to allow F1 racing.

But now, they know that the money is in tourism and international exposure, that's where F1 comes in.

The Emperor

Hello my goverment... Do you hear what my friend James is saying??? Listen, mfs', listen!!!!!!

MikeJ

I think having one F1 race up north would be nice idea, too.

Imhotep Evil

Sounds good.

Alfie

That would be great. But maybe Finland is too cold and the interest in F1 in Sweden doesn't exist. Alot of people don't even know what it is
An F1 track is rumoured in Halmstad(where Just_me lives) but I haven't heard more stuff about it. Even if it could host an F1 race I doubt it would ever come here.

MikeJ

It wouldn't have to be in the winter, although that would certainly make it interesting.

But seriously speaking, I don't think we'd ever get one. There's just not enough loose money here.

Curb Zone