Sg open to F1 discussions, Sepang not so keen
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from f1.racing-live.com,
Momentum seems to be building for a Singapore Grand Prix with Bernie Ecclestone seemingly in favour of the concept while the Singapore Tourist Board, working with the Singapore Sports Council, is also keen to look at the costs and benefits of a Grand Prix.
"As part of developing our portfolio of events, we have so far been studying motor sports events as well," the Today newspaper reports Oliver Chong of the Singapore Tourism Board as saying. “Towards this end, we evaluate their tourism appeal and contribution, the economic viability, against the cost of hosting the events. We have not had any direct discussions with Mr Ecclestone on the race, but we are open to discussions on the possibility of having F1 in Singapore."
He warned however that the costs of hosting an event would have to be evaluated carefully. With cots one issue, another issue is the relatively close proximity of Malaysia's Sepang circuit.
Sepang Boss Mokhzani Tun Dr Mahathir warned that if Singapore were to host a race, it would probably be back-to-back with Malaysia and the two events would effectively ' cannibalise ' each other.
"As it is, the Malaysian Grand Prix is dependent on a small regional market and if there is another race 300km away in Singapore, we will definitely cannibalise on each other because we are going to attract the same spectators."
Singapore Motor Sports Association President Matthew Lee, perhaps unsurprisingly, is very much in favour of a home race. “It’s not a question of ‘should we have F1 here’, but rather. ‘when are we going to host it?’” -
it seems im forever in the wrong place at the wrong time.
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It is almost impossible to host such events in Singapore.... at where is one question....Originally posted by HENG@:it seems im forever in the wrong place at the wrong time. -
supposed to be a street circuit.Originally posted by Praetorian111:It is almost impossible to host such events in Singapore.... at where is one question.... -
from www.itv-f1.com
Singapore evaluates F1 venue
Tuesday, 11, April, 2006, 14:30
Singapore is gearing up for a bid to host a round of the Formula 1 World Championship when the sport opens up its calendar to 20 races in 2008.
Singapore joins Greece, Russia, Mexico and India on the list of nations courting F1 over future events when the sport's regulations change to allow an extra two races in the schedule.
The south-east Asian nation’s Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang told the Today newspaper that his government is “actively looking at this proposal”.
"This is a very important proposition and we have to study the full impact and make a proper evaluation," Lim said.
Lim revealed that four bidders have put in proposals to stage the event and added that it was unclear whether the heavily populated country would opt for a street track or create a purpose-built venue.
"All I can say is that the four bids are very, very good bids, and it shows that they take us seriously and that they want to develop a very good product in Singapore."
He added that the government was considering both options, but that “it would be a very important decision” to dedicate land to the project.
F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has welcomed Singapore’s interest saying: "My advice now is that if somebody in Singapore is interested and wants to be the promoter to do this, they should contact me and we can start talking about this and see what we can do.”
But according to Lim the Singaporean government is already going ahead with talks.
"In all likelihood we may not need to call them up because we've gone through the process of meeting them,” said Lim.
“Our officials are meeting them now. We're going through the internal evaluation, then we make a decision."
WHAT?!?!?! what what what?! what is this? when bernie says u CALL HIM to start talks, u jolly well CALL HIM, u don't meet with someone else, whoever "them" is. Erf. This is the best chance we ever gonna get to make good. It'd be utterly stupid if the ego and pride of our govt in thinking themselves more important than they are to lose it to other people! -
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