Reviving Racing

CHERYL TAY finds out if local motor racing can return to its good old days

 

29 January 2009

 

 

COMPOSING music is not the only talent that local songwriter Bai Yun has.

 

Unknown to many, the 36-year-old, who was the first Singaporean songwriter to be signed by Sony Music Publishing, also has a strong passion for competitive racing.

 

Like how music never fails to inspire him, the thrills and spills of racing set his adrenalin pumping.

 

Bai, whose real name is Carl Chen, remembers the heady days of the local motor racing scene in the Eighties and Nineties following the cessation of the last Singapore Grand Prix held at the Upper Thomson Road Circuit in 1973.

 

Back then, the Singapore Motorsports Association (SMSA), supported by the Singapore Sports Council, organised tarmac-surfaced events in Kallang.

 

Car park rallies, skilled autotests and sprint races were held regularly throughout the year and backed by corporate sponsors, some of which were not related to the automotive industry.

 

‘Those events were well organised and professionally run, which gave the participants a strong sense of pride, especially with the droves of spectators who turned up to watch the races,’ recalled Bai.

 

Hooked

 

Bai was one of those who always looked forward to the weekends where he would take his car for a spin. He discovered his love for racing after a friend took him to watch a sprint race at Kallang in 1995.

 

‘I was hooked immediately. The thrilling racing action, the sound of the engines and the huge crowds encouraged me to try my hand at local races,’ said Bai, who started racing in Singapore in 1996.

 

He started with a modified Suzuki Swift GTi hatchback with the GTR Racing Team, and moved on to be a driver for the first Garage R racing team with a highly modified Honda Civic that was part of a 1-2-3 class team win in a 1998 rally.

 

From there, he moved on to race competitively for Team N2CS, Cam Motorsports and Fuchs Yokohama Racing Team.

 

He was also part of the team which emerged victorious in its class at the Dreamcars Superspecial Rally in 2005.

 

Bai decided to ‘retire’ after that due to increasing work demands, but he remained actively involved in the local scene by serving in the SMSA committee.

 

He is also a qualified racing steward under the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile as well as the Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme.

 

As far as he can remember, car rallies in the past were grand events backed by big budgets. Most of the races were overnight events, so the drivers were put up in five-star hotels.

 

Prize presentation dinners were usually accompanied by a full 10-course banquet.

 

Local professional racing teams were formed with major sponsorships.

 

One of them was the Caltex Racing Team, which boasted the likes of veteran racing talents such as Ian Lee, Jeff Beaumont and Bill Ng. One of the last teams to be sponsored by a big company was the Fuchs Yokohama Racing Team, which Bai was a member of in 2003.

 

The local racing scene nosedived during the economic crisis in the late 1990s.

 

Sponsors slashed their budgets, making it hard for race organisers and teams to find financial support.

 

Local racers also turned their attention to Malaysia after the Sepang International Circuit opened its doors in 1999.

 

With the SMSA taking on the role of a sanctioning body in 2002, there was no one to organise races in Singapore.

 

‘The unpredictability of securing racing venues, the strain on our resources in organising such events, and the desire to develop local motorsports promoters were some of the reasons why SMSA took a step back,’ said Tan Teng Lip, president of the SMSA.

 

The local motorsports scene gradually died down, although there are flickering signs of a revival in recent years.

 

Recent events

 

Since 2006, private race promoter MPT Motor Trading has been trying to bring back the heady days of motor racing by organising sprint events at Kallang car parks and track races at Sepang. More recently, it organised the first quarter-mile drag race at Changi Exhibition Centre.

 

More garage-run teams are participating in the few local motorsports events over the last two years.

 

The local racing scene can be as strong, if not better than it was before, but it will take time to nurture a new generation of drivers, to build the necessary facilities to support the events, and to rekindle the interest from corporate sponsors.

 

‘A potential area to explore for local racers lies in the numerous car clubs in Singapore,’ said Bai. ‘We have to find ways to encourage members of these car clubs to participate in local races.

 

‘With better numbers, corporate sponsors may take a second look at their budgets and hopefully squeeze out some money to sponsor local events or teams.’

 

Then, there is the problem of a designated race track in Singapore.

 

‘Changi Exhibition Centre is a good spot for motorsports,’ said David Ting, 36, deputy editor of Torque magazine.

 

‘If the proposed race track in Changi comes to fruition, it will be a big fillip for the sport as there will be a venue to hold circuit races as well as somewhere for racers to test their cars,’ said Dr Winston Lee, a former president of the SMSA.

 

 

- The writer is a freelancer.

 

 

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TYPES OF RACES

 

AUTOTEST (OR AUTO GYMKHANA)

AN ENTRY level event that tests the driver on his driving skills rather than car performance.

Speeds are kept low as drivers have to negotiate four different patterns – combinations of handbrake turns, reverse 180 flips, reversing and parking – marked out by cones in the shortest possible time.

Best suited for small cars such as the Suzuki Swift or Nissan March.

 

SPRINT/SUPERSPRINT

AN ADAPTATION to the quarter-mile (402m) drag race, a sprint is a 201-metre straight-line race between two drivers and the faster car wins.

What differentiates a sprint from a supersprint is the additional figure-of-eight circuit besides the straight-line track.

 

CAR PARK RALLY

TYPICALLY held over two days with night stages on the first evening of the competition, a car park rally takes place over a few car parks.

These car parks are converted into different courses – known as Special Stages – which competing cars have to complete in the quickest possible time.

Competitors do not race against each other directly at the same time. Instead, only one car races at a time.

Drivers are assisted by a co-driver, who acts as their navigator in the passenger seat and basically give directions.

Competitors are judged on their total timings and the car which takes the least amount of time (penalties included) wins the rally.

 

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10 years apart

 

1998 SINGAPORE MOTORSPORTS CALENDAR

21 to 22 Feb:      Caltex Havoline Rally

22 Mar:                SPC Autotest Championship Series Round 1

5 Apr:                   SMSA Super Sprint/Sprint 1

25 to 26 Apr:       26th Mobil Tour de Singapore Rally

7 Jun:                    SMSA Super Sprint/Sprint 2

16 Aug:                 16th Pesta Sukan Autotest Championship Series Round 2

13 Sep:                 SMSA Super Sprint/Sprint 3

11 Oct:                 SMSA Super Sprint/Sprint 4

25 Oct:                 Autotest Championship Series Round 3

14 Nov:                15th Falken Rally of Singapore

 

 

2008 SINGAPORE MOTORSPORTS CALENDAR

23 Feb:                 MPT Sprint/Supersprint Round 1

26 Apr:                 MPT Sprint/Supersprint Round 2

14 Jul:                   MPT Super Time Attack Round 1

21 Sep:                 MPT Sprint/Supersprint Round 3

2 Nov:                  MPT Sprint/Supersprint Round 4

15 Nov:                MPT Super Time Attack Round 2

21 to 23 Nov:     MPT Singaporean Super Series

27 to 31 Dec:      Carrerista Jamboree (Quarter-mile drag race)