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Singapore has been scheduled to hold a F1 formula race right in its city centre and it got me excited. It is Asia's first F1 street race and also the *first night race in F1 history!
*subjected to FIA approval
Route and Setup
Cars will be speeding around our beautiful city centre at up to more than 300km/h and it's definitely going to be cool to watch them manoeuvre about 23 turns in the relatively narrow circuit.
Located yourself at Turn 1 Pit Straight, Turn 7 Raffles Boulevard and Turn 14 Esplanade Drive to catch the racers overtaking each other. Alternatively, to witness the power machines at their top speeds, you can located yourself along Raffles Boulevard or Pit Straight, St. Andrew’s Road and Esplanade Drive.
Even though it's a night race, the circuit is lined with 3000lux floodlights that makes near daylight conditions (just compare it to 800lux stadium lights and 30 lux street light). These lights are then carefully angled to ensure that racers won't get distracting glare in wet weather conditions or, choy!, if any car spins. To further ensure visibility, new digital LED flags are substituting the traditional flags.
What's so cool?
The speed, technology and skill involved in the sports is something worth noting.
Just look at the 600kg machine running at 300km/h. It's about 2/3 the weight of a Toyota Corolla and running 3 times faster. How does it not fly??
The key is the use of aerodynamics which forces the car onto the track and generate extra grip from the tyres. Team engineers spend a lot of time in wind tunnels, designing the bodywork components (like the shape, the wings, weight distribution, etc) to increase this “downforce”. Currently, lateral cornering force of an F1 car can be three and a half times its own weight. This means that, theoretically, at high speeds, it can drive upside down on a ceiling!
With all those forces acting on the car when turning corners, the driver's head is pulled sideways with a force equivalent to 20kg. Such high lateral forces are enough to make breathing difficult. Therefore, the drivers need supreme concentration and fitness to maintain their focus for the one to two hours that it takes to complete the race.
Race schedule
The race will be held over a weekend from friday to sunday, 26-28 Sept. There are a total of 5 sessions where you can catch of glimpse of the power machines:
Practices
- 26th September, 16:00~17:30, 2000~2130
- 27th September, 1700~1800
- 27th September, 20:00~
- 28th September, 20:00~
Other facts,
- Flag colours
yellow - warn drivers of an imminent hazard
blue - warns a driver of a faster car approaching from behind
red/yellow striped - warns of oil, fluid or debris on the track
black - ordering a specific driver to the pits
red - stopping the race immediately.
- Parc Ferme (an enclosed, secure area in the paddock where the cars are weighed and any other checks deemed necessary by race officials are made)
After qualifying on Saturday and before the Sunday race, the cars have to be placed in the Parc Ferme where team personnel may only carry out strictly-specified routine maintenance under the watchful eye of the FIA Technical Delegate and the race scrutineers. Nothing is to be changed during this period.
Last year's Formula One champion Kimi Raikkonen will be making a guest appearance at the Tag Heuer "Racing Legends of Our Time" exhibition held from September 19 to 29. An actual-size replica of the ING Renault F1 racing car will also be on display at the team pavilion showcase over at the Singapore Marriott Hotel.
if you dig at the technology and science, you can also check these out:
- Science of F1 Exhibition at the Singapore Science Centre from now till 31 October
- Singapore Motorshow at the Singapore Expo from September 26 to October 5
For those fun lovers,
A series of F1-themed activities will be put together over three weekends from 20 September to 5 October. Some of these include
- The Amber Lounge Party
- Opera Gallery's Master's Formula
- Bulgari Watch Exhibition (18 - 28 Sept)
- STYLO fashion grand prix (26 Sept) and
- Live concert by Canadian born singer/pianist Diana Krall
Don't sulk even if you're not into F1 'cause you can still have fun!
Other world class events are also held in during this period. You can appreciate the arts at our Singapore Biennale (11 Sep – 16 Nov) or indulge in nightly activities at our historic site during the Singapore River Festival (19 – 28 Sept). To beer lovers, don't miss the Singapore Beer Festival (2-5 Oct) where more than 300 beers brand from around the world will participate.
