Time of race to be decided soon

The Straits Times, August 15, 2007
by JEANETTE WANG


A DAY or night race? Formula One fans will know by the end of the year.

Minister of State for Trade and Industry, S. Iswaran, said a decision on whether the Sept 28 race will be staged at night will be made by year's end.

Trials are being conducted by the sport's ruling body, the International Automobile Federation, to determine the safety requirements for a night race.

The Singapore leg, to be held on a 5.05km-long street circuit around the Marina Bay area, could be the first to be staged at night, if safety requirements are met.

Said Mr Iswaran: 'From a logistics point of view, we'd need to know before too long, because if not, we won't have enough lead time to get all the preparatory work done.'

Speaking on the sidelines of the Asian golf Tour headquarters' official opening at Sentosa yesterday, he urged the private sector to 'come forward with more exciting'' ideas for the Grand Prix's fringe events.

He also explained the 20 per cent levy imposed on all non-trackside hotels during the Sept 24-28 period.

He said: 'It's quite clear that when we have an event like F1, we would expect about 100,000 visitors.

'Of the 100,000, we could conservatively say that maybe 30 to 40 per cent are visitors who come in over a three or four-day period.

'That itself will create quite a significant increase in the demand for hotel rooms in Singapore.

'It's not just the five-star hotels or those on the trackside that will benefit. It'll have a spillover effect across the island.'