Aug 09 2009
The Lotus Blooms In The Mud
Our National Day themed story this weekend in Speed chronicles the life and times of Singaporean racing driver Ringo Chong, you can read it here.
Ringo of course, isn’t the only racer here, there are others like Melvin Choo, Denis Lian, Hafiz Koh and drift driver Ivan Lim who have achieved a fair measure of success.
What unites them, besides the obvious urge to drive cars very fast, is determination. Singapore, with its lack of proper road circuits, is not exactly the best place on earth if you’re ambition is to be a professional racing driver.
Singapore drivers in the 1980-90s, literally had nowhere else to race but the car park.
Motorsports, like music, did have promising roots. But sadly, like rock music and discos, racing was outlawed here (in 1973, the year the last Upper Thomson GP was held) which more or less spelt its doom.
We are certainly making up for lost time though, with F1 finally here and the Changi Motorsports Hub on track for completion in 2011. The scale and speed of the IR’s construction shows just how much Singapore can accomplish when it really wants to.
Hopefully it’ll signal an new era and a burgeoning motorsports industry. But in the meantime, to those who have fought hard and long to enjoy motorsports here, we salute you!
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