Should we celebrate over F1?

Cheowyonglee SG · 2008-11-11T00:05:31+00:00

Ironically one of the reasons for ending the Singapore Grand Prix at the Thomson Road Circuit, was that it disrupts traffic.

Cheowyonglee SG

F1 to boast tourism...yes indeed but...
Let's face it, hotel will be the one who get the most piece of pie.So, who's the one laughing away to the bank?Not the Singaporeans but those Hotel owners and the foriegn workers.
How many locals are there in the hotel line?I can only know alot of China peoples are taking our job in the hotel line.

F1 to put Singapore on the world map...true but...

Let's face it again.Majority of the F1 fans are the British and Australian...
What Singapore can offer is only the city skyview, shopping centre...
We don't have what Thailand have, what Japan have or what Malaysia have.We are just that small.And, how many tourist would want to come back to visit Singapore again?Any guess?No need to guess because you guys just take a look at how many westerners visit Thailand and Japan as compare to Singapore and you will know what i mean.

Our government should care for the local citizens more instead of being so generous everytime other countries need help.Read today newspaper that our government are donating 1.4 Million to Burma government again.We already know the Burman military government is a bad government, so what will they do with the money?
Instead of helping the poor and needy in Singapore, our goverment is so generous in helping others.
Now, they are increasing everything...and when will they be decreasing?Only God knows!!!

Singapore is becoming a nation of heartless creature.
NKF saga, Ming Yi fa shi saga...
so many Singaporeans migrating to other countries, and with the now forever increasing of prices, more and more will migrate to other country.
With the ever increasing price, more couples will not want to have a family.Or rather, more will not want to get married.So, more will leave the nation because our government don't care for us.
So, the birthrate will be more worst.
So, the government will use this as an excuse and input more low quality foriegners.
Result will be foriegners like China man, China women will be everywhere.
So, more China people resulting in more locals cant bear with them.Culture difference...
And also, we will soon become a nation makeup of large China population.
The time will be here when we will not see much Singaporeans but a large group of China people.And down here in my area i already feel the power of China gang.
When such a situation started, a nation we will never call ourselves a nation because the government never put in their effort to build a true nation we are proud of!!!
By that time, i might already gone from here. ;)

packetofblood SG

proud of? i was there that day and i overheard some locals and tourists letting out profanities at the event due to poor crowd control and the police on duty did nothing to the situation (or too slow)...

everything is nice at the vip grandstand but else where?.. for the bigshots to see only?... and now want to raise electrical bill? dunno if its because light up the track till like day and burn a huge hole in budget.. ? who noes?

kramnave SG

Tourists stay hotel, hotel don't hire Singaporeans ? Tourists go shopping, retail outlets don't hire Singaporeans ? Tourists go clubbing, clubs don't hire Singaporeans ? Tourists go makan, hawkers not singaporeans ? restaurants don't hire Singaporeans ?

angel7030 SG

Because singaporean all towkays liao

purpledragon84 SG

NO. ALL HIRE CHINA PPL.

angel7030 SG

Ferrai boss blasted by saying singapore track is a circus track, and the safetycar is the jokes of F1

Atobe SG

How much of the tourist revenue has actually touched the majority of the Singaporeans - describing the Citizens only ?

In actual fact, near to the bottom range that lead to zero.

Even Hotel Properties owner - Ong Beng Seng - would not have recoup his money in having the Rights to the F-1 event, if SingTel did not get the bulk of the publicity in tagging the event as a "SingTel Formula ONE".

Besides the event licensee, the next to benefit is the Government, who has collected all the fees, and revenues from all the charges for all kinds of services that included the resurfacing of the still very bumpy roads, and the extra amount of electricial power supplied to turn NIGHT race into a near "DAY-LIGHT" race.

It is still a race for the "Fat Cats" - with the monies collected and earned by those with the big bucks able to make the investments to harvest more bucks from those who can afford to enjoy the main event, as well as all the peripheral events that latches itself to the week celebrating the SingTel Formula ONE.

Up to the eve of the event, TV commentators were lamenting over the fact that the average Singaporean on the street were not even aware that the event was to be held on the weekend; and some even thought that it was to be held in 2009.

With a depressed economic outlook, where cash in the pocket is better then cash uselessly spent - can Singaporeans afford to be lavish to support an event that will find their cash in the pockets of the "Fat Cats" ?

polarsnake SG

That time the commentator say on tv that the lights for the F1 race were constructed at a cost of 17million. Zzz...

reyes SG

i am not a fan of the F1. and i dont F1 can benefits the average singaporeans at all.

what we hear is already a drop of retail revenue at most shoppping mall near the circuit.

the only benefits the givt is boosting is putting singapore on world map.

only then i know singapore prior F1 was never on the world map.

likedatosocan SG

On the surface, to many young people, F1 seems like so great.

But all I see is people who do not have the money to buy the expensive ticket trying pathetically to steal a view of the race in a circuit completely surrounded by barriers which made viewing near impossible unless you are 2 meters or taller.

To me, its an event for the rich. The poor can catch the action on tv.

The roads are closed causing much inconvenience.

The major benefit i see is to the hotel and related industrys. For bosses. Rich people.

Same thing for Casino. If you not rich, how much can you enjoy the thing?

When someone never say F1 is interesting, the people do not think its interesting.

When someone say jump, they jump.

the Bear SG

give you slaves to pop chilled and peeled grapes into your mouth, you kpkb that there are no slaves for you to wave palm fronds to cool the air..

likedatosocan SG

Is it correct to say that singaporeans provided the core expertise to organise and execute the F1 event?

I think its the F1 experts from overseas who provided the core skills and experience in organising the event.

Without these experts, could the F1 be held and be successful?

BlogTV ang more guest said spore very impressive able to have F1.

If my thinking is correct, that the core skills to organise a successful F1 came from overseas F1 organisers, then can I say that any country able to afford some normal roads and able to blockade the roads and able to import some lighting and get some contractors install the lights can also have a successful F1 event?

Is it so difficult to organise F1 when you can afford 150 million?

Malaysia succeeded in F1 so long ago.

Do singaporeans know about this?

That is why I say, just use the expertise of the foreigner F1 event organsers and any F1 event will be successful in any country with the will to do it, even in iraq or north korea.

Kuali Baba SG

Well, surprise surprise, it's been lauded by the majority of the paddock. We can forget about Luca di Montezemolo's sour grapes rant, so what could have been improved?

- Human traffic around the Bay grandstand could be better designed, as the escape road and The Oriental's driveway created a very narrow walkway;

- The pitlane entry and exit could be better designed so that they're not on the racing line;

- The area could be in less of a "lockdown" in David Coulthard's words, as the drivers and team personnel needed to look for dinner at 1am to keep their energy levels up; and

- The shrouds surrounding the circuit should be installed on the inside of the fence to keep the cheapskates out.

- Okay, Mediacorp should also hire someone who can comment on the racing properly rather than plug every landmark and milestone... and telecast the whole season on free-to-air TV (right, I'm dreaming).

Other than that and the glitches during the ticket sales, it really has been well organised, especially as it's the first time, and there's nothing that can't be worked on. Sepang had its own set of off-TV niggles back in 1999...even Silverstone and Donington Park have always been crap to access from the motorways, grandstands in Shanghai have collapsed and the track conditions in Montreal have been a farce for 3 seasons. Bumpiness was to be expected - unlike Valencia, 80% of the track is existing road and you can't change the underlying structure which wasn't designed for cars that brake and accelerate at up to 5G. And of course it's a longer lap and race distance than Monaco.

It is an expensive sport to attend because the rights are not cheap - blame it on FOM. Motorsport is unlike football, and many people around the world enjoy it from the comfort of their own homes (and strangely there are people who'd pay for airfares and exhorbitant match tickets to watch the World Cup and BPL matches live, which don't get as cheap as the single-day passes for raceday).

And if you think Singapore had hardly any imput, guess where the companies that provided the armco and plastic barriers, rumble strips and debris fences came from? And if you spend tens of millions on the rights and you're going to put the country on a billion TV screens, you'd want to get overseas input to bring it up to scratch and make it run properly, especially when there are other counries that are fighting to be among the exclusive 17 that host F1 races.

If you can't say that people could soak up the atmosphere even in Orchard Road and some of the heartland malls, or enjoy the race on TV, I think you're deliberately letting your cynicism get in the way - situation normal in SC.

P.S. SingTel is just a title sponsor... Singapore GP Ltd is allowed to turn a capped profit. And the lights did not come from the main grid but from generators around the circuit.

NoobUnited SG

Well i'm not so analytical.. the recent F1 got no benefits for me. so why should we celebrate? Because Singapore making money(did they)?

will4 SG

Toursit arrival in September also not high despite F1 race on.

oldbreadstinks SG

not into cars but most of my friends in retail experienced lower sales during the time though so i view it more negatively

AndrewPKYap SG

F1 to put Singapore on the world map...true but...

No one should expect dishonorable, public money grabbing despots to "build a true nation we are proud of" ... these despots deserve only curses....

reyes SG

kuala bali,

why dont you try to explain that singapore road are normal roads and expect to be bumpy to Ferrari boss. maybe he will say to you " my fault ah"?

i am not sure whether i am right, but i heard there are more withdrawal these days and ppl competing to host it. anyway who has the financial power to hold such a race these days?

maybe they can consider a shenzhen race, hangzhou race, beijing race, hanoi race, jakarta race, manila race, okinawa race, seoul race.

anyway, base on your comment i can only see more negative comments than the good one about the F1.

lotus999 SG

Toursit arrival in September also not high despite F1 race on.

it was reported that we were unable to get the tourists to stay beyond the f1 race.

suspect the revenue generated from the race could be way below expectation for there was complete silence from the gahmen.

Kuali Baba SG

kuala bali,

why dont you try to explain that singapore road are normal roads and expect to be bumpy to Ferrari boss. maybe he will say to you " my fault ah"?

i am not sure whether i am right, but i heard there are more withdrawal these days and ppl competing to host it. anyway who has the financial power to hold such a race these days?

maybe they can consider a shenzhen race, hangzhou race, beijing race, hanoi race, jakarta race, manila race, okinawa race, seoul race.

anyway, base on your comment i can only see more negative comments than the good one about the F1.

I suppose this is addressed to me in spite of the typographical error.

Canada and France just lost their races against their will. One was dropped unilaterally by FOM and the promoters of the other had no support to develop amenities for a track in a remote area of France. Neither was happy to lose it.

Hope that clears things up, and there's also the inaugural Abu Dhabi GP to look forward to next year. India and S. Korea are in the running as well. F1 isn't run the way you think it is so don't expect to see all those other races popping up in the region.

Di Montezemolo was a git and he was roundly criticised by everyone for his comments, but you take him so seriously. For worse track conditions, take a look at the last few Brazilian and Canadian GPs. And Monaco, which is closer in nature, is slower.

Of course I have my gripes but it was a good race on TV. I suspect that the daylight robbery conducted by the hotels contributed to the low numbers. It should get better next year after a learning experience for all.