from f1.racing-live.com,
Momentum seems to be building for a Singapore Grand Prix with
Bernie Ecclestone seemingly in favour of the concept while the
Singapore Tourist Board, working with the Singapore Sports Council,
is also keen to look at the costs and benefits of a Grand
Prix.
"As part of developing our portfolio of events, we have so far been
studying motor sports events as well," the Today newspaper reports
Oliver Chong of the Singapore Tourism Board as saying. Towards
this end, we evaluate their tourism appeal and contribution, the
economic viability, against the cost of hosting the events. We have
not had any direct discussions with Mr Ecclestone on the race, but
we are open to discussions on the possibility of having F1 in
Singapore."
He warned however that the costs of hosting an event would have to
be evaluated carefully. With cots one issue, another issue is the
relatively close proximity of Malaysia's Sepang circuit.
Sepang Boss Mokhzani Tun Dr Mahathir warned that if Singapore were
to host a race, it would probably be back-to-back with Malaysia and
the two events would effectively ' cannibalise ' each other.
"As it is, the Malaysian Grand Prix is dependent on a small
regional market and if there is another race 300km away in
Singapore, we will definitely cannibalise on each other because we
are going to attract the same spectators."
Singapore Motor Sports Association President Matthew Lee, perhaps
unsurprisingly, is very much in favour of a home race. Its not a
question of should we have F1 here, but rather. when are we
going to host it?
