Big thanks to Toncho who spotted this 3D video lap of the Singapore Grand Prix track made using Google Earth.
I do hope the track doesn’t really go through that grandstand. You can also compare it to the video of the Valencia Street Circuit that was seen earlier.
More on the Singapore Grand Prix
Varun Murthy
27th February 2008, 13:45
Going under the grand stands?? Im sure thats an aberration..
daniel
27th February 2008, 14:09
yawn, that came back in october. heres a link to download the actual google earth file; http://www.earthsg.com/index.php?option=com_esg&act=mups&task=list&cid=38
daniel
27th February 2008, 14:20
oops, i see that i forgott the :-) that was meant be come behind that yawn, not supposted to sound that negaitve.. (but i do have a post on the track from october!)
by the way i have found one more computer simulation for valencia, video in post at:
http://f1bloggen.se/2008/01/25/video-valencias-formel-1-lopp/
milos
27th February 2008, 14:24
The track does go under that grandstand :-) I went down to Singapore few months ago and walked the whole track and I especially went to check out that hole under the grandstand… It is there
The track will be awesome. People who expect a Monaco like race may be in for big surprise.
Keith – I sent you message with some photos from Singapore
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
27th February 2008, 14:43
Ah well, it was new on me!
So the track actually goes underneath part of the grandstand? That’s very impressive…
milos
27th February 2008, 14:51
yea, kind of mini Monaco tunnel :-)
Journeyer
27th February 2008, 15:47
…Only if you’re sitting there, you’ll actually feel the thing shake… or something like that.
The way I see it, it won’t be a Monaco, but it won’t be a Valencia either, in that it’s not too slow or too fast. It’s a medium speed track. But does it have enough overtaking opportunities? That we will see.
Post Milos’ pics, Keith!
Michael Roberts
27th February 2008, 20:42
Seems quite long. It’s also hard to get a sense of what it will feel like at night.
Abu Dhabi will probably be the best street circuit by the looks of things.
Pink Peril
27th February 2008, 23:10
I have booked my seats to be as close as possible to where the track goes between your legs, so to speak. Sadly the front row tickets over the track were not available :( so I got as close as I could.
I think that is going to be awesome – to feel the stand shaking as the cars pass underneath !
patrick
28th February 2008, 7:59
Lots of rather dull 90 degree corners. Backdrop might be interesting, but I can’t work up much enthusiasm for the circuit.
Steven Roy
28th February 2008, 10:40
I am amazed that they are allowed to run under the stand and to point a car straight at the front end of a grandstand. Max is supposed to be obsessed with safety and you don’t need a detailed risk assessment to consider what might happen here. I have visions of one car launching over the back of another into the spectators. I can see the entertainment value and if I was going to the race I don’t think I could stay away from that area because the noise and spectacle will be unsurpassed anywhere but this is not sensible or sustainable.
If they do it this season I doubt they will ever do it again.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
28th February 2008, 10:50
From the looks of it that part of the track is just after a tight corner, so presumably the cars will be travelling fairly slowly and the chances of such an accident happening quite low. No more likely than, say, two cars interlocking wheels on Hangar straight and one clearing the debris fence?
My point is that all racing tracks are dangerous to an extent, this one may be no more dangerous than the others (except that they’re racing at night, which is a whole other thing!)
Steven Roy
28th February 2008, 12:58
I was thinking about this corner coupled with previous discussions here and elsewhere about racing at night in the rain dependent on an electricity supply to be able to see anything.
Bear in mind all of this is being run by people who couldn’t organise ticket sales and have never run a motor race of any description.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
28th February 2008, 13:01
Alternatively, not having enough computers to cope with ticket requests sounds like a good way of getting free headlines advertising the fact that tickets are on sale.
A bit like how Nintendo somehow managed to not have enough Wiis available for two consecutive Xmases…
milos
28th February 2008, 14:22
Formula 1 is new to Singapore, but open wheel Formula races organizes as Singapore Grand Prix were regular feature in mid sixties to early seventies… But that was different century :-)
The whole ticketing mess drove me mad and I did send “nice” email to the organizers just to make myself feel better. The major mistake the Singapore organizers made was hiring wrong ticketing company. Not sure where exactly they come from, but their “Milan and Florida offices worked overnight to solve the problems”.
This will hopefuly be a big lesson and wake up call for the organizers.
The news today was that RBS is planning to bring Williams car to Singapore in summer for some demo drive and also sort of track test.
theRoswellite
29th February 2008, 4:42
The unusual proximity of the crowd and the cars is obviously, if done incorrectly, a front page waiting to happen; but it is also, if done correctly, a recipe for the kind of interface that all tracks should strive for. Hopefully, the tracks of the future can find ways to place the spectators in…”spectacular” positions. Safety and numbers must be a major concern when locating grandstands, but surely not the ONLY concern.
WASIF
7th March 2008, 9:27
This will b a race that everbody will remember a long time in fOrMuLa 1
Trig
17th September 2008, 12:05
I have a feeling the race will be run the opposite way with the cars passing under the grandstand from the back and coming out the front into the crowds view… safely.
Cool. :)
WavaDrireassy
14th June 2009, 9:55
Хм,согласен с предыдущими высказываниями
^..^ :-)
WavaDrireassy
15th June 2009, 9:44
Отлично,согласен с предыдущими блоггерами
Споки :-)
WavaDrireassy
20th June 2009, 9:12
Отлично,согласен с предыдущими ораторами
) :-)