Formula 1News

Singapore’s Brightest ever night. The F1 GP Race.

Tom Goh
Posted onSep 19, 2008 at 12:59 AM
Updated onUpdated on Sep 19, 2008 at 9:02 AM

singapore_nightlighting_2_4703131Imagine Hamilton bombing down the Esplanade drive approaching 300km per hour. With no headlights. If you’re wondering what the first ever night F1 Grand Prix is going to be like, think bright. Very bright.

New-age lighting equipment will bring daylight to the coming Singapore F1on the last weekend of September 2008.

Did I mention we’ll be documenting this exclusive experience as it happens right there and then? Yes we will, so watch out!

Keith Collantine from F1 Fanatic UK reports about the the preparation Singapore has done at no expense spared:

Here’s a new picture showing just how bright the lighting will be at the inaugual Singapore Grand Prix this year:

Singapore night lighting 3, 470313

Singapore night lighting 2, 470313

The Singapore race organisers trialled a new lighting system recently along St Andrew’s Road in front of the Padang – where the cars will hit 260kph during this year’s race.

More pictures below:

Singapore night lighting 1, 470313

They’ve also tested out the lighting system that will be used for flag warnings:

Singapore night lighting 4, 470313

Concerns have been expressed by drivers and fans about the safety of racing at night – but from these pictures it looks as though the race will be very well-lit.

According to the organisers the pit building is 65% complete and resurfacing work on parts of the circuit are and resurfacing work on part of the track has begun.

The 2008 Singapore Grand Prix will be held on 26-28th September. It will be F1’s first night race and is expected to be followed by Malaysia in 2009 and possibly several other Asian circuits in the near future.

No news on the environmental impact of running all those lights though…

16 April 2008 by Keith Collantine

High resolution pictures

Singapore night race lighting trial 1
Singapore night race lighting trial 2
Singapore night race lighting trial 3
Singapore night race lighting trial 4
Singapore night race lighting trial 5

Post Views: 727
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    farique
  • Sep 19, 2008
imagine the power bills will be issued after the race... lol
K
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    ken yeang
  • Sep 19, 2008
Are those light poles sitting on the side of the race track? If so, I hope no F1 car would wrap around the pole in case of accident.....
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    TitanRev
  • Sep 19, 2008
I was in SG lately and I have to say that I'm very impressed with it. The preparation and construction work was very systematic and quick.

Congrats to Singapore, and to all the staff and workers who make this possible.
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    xand
  • Sep 19, 2008
it'll be the first and last, it's damn dangerous... man-made lights are totally different from natural sunlight, it'll hurt the eyes more, focus is very important for drivers... i do agree on ken yeang, hope they do some cushioning to the poles...

it's almost October, raining season's coming... worst, it rains alot at night lately... hope they do some weather check.

somemore, it's totally not enviromental friendly... use alot of electricity, and the main question, WHY WE NEED A NIGHT RACE ????
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    TitanRev
  • Sep 19, 2008
Ken, the light poles are situated behind a big fence with a concrete base. The base is like those use for roadblock. There's a service lane between the concrete base to the light poles.

xand, those lights are HID like so the consumption is lesser. The reason for a night race is because it's day time in the Europe and western countries so that they could catch the F1 live. Unlike Malaysia, the broadcast in Europe and western countries are at night so viewing percentage is very less.

I have no worries for SG doing such an event as I know. When they do it, they do it 110%.
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    pk47
  • Sep 19, 2008
i personaly doing think this track is safety for audiances, imagine a F1 car can reach the speed of 300++kmh, if accident is there any safety wall to protect the crows on the grandstand? From the picture i don't see any, i just see plastics baricade that malaysia's constructor use to build road.
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    ken yeang
  • Sep 19, 2008
let's wait for the race and we'll see, esp what the drivers will say

Night racing isn't something like in the GT game.....
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    ehdrian
  • Sep 19, 2008
i'm not concern abt the safety at all cos i think singaporeans are much better than us in terms of safety and etc..hehe..
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    Crazy Biscut
  • Sep 19, 2008
It was Bernie's idea to do night race, so Europeans can watch it live during the day( so what are we subhuman? we also wana watch it during the day) and i hear Sepang is also going Night next year. I think Sepang night is more safer then this GP.
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  • L
    LOL
  • Sep 20, 2008
wow...y purposely wanna spend so much just to on the light??..cannot held it in the morning meh....although you are rich....save resources man!
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    jeffbboyz
  • Sep 20, 2008
LOL....if they held in the morning....when there are so many cars driving around....n if u block the road....massive traffic jam la !!

thats why doing it at night...less cars...less traffic jams....more exciting....n im sure this will be the most exciting n best ever circuit in F1 history...
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    kancilburuk
  • Sep 20, 2008
hmm...just look and see the results this weekend...

miracle can happen though...
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    lonely driver
  • Sep 20, 2008
WHY DO WE NEED A NIGHT RACE? almost all the gp are held in europe that aired at our local time at 8pm... so it would be better if all gp are standardised to be start at 8pm local time...
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    TitanRev
  • Sep 20, 2008
Come on~~give SG a break...let them try lah. At least they are doing something different rather than the ordinary.

This is what makes them stand out in the crowd. If everyone is the same, where's the fun? right? besides, SG has the money.

I think the smart thing about having a race at the street and on the track is:

If you have track, you need to maintain it's facilities around the track & the track itself. More money spend to maintain then getting profit if the track is not fully utilized.

Street race, after the race ends. Everything is dissemble and stored. Roads will be open to public use again & ERP to collect money from road users. No need to keep dumping money to maintain a track when you can take the money collected from tolls to maintain it. Don't have to purposely built a track just to cater for a race.
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    ken yeang
  • Sep 20, 2008
TitanRev,

On the other hand, it would be handy for Singapore to have its own purpose built track. Think of all the events they can organize -MotoGP, drags, drifts, F1, JGTC, their own "Singapore Formula", "Singapore Day" Endurance, etc.....you get the idea....

Then look at the revenue that can be generated....Of course, finding land would be difficult.....but hey, Singaporeans are pretty good. Maybe they can built the world's first racing track on reclaimed land. Just like Japan International Airport.
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    crossover
  • Sep 20, 2008
they are prooving to the world tat they can do it, well let's hope the night race carries on in years to come.
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    osiris_putra
  • Sep 20, 2008
OMG.. hope no car accident..
the road damn small and no safety for the visitors if any car accident..
K
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    king_jamez
  • Sep 20, 2008
this race will be something very interesting to watch...let's just wait n see how it goes...can SG provide enough current to support the lightings? how if there's shortage n the whole circuit turns dark? ahaha.....let's keep our fingers crossed n watch this exciting race...
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    skazareth
  • Sep 21, 2008
This night race, came from Bernie's or Singaporean idea? To me it is fun to watch extraordinary F1 race. But have to make sure the safety factors n aspects are very tight. I can see small roads, lamp post, no concrete barricades etc etc, but i think Spore n FIA not that stupid to miss that safety part.
About the current support, just last night I lepak with my Tanjung Bin friend, he says Spore has requested to buy that current (lots of it) from Tanjung Bin's power plant to support it. If this night race goes annually, Malaysian's company like tanjung bin also get the benefit. About shortage, i dun think they have no backup gen set but hey..shit still happens rite..:P
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    nafiiio
  • Sep 23, 2008
I'm hoping for the rain for this trial ... hehe
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    xand
  • Sep 23, 2008
there’ll be rain, expected by weather forecasts….

Weather forecast on Friday:
Scattered Thunderstorms (Day and Night)

Weather forecast on Saturday:
Scattered Thunderstorms (Day and Night)

Weather forecast on Sunday:
Scattered Thunderstorms (Day and Night)

Source: TheWeather.com

hell of a race it’ll be …. and practice session too :)
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    Jazz
  • Sep 29, 2008
It was an outstanding race. The Sing authorities have done it again it. Everything they touch turns to gold. F1 organizers are saying Singapore is now one of two jewels in the F1 circuit crown. The other being Monaco. Sepang needs to rev up its performance now as Singapore has just bested it last night by a wide margin.
J