Singapore GP to move home

The word on the street in Singapore is that the city is studying alternative venues for the Grand Prix, because the disruption caused in the downtown area has not gone down well with the locals. The plan is to incorporate the race into a new “Sports Hub”, which is being developed at Kallang, not far from the track, slightly further out of town. This would reduce the traffic disruption considerably while still allowing large crowds to be delivered by the MRT underground network, as there will be a new Stadium station built.

The Sports Hub is designed to draw international events to the world-class facilities and generate sports spectator tourism, while also encouraging Singaporeans to be a more sporting nation (and therefore to become fitter). The aim is for the facilities to be ready by 2014, including a new 55,000-seater National Stadium, with a retractable and air conditioning, an indoor Stadium with 12,000 seats, an Aquatic Centre, a multi-purpose indoor area, a commercial space for leisure, shopping and dining activities, plus a water sports centre, which will use the Kallang Basin. Plus a library, a museum and an exhibition centre.

The plan seems to be to run a track on the roads around the various stadiums. One presumes that this will continue to happen at night and that sections of the track will be by the river, so that the backdrop of downtown Singapore can still be used.

This is a view of what the new development will look like. You can see the Marina Bay facilities and the Casino with its distinctive roof garden in the distance on the left.

fernando wrote:This is a view of what the new development will look like. You can see the Marina Bay facilities and the Casino with its distinctive roof garden in the distance on the left.

Um...where, exactly? Have you got a link?

Bad news as far as I'm concerned. I don't really like street circuits. Even with KERS and DRS, their usually constricted nature makes overtaking harder and with buildings everywhere, visibility is greatly reduced.

sorry forgot to put that in

Spoiler: