Fifty years of unlikely passion – Singapore Grand Prix

Singapore. An island nation, jammed edge to edge with a bewildering variety of cultures. Undisputed financial hub of southeast Asia.

Most unlikely place to race? Pretty close to it. But passion for motor racing runs deep in the veins of that island nation, and it has done since 1961 when it hosted the first Orient Year Grand Prix on the 4.865 km Old Thomson Road circuit (pictured above). In 1960, a Grand Prix had been proposed as part of the “Visit Singapore – The Orient Year” campaign” to attract tourists to the region. At that time, Singapore lacked a formal racing circuit, and as a result, a new circuit had to be found or created. Organisers settled on a new street circuit along the old and new Upper Thomson Road.

The following year, the race was renamed the Malaysian Grand Prix, Malaya and Singapore having merged – briefly – to create a buffer state and shore up Singapore’s ability to resist communist incursions from overseas in a time of increased political instability.

After Singapore attained its independence in 1965, the race at the Thomson Road circuit was renamed the Singapore Grand Prix.

The Kiwi connection: Graeme Lawrence won the race three years in a row, 1969-70-71 in Formula Libre with Brabham, Ferrari (an ex-Amon 246T) and McLaren single-seaters. In 1972 the race was televised in a number of countries including New Zealand.

The Thomson Road Grand Prix circuit had many challenging features, including the treacherous “Circus Hairpin” bends and the “Snakes” section. In particular, the “Murder Mile” feature of this track derived its name from the fact that many racing accidents occurred along this stretch. Similarly, “Devil’s Bend” got its name because it was the most dangerous part of the circuit.

Thomson Road in 2018
Thomson Road in 2018

The event was discontinued after 1973 and a variety of reasons have been suggested, including an increase in traffic, the very high danger and unsuitability of the track for racing, the inconvenience of having to close roads for the event and fatal accidents during the 1972 and 1973 races. That left the island with no permanent race circuit. Unwanted and unkempt, the race facilities – toilet blocks, grandstands, admin buildings – have slowly been reclaimed by the jungle and are today park of the Thomson Nature Walk.

So an unlikely place to race? Put that to Andrew Tang or his dad SK and you get an emphatic ‘no’.

Andrew Tang competing in the Toyota Racing Series 2014 - Bruce Jenkins
Andrew Tang competing in the Toyota Racing Series 2014 – Bruce Jenkins

Tang, now racing the Carrera Cup in Asia, started his career as a youngster and won his first kart race at age 8. The passion was ignited. But there were only a handful of decent karting events in Singapore. For the next six years, the Tang family had a new routine: immediately after Andrew finished school on a Friday, they would trek north into Malaysia to spend the weekend racing karts, often returning only in the early hours of Monday morning.

“In primary school, I was doing some form of physical training every day. If not, I was either doing homework or at the track. I had no time for normal stuff that a kid would do, like friends or computer games. But it was paying off ’cos I was winning everything on the track,” he says.

Andrew had a gap period when he was 11 but returned t racing a couple of years later.

“I told my Dad I wanted to do more; I missed racing too much to stop!”

The wins kept coming and after a move to Europe at the tender age of 15 Andrew came to the attention of the McLaren F1 team, which adopted him as a protégé in its driver development programme.

Fortunately for Andrew, McLaren were regular visitors to Singapore by then, and a meeting was arranged by dad SK through some very influential government contacts.

“Thankfully, I had some good results and was picked up by the McLaren Young Driver programme. I also had the support of [Singaporean billionaire] Peter Lim, who had shares in McLaren, and seeing my results as a fellow Singaporean, he wanted to support me,” Andrew says. It’s not everyone who gets mentoring and some sponsorship from McLaren for their final season of karting.

So a 16 year old driver whose nation had no race circuit for much of his formative years was standing on the edge of the sport’s premier category, peering into the paddock from a privileged position granted to few rising racers.

Kiwi race fans will know the next bit: how Andrew made the trip to New Zealand in 2013 to try his hand at the Toyota Racing Series, getting to know Nick Cassidy as the latter barnstormed his way to the title; the following year was Andrew’s turn thanks to a serendipitous hook-up with Christchurch racer, coach and mentor Andy Neale.

Having finished 15th out of 23 in his first shot at the series, Andrew wasn’t daring to think about the title – “I thought top five might be realistic in 2014” – until he had a quiet motivating chat with Andy Neale after he won the second race of the 15 race series.

“Andy really turned my thoughts toward the title, he focussed me on that as a goal.”

The result? Andrew beat out the fast and aggressive Jann Mardenborough for the championship, taking the title as Nick Cassidy won the New Zealand Grand Prix. Unfortunately, he was also struggling with his country’s demand that he complete his National Service (compulsory military service), which could have derailed the young Tang’s championship aspirations, forcing him home to put on a uniform before the final round. A deferment had been negotiated to enable him to complete all five rounds but he then had to return and put on a Singapore Police Force uniform.

The racing bug doesn’t let go that easily though. A chance to try out for the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia cropped up in his final months of National Service, and he beat out over 100 applicants to land a Porsche scholarship which now funds and fuels his dream of being the first Singaporean to race in the F1.

At 24, is he too old for an F1 dream? Hardly. The average age of F1 drivers is slowly trreednign up toward his age, responding to the arrival in recent years of drivers arguably too young to deal with the pressure and stress on and off track.

Like most Kiwi drivers, though, he suffers a crippling handicap – Singapore remains resolutely underwhelmed by the promotional opportunities offered through sponsorship of an F1 aspirant.

Mark Baker has been working in automotive PR and communications for more than two decades. For much longer than that he has been a motorsport journalist, photographer and competitor, witness to most of the most exciting and significant motorsport trends and events of the mid-late 20th Century. His earliest memories of motorsport were trips to races at Ohakea in the early 1960s, and later of annual summer pilgrimages to watch Shellsport racers and Mini 7s at Bay Park and winter sorties into forests around Kawerau and Rotorua to see the likes of Russell Brookes, Ari Vatanen and Mike Marshall ply their trade in group 4 Escorts. Together with Murray Taylor and TV producer/director Dave Hedge he has been responsible for helping to build New Zealand’s unique Toyota Racing Series into a globally recognized event brand under category managers Barrie and Louise Thomlinson. Now working for a variety of automotive and mainstream commercial clients, Mark has a unique perspective on recent motor racing history and the future career paths of our best and brightest young racers.

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