Dear all,

My intentions are for a thread with ideas that karting organizations and vendors can view. Perhaps there will be some points that they find valid and would be interested in implementing.

I speak from the point of one who is only now, entering the sport. I wanted to take up Karting about 3 years back but was hindered by a lack of information about Karting and the absence of an alternative track venue to KartWorld.

Please feel free to post comments and ideas or advise corrections in areas which are factually incorrect.

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Where are you guys? I believe there is a healthy number of motorsport enthusiasts in Singapore. Many of these enthusiasts would qualify as karting enthusiasts too. There was a time many years back when there were karting events at Kallang carpark with a decent field of karts. Those days have come and gone; nowadays there are a few enthusiast groups that try to put some events together or else arrange their own karting sessions among friends in Malaysia.

Lack of Critical Mass. There lacks critical mass in any single Kart grouping but if individual groupings were brought together as a single grouping, there could be economic and structural benefits to reap. The reality of creating a single critical mass is easier said then done since everyone has their own personal agenda on why, where and with whom they kart. A lot has to do with creating “pull” factors to entice enthusiasts to adopt this idea.

Absence of Official Body. The absence of official events or organized karting meets is further compounded by a lack of a governing body or focus organization for Karting in Singapore. There is the Singapore Motor Sports Association but having contacted them over the phone a few times over the years, I didn’t think Karting was big on their priority list. They still don’t have any 2008 Karting events mentioned on their website though on a positive note, the K1 series of events www.k1.sg is in part, sponsored by them.

F1 Mania. F1 mania hasn’t really swept through Singapore yet … but the fervor will increase once Singaporeans get a taste of the real thing right in their city state. The F1 event is both privately and government backed. The present government is exercising a different stance from previous generations; this extends to Motorsports; so Singaporeans now have the K1 series in the suburb heartlands and a new Karting track is being built in the East Coast area.

So you have an enthusiast interest and government support to educate and sponsor more events … but what is the next step to getting enthusiasts into a kart or growing a Karting base?

Permanent Tracks. The need to Kart has to go hand-hand with a place to Kart. Within the last year, I’ve only seen 2 spots of Karting in Singapore, one is KartWorld in Jurong and the other is in an open area just under the steps of the National Stadium where the Karting Club of Singapore had organized a few weekend sessions of Karting. I don’t wish to be a spoiler but its hard to kart when you have passerbys walking all over the “track area” at the National Stadium and who expected the Kart enthusiasts to stop for them while they walk over the “track” area. My only wish for KartWorld was to have a longer track, with ample run-off area and even if that was not possible, it would be great if they waived or reduced the SGD 2,500 membership fees. Thank goodness for the new Kart tracks in the process of being built.

What now? So that leaves us back at Square 1. Which is for events to be privately organized and grown at the grassroot level. Or is there another alternative?

Involve the Private Sector. The following is just my suggestion on how I see Karting being grown in Singapore.

I think good intentions can only do so much. Enthusiasts creating groups to kart amongst are still individuals, that like the rest of us, have full-time jobs and need to spend time with the family. Hence, the ability to commit to pursuing infrastructure and program development for Karting is limited for them.

I should point out how great it is that Mikko has started this forum. Fortunately, (for now) the forum doesn’t need 24-hour moderating. And a successful forum always involves both the Vendors as well as enthusiasts as it provides for educated (and informed) exchange of views and at times, controversial but valuable discussions.

The private sector on the other hand, can commit to such projects if strong economic interest is present.

I would group driving instructors, chassis and kart vendors, servicing mechanics and event organizer companies under this blanket description of “private sector”.

The support sector that provides services of karting instructors, mechanics, event organizing is every bit as important as having a variety of chassis vendors since the learning curve for Karting is steep and many an enthusiast has quit karting shortly after they begin due to the steep learning curve and the absence of a peer environment they could confide and seek advice at (this is somewhat remedied with the creation of this pan-asian forum site).

Once again, I believe that working within a single agenda would benefit the various participants of the private sector. This would mean putting aside certain competitive differences so as to reach a common economic goal.

Would it cost them a lot? Perhaps not if the private sector can “piggy-back” on the K1 events that are being organized all year round. Marketing costs can be further reduced through a pooling of resources; i.e. sharing a single tent under which interested individuals would be able to speak to a salesperson on purchasing chassis and engines as well as support services such as purchase of Kart related media (instructional DVDs and books) and beginner fun-kart classes.

Given the present Government backing, these arrangements can further extended to other motorsport events or who knows, maybe to secondary schools or polytechnics where Karting can be taken as an ECA (Extra Curricular Activity). I’ve been out of school for decades and but do remember that ECAs may have been an elective and accounted for some credits when applying for higher education.

Good thread mlange!


Remember that is is not the ASN that organises the events - but karting clubs which are recognised and receive support from the ASN. In Malaysia for example it is mainly KKS that organises these events.

SMSA should have a list of all karting clubs recognised by them - would be interesting to find out which ones are active at all.



Yeah the addition of the new tracks will most certainly serve as a means to spring-board karting to a new level in Singapore. For a large-scale organised racing series for owner-karters Malaysia has been the only choice so far.


So what are all the karting events being organised now? I'll have a look at the K1 site to see what that's all about.

but the forum does have 24/7 moderating..

Thanks. That is something new I just learnt.



The Tuas track that is suppose to be built should be about 1.1km long. Hopefully it takes off.

Now, we could definitely do with one or two tracks in the East side.

Hi all ..

Some of you might know that I've started a grass roots karting club in Singapore. Along with several other enthusiasts it has taken off well. So far we have a track record of 2 events under our belt and we have several events planned for 2008.

I'd like to invite you to learn more about what we do at www.sg-karting.com.

You'll also be happy to know that we are planning to race at a newly build karting speedway track which hopefully will be open by Q3 this year.

Cheers,
FUJI SARTONO

Fuji do you have any comments with regards mlange's thoughts?
What kind of cooperation do you guys have with kart tracks/shops etc?

Would you be willing to cooperate with promotion of racing series' by kart shops/race organisers at your events to fun-karters in an effort to have some start taking karting more seriously?

Hi Mikko,

I am in alignment with mlange's thoughts and vision .. as a new comer to the sports, in terms of organizing & building a community, the easiest path for me and our club (kartingedge) to take was to go through the grassroots route first .. and that is exactly what we have done ..

So far along the way of running several events we have seen members who are keen enough to take it to the next level as what you and mlange have mentioned. And so our roadmap is to have a spin-off league/club (or whatever it'll be called) which will be comprised of more serious karters who want to buy and race their own racing karts in a more competitive environment ..

At that stage, that will be where cooperation with kart shops/dealers and track owners will come in .. and I'm happy to say that this will happen in 2008 ..

Without disclosing too much at this stage, another karting club (not so grassroots, but not as pro, yet) that I'm fringely involved in are in the mid-stages of building a new karting speedway in Singapore equipped with modern amenities. Along with this will be kart shops/dealers that will jointly promote and run the track and events.

Having said that, I'm open to any additional active participation by kart shops/race organizers to promote their series' at our grassroots events. In the end, we will have several things going on.. several seeds in the pot and I'm sure 1 or 2 of them will turn out to be larger than we expected ...

We're just at the beginning in Singapore ..

Personally , when my friend Charles and me started the Sinagpore Racing Team it was because we wanted to bring young talents to a different level of gokart racing. It is also because of this reason that I decided to become the tonykart agent in Singapore. Now there are going to be 2 new track in Singapore one in Tuas which already has opened and Jln Bahar on Jul 15 when they start their business. For Jln Bahar I believe is more of a fun kart rather than race kart because of the noise problem. The circuit at Tuas is of more race kart as there is no fun kart and this is also the main reason tha our Singapore Racing Team has pick there for our training. The corner are of high speed and technical like Macau , Sentul. So , if anyone want to start karting then you need to ask yourself whether you just want to have fun or are you serious that you want to do some form of racing.The answer is on you !

Ben,

Thanks for sharing on this thread.

Good to have more Singapore based chassis dealers/team managers sharing their thoughts.

Mark Lange