Peter Lim has announced that is planning to build a motorsports-themed development to be called Motorsports City in the Iskandar development zone in the Malaysian state of Johor, just across the water from his native Singapore. The Iskandar development will span 2,200 square kilometres of land around the city of Johor Bahru. As part of the development Lim says there will be a Formula 1-spec test facility. Lim’s FASTrack Autosports Pte will own 70 percent of the $1.2 billion joint venture, with the remaining shares being owned by Malaysian developer UEM Land Holdings.
The project will cover 270 acres and include showrooms, garages and entertainment outlets. It will be 2.8 miles in length and will have a 0.9-mile karting facility attached. The facility will be located at Nusajaya, close to the Second Link Bridge, one of border crossings between Malaysia and Singapore.
“The region is fast becoming a hub for motor sports,” Lim said.
Lim is a shareholder of McLaren Automotive Ltd.
“As part of the development Lim says there will be a Formula 1-spec test facility.”
With F1 testing mileages having been slashed and no shortage of F1-spec testing venues on the teams’ doorsteps this seems an odd venture.
Rules change.
curious.
Given that reliably dry weather is far from a certainty in the southern Malay Peninsula at any time of year, even if rules change I can’t see too many teams paying the money to travel half way to Australia just to sit in a garage and watch the rain fall. As Keith says, an odd venture.
Also with the weather – how popular is motorsport with oppressive humidity to start with?
Is there a natural active karting/open wheel/touring car/motorsport scene – or is it only when F1 rolls in?
Testing facilities on their doorsteps, yes, but they’re rarely at their own doorsteps themselves these days. This could fit into a new in-season testing routine quite well, somewhere amongst the flyaways.
@Joe,
What are thoughts on the potential future for someone like Jazeman Jaafar? Although it took him a while to get through F3, it looks like he’s moving up to FR3.5 for next season and he has been running with PETRONAS backing.
He’s a relatively good driver and has improved an awful lot this year, but is still quite a young chap. Does the fact that he is Malaysian help things along?
I don’t know much about him.
Good. Any connection whatsoever with the Johor circuit used to host the 1998 Malaysian motorcycle Grand Prix?
I don’t believe so
Johor used to have a grand prix in the dim and distant past. It was won in I think 1949 or 1950 by an old friend of mine, long passed away, Derek Bovet White. He was driving a tuned alloy bodied XK120. Because the GP was only for open wheel cars, he had to remove the front and rear wings. He had the magnificent cup on display at his pub, the Anchor Inn at Barcombe.
Wilson
Hopefully, they’ll have more success than the Changi project, which is yet to be lifted off the ground properly.
Johor Bahru sounds like a good place to do it. It’s already the place where Singaporeans go for a proper go-kart track (the one in Joo Koon has a smooth surface but is very short. The karts are also incredibly slow).
I wish Peter Lim better luck than the dudes who had the same bright idea in Yeongam, Korea. Johor Bahru isn’t exactly flush with money.
I get the impression that Mr. Lim is no fool, unlike the people who built the track in Korea. Can an F1 spec test track be changed to accommodate a race? It seems very short.
The proposed circuit would be about the same length as the current version of Hockenheim. I believe FIA regulations require circuit to be between 3.5km and 7.5km, with someone having informally decided that 5.5km is the optimal length. Honestly, we need a bit of diversity in the calendar, so building longer and shorter circuits can only be a good thing.
It would be a shame to lose Sepang, though. I think it’s a great circuit.
Which makes me think – is this project targeted towards F1… or MotoGP? There is still no MotoGP race in Singapore, after all, and Johor Bahru is just 5-10 minutes away from the Malaysia-Singapore border.
“The Nusajaya facility will not be able to host F1 races. FASTrack Managing Director Barry Kan said they will instead focus on GT Saloon and off-road events and karting, drag and truck races, as well as motorbike premier series MotoGP.”
From: http://www.todayonline.com/Hotnews/EDC121205-0000059/Tycoon-invests-in-Johor-motorsports-complex,-gives-Changi-Hub-a-miss
Did I suggest it would?
No. Out of context, the quote reads that way…
Testing in malaysia sounds a little expensive though as you would need to transport everything over there or set up a completely new engineering facility to build the bits and bobs that inevitably or unexpectedly fail/brake during testing. Also given the increased importance that simulator work and CFD have become in the development cycle I wonder whether the teams would really like to be testing every other week as well. Validation of results doesn’t require that much work as the teams seem to be coping quite well in usin FP1 and FP2. MotoGP do conduct a few tests at sepang however most of the factory teams do conduct quite a bit of work and development in Japan. V8SC will probably be looking to get a race there though. However I’m sure it will increase local participation in motorsports.
Even with CFD and simulators, would the teams really like to be testing every other week?
Yes.
Next question?
McLaren Automotive have bought the car manufacturing plant from McLaren Group according to a rustic (mud/thatch) piece in the Sunday Panic,while the F1 company increased their profits substantially in the last financial year. No doubt you have written of this in your weekly publication Joe. It would be nice to have some of it leaked back here, I suppose I can pay my quid to companies house and get it myself, but you do it so much better. (will flattery work?)
No, flattery will not work.
Joe,
completely off topic but I wanted to know your take on Formula E, saw the announcement the FIA made yesterday regarding Rome and it sounded interesting.
What is the long term outlook on F1 if the FIA are creating a separate formula for electric powerplants. I would expect for F1 to evolve into some kind of renewable energy powerplants in the future, and plug in electric and Hydrogen fuel cells seem to be the most likely candidates but as far as I understand Hydrogen has fallen out of favor with the manufacturers fir some reason.
The current trends on the automotive market point to electric cars so doesn’t this new formula block a potential future development for F1? or are the FIA just hedging their bets?
I think it is great. Nothing to do with F1, but good for the sport.
The reason is this :
Hydrogen has similar, if not worse, infrastructure problems to LPG. Electricity is readily available anywhere anyone is buying new cars.
F1 will evolve and may eventually merge with Formula E, if they’re both still active at that point.
Meanwhile in Valencia apparently Luca has been throwing his toys out of the pram in what appears to be a sour grapes display of pique, aimed at both Bernie and Schumacher. Having very little testing nowadays is insulting to Ferrari’s huge pile of money and superb but redundant test track. As reported elsewhere, Luca looks a little like a spoilt child upset because he did not win, but this has obviously been translated a couple of times so may be misleading.
He’s just practising for that career in politics that always beckons?
Off topic, but– Joe, I would love to see your thoughts on the rumoured legal matter between Adam Parr and Uncle Bernard.
In all matters legal, I find it is best to wait and see. I would have thought, however, that if that was going to happen, it would have happened months ago.
The location sounds a lot better than building a motor sport theme park in the middle of a desert…
It’s an interesting development. A few attractions have been built in JB very close to Singapore, including a new LEGO land. It is much cheaper to build and run it in Malaysia than Singapore and they have a very cheap bus direct from the centre of Singapore to Legoland. I guess this must be a one of the aims for the new racing centre, attract residents and tourists from Singapore but with out the expensive overheads of running this kind of operation in Singapore.
Agree with Damien – went through there a couple of months ago and it didn’t exactly strike me as the obvious place for a motorsport haven.. All the best to Mr. Lim, he comes off as rather sympathetic on wikipedia but I have my doubts that this will become a cash cow anytime soon.
Joe, any thoughts on Honeywell being Enstone ‘s title sponsor??
I am expecting that.
if you said so, it must be reliable source. Thanks Joe.
You have any idea on the scale of involvement by Burn??
Sensible but not huge.
They seem to be doing well for themselves signing sponsors. Is it Jacking Stewart’s influence which is helping?
I am sure that does not do any harm, but as I understand it, the sponsors are being found not by GenII, which JYS works for, but rather by the team and by agencies.
Apologies to Jackie Stewart for autocorrecting his name! I read his autobiography and he was a shrewd character at Stewart GP with the Ford and Malaysian sponsorship as well as being one of the first to get the banks into F1. A good guy to have associated with you on that side.
Joe
What are you expecting the car, chassis that is, to be called? Not Lotus surely? Aren’t the procedures for changing chassis names a bit complicated?
Martin
Lotus
Iskandar is also where the just opened Legoland Malaysia is located. Malaysia is pushing the economic development of the area. But it is strange to build a new motorsport facility when they could refurbish the existing and excellent Johor Circuit.
Presumably there is more to this announcement than has so far been announced…
Is there any point of building a F1-spec. circuit if it doesn’t include F1 races…
Malaysia already has a perfectly fine F1-circuit…
Will many Singaporeans bother to travel even to Johor except the F1 diehards…?
Is Mr Lim simply looking to see what support now appears before he needs to start construction. Does he even have more than an option on the proposed site…?
With the Thai government also claiming to want a F1 race I wonder whether any of these people are even talking to Bernie (or whoever) before making bold announcements . . .
sorry… should have been: ‘point IN building’
It is his money. If he says he is doing it, one presumes he is. He probably knows better than we do.
I’ve somehow lost touch with my dear friend who engaged me briefly to work on a Golf project in Kalantan, but my take on the means of these developments in M’sia was they are railroad fashion. You build the track, you get land concessions. Malaysia is a country wonderfully situated, but with a real need to develop its regions. I applaud Peter Lim’s project, it seems to be – on the face of it – something very positive for F1. But also, I learned early this year, the enormity of local politics which can make or break such a project. COTA is in my view the model of how to do things in F1. Get money, get stuck in, get everyone, no matter how tenuously connected, on board. If Peter Lim can emulate that, in any way, I think he’ll do well. Would be nice also, to think that if he does receive land concessions, there will be places for F1 types to stay at affordable rates. But I am wary, from earlier experience, of Build It And They Will Come deals. Too many politicians and obscure vested interests.