Walk Around The Singapore Formula 1 Track - Part 2
The Part 1 of the Walk Around The Singapore Formula 1 Track finished at the Turn 15. You can check the location on this map from f1Singapore.com.
Right after the cars take the right Turn 15 the short stretch of the Raffles Avenue will open up in front of them, here is the view:
The Raffles Avenue then bends slightly to the left - Turn 16. The photo below is a bit distorted as I hade to zoom the picture from a bit of distance, otherwise I would likely end up being hit by a bus 
The structure you can see in the background is the Seating Gallery.
While passing the Turn 16, the drivers can see the hawker stalls on their right (here the food is supposed to be very good from what I hear)
and the Marina Square on their left.
The next right turn, Turn 17, will take the cars towards the water where they will turn left again to the short straight with the Seating Gallery on the left and the Floating Platform on the right. Here is where the part of the track that is still under construction starts.
The Turn 17 might look something like this:
However the actual track at this section will likely be closer to the Seating Gallery - the construction is under way behind the white fence you can see on these photos.
This is how the Turn 18 may look, without the clamp of course:
But again, the actual Turn 18 is being built as we speak behind this wall:
Right behind this wall is the section between turns 18 and 19 with the Seating Gallery on the left and the Floating Platform on the right. Both these structures seem to be under construction, however at least when looking from the sea side the Seating Gallery looks quite ready. Here are few pictures taken from different places:
Seating Gallery
Floating Platform
Seating Gallery
Seating Gallery and Floating Platform
Well, now comes the interesting part of the Singapore F1 race track - their version of the Monaco tunnel. The cars will turn left at the Turn 19 and go inside or under or through (whatever you call it) the Seating Gallery to come out at the Turn 20 and rejoin again the Raffles Avenue. You can check the video animation of the Singapore track. Here are the photos of the “tunnel” under the Seating Gallery taken from the Raffles Avenue:
I hope there are plans to resurface this part of the track
Here is the Turn 20 taking the cars back to the Raffles Avenue for a very short while:
After the Turn 20 follows a short straight on the Raffles Avenue as seen on this photo:
Where the straight on the above picture ends, that is the Turn 21. And here is the photo taken from Turn 21 looking back at Turn 20.
Here begins another section of the track that is now under construction. The cars will turn here into the present construction site (to left side of the above photo but it will be right turn for the drivers as the photo shows where the F1 cars will be approaching from).
This is another look at the Turn 21:
And if you take that turn now, this is what you will see:
There is no way in here at the moment, unless you work there. After the right Turn 21 comes almost right away left Turn 22 that will take the cars on the Marina Promenade. Just by the Singapore Flyer is the Turn 23 where the cars turn left towards the start finish line. The track map also shows Turn 24, another left hander, but that one looks more like a bend than a turn.
Here is a photo of the Singapore Flyer, the location of the Turn 23:
From here I could rejoin the track only somewhere between the Turn 3 and Turn 4. However the construction of the Pit Lane and Paddock is visible from the other side, from Republic Boulevard, here are few photos how Singapore F1 Pit Lane looked in early December 2007:
And a Pit Crew of December 2007:
On the track map you can see Turns 1,2 and 3 - these are either not yet there or very well hidden, I could not identify them. The next photo shows a view from around the Turn 4 back towards somewhere where the Turn 3 will eventually appear:
The Turn 4 is however very obvious, here it is. There is a bus on the photo - that is where Turn 5 is:
The next photo is a shot of the track between Turn 4 and 5. The F1 cars will be in the same lane as the car on the photo, but will race in the oposite direction:
And then comes Turn 5 that will take the cars on the Raffles Boulevard:
The Raffles Boulevard is the fastest strech on the track. It is almost a straight all the way to the Turn 7, but there is a bend near the Pan Pacific Hotel, marked on the map as Turn 6. Here are photos from the Raffles Boulevard. Again, the direction of the F1 race will be against the flow of normal traffic seen on these pictures:
Here you can see where the cars will be approaching the Turn 7 from:
And here is the end of the Raffles Boulevard part of the track with the Turn 7 (to the left):
The Turn 7 will take the cars to the Nicoll Highway. This is the view of the Nicoll Highway after Turn 7. The cars will be coming from the right but on the side of the road with the traffic. Not the empty road on the photo. This photo is taken from Turn 18 towards Turn 7. To refresh the memory - Turn 18 and Turn 5 are the opposite corners at the same intersection.
At the end of the Nicoll Highway the cars turn right. That will be the Turn 8 taking them on the Stamford Road, that is where my walk started.
So, this is it, this is the whole Singapore F1 track as seen in December 2007.
And as the Singapore F1 race will be a night race, here are few night shots of the city:
tags: Tags: 2008, formula 1, photos, Singapore
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December 6th, 2007 at 3:48 am
Nice one, was waiting patiently for part 2. They definitely need quite a bit of work ahead of the race obviously - especially on the tunnel and I’m with you that the track on that part needs resurfacing it seems! Really good to see what it is looking like though and I particularly like the technicolour seating!
December 6th, 2007 at 4:24 am
While walking around I also realized how huge is the temperature difference between the areas covered by trees and those on the sun… But this probably will not be an issue when the race is held in the night
December 6th, 2007 at 4:40 am
I keep forgetting it will be a night race - will add to the spectacle I suppose?! Is there a real passion for F1 out there did you sense on your visit? or is it just a case of exploiting a rich market? I suspect the latter…
December 6th, 2007 at 8:00 am
There may not be as much passion or knowledge yet as there is in Europe or Japan or Brazil, but I think they are pretty enthusiastic about the race in Singapore. The money is sure an important factor, but, the racing does have some history in Singapore (almost forgotten)
http://www.f1wolf.com/2007/09/singapore-grands-prix-of-the-past.html