PRESIDENT of Singapore Motor Sports Association (SMSA) Tan Teng Lip agrees that go-karting is the foundation of auto racing.

Although karting is not a new sport in Singapore, majority of people who kart here are still doing it at recreational level.

There are only about 30 people who kart competitively, noted Tan.

The youngest in the competitive group is about 10 and the oldest is above 40.

Tan also noticed an increased level of interest in karting after Singapore hosted its first Formula One night race in September this year.

And before the racing fever dies down, the SMSA is planning to hold a national karting championship next year.

Tan said: "Our aim is to promote competitive karting among younger generations. We will have four championship rounds with different classes.

"It will be the first time that we are holding a karting competition on a such a big scale and it will be held at the Tuas circuit.

"We are still working on the details.

"The past karting competitions were more ad hoc, smaller in scale and used to be held at Kallang car parks," Tan added.

This year, SMSA received between $50,000 and $100,000 in funding from the Singapore Sports Council (SSC).

Youth development

SMSA has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Nescafe Singapore where the Nestle-owned coffee brand will sponsor cash and kind of $50,000 in support of SMSA's youth development programs over the next three years.

Currently SMSA is working with SSC to introduce karting in schools and the latter has received some proposals on the karting programmes.

Tan said: "Karting in school is a good way to get people started. But it will still depend on individuals on how far they want to go.

"If schools are looking at karting at a recreational level, it'll be less expensive.

"But first of all, schools must be prepared to come up with some funds to do it."

It can easily cost a six-figure sum to groom a child in competitive karting over five years.

The sum covers the cost of the go-kart, training, travelling and maintenance cost for the go-kart.

When contacted last week, an SSC spokesman said that it is maintaining its status quo to put up a Request for Proposal by the end of the year and the racetrack in Changi is expected to be completed by early 2011.

Fan Chian Jen, Deputy Director, Motor Sports Industry Department of SSC said: "Since we announced the plan to develop the racetrack, we have received numerous queries and feedback from many international and local players on the project specifications.

"The challenge is that the feedback has been very diverse and we have to perform due diligence to find out what is relevant to Singapore and adopt those suggestions that can create value for the project. "

This article was first published in The New Paper on Dec 10, 2008.