Partaking in Porsche’s media endurance race in 2025 and 2026, and a firm farewell to Singapore’s last-standing karting circuit.
Its difficult to string together another non-mainstream aspect of Singapore being culled without being emotionally charged.
The topic is karting. I never had a truly vested interest in karting (disclaimer), but see it positively. Low age restrictions to build experience and skillsets to enter the grown-up world of motorsports, that also double as training for the socially mundane skill – driving. Many famed drivers that manage to reach as high as F1 have had their motoring roots from karting, so the sport has credibility.
With this kind of background, many local and aspiring racers would see fit to try karting rather than wait 18 years for their licence, and many more after to buy and track their car.
When COE now costs S$12#,### to renew a used vehicle, S$16#,### to buy into a new car and little venues for grassroots motorsports, karting would remain as the only entryway for affordable automotive recreation.
Why this track?
KF1 Kranji was another ray of hope for motorsport and motoring enthusiasts alike, opening in November 2014 and becoming Singapore’s first international-standard karting circuit. Ultimately, it would be a bright ray of hope, but also the only one – as no other circuit would hold the title. It is (or was) located at the Singapore Turf Club (STC) in Kranji, next to the now-defunct horse racing track.
It also stands out for being designed by Hermann Tiike, the circuit designer most known for designing high-profile circuits such as those that host F1 racing. His inputs are numerous, but local examples include Marina Bay Street Circuit and Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia.
It is with this credibility, small footprint and exhilarating layout that makes it unique and loved, and why the closure of the track is frustrating – including the fact KF1 Kranji is still the only circuit of its type.
Reminiscing on 2025
Last year was my formal introduction to KF1 Kranji. Not informal like most had learned it, so I won’t be sharing a very relatable trip back in time.
When I was in Motorist as an intern and wanna-be racer, I was formally invited alongside Motorist’s actual pro-driver, Aiden, to join the 2.4h Singapore Endurance Karting Challenge 2025 hosted by Porsche. Based on and hosted right before the actual 24 hours of LeMans, the 2.4-hour long event was a 144-minute endurance race around KF1 Kranji, with PRO and PRO-AM (pro amateur) teams fighting each other on the track with (not bumper karts) race machinery.
The media folks attending definitely do not reflect the whole scene (as in we’re not the absolute fastest, or not all of us were!), but the driver cast were all a mix of high levels and low levels like myself.
I was in with the “PRO” class, with two other experienced and fellow media drivers to wreck havoc as Team 5 – representing the Black Gulf 86 livery.
Indeed, KF1’s track design here is uniquely designed to be extremely technical, fast and mind-numbing. This was the consensus that I quickly learned from an initial warm-up session prior to the event and right then and there as I was blasting through the track. The race was started endurance style – a run to the karts where the fastest climber enjoys the faster entry into top position – where I snuffed it by struggling with my seatbelt (same thing came to bite me the year after…)
Halfway through the race and we caught some bad weather, where the complex nature of the course and slippery roads made mistakes far more common. I recall slipping on a compound corner and being stranded then for around thirty seconds.
We otherwise made good consistent time and finished in fourth – with a best lap time of 1:07:014. Aiden’s team would be set as the number one finish after serious battling with the second and third places.
I left bruised (not emotionally), sore but wowed by the track layout (also the adrenaline rush of karting). The corresponding gifts for participation from Porsche were also appreciated, with very good memorabilia for not just the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but this 2.4 hours of KF1 that we all endured.
Last rush of 2026
The next installment would carry a more emotional impact.
As a stand-in for Aiden who is away for the 2026 season, here I am, rev-happy although admittedly I would still be flying back to Singapore four hours before the start of attendance.
The 2026 edition of the 2.4 hours endurance race is not just the poetic ending to the yearly event (at KF1); this is also Porsche’s 10th anniversary since its inception of the event, and Porsche Motorsport’s 75th year of heritage. Going forward, the 2.4 hour endurance race will be formally hosted at the Porsche Experience Center in Singapore, set to launch the following year.
This time, I have joined in the PRO-AM class with another two teammates, and with the reverse course for the year. We kick off with the No. 7 kart (and subsequently Team 7) in Roule Bebe livery. Compared to the year before, we were made to wear proper race suits (supplied courtesy of KF1), so we all looked the part this time!
From practice to qualifying, I was named the fastest driver in the team, where we made progress with a pole position time for PRO-AM at 1:05:791, putting us in fifth. Though, we should have heeded advice from the announcers to ready up our karts; at the same running start, the seatbelt was (perhaps intentionally) hooked to the wheel, costing me too much time to loosen the belt and fastening it before moving off. We would start far back, but quickly clawed back into forth position.
At our best, we were locked in at a respectable pace of sixth place, a fellow PRO-AM driver just ahead of us. With a minimum and maximum allowed seat time per driver of 15 and 30 minutes respectively, I came in to pit at 25 minutes.
As an endurance race, strategizing driver swaps and fuel top-ups were the make-and-break if not for lap times and dexterity. The trio of us were strategizing when to call each other in and swap drivers and when we would need to top up our tank. Hearsay that it would last 90 minutes tops.
The initial position didn’t last due to pace-related issues, making the sixth position slip into last. The team had to make up four or so laps to reach the next team in the leaderboard – daunting, but we could make it happen.
Reaching a flow state was intoxicating to say the least. The track’s layout gives little time for your mind to wander off – concentration, concentration and concentration above all else was a focal point that made locking in on the converging corner and its respective braking and optimal racing lines feel… perfect. It was blissful, even if it was hot in full gear.
Compared to the other track I am familiar with – Kart-Hauz George Town in Penang, the technicality between both is impossible to compare – KF1 Kranji is uniquely difficult.
The Sodi race karts were a perfect fit for the track too. Although on POVs does it not look necessarily fast, the karts are perfect pace for the track. The 50 km/h top speed was barely felt throughout where only at the starting straight does it almost hit before a hard slam on the brakes into the left hairpin into SGP. Not to mention the tyre grip required true skill to both handle and exploit – which I would have to get used to spinning out several times!
We as a team realized that we’d not topped up on fuel once. The uncle who were assisting in our stops had told us, “Still have a lot of fuel leh! You dunnit to refill!” Ah, so that’s why we’re so far behind…
I went in for the last 25 minutes and that feeling of bliss really came into play. We still had another four to six laps ahead of the next car ahead, but that seemingly didn’t cloud my mind then. It really was bliss – used to am I blasting music on my automotive drives to elevate the experience but with pure concentration, that wasn’t needed. Well, maybe its needed after I pit-maneuvered my fellow driver trying to “overtake”. I waved him to pass after.
By the end of the 144-minute saga, Team 7 – us – was still in last place overall, but we managed to improve our already-pole position lap to a 1:05:4##. On top of that, we ended with a single lap behind the second last team. Though I would like to apologize again for the collision.
Team 7 would not win a higher position finish even after counting all teams’ penalties (too fast in pit lane, over driver time limit, etc), but we won pole position for PRO-AM and I was awarded the Most-Valuable-Player (MVP, “Driver” in this case seemed awkward). The keychain and 1/18 scale Porsche 911 GT3 Touring as awards are a memorable piece to remember the event by.
I’ll remember too that the layout is very different between the normal and reversed route, but it hadn’t changed the difficulty (because it already was difficult) and for a brief stint at Jipl, there was the inevitable thought, “I want to race on this track again”. That’s not possible.
The misery of KF1 Kranji’s fate
This is amongst the last few races in KF1 Kranji (public and private). Given how socially inept I am, plus preparation was on short notice, I shall only reminisce from a “me” perspective without real interviews with high-profile attendees and organizers.
Singapore Turf Club, the site where the circuit was built on, was formally a horse racing track whose club had a 182-year long run with the sport up until 2024, where it was permanently closed. The horse racing track was relocated to Kranji in 2000, but the sport itself was unfortunately dwindling in popularity leading up to its closure, and was announced in 2023 that it would shut down permanently, closing the only horse racing venue in Singapore.
If only Uma Musume peaked in popularity a few years earlier would you think the place could have survived, huh…
The site is 124-hectares in size including the plot where KF1 was built on, which because of the lack of use after 2024, meant that the government has the authority to seize the leased land (does not matter if it is freehold or not), where they cited the gradual decline in the sport (and footfall) as the reason for them to take back the location.
Disappointingly, the plots that will take its place of the horse racing and karting track will be more Housing Development Board (HDB) housing, which may come in later years while the government develops a plan for the land.
There were talks on whether KF1 Kranji could be spared to remain as a venue via renewing the land’s lease to keep the lights literally on. Without a deal (which looks to be the case) and Singapore will be left without an automotive hub for emerging drivers young and old, the track forced to close by end of 2026. Demolitions are slated to start as early as 2027, meaning there is an extremely short time window for the track left.
Attendee disappointment
With many chats from actual attendees, the opinions are obviously extremely negative – citing no other local “professional” circuits available and mocking the action to choose the land area for future HDB developments one of many unfiltered comments.
I feel a similar sentiment, alongside the consensus among like-minded young guys in Singapore that recreational hobbies are evermore spread thin with the closures of countless venues for different mediums, alongside other concerns like the sustainability of pursuing hobbies or passions locally that isn’t a rat race to print money.
KF1 Kranji was the only available motorsports hub accessible for young people, which the removal of this track means anyone who wants to start early or train for global motorsports are forced to do it only overseas, which if not for time, is already far out of reach for the majority. Some cite National Service as being the nail in the coffin for aspiring drivers – I cite the hostile landscape to start at all, be it monetary requirements or local opportunities.
It will be that without KF1 Kranji, the grassroots competition for Singapore will be completely dead in the water. It was already very dead thanks to lack of support for grassroot car events, and it may as well be without an affordable and accessible way to enter driving early.
Going forward and like many things of local heritage, KF1 Kranji will live only in the memories of those who have ridden it – definitely mine – but also in some digital platforms like ROBLOX, where recreations of the track exist (though ROBLOX might not last much longer either).
Similar tales a decade-plus ago
KF1 Kranji’s closure reminds me of the closure of the Tuas Circuit (initially named Tuas International Speedway), a privately-owned 3.37-kilometre racetrack that opened around November 2007 that would support up to FIA International Class 2 specifications. Its hopes were to bring an international audience with Japan GT expressing interest to host an exhibition race to test long-term feasibility.
Tuas Circuit has remained largely forgotten, having become more of a motorbike course and drift course after it was opened. It went defunct before 2010 and demolished afterwards to make way for future developments and the East-West Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line.
A similar tale could be said for the Changi Motorsports Hub, another planned local racetrack that was first unveiled as plans in 2007, with media events and the like being hosted that would eventually fizzle out after 2012. It is noteworthy that the land there was never used until now, which is where the soon-to-open Porsche Experience Center will be located.
Another track was the Thompson Road Grand Prix circuit, one that did host Gran Prix races from 1961 to 1973. While it survived a similar duration as KF1 Kranji, its racing roots stopped come 1974 due to several deaths via accidents during the event. The road technically still exists, but has undergone several revisions including becoming a one-way road.
Thanks and farewell
I’d like to thank Porsche for inviting me last-minute into the 9th and 10th installment of the Singapore 2.4h Endurance Karting Challenge (though I know this isn’t Motorist!), and I’m keen to see how development of the experience centre will be.
And for my 2026 teammates Walter and Nellie, thank you for making the race rewarding! Your company was great and I hope it was as good for you as it was for me. Until next time then, when there comes another opportunity for local racing.
A condensed piece can be found on Motorist.
~Linus
Read more: MotorGala: CL7SG Mega Meet 8.0
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