The first Johor Grand Pix

The first Johore Grand Prix was organised by the late Sultan Sir Ismail ibni Almarhum Sultan Sir Ibrahim, when he was still Tunku Mahkota of Johor. The race was in aid of the War Fund.

Four races were held in the two-day event. The 2.414km circuit consisted of a portion of a newly-built road in the city and some connecting roads.

Participation was by invitation only. A total of 15 invitations were sent out for competitors representing the states of Johor (including Singapore), Perak, Selangor, Penang and Malacca.

The second Johore Grand Prix took place eight years later in 1948 with the newly established Singapore Motor Club (formed by a group of racing enthusiasts) taking up its organisation. It continued to receive support from the Tunku Mahkota who was himself a car enthusiast.

The 1948 Johore Grand Prix was a one-day event with four races, two for motorcycles and two for cars.

The two events for motorcycles were 350cc and under (five laps) and 351cc and over (five laps). The two events for cars were 1,500cc and under (five laps) and the Johore Grand Prix for Formula One cars of 1,500cc supercharged and 4,500cc supercharged (10 laps). The motorcycle event for 351cc and over was reported to be a crowd pleaser.


ON YOUR MARK, GET SET, GO: Fumio Ito (No 21) and Y.sunako (No 20) lead off at the start of the race while their 28 rivals are still pushing to get their machines started for the 70-lap Johore Grand Prix for motorcycles in 1963.

Over the years, the Johore Grand Prix for Formula One cars had its distance increased (it was 35 laps in 1952), to align it with international standards. The number of events also increased from five in 1950 to seven in 1952.

The Grand Prix, too, was extremely well received with entries and spectatorship growing over the years. In the early 1950s, an entrance ticket was priced at five Straits dollars and available in Singapore and Johor Baru.

The number of participants at the race increased annually, with 88 entries in 1951 and 101 in 1952. And in 1952, there were about 35,000 spectators at the event.

With a lap distance of 3.7 km, the circuit was a section of a real road that went through parts of the town. It was a unique circuit that consisted of fast straights and slow corners. Racers began near the Johor Baru Post Office with a gentle curving straight by the seafront along Jalan Tai Heng (named after Seah Tai Heng, who was appointed as Johor’s third Kapitan in the 1870s. The road has since been renamed Jalan Sultan Ibrahim.

The drivers would then head towards the zoo, go up the hill along Jalan Gertak Merah and come down towards the Prisons. Then, they would turn right towards Jalan Ayer Molek and down the straight towards the start/finishing line.

By 1952, four grandstands were built along the circuit to give spectators the best view possible, one each at Jail Corner and Zoo Corner, and two others at the start/finishing line.

A hotchpotch of different cars owned by wealthy Singaporeans and Malayans were raced. Freddy Pope (then president of the Singapore Motor Club) was the winner of the 1953 Johore Grand Prix in a Jaguar XK120S.

A tragic accident that took place on the circuit in 1963 led to the death of a popular Malayan racer, Yong Kee Nam (affectionately known as Fatso Yong). Driving a Jaguar D-type at 200kph, Yong’s car hit a pole and broke into two.


Now Johor is the only state other than Selangor that has a racetrack of international standards.

Built in 1986, the Johor circuit initially catered to the growing local enthusiasts but soon gained recognition, not only regionally, but also internationally.

Its challenging 3.86km configuration soon attained respect and admiration among the racing fraternity.

In 1990, just four years after it was built, the circuit was upgraded to the strict FIM World GP homologation requirements. In 1998, it hosted the World Motorcycle Grand Prix Championship.

Ever since then, it has been hosting regular local and regional events.

source NST