Capital Racing—Grand Prix Roots in Kuala Lumpur  

In 2015, it was announced that the Malaysian city of Kuala Lumpur would hold a street Grand Prix for GT3 cars and a variety of sports cars. However, this was by no means the first time that Malaysia’s capital city had played host to racing in the streets.

HUMBLE SPRINTS

Looking back at the racing scene in the late 1950s, there was a definite buzz amongst members of the larger motoring clubs in South East Asia, such as the Malayan Motor Sports Club (MMSC) and the Singapore Motor Club (SMC). They planned, they schemed, they sought venues, and they looked for the right cars. A trickle of sports and racecars found their way to the region, imported by locals and expatriates. Formula 3 Coopers, Lotus and Lolas added to the plethora of locally built Specials and fast sports cars.

The catalyst for this activity was the Forces Motoring Club’s circuit race at the RAF Changi base in Singapore in 1957. But it wasn’t just the Changi Circuit Race that spurred interest among local motoring enthusiasts then. Selangor’s nascent motor sport scene, as in Singapore, had evolved from the late 1940s. It was in 1948 when the first stirrings of interest in motor sports was evident, in the tin mining town of Gopeng in Perak, 20-km south of Ipoh, where the post-war, club race scene really began in the Malay Peninsula.