Porsche to race against jetliner in lead-up to Singapore GP

Singapore: As part of the Singapore Changi Airport's Changi GP Festival in September, a Porsche 911 GT3 Carrera will race against a Boeing 747 aircraft in what is billed as  ''the race of a lifetime.''

On 5 September, the first-ever jetliner versus car race in Asia will determine who is the speed king of the tarmac at Changi Airport's Terminal 3.

The race car and the cargo freight will start from a stationary point and compete over a distance of 1.7 kilometres. The Porsche can hit a maximum of 275-280 kilometres per hour but will it be fast enough?

Peter Leo, vice-president and acting head of safety, Jett8 Airlines Cargo, said, "He (the race car driver) is the one who is going to have to cater to our speed. Of course during the initial acceleration, he is going to overtake us. But as we gather momentum and a bit of time, we should (be able to) give it a pretty close competition." And what can spectators expect from the race?

Yuey Tan, driver, Porsche Carrera Cup Asia, said: "One exciting thing is to have all these vehicles on the runway, to have race cars and helicopters and planes and all that sort of things. It is every boy's dream. But more importantly, I think it's a great promotion for motorsport in Singapore. We have the Formula 1 Grand Prix… all we need now is some local drivers to compete in our Grand Prix."

Organisers said preparations for the event started several months back and technical trials have been conducted.

Jean Hung, Terminal 3 division head, Changi Airport Group, said: "Obviously the logistics is rather massive, but we're all very excited about the race, so we've done a technical trial on August 1 to see the car and the plane race. Subsequently leading up to September 5, we'll also be holding a few more rehearsals."