S. Korea pushing to stage Grand Prix

By Chris Nixon

SOUTH KOREA is likely to be Asia's first developing nation to stage a Formula One Grand Prix.

The South Koreans are determined to become a world automotive power and they are taking the fastest track there is, Formula One.

The first South Korean Grand Prix is due to be staged late next year, and before the event's five-year contract expires, Hyundai is expected to be battling Ferrari, Ford, Mercedes-Benz and other major car makers for the rich spoils that come with the checkered flag.

A deal between South Korean and F1 officials settled during the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne in March last year gave the green light for a new 4.6km circuit near the coastal city of Kunsan, 240km southwest of the capital, Seoul.

The Sepoong World circuit is currently being built on the site of a disused salt mine and is due to be finished next May.

A meeting of the Paris-based FIA World Motorsport Council later this year will set the date for the inaugural event, expected to be around October 1998 and close to the Japanese Grand Prix.

Although Japan has a long-established Formula One race, South Korea is the first of Asia's developing nations to be awarded a world championship round by the power brokers of Formula One, including marketing and television tycoon Bernie Ecclestone.

Indonesia with its circuit at Sentul, near Jakarta, along with China, Malaysia and Brunei also have been contenders, but the ambitious South Koreans were first to put together a deal that promises Ecclestone's Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA) massive returns on television rights and sponsorship.

Key among these rewards is the expectation of huge revenues from tobacco companies in a country where cigarette advertising is still allowed.

In many other host countries race organizers and teams desperate for tobacco dollars tread a fine line with national health authorities.

The race will also showcase one of Asia's most developed and industrialized economies, in which motor vehicle manufacture plays a vital part.

While the rise in Korea's prominence as a car-producing nation is symbolized by a massive new Daewoo factory at Kunsan, just an exhaust's roar from Sepoong World, it is rival maker Hyundai that aims to be the first to compete in Formula One.

The project is the personal ambition of Hyundai Motor Company Chairman Mong Gyu Chung, a motorsports enthusiast.

Chung has established the Hyundai Sport Racing Team in Seoul to develop the company's Formula One and World Rally Championship (WRC) programs.

While a Formula One start is some way off, a Sydney-based driver, Wayne Bell, is preparing to give a works Hyundai Coupe its debut in the WRC.

Just as Honda owns the Suzuka track in Japan, Hyundai eventually may build its own F1 circuit to rival Sepoong, says company President Byung Jae Park.

At first, however, it will incorporate F1 facilities into its Namyang proving ground, near Seoul. Namyang is the ideal venue, since it incorporates the 10-month old Technology Research Center, which is superbly equipped and will be a driving force in the development of world-class Hyundai passenger vehicles.

"We'll build an F1 track at the proving ground and start by obtaining a chassis from outside to run our engine," Park said.

"But, eventually, we have a plan to build our own car as well."

If Hyundai achieves its goal of building its own Formula One car and engine and running it in a South Korean Grand Prix, it will add a glamorous tinge to the current world view of Korean cars.

Next year's South Korean Grand Prix will be staged 10 years after the Seoul Olympics and national and regional officials in the province of Chollabuk-Do are expecting a further surge in the country's already booming economy.

The Sepoong circuit will be the first phase of a $US18billion resort development. Already, several hundred extra hotel rooms are being built to accommodate the GP circus.

The congested, industrialized port city of Kunsan hardly resembles Monte Carlo, but it will nevertheless attract world attention when Michael Schumacher, Jacques Villeneuve, Damon Hill and the other F1 stars race there for the first time.