After successfully hosting the 1988 Olympics, the FIFA World Cup and
Asian
Games in 2002 and being shortlisted amongst the final three contenders
for
the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics, Korea continues its rise as a venue
for
major international sporting events by hosting its first F1 Grand Prix
in
2010.
The circuit on which the race will take place is
currently under
construction and forms part of a major leisure resort being
built at
Yeongam-am in the province of Jellanam on the south west tip of
Korea,
approximately 31/2 hours by road from Seoul.
In
addition to the motor racing circuit, the leisure complex will
include
hotels, a water park, marina, casino, golf course, theme park,
shopping
malls, watersports, and numerous restaurants, bars and
nightclubs.
As would be expected of such a high tech country the
new race circuit will
boast state of the art facilities, will have a 1.25km
straight allowing
speeds of 320kmh and at 5.6 km will be the longest F1
circuit in Asia and
the second longest on the F1 calendar after Monza in
Italy.
The date of the first Korean F1 Grand Prix has yet to be
fixed but is
expected to be towards the end of the calendar, in September or
October
2010.
Several tour operators have already expressed
an interest in creating tours
incorporating the event, not only to Korea, but
depending on timing, to also
include either the Chinese or Japanese
races.