SUIT up your race leathers because the transformation is complete at Circuit@Tuas.

What started out as vacant land in Tuas West Drive is now ready for some serious road-racing rage.

This weekend, the newly-laid multi-purpose circuit for motorcross and road-racing is officially open for practice so riders can prepare for the first road race this month.

On Monday, the long-awaited tarmac saw about 10 riders test-riding the 1.1km-long circuit - all this after a two-month delay due to rainy weather which hindered the track-laying process.

Judging from the testers' response, the track is 'good to go'.

Mr Jackson Han, 32, one of the track testers, said: 'It's a technical track which leaves you no time to relax. You're always kept on your toes, cornering and braking.

'On smaller motorcycles, you can really maximise the bikes' performance by going full-throttle.'

Mr Han, who is also Singapore Motor Sports Association's (SMSA) vice president for motorcycle sport, said bikes above 600cc would be too hard to ride at the small circuit because they're too powerful.

Future races would be restricted to smaller-capacity bikes like the supermotards (a form of dirt bikes) and cubs (commuter motorcycles commonly seen in Malaysia and Indonesia).

Another test rider Wilson Yeo said: 'The hairpin is a nice spot to do your overtaking manoeuvre because there are different cornering lines you can take there.

'But there are also tricky sections like the double-apex corner. While this is not a high-speed circuit, it's still challenging as you have to guard your lines to prevent from being overtaken.'

The riders said the maximum speeds reached were between 100kmh and 120kmh on the straights.

One lap around the circuit takes about a minute. Supermotard bikes tend to be about a second slower than the smaller, higher-revving cub bikes, the testers said.

EIGHT-CORNER CIRCUIT

The eight-corner circuit, with its two straights, has a mix of fast and slow turns.

In the centre of the tarmac track is the motorcross track which saw its inaugural race held in January.

Still, there will be some fine-tuning on the circuit, Mr Keith Karim said. He is part owner of Circuit@Tuas.

'I'm glad the riders liked it. But we're constantly looking for ways to improve safety,' he said.

'What we need to do now is to make the circuit safer by adding safety barriers in the right places,' he said.

On standby are some 2,500 car tyres, drilled to prevent water from accumulating (to prevent breeding of mosquitoes).

The testing done by the riders helped to determine the areas prone to crashes and the height of the safety barriers needed, Mr Keith said, adding that the bill for the road race circuit now stands at about $400,000.

This article was first published in The New Paper on May 10, 2008.