Sepang International Circuit

The Sepang International Circuit (SIC) is a racing circuit in Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia. It is near the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, about 60 km south of the capital city Kuala Lumpur. It is the venue used for the Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix, A1 Grand Prix as well as the Malaysian MotoGP. The circuit was designed by German designer Hermann Tilke. In the 1990s, during Mahathir Mohamad's government, Malaysia built the Sepang International Circuit near the new capital, Putrajaya. It was made to host the Malaysian Grand Prix. The circuit opened on March 7, 1999, by Mahathir, at 20:30 MST. Later, he also inaugurated the first Moto GP Malaysian Grand Prix on April 20, 1999, and the first Formula One Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix on October 17, 1999. Layout The main circuit is 5.54 km long. It is raced in a clockwise direction. It is noted for its sweeping corners and wide straights. The layout is unusual, with a very long back straight separated from the pit straight by just one very tight hairpin corner. The circuit may be set-up with other configurations. The north circuit is the first half of the main circuit. The course turns back towards the pit straight after turn 6 and is 2.71 km long. The south circuit is the other half of the circuit. The back straight of the main circuit becomes the pit straight. It joins onto turn 8 of the main circuit to form a hairpin turn. This circuit is 2.61 km in length. Sepang International Circuit also features kart racing and motocross facilities. References Other websites Sepang F1 International Circuit Archived 2006-10-04 at the Wayback Machine Official information about Sepang at the Formula 1 site Archived 2010-06-04 at the Wayback Machine Google Maps location