Grand Prix fever is just about starting to take hold in Singapore, with the big weekend happening Sep 16-18. Related to that, we recently got a chance to take a trip down memory lane with Anne Wong Holloway, the Singaporean driver who won the Macau Grand Prix back in 1970. The then 21-year-old joined a friend in the novice class of the Singapore Grand Prix, and although she didn’t manage to complete the race in the Singapore leg, she continued on to other legs, until she emerged at the top of the 17th Macau Grand Prix with her Mini Cooper S. Here, she tells about becoming the first woman to win a race at Macau, how she developed an interest in cars and how Singapore has changed since the days of girlhood.
Anne Wong Holloway
I grew up in Singapore, and spent my younger days mainly in Cairnhill Circle. It doesn’t quite exist anymore because all those houses have been razed and replaced with condominiums and flats. But that was years and years ago when there were houses and big gardens up on the hill. I also spent part of my growing up years in Kuala Lumpur and Malacca before heading back to Singapore for my pre-U.
I did my pre-U here at CHIJ, which was down in Victoria Street in those days. The current CHIJMES, you know? And then I went off to boarding school in England for a few years. I went to a Poly to study business, but didn’t like it so I came home. I never really liked the idea of schooling or wanting to go to school in the first place.
I worked at Grant Advertising in the traffic department. Basically you hand out job requests to the various individuals; you start off with the creative people, the creative director, the art director and so on, then you had to retrieve those, progress them, cajole the individual if they’re late and pass it down to the next passion. You pretty much follow the whole job round.
My father and uncles were particularly interested in cars. We had a detached house with a garden, a long driveway and a garage at that time. They had quite a lot of space for cars so they messed around with them a lot. I had nothing better to do so I hung around the area and somehow got interested in cars; not particularly actively, but just knew about them, like most kids do.
In those days, the people racing in the Grand Prix were amateurs, so you knew the people who were racing. Unlike Formula 1 today; it’s just a show that’s packed up and moves from place to place and you just can’t relate to it. I used to follow some uncles to the back of Thomson Road to chope a spot to watch people race. It was an annual affair.
They were just normal roads, and oh, much less safe. They were narrow and natural, and there weren’t all these run-off areas or barricades. Formula 1 is far too safe these days, that’s why they drive the way they do now. In the old days, if you ran off the road, you could end up in some kampong or somebody’s farm.
I don’t think I ever thought I was ready. A friend of mine wanted to participate in the novice race. My father said to her, “You can borrow one of our cars. It’s better than the car you’re driving.” Then at that moment, I decided that I wanted to race too. He drove my dad’s Ford Escort and I drove his Hillman Imp.
While I was in the pits waiting to go out, I was in tears and told my dad that I didn’t want to do it because I was scared. But he said, “You’re already here. Go off and just enjoy yourself.” During the practice run, my friend managed to wrap the Escort around a lamp post while I made it through to race that year. I didn’t manage to complete the race, but I went on to Batu Tiga anyway and then to Macau.
Photos of yesteryears in Anne’s home
After a few laps, I saw the number 20 on my pit board so I thought, “Mmm, not bad.” Another few laps later, I noticed some cars on the side of the road because they’d broken down and so on. Next thing I knew, I saw on my pit board, “1”, and thought, “No, can’t be. It must be somebody else’s.”
I was quite relieved when I saw the checkered flag. When you’re in the lead, you naturally think somebody’s going to catch up with you, or you think, “Do I hear a funny sound? Is the same thing that happened in practice going to happen to my car again?” and stuff like that.
The crowds came surging round, and you know Minis are quite small and I thought, “What if somebody pushes this car over?” It was a bit terryfing because after the race, the public would come in and everybody was curious who this person who won the race in a Mini. My father said to me, “You better get in the car quick”.
As a woman racer, I didn’t face any real difficulties because I knew most of the guys and they treated me like a younger sister.
Except for this one guy who really got on my nerves. And he didn’t even drive! You know how people like to tease other people right? One day in KL he came along and… I can’t remember what he said but I got really furious at him. I had a ball pen in my hand at that time and I tried to jab him with it.
It didn’t hurt him because his skin was so thick. But the other guys asked me to go over we got a sugar cane drink. But really, there wasn’t any antagonism. They didn’t look upon you like you couldn’t drive or anything. We weren’t exactly professionals.
Photo credit: Ministry of Information and the Arts Collection, courtesy of National Archives of Singapore
After Macau, I continued to race for a few more years but realized that it’s rather costly. I was looking for something else to do. Then I decided to change jobs and work for the Straits Times, but not as a journalist. I was in the business promotions department. That’s when one of my journalist friends came up to me and said, “Why don’t you ride horses? There are amateur races.”
I’ve always been interested in pets like dogs and horses. We had dogs at home but I remembered whenever my parents asked me they could bring me from overseas, I’d always say, “I want a cowboy suit and a pony.” And you know, as a child, you don’t realize how impossible it is. My friend introduced me to a couple of friends who taught me to ride.
Every morning before work, when it’s still dark, I would go to the old Turf Club in Bukit Timah to learn how to ride.
I picked up golf in 1990. I went from having the horsepower the Mini had, to literally one horsepower and zero horsepower. It was a hobby for me. I’ve also picked up Nordic Walking this year as a form of exercise. Since I’m middle-aged, I thought I better stay toned and healthy, since it requires you to use 90% of your body’s muscles.
More info on the history of Singapore’s first Grand Prix, and more, on the Singapore Policy History Project website.
