Colin Syn can afford a wry little laugh when he thinks back to his time as a student in London of the 1960s. In those far-off days, the self-confessed motorsport fanatic would spend all his spare change paying for the chance to drive himself around the historic racetrack at Brands Hatch, dreaming of life as a professional racer and of the falling chequered flags that might one day cement his own legend among the greats of the sport.
Who knew, back then, that Syn's dreams of becoming involved in the sport at the highest level would one day come true, just not quite in the manner that was first imagined.
Forty-odd years after his school days had been consigned to history, Syn found himself helping his home nation create a piece of its own, thanks to his role alongside hotelier Ong Beng Seng as one of the driving forces behind the Singapore GP group and its efforts to bring Formula One racing to the streets of the Lion City.
'My hair still stands up on end when I think about it,' the 65-year-old says of September 28, 2008 - the date when Singapore hosted the first-ever night grand prix.
'It was like a dream come true when those engines started, for me and, much more importantly, for Singapore.' As the city prepares for the fifth staging (from September 21 to 23) of what has become the centrepiece of its year - both sporting and social - Syn is taking the time to reflect on how this story came about, in the face of all the doubters and an incredible race against time that forced the first event to be organised - from start to finish - in just 17 months.
'I've been involved in motorsports since the 1960s,' says Syn. 'We first made a bid for F1 in the 1980s. I went to London to see Bernie Ecclestone with our proposal and we got the franchise, subject to government support. At first we were looking at using a big circuit on the land that is today a golf course out near Changi Airport, but things just didn't work out then - the timing was all wrong.'