Ready for a thrilling ride. Photo Credit: Singapore Sidecars
Singapore Sidecars, a unique fleet of hand restored vintage vespa
sidecars that offers unique tours, is considered relatively new, but it
has already bagged the coveted role as an official Grand Prix Season
Singapore (GPSS) event organiser.
M&C Asia spoke to its co-founder, Simon Wong, to find out how the
company, which leverages on Singapore’s UNESCO World Heritage
locations, has been providing memorable experiences for MICE delegates
since 2018.
One differentiating factor for sidecars compared with trishaws is
that they move much faster, and cover more sights in the same time for
executives who want to see Singapore with limited time on their hands.
Wong shared that the company has evolved from five staff to a pool of
45 riders and a coordination team of 4. Celebrity clients include Damon
Hill, Johnny Herbert, Winston Duke of The Black Panther fame, and Joe
Russo director of The Avengers.
The company holds a Land Distance record for Vintage Sidecars
travelling 800 km to Penang from Singapore, in aid of cancer research
over a period of 72 hours. “We broke our own record two years later
doing the same run for Medical Frontliners, in nine hours 15 minutes,”
said Wong.
Singapore Sidecars’ Simon Wong. Photo Credit: Singapore SidecarsThe company has also appeared on postage stamps in Australia
alongside two other Singapore icons, Gardens By The Bay and Fort
Canning. It is a permanent fixture in the Top Fifteen Tours on Singapore
TripAdvisor, and a Top 4 Finalist for the Singapore Tourism Awards.
MICE Experience
The fleet is able to host 120 pax per morning on a rotation basis, in
groups of 20. The largest single group that it has handled was 66 pax,
using a Vintage Convoy concept of sidecars, Beetles and camper vans.
Said Wong: “MICE groups find us popular and we frequently get 15-50
pax bookings (from this year). 2020 was COVID, there wasn’t much MICE
then, but the largest groups then were around 15-20 as we are an
outdoors activity.”
We would recommend our Bestseller Kampung Glam & Civic District, which showcases three distinct parts of Singapore: the colonial splendour of the Civic District; the heritage shophouses of Arab Street enclave; the ultra modern Marina Bay Skyline. An hour should do it if the group is on time restraint.
Simon Wong, co-founder, Singapore Sidecars
New updates
Beetles, camper vans and Land Rovers are available for larger groups
and delegates can rotate at photo stops, so that they get to ride
sidecars and other vehicles. “Beetles are great for the company
photographer, if you get the open top ones. Drop us a note and we’ll
work out discounts for travel agents and discounts for volume. Give us a
good one to two months’ notice - the more the better, especially for
larger groups. We can also split groups over the course of their stay in
Singapore, that is, we take 20 out every morning after breakfast.”
As an official event organiser of GPSS, his team can bring MICE
groups onto sections of the F1 street circuit. “We had a large Italian
finance group in for a conference and they were over the moon to be on
various segments of the race track.”
Recommendations
Coming soon are the Sidecar Heritage Ride & Workshop 1: Peranakan
Tiles Batik Workshop, and Sidecar Heritage Ride & Workshop 2:
EcoBatik Beeswax Wraps Workshop.
Workshop 1 incorporates a one-hour tour for 7-10 pax, and a 1.5-hour
workshop where participants will be introduced to batik and Peranakan
tiles pattern in Singapore. They will make batik on a 30 × 28 cm
certified Oeko-tex cotton silk handkerchief.