Nobody is handing out seats in a Formula 1 (F1) car this week, but New Era Singapore has the next best thing parked inside its Bugis Junction store. From 6 to 11 October 2026, anyone who joins the queue gets three laps in a Williams-branded race car simulator, and the fastest lap of the week wins New Era x Atlassian Williams F1 Team merchandise.
That’s a tidy detour for a lunch break or the walk home after work, especially in a week when the whole city has racing on the brain. The store has been dressed up as a motorsport zone for the occasion, and the pitch is aimed squarely at fans of Williams drivers Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz who’d like to find out how their own reflexes hold up!
Three Laps, One Photo, One Winner
The rules are short enough to memorise in the queue. Head to the store, join the line for the simulator, and when your turn comes you get three laps per attempt to set the quickest time you can.
The step people will forget is the one that counts. To land on the leaderboard, you need to snap a photo of your final lap time and upload it through the QR code in the store, so keep your phone within reach before you climb out of the seat. A blistering lap that never gets photographed is a lap that never happened, at least as far as the rankings go.
New Era Singapore plans to name the winner on @newerasgofficial after 11 October, and only the top spot on the leaderboard takes home the merchandise. There’s no prize for second, so this is a time trial in the truest sense, and every tenth of a second matters!
How to Spend Your Three
Three laps disappear quickly, so it pays to have a plan before the lights go out. Use the first lap to learn where the braking points are and build speed from there, because a spin on a run this short leaves very little room to recover.
Timing matters off the track too. New Era Singapore lists the hours as 10am to 9.30pm daily, and with two racing pods on the floor and a city full of race fans, a weekday morning is a safer bet than Saturday night. The kiasu approach (Singlish for being afraid to lose out) is the right one here, so go early in the week.
Why New Era Is in the Pit Lane
New Era is the official teamwear partner of the Atlassian Williams F1 Team for 2026, which both the team and the brand describe as New Era’s first F1 teamwear partnership. That means the apparel, headwear, and accessories worn by the drivers and team personnel this season come from New Era, with a matching range for fans. The kit was unveiled in London on 20 January 2026 and went on sale the next day.
The deal reaches further than race day, covering Williams’ F1, Sim Racing, Driver Academy, and Heritage operations, and it travels with the team across a 24-race season in 21 countries. Its campaign, Creating the Culture of Speed, stars Albon and Sainz and leans on New Era’s streetwear heritage.
Seen that way, a simulator in a shop makes sense. The London launch recreated Williams garages with live race data and gave guests a T-shirt customisation station, so the Bugis Junction setup follows the same playbook of letting fans do something rather than merely browse. Other brands are thinking along the same lines: at the 2026 Miami Grand Prix, Mobil ran simulator races and reflex challenges with team merchandise and gift cards as prizes.
One Winner, Plenty of Reasons
The honest maths is that one person wins, and everyone else leaves with a lap time and a story. For most visitors the drive is the prize, which is a fair trade for the time spent in a queue, and far more fun than staring at a rack of caps!
Anyone who walks away empty-handed has a second stop. The team has a separate Williams Fan Zone at Marina Square from 6 to 13 October 2026, where New Era’s 2026 team kit is on sale. Note the dates, because the fan zone stays open two days after the Bugis Junction simulators pack up.
For the rest of race week, DANAMIC’s Singapore Grand Prix 2026 guide covers tickets, zones, and what to do, and there’s a separate rundown of where to eat, drink, and shop off the track.
🗓️ Date: Tuesday, 6 October to Sunday, 11 October 2026
⏰ Time: 10am to 9.30pm daily
📍 Location: New Era, Bugis Junction, 200 Victoria Street, #01-56/57, Singapore 188021
🏆 Prize: New Era x Atlassian Williams F1 Team merchandise for the fastest lap on the leaderboard
🔗 Details: Winner announcement on @newerasgofficial after 11 October
So pick a day before Sunday, 11 October, bring a charged phone for that all-important photo, and go find out whether those years of racing games were good for something. Then keep an eye on New Era Singapore’s @newerasgofficial page once the simulators close to see whose name ends up on top of the podium. It might be yours!
Visuals courtesy of New Era Singapore.
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