Petronas Xtrack Round 1: Pekan Pahang 27th Oct 2012
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Category Archives: Drifting
SODA Advance Drift Session @ Mardi 13/10/2012
A cool video by ZakuMalaya on our little Advance Drift Session with the members of Drift Garage Singapore held earlier this month.
Updates: August and Sept!!
Wow.. time surely flies when you’re having fun. So much so that I have totally lost track of the updates done on the blog. My sincere apologies.
The following are quick updates of what we have been up to these past two months!
Pirelli Cinturato Dealers Launch 4th and 5th August 2012
Sync Optima was commissioned by the Kit Loong , the distributors of Pirreli , to do a launch for their new line of Cinturato tires to their dealers. We had a fleet of cars which ranges from Myvis up to BMW 5 series being supervised by trained instructors for this event.
We had a dry and wet course set up done for the dealers to have a better understanding of the tires handling characteristics.
TGIF’s Fathers Day Competition sponsored by Castrol and YHI Yokohama 26th August 2012
In conjunction with Fathers Day, TGIF ran a competition that gave out free drift lesson to fathers . We were fortunate to be given the opportunity to introduce and teach two lucky winners the sport of Drifting.
This would not be made possible without the generous sponsors from YHI Yokohama and Castrol lubricants.
The day ended with an free open drift session to all the drifters present.
FederationD RacePOD Drift Series round 5 2nd September 2012
We were roped in judge for round 5 held at MIMC circuit in Malacca. The RacePod series is currently the most regular drift series here in Malaysia .
Participated by the finest drifters from Malaysia and also participants from Singapore and Indonesia, we are glad to be part of this series and will be taking a more active role in the future.
New lesson car: Skyline GTR 32 15th Sept 2012
Besides our trust worthy AE86 ,we have purchased a new platform for rental to be used during our Sync Optima Drift Academy lessons. And no, it is not a typo, but it is really a GTR 32. A rear wheel drive GTR running on SR20!! To add to the queerness , is this car is running on 15 inch wheels. I would have to say that this is the world’s first !
I’ve been testing it during SpeedCity’s saturday night sessions and I am glad to say that this car is ready to be rented! Please contact Jane at jane@syncoptima.com for rental rates!!
ACE Drift Challenge @ Seremban 2 , 21st 22nd April 2012
All photos are by Tan Chin Fu
We got a call from Lim from ACE suspension saying that they got a place in Seremban 2 that they are planning to run weekly events. He reckoned that the best way to promote the place was to hold a drift competition there. Initially he wanted to limit the entrants to just beginners but decided to hold two separate competitions based on our qualifying results. The first qualifier till 8th will go against each other and from 9th till 24th will have their own tandem battle competition. As this was meant to be a fun event, I decided to bring J4m8u rather than my regular competition car. Having my drifting scrutinized and given some pointers on how to improve from the event before, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to test out what I have learnt.
The course in Seremban 2 had a fairly short run straights before we are to initiate to a long gradual corner that leads to a fairly sharp hairpin. Ideally it would be best to short shift into 3rd before initiating and power your way to the hairpin. However as J4m8u was painfully underpowered, I was forced to drift in 2nd and feather the throttle to avoid the engine from bouncing off the limiter all the way to the hairpin. It took a bit of practice but by I managed it in the end and was also able to experiment different techniques I wanted to try out.
Jane where else had no trouble drifting the course and was putting in some perfect consistent run by the end of the day.
The next day was qualifying and I narrowly made it into the top 8th by qualifying 7th. I am a bit confused as to what were their main judging criteria but I assumed they reckon my entry speed was slow as I was only using 2nd gear and was penalized for it. Ironically the tandem battle that follows, I had no trouble initiating door to door with my opponents, so though only being in 2nd , my speed was up there with the rest.
Anyway, I managed to climb my way to top 4 and had to go against Yoong. I was no match going against the v8 and it was left up to me to go against Along for the final spot on the podium.
Having the advantage for the first run, I was confident to be able to take Along on for the win. While initiating, I could hear a loud mechanical groan as the tail of the car suddenly veered a lot wider than expected , sending the rear hitting the tire wall ending my run. Just like the 1st round of the WestLake series, it appears that I do not seem to have much luck with LSDs as it decided to give way on my final run…oh well.
Jane on the other hand due to some weird tandem battle allocation was paired up to tandem in top 16 where by right she should have gotten a walk over due to only 22 participants entering.
Not wanting to kick up a fuss, she went through it but unfortunately had straighten during one of her OMT runs due to some intermittent misfiring of her car.
Inspite of all our shortcomings, we honestly had a blast! I had the chance to try out new things and Jane improved on her consistency , which is very important in this sport!! We can’t wait for the next event!! Rock on!!
We would like to thank Lawerence Chong for taking care of Johanna while we both were out on the track..thanks bro 🙂
RESULTS
4th ARIFF JOHANIS AHMAD Team Sync Optima
9th AZRINA JANE ABDULLAH Team Sync Optima
Westlake Drift Series Rd 1 @ A’famosa Malacca 10th 11th March 2011
Photo by Tan Chin Fu
In the Malaysian drifting community , the 5 rounds of the ACE Drift challenge series was long regarded as the ranking system for the drifters here. The overall champion of the series would be heralded as the National Champion. This year, with the backing of Westlake Tyres as their title sponsor, ACE Drift Challenge have be renamed as the Westlake Drift Series thus making this the new Malaysian ranking system.
Being crowned 2010 National champion and losing it the following year due to a string of mechanical failures during that year’s series made me extremely eger to regain the title this year. We had made a few set up changes on SLOW based on our runs during our many SODA Sessions held following this event and were happy with the result.
As most of you who follows this blog or our progress from our Fan Page will know; I never got a chance to test the car with the changes made in it’s true form , as the car was hit from behind by an irresponsible individual on my first ever warm up lap. The result of disregarding the Marshall orders of not following another car and just basically “showboating” had caused the incident where the rear chassis and subframe of SLOW to shift to the side and also, I suspect cause the deterioration of the LSD which finally led to my pulling out of the event prior to qualifying the next day. “Shit happens” were cried out in defense out of desperation as there is no logic behind the incident except for pure stupidity. Expressing my displeasure of the incident was ironically retaliated by calling me “unprofessional”. All I can say is , “Shit” should not have “happen” if people use their brains and don’t behave “unprofessional(ly)”
Anyway moving on, so it was just left to Jeevan, Francis , Ivan Tan and Jane to carry on with qualifying the next day.
*note to Jeevan: A thousand apologies macha..I’ve looked high and low for your picture in WestLake but couldn’t find any. So I googled ‘Black Ninja’ and this picture came up!! So there..BLACK NINJA!!!
Jeevan with his ‘Black Ninja’ decided to not carry on during qualification due to the sounds akin to a bunch of shirikins rattling in his rear LSD housing. So with a puff of smoke from his smoke bomb, he deceptively made his exit from the competition!!
Ivan Tan; one of the few drifters that got into the sport in the heydays , failed to get the car started on the next day!! Wiring perhaps ? But being a sport he is , he appeared unfazed and continued enjoying himself from the sidelines!
Photo Mike Kong
Francis with his B(ig) cockroach A31 qualified 20th out of 40 odd drivers!! However , nerves got the better of him during the tandem runs which saw an early exit. In time I am sure he will overcome this and will be a top contender!…that is if he keeps his car in one piece. Last seen it really looked like a squashed cockroach!
Photo by Lian Tze
Jane did good with a 15th placing during qualifying, beat Tan Hang Eng during best 24 but luck has it she had to go against top contender ACE-Boy at best 16. She put up a good fight but had to succumb to Boy’s relentless attacks during her lead
As for me not being able to qualify has placed me in a difficult position as it would be really difficult to catch up with the leaders with the 4 other rounds remaining in the series. But I will try nevertheless 🙂
Result
15 th Azrina Jane Abdullah Team SYNC OPTIMA
20th Francis B Macha Alliance, Team Cockroah
DNS Ariff Johanis Ahmad Team, SYNC OPTIMA
DNS Jeevan Kumar Macha Alliance , Team Black NinjaDNS
DNS Ivan Tan ,Team Sparks
SODA session @ Shah Alam 3rd n 4th Feb 2012
Bob was back from Seattle and in need for more abuse. So six of us got together and did a 2 day intensive training course.
Jeevan and Kevin were there for the full duration with their cokes and smiles
Francis with his, now green ,cockroach survived the ordeal , coming out improving vastly
Bob came out tops with a handful of impressive runs with our lesson AE86, which he remodelled with the help of the trees and landscape on the first day. Though still having to work on the ‘consistancy’ bit ,he was still good.
So with that , we gave Bob a free pass for “bragging rights” with the audience of one…Jeevan .
Glad the two days helped out with everyone’s drifting and it does goes to show that it doesn’t have to be a circus to practice…eh Bob? 😉