Category Archives: General Events

Event coverage

AW Drift Session 4.0 at MAEPS Serdang 22nd Jan 2017

AW Drift, the premier Drift event/competition organiser  in Malaysia, was founded in 2015 by Wanbra , Cheryl Chew and yours truly when we saw a lull in drifting activities in Malaysia. We started off by doing a 3 round competition in 2015 and a hugely successful 5 round series the following year. Upon seeing this , other organizer begun to follow our path and  started doing their own drift competitions , which is great for the sport and industry as a whole.

Besides competitions, AW Drift Events does organize drift sessions that allows drifters to have some seat time , test out their machinery or just to have fun!

Our first session for 2017 was held on the 22nd of January. We had a total of over 30 drifters! With a mixture of cars , from 1.6 NA to powerful tricked out 3 liters Turbo engines , they were all there going sideways during this fun session

 The course layout for that day was altered in order for all levels of skills and machinery power to be able to closely let alone to drift the whole course Speaking of skills we had a wide range of drifters from 10 years to just started drifting in this session!I

The course was wet periodically made wet to make those with lesser power to be able to keep up with the powerful ones but most importantly to save on tire wear which significantly keeps the cost down!

 Long drift trains are a common sight during our drift events And usually it comes with some fender rubbing which most of the drifters take it as part and parcel of the sport

Photos by Anjang Adien

Stay tuned for more upcoming events at AW Drift Events facebook page

www.facebook.com/awdrift/

Toyota 86 Drive Experience @ Changi Exhibition , Singapore 15th and 16th May 2012

The FT86 or Toyota 86  is certainly one of the most anticipated car of this century. Said to be the modernized version of the iconic AE86, this car had everyone clinging to their seats for almost 6 years since  it’s announcement. Singapore’s Toyota distributor, Borneo Motors took deliver of the first ever batch to arrive in the Sout East Asia shores  and wanted to do a launch for the members of the  press and also use this opportunity to show case the car’s attributes and also experience first hand, to their own sales staff  to aid them in their sales.

Being an AE86 enthusiast myself ,  I literally jumped at offer of given by PitCrew to not only  drive , guide and instruct  but also, as requested by the distributor, to drift it!!

A few days later,  I caught a flight to Singapore  and took a cab straight to the Changi grounds where  set up was being done. Upon arrival, I was greeted by  the sight of not one ,but a fleet of eight Toyota 86s .

 

The first I did was to pop up the hood to see for myself how low the engine is mounted. The engineers in Toyota and Subaru, had mounted the engine as low and as far back as they could to improve the roll center and weight distribution. What I had noticed was the lack of front wheel well which was replaces by plastic inserts. This allows bigger wheels and more aggressive caster that normally forces us to either knock the wells out or just cut them!

Interior wise, they had a nifty steering wheel which was said to be the smallest ever on a production Toyota car.

The dash was nothing to shout about  and center console was literally dominated by the  air con control!! I suppose they reckon keeping the driver cool is one of the most important factor in performance

They didn’t have to tell me twice to drive the car around to familirized myself with it. I drove the auto first; honestly knowing that this car only had 200 bhp at the crank, I wasn’t expecting much.  However what I was most impressed was how good the steering was. Very sharp with tonnes of feed back. The chasis seems to respond very well to the slalom course and what I love the most was how comfortable the ride was inspite of the lack of bodyroll.  Next was the 6 speed mannual, it had a bit more grunt and the gear change had a nice positive feel to it. The clutch felt a bit weak which was normal for a production car but the torson rear diff would be great if it was tighter.

 

Later that day , we were briefed  on all the modules that were to be done and Ivan Lim and I were requested to do a drift demo. The Toyota 86  by no means is an easy car to drift! Even with all the electronics and drivers aids all turned off, it took a bit of an effort to kick the tail out! This is attributed to how well balanced and sorted out the car was. Besides having  a torson LSD, the 86 had some positive front  chamber dialled into the car just to make the car slighlty understeer at the limit!

Speaking of understeering, I was really amazed how well the  drivers aid electronics worked. We demoed and encouraged the participants to unstablized the car , with throttle lift offs and abrubt  steering turns at about 80 km/h,  but it refuses to unsettle the rear!! We tackled the wet corner at speed but were greeted an initial understeer followed by a sharper turn in then understeer,  alternating  between the two throughout  the duration of the corner which allows the car to actually turn unlike other drivers aid which just feeds you gobs of understeer thus forcing you to stomp on the brakes to sharpen the turns

 

TRD version… Bodykit , full exhaust system ,19 inch rims and 6 pot and 4 pot brake calipers!!!

 

. Besides the  wonderful PitCrew guys and my co instructors ,driving the 86 made it feel like it wasn’t work at all throughout the 3 days I was there!. Though not a big fan of the looks, I loved how the car handles and behaves. I was so comfortable with the car that I was doing  3rd gear drifts  in the tight space we had without any problems. However,the Toyota 86 by all means is not and should not be limited to only drifting. The balance of the car allows it to be versatile for any other forms of driving. With a bit more power, I believe other manufactures will have trouble coming up with something as well sorted out as the Toyota 86!!

Would I get it? You bet!!…..once I could afford it laa :p

1 Malaysia Sabah Drift Challenger 2011@ Kota Kinabalu 15th-16th Sept 2011

Jane and I were invited to help organise and judge the inaugural drift competition by KSOC title 1 Malaysia Drift Challenge.  The event was held at a BSA Futsal parking lot where a simple but very technical course was laid.

 

 

With over 23 drifters from all over east Malaysia, this competition showcased an impressive level of drifting .However, though their skill were high, the lack of experience of competitive drifting were prevalent amongst them. In particularly , the qualifying jitters which plagued half of the field .where these  drifters performed flawlessly during practice but failed miserably during qualifying.

 

 

Heng was a victim, to name a few, who looked all set to dominate the competition with his aggressive yet precise practice runs but somehow couldn’t hold it together during qualifying thus failing to enter the best 16!!

 

The competition went smoothly with a few very close judging calls made . I had specifically mentioned what I was looking for during the drivers briefings and made consistent judging calls based on it.

 

We would like to thank KSOC in particular Tony Wong for inviting us over , the members and crew who work relentless throughout the weekend and also Mah Lao for bringing us around and also having to wake up on an ungodly hour to take us to the airport.. Thanks buddy

Buaya club moment : with miss Jeanie winner of Miss Borneo Motorsport Carnival 2010 

Ace Drift Challenge Round 1,2 & 3

ACE DRIFT CHALLENGE Round 1 @ Jebat Stadium, Malacca 2nd-3rd Jan 2010

With my S13 still in the panel beaters after my major screw up in Formula Drift Malaysia, Jane and I decided to take part in the inaugural ACE Drift Challenge in Jebat stadium in Malacca. ACE is a company that specializes in suspension and undercarriage components for drift cars here in Malaysia. They are quiet popular amongst the AE86 and KE70s crowd as they are known to make top notch robust absorbers that could withstand all the abuse drifting could offer 🙂

Photos taken from :

http://ellmiesupreme.blogspot.com/2010/01/ace-drift-challenge-round-1-2010.html

The course that was set by sole judge, Ah Keat, was the usual ‘R’ Shape with a single rear clipping zone and two front clipping points. What made it different was the line that he wanted us to take; Entering in third gear, we were required to take a angular line towards the rear clipping zone!! To be honest, I was a bit confused about what the judge wanted when my run where I  clipped the rear zone (knocking a cone off) and nailing the two front clipping points only earned me an 9th qualifying placing . Unfortunately Jane’s runs , which I thought were good, wasn’t good enough to make it to the top 16.

TOP 16

My first tsuiso run was against Rocker Loh ,in a borrowed Cefiro. I had managed to follow closely the RB25 powered car while trialing  and managed to distance myself  while leading . With that I got through the best eight.TOP 8

My next opponent was top qualifier Tan Tat Wei. My AE86 was no match to his high powered hatchi  but unfortunately he made a fatal mistake of following too closely on this tight course which ended in him rear ending me  during the switch over and straightening in the process. With that, I’m in the top 4!!

TOP 4

Top 4 was against me an Zulfikar. Zul was still struggling to get in grips in his newly transplanted SR20 turboed trueno.  An uncharacteristic spin by Zul and  strong chase run by me ,allowed me advance to the finals.

Cool sequence shots taken from www.rattlezasia.blogspot.com.

FINALS

The finals was me against Derrick Lim. At this point, with the total of six tsusio runs I had,  along with the two qualifying runs I was still using the same pair of Goodyear Duraplus tires at the rear.   Jane was getting a bit worried if they would last the next couple of runs but after thoroughly inspecting them, we were amazed that they were  good enough to go for another dozen of runs!! Most importantly, the grip level stayed consistent throughout. I believe this gave me the advantage against Derrick as  I was alot quicker than him during our runs even when I was short of more than 50 horses against his car!!

In the end of the video  by eddie88  (www.zakumalaya.com) below , shows the final tandem battle of me against Derrick !

After a disastrous Formula Drift Malaysia last December, it was good to be on the podium again .

RESULTS

1st Place : Ariff Johanis Ahmad (Goodyear Sync Optima)

2nd Place: Derrick Lim ( D-Works)

3rf Place: Hanizam (GT Radial)

Jane can’t remember her placing 😛

ACE DRIFT CHALLENGE ROUND 2 @A’Famosa Resort Malacca

10th-11th April 2010

Five months had past  when my S13 is finally ready. With a hefty  power up grade and a newly acquired control arms and knuckles, the round 2 of the ACE Dift Challenge seem like the perfect opportunity  to test out the car before Formula Drift Singapore 2010, scheduled  was 2 weeks later. However, things didnt go as smoothly a planned with an untimely  failed LSD and a misaligned knuckle kit that would either cause me to straighten or spin at any given moment.I had barely scraped through qualifying with an 8th placing but got knocked out early by Hong when the s13 veered off course during my lead.

Videos by Nash from Singapore

(www.youtube.com/user/driftonowhere)

Jane wasn’t spared either as she had suddenly developed  misfiring  issues right during  qualifying!

We were glad that we were able to identify the problem and have two weeks to rectify them!

RESULT

9th Place : Ariff Johanis Ahmad (Goodyear Sync Optima)

Jane can’t remember her placing again 😛

ACE DRIFT CHALLENGE Round 3 @ A’Famosa Resort Malacca 7th-8th July 2010

With our maid having to go for surgery. We had Johanna with us for this round of competition. I was a bit worried as the environment at Afamosa isnt what I would call ideal for a two year old   . So Jane and I had  took turns looking after her while one of us would go out for practice. It helped also, that  Yoong and Swee Kin had brought along their daughter Sze Yun to Malacca too. Swee kin had the daunting task of  looking after both of them when we both were out during practice!! Thanks Swee Kin!!

We had taken baby steps to develop the handling department of the S13 since it debut in April and we are glad to say that we are almost there. Our experience during round 2 of FX Open ( report will be done later) had exposed the car’s weakness of its intitial set up.The car handles alot better after making a few adjustments and  we reckon we are able to make it even more faster.

I managed to qualify 3rd with two strong runs with Jane making into the top 32 with a 28th placing!!

Having to take care of Johanna and also not having (our photo/videographer,caretaker and friend) Kevin Boey around results in having no drifting photos of the event!! My apologies..

TOP 32

Jane had to go against Kecik of Sultan Sulaiman Team. Jane did a strong trailling run but had straighten during her turn to lead.A One More Time was called. Unfortunately Jane had straighten during both of the runs giving the win to Kecik. I believe with her new power upgrade coming up, she wouldn’t have to struggle so much during her tsusio run.

I had a ‘walk by’ as I qualified 3rd (within the top 8) and went straight into the top 16

Top 16

I had to go against another Sultan Sulaiman team member, Popeye (i swear, thats his name) . During my lead, Popeye had taken the inner line while I was clipping the rear clipping zone thus forcing him to brake and straighten when I dove into the front clipping point. During my trailing run, I followed him as closely as possible and manage to advance to the Top 8

T0p 8

In this round, I had to go against Oliy of Feinto D. Oliy and I have gone against each other before and we are both not shy about exchanging some paintwork (report of Cyberjaya competition  later). However it was unfortunate that his NOS powered supercharged AE86 was low on NOS which result in me gaining a huge gap during my turn to lead and him straightening during initiation when I was trailing. I’m into the TOP 4

Top 4

This is the second time I have to go against Tan tat Wei. But this time Tan is packing even more power with a 300bhp++ Nos powered rotary AE86!! Not wanting to take any chances I opt of have a tire change. So I picked up my crew from the starting line and off we went to our pit. This is where things got a bit weird; somewhere during the time my tires were being changed, the NOS switch on my car was switched off. I was in the car the whole time and my crew reckoned that I did it. I strongly doubt it as during my experience of FD Malaysia, I made it a point to never touch it !. Somehow i suspected that my crew had accidentally knocked it off while trying to get out of the cramped caged car. Anyway, I not pissed or anything but I just found it weird. So as you might have guessed, my run with Tan was a disaster. He qualified 1st , so he was first to  lead. The starting point is extremely sandy so I am forced to drive half throttle throughout the 1st gear and floor it mid into 2nd. Usually the car would response with a sudden surge of power. However this time nothing happen!! I saw Tan gained 4 cars length infront of me and I knew there was no way of catching him.Upon returning to the starting grid ,only had I realised that the switch was off. With my over zealousness of wanting to gain a gap during my turn to lead, I had entered the rear zone a bit too hot causing me to hit the rear barriers but not losing drift! However this slowed me down tremendously thus allowing Tan to stick close to me!! So that puts an end to my day in this competition

With that I was awarded a third placing and inturn making currently in 1st spot in the overall standing!! With one more round to go, I hope my luck improves for me to win the title..wish me luck 😉

RESULTS

1st Place Ivan Lau (Bridgestone)

2nd Place Tan Tat Wei (Bridgestone)

3rd Place Ariff Johanis Ahmad (Goodyear Sync Optima)

28th Place  Azrina Jane Abdullah  (Goodyear Sync Optima)

MICCOS Drift Challenge 2009 ,16th August 2009

Since we had withdrew from our role as organisers of  the  MICCOS Drift Challenge , Ivan Lim from  Binter Singapore and I  had decided to participate in supporting in the event whom had  newly appointed organiser, Feinto-D on the helm.Ariff did not compete in this event as he had gone off to salvage his placings in the GRA event held in Sepang on the same day.

dsc02288-copy

As mentioned earlier ,our withdrawal from the event was  due to the absences of safety equipments , like water barrier, tire barrier, cones, fire extinguishers and etc and due to that, the newly appointed organisers had to alter the course to a much   smaller course which in turn is  a much  slower course with  much  more run off space. This was a wise move as at the edge of the course , there’s a steep downward  slope which we fear might cause cars to come barrelling down if they were to veer off the course!!

dsc02279-copy

Binter’s Toyota Chaser was sent to Malaysia earlier for Ariff to work on the handling set up of the car

dsc02286-copy

Due to other commitments, we had  missed out the Saturday’s practice,but  we arrived early enough on Sunday  morning to get enough practice .

dsc02289-copy

Driver’s briefing by the judges Loyai (Team GT-Radial) and Along (Team Toyo).

dsc02276-copy

After briefing ,we were then given another 30 minutes of practice.

As we were in Group C. We had enough time to drop by the cafeteria at Maeps Exhibition Hall D to grab our lunch. It was full of stalls with local flavors.

dsc02281-copydsc02282-copy

After lunch break, it was time for qualifying . I had some great practice runs earlier but when it comes to qualifying  the weather changed tremendously .As the  temperature drop so did my grip level. Due to my lack of experience with the Asymetrics tires, I had trouble adjusting to the tire and totally ruin my runs thus not being able to get into the best 16.

As for Ivan Lim, he was very consistent with his runs and he qualified at 5th place. Since not qualifying, I became  his spotter during the tandem battle to help him as he was going against  driver’s that he had no experience with.

dsc02291-copy

Unfortunately, the rain came pouring down heavily immediately after the best 16 driver’s briefing. . Due to bad water irrigation on the car park, the track is all flooded so the competition was held up.

It took almost 45 minutes for the rain to stop and all the top 16 drivers were given some runs to get use with the wet surface of the track.

Ivan had to go against with Kevin Rajoo on his 180sx at best 16, with such , which he  managed to stick by Kevin and won the round ,  credit to  the great performance of the Goodyear Eagle RS-Sport on his Binter Goodyear Toyota Chaser for the  win

dsc02287-copy

At best 8, Ivan had to go against with Tan Tat Wei from Team Bridgestone in his Toyota AE86.A small and tight  track , along with  wet surface tends to favour the smaller cars, especially  when it comes to tandem battles. Both of them had good  runs but the judges gave an extra advantage point for Tat Wei for keeping closer to Ivan while following. Though losing out at best 8 ,Ivan did a great job drifting his  newly setup Chaser! He was alot more precise and confident while drifting.

Having qualified 5th and losing out on best 8th earned him  5th place overall in this competition. Great job Ivan!