I’ve had her for over 11 years now n she had gone through many incarnations to what we here. I have taken a 2 year hiatus in competitive drifting n she has been under the covers ever since.
A drive (drift) around the block was all it took to convince me that I won’t be changing a thing about her…then again the Nitrous system will have to go to accommodate the new rulings in drifting!
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/
GAS Gymkhana series 2016 held its final round of the series on the 18th December 2016.Using MAEPS ,Mardi Serdang as the venue for all its 5 rounds, GAS which is on its 2nd year of running is proud to be instrumental in reviving the sport of Gymkhana in Malaysia, with other organisers now running similar events with many using GAS as the template for their events for rules n regulations and also for categories.
This is commendable considering that this a self funded event with a very small team!
However, we attribute our success to the undying support the Gymkhana community had given us.Words of encourgements n valueble advice were used to guide us throughout this past 2 years! 
We were privilged to have Gymkhana celebrities such as Mitch Chong who was our course judge for the past couple of events ,lending a hand and also Mickey Teoh in helping us promoting our humble event!
And of course, those who participated in our events played an important role in making this event a success
Participants like Abdul Halim who had not missed a single GAS event every since we started! This is a participant that has to travel 8 hours to just participate as he resides in Kuala Terengganu! We are most fortunate to have him in our events!
- The beauty of Gymkhana, with the multiple categories being contested, is the mixture of cars contesting; not only there are varieties in drive trains but also the state of build! From the stock show room standard to the stripped out purpose built cars can be seen competing!
We have participants such as Mr Chow, in his stock standard Proton Wira , who placed 2nd in the Front Wheel Drive Road Legal Category,
And we have En Fadly Hashim in his purposed built race Proton Satria!
- The following are some shots taken during Round 5!
Please check out GAS Gymkhana Facebook page at www.facebook.com/GymkhanaAutoXSeries/ for more pics and updates
It is apparent that I have not kept to my promise of being more regular with this blog but there’s always this year..Anyway, due to our extremely busy work commitment , Jane and I were only able to join a handful of events but we are glad to say that we have been fairly successful in representing our sponsors in particular GT Radial Tyres through their distributors sole here in Malaysia , Heap Joo.
Held at Elite Speedway, I was placed in the open class turbo category and had a ball ripping through the course in my road s13. Eventually all good and fun things have to come to an end and I placed 2nd in my category!
Federal PRO AM Drift Challenge Round 4 @ Speed City 14th Sept 2013
Round 4 was fairly important round in this championship for me as this was supposed to be the perfect opportunity for me to narrow the gap with the Bullzai who was currently at 1st place. A higher placing than him will allow me the lead or at least an easier fight on the 5th round to be champion. With the newly equipped GT Radial Champiro Sx2 , the car felt fast and was perfect and practice went well . Unfortunately during my very last lap of practice , while following a competitor, I had crashed into him when he hit the wall . This caused my front knuckle and tie rod to bend and damaged the front rim during the impact. We managed to change the rod but weren’t able to get the alignment done in time hence having the car wanting to veer to the left and had to qualify in that condition.
During the 1st lap of qualifying , I lost 3rd gear when the gear broke in mid drift. I was about to abort the 2nd run when I decided to just do it in 2nd gear. Thankfully I did decent and managed to qualify 2nd position
Jane did well in qualifying and managed to get into the top 16 position. Unfortunately was knocked out early in the best 16 tandem and hence placing 16th in round 4
Tandem went by without much drama and it appear that drifting in 2nd gear with a 4.7 final drive wasn’t much of a problem as I was keeping a close watch of my rev and making sure to feather the throttle as much as I could while drifting. However during the semi finals against Mervyn Mohd , after having a huge lead while leading , Mervyn had crashed into the tire barriers leaving me no room to go but into him. This caused my rear knuckle, suspension, subframe and rims to damage, rendering my car useless to fight the finals.I was extremely disappointed being unable to go against Bullzai in the finals as a win would put me in a better placing for the championship , alas I was awarded 2nd place and that was how it was.
Having a free weekend and wanting a refreshing break from drifting ,I decided to join the Malaysia Super Lap Battle held at Elite Speedway. I brought my trusty road S13 for this event, equipped with 245/40/17 GT Radial SX2 on all corners and was placed in the Category 5 class which is for turbo charged full interiored street cars. This category was fiercely contested with me only able to inching into first place at the very last run. Good fun with really good tires , I would say!
Federal PRO AM Drift Challenge Round 5 @ Speed City 9th November 2013
The massive crash I had on round 4 had me with running on new front and rear knuckles. These knuckles are fairly new in the market and needed to be tweaked further which was the agreement I had with the manufacturer as I was to be developed them with my inputs and suggestions. Due to the unavailability of drift areas and the temporary closure of Speed City KL, I was unable to test them prior the event and were only able to use them during the final. All I could say was it didn’t really suit my style of drifting and it certainly showed during the whole of his event. Glad to say we have tweaked the knuckle’s dimensions making them perfect.
Round 5 was also the time when I had the opportunity to test out the GT Radial SX2. Since there were a bunch of left over SX2’s , from 60% to 80% tread left. I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to test these tires out in a competition setting.
The heavens opened during qualifying and proved to be fairly tricky to a lot of drifters. The SX2 tyres performed flawlessly on the wet track earning me 2nd position during qualifying. Jane did just as well with a 4th placing qualify result. She had nailed the course perfectly tackling all the points and zones! 
Tandem is something she would have to work on as she had to bow out during her best 8 battle against Mervyn.
The impressive thing about the GT Radial SX2 tyres is that the compound used makes the tyres still grippy even as much as 60% thread wear. This makes these tyres stand out against all the other tyres in the market now. However, due to the lack of thread, water dispersion was an issue when there is standing water . During the early part of the tandem battle when the track surface were evenly wet , I had no problem adapting with this issue but during my top 8 battle when there were uneven patches of water on the the drying track, I was met with sudden under steering or over steering whenever I go over them. I struggled throughout and barely beat Bullzai in the top 8 round. However, I had to succumb to Wan Jo during the top 4 battle as I was all over the place during our fight. I managed to win the 3rd place tandem but it was not enough for me to improve my overall position and had to be content with my 2nd place overall standing.
Due to the clashing of dates and our work commitments, Jane and I were unable to join any of the KBS Drift event except for the finals which was held at the Speed City. Having sorted the cars handling and given fresh pairs of GT Radial SX2 tyres to compete with,I felt good going into this event.
I managed to qualify 3rd with Jane getting 9th position. Tandem was a straightforward affair but during the top 4 battle I did a silly mistake and spinning while trailing Mah Lao during our battle, This is the classic case of ;no one’s fault but mine. Mah Lao is a student and a good friend of mine and losing to him has allowed him to not allow me to hear the last of it!
ZEROTOHUNDRED TIME TO ATTACK FINALS 2013 30th Nov 2013
Zerotohundred time attack competition is one of the most talked about timed race event in Malaysia. With competitors from Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia, this highly anticipated would be a great way to showcase the GT Radial Champiro SX2 tyres. With the success of the SX2 tires during another time attack event called MegaLap, having podiums on literately ever category, the same would be expected from us in this event
I had 265/35/18 sized SX2 on all four corners on my road going S13 for this event, which surprisingly had no tyre clearance issues .Being a full interiored street car , I was placed in the Street Turbo class .
Jane with her drift setup 180sx was running 235/45/17 fronts and 245/40/17 rears for this event was placed in the Time Attack Machine category due to her stripped n caged car.
It rained heavily prior to our run basically rendered our times fairly useless on the slipperly wet surface. However I was developing huge power drop as the turbo manifold had begun to leak. This was apparent by flashes of back fire flames not only from behind the exhaust pipe but also flames coming out from beneath the car engine bay! Being slippery, the lack of power didn’t effect me too much but when the track dried up during our second timed section on top of the worsening leak of the manifold, I had truly suffer from this. On my first hot lap , I was held behind by traffic but on my 2nd lap I had a clear run to get my best time. Unfortunately the manifold gave way at turn 7 forcing me to run without any turbo boost for the rest of the 8 turns. Ironically that run was my fastest allowing me to be placed 3rd fastest in my category!! Jane did fairly well with a 4th placing in her class too.
All in all it has been a good year for Jane and I. Being absent from competitive drifting back in 2012 , it is good to be competing again. This year also sees me getting back into time attack events which I hope to eventually lead me back into circuit racing. Thank you for everyone who had supported us through 2013. These results all belongs to you!
Ariff Johanis Ahmad 2013 Results
![1384393873556[1]](http://www.syncoptima.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/13843938735561.jpg)
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