Ultra Racing Labour Day Gymkhana @ Mines 1/5/2012

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As our weekends are always filled, we were glad that Labour Day holiday fell on the middle of the week as Jeet Singh from Wheelspin motorsport had planned a Gymkhana event on that day.

The Ultra Racing Labour Day Gymkhana was held at a fairly tight  parking space at the Mines convention center in conjunction to some motor  show being held there.

Jane was not able to make it on that day , so I got Terence Lim to join the event and also Lawrence to hang out with.

Like any porno actress/actor, Jeet Singh , the organiser, loves his toys,motorised kind may I add. For this event he brought out a cool shifter Kart with absorbers and springs! A rally Kart I was told it was and Jeet did a couple of laps in it

As the course was fairly tight , having a smaller car gave you the added advantage and I would help tremendously if your handbrake work , especially for those tight U-turns and donuts.

Photo by Hei Najdi

Terence , unfortunately had issues with his handbrake and suffered the whole day with his Putra.

 

One of the added attraction of the event was the inclusion of bikes in the gymkhana, a huge number of Motards and MX bikes attended the event and also a handful of Pit bikes made their appearance at the end of the day

The bikes had no problem negotiating through the course and did better times than the cars , which wasn’t surprising as to how tight the course was.

Photo by Hei Nadji

Believing in taking baby steps, I did a few minor changes in the Blackie’s setup since the Race of Champions . Though not perfect, the changes made was a huge improvement since its last outing .

Though not the fastest  overall , I managed to win in the RWD open category and 2nd in the 1 class Open category.

Which I credited to the tips given to me by Terence Lim and also the videos took by Lawrence helped a great deal .Thanks guys!!

RESULTS

Champion Open RWD Category   ARIFF JOHANIS AHMAD

2nd  Class 1 Open Category           ARIFF JOHANIS AHMAD

ACE Drift Challenge @ Seremban 2 , 21st 22nd April 2012

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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

Malaysian Race of Champions @ Speed city 8th April 2012

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Jane and I had received an invitation by Jeet from Wheelspin Motorsport for  their  first Malaysian Race of Champion Series.

This  event gave  the opportunity to people from different motorsport discipline to go  against each other in a head to head  autocross battle.

 

We were divided into respective groups based on our discipline; Autocross, Rally,Gymkhana and Drift.

We, then had to compete in our respective groups  against each other where the  eventual winner will represent their respective discipline  in a head to head battle against winners of the other groups.

On my very first round , I had to go against Yoong and was quickly dropped from contention faster than I could say ”  Jack Robinson ” or should I is say “Jeet Singh”. I was using the ” Unlike everyone here, I’m driving my road going car for this competition” excuse but in actual fact, there’s alot of work needed to be done in my autocross driving skill as I haven’t been competing for almost 3 years now and the level had certainly stepped up a few since then!! So it’s time to woodshed

Anyway, Jane competed in the Women’s category and managed to win in her category in spite of a major mechanical failure!! The piping from her turbo had cracked causing her to drive without any boost pressure.

As you all would know, driving a turbo equipped car without any turbo boost is worse than driving a car naturally aspirated car as turbo car are tuned richer and have lower compression engines! So it was a fairy great feat for her to win the event!!

We would like to thank Jeet for organising the event and rest assure we will be back for more!!

RESULTS

Women’s Category

1st AZRINA JANE ABDULLAH  Sync Optima

2nd LEONA CHIN Ultra Racing

Open Category

NP ARIFF JOHANIS AHMAD Sync Optima

Sabah Drift Challenger round 1@ BSA Kota Kinabalu 14th-15th April 2012

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Once again the Borneo Sports Arena , affectionately known as BSA, plays host to the Borneo Drift Challenger competition. Held at the facilities car park,this drift event had competitors   coming from all over east Malaysia.A total of 28 drifters from Tawau, Miri , Sandakan and Kota Kinabalu had made the journey to get the chance to compete with the best drifters in East Malaysia.

For the competition, main organisers Kinabalu Sports car Owners Club (KSOC) and All About Cars had roped in Ee Yoong Chern, Ariff Johanis Ahmad and Azrina Jane Abdullah, all accomplished drifters and experienced judges, to design the track lay out , manage and also to judge the competition.

A unique two point location judging system were used , where two judges were placed at the traditional judging point and also one on  the course. This allows the judges to get a wider perspective of the whole competition thus eliminating the chances of judging error.

This two day event had the drifters pushing their limits on the fairly high speed  technical course. A high speed 3rd gear entry  course were laid out, which was a new experience to  a large number of the drifters which saw them  struggling initially but soon got the hang of it towards the end of the first day.

Besides the drift competition a race queen search was also held where the winner would be crowned  Miss Borneo Drift Challenger 2011.

Crowd favorite Ms  Nicole Ngu   literally stood head over heels to grab the title from 15 other girls in the pageant.

Joining the festivals were also car displays and stereo system sound off  which added to the carnival like atmosphere of the event. Booth selling car parts and merchandise were also included .

M7  being one of the official sponsor of the event , made it’s presence known in Kota Kinabalu by having a section , selling their products which included their Drive energy drink.

Day two saw the drifters returning with more aggression during practice, knowing that soon will be the qualifying round which will lead to the head to head tandem runs.

 

Thankfully the weather held as it threatened to shower numerous of times and we saw Teh Soo Jin crowned as the victor of the event after defeating local Kinabalu drifter Bob Mohd Syarin on a close battle. Sharing the podium in third was Ah Heng from KSOC.

With the roaring success of Round 1, Sabah Drift Challenger Round 2 is schedule to be held in September at the same location with the final round by the end of the year. Stay tune for more updates!

Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) Drift Challenge round 1@ Putrajaya 31st March-1st April 2012

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As I have said before; the Palace of Justice’s parking space where the drift sessions and competitions are normally held has the best surface in Malaysia. Rightfully so , as the Ministry had invested alot of money  on resurfacing the place just for the sport of drifting! This is something that Malaysian Drifters should be proud of as I have yet to hear of  any other country where the government has invested so much for this sport. As a result, I make it a point to turn up to any event of competition held there by the Ministry to show my support and my appreciation to them.

photo: Zakumalaya

The KBS Drift Challenge was no exceptition and for this round, Jane and I had decided to play host to Murata from Final Connexion/Samurai Racing by sponsoring him a stay and a ride for this event. I was  impressed with Murata’s drifting especially during the 2009 FD Thailand where he not only knocked me out for best 8 but was stop from going further by some dubious judging calls . Anyway he along with Namza and Karn made their way here and made do with what we had to offered him Thankfully,J4M8u proved to be a decent enough ride for him to agree to compete in.

Also joining us for this event were KSOC’s Milton and Mah Lao. This was the first time for Milton to compete in the peninsular and was using a newly acquired 180sx he had just purchase from JB. However he blew the engine the night before and was forced to qualify in Mah Lao’s s15 which he was not to familiar with.

photo: Zakumalaya

Mah Lao faired a bit better without any major mechnical issues but failed to make it to the best 16. With better prepearation I am sure both of them will do alot better the next time around

Photo: Alarmist

Making his comeback, Mike Kong with his 5 year drift experience, managed to qualify and get into best 8 while piloting his girlfriends KE70! Alot of time and resources will be needed to make the KE70 competitive, which  will definitely yield even better results in the future.

photo: Zakumalaya

Jane qualified 11th but was knocked out early due to her front tires failing.

Huge chucks of rubber tore out the the tires causing her to understeer badly during the tandem run against Johari Matsalleh

photo: Roy Zakaria

As for me, I qualified 3rd and made it all the way to the finals.

 

 photo: Roy Zakaria

I had to go against Bullzai who did a good job qualifying 1st for the event. With him leading the 1st run, I had managed to win the advantage going into the 2nd run! On the next run, Bullzai made a huge correction leading to the final corner but as luck has it, I spun less than a meter before the finish. I can’t figure what happen but I had accepted defeat.

photo: Roy Zakaria

Murata managed to edge out Along Rempit for the final spot on the podium!

Though bitterly disappointed with just throwing my win away, I was content with 2nd place. What I was most happy with ,was Team Sync Optima did  a great job with a 2nd , 3rd, 8th and 11th finish !

 

RESULTS

1st Place BULLZAI team BZR

2nd Place Ariff Johanis Ahmad Team SYNC OPTIMA

3rd Place Atsushi Murata  Team SYNC OPTIMA Samurai Racing

8th Place Mike Kong Team SYNC OPTIMA

11th Place Azrina Jane Abdullah Team SYNC OPTIMA

DNQ Milton Yong  Team SYNC OPTIMA KSOC

DNQ Mah Lao Team SYNC OPTIMA M7 KSOC

Westlake Drift Series Rd 1 @ A’famosa Malacca 10th 11th March 2011

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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