Tag Archives: Goodyear

GOODYEAR INTERNATIONAL DRIFT SERIES ROUND 1 & 2

Goodyear International Drift Series round 1, PUTRA JAYA 12th-13th June 2010

With a horrendous Formula Drift Malaysia 2009 and the Formula Drift Singapore 2010, Team Goodyear Sync Optima was really looking forward to the Goodyear International Drift Series . We had the cars prepared and preserve ( ie:not using on competitions following to it) as this competition  is on the top of our priority list for this year!

picture taken from paultan.org

First day of practice went by perfectly as Jane and I basically got the course wired within a couple of tries and we were confident on doing well the next day.

Day two had us split into two groups whith us in the first group of practice.Having 1 hour of practice each group we had more than enough time to practice for the qualifying scheduled later.  As my ‘wonderful’ luck had it, 15 minutes before our groups practice ends, my prop shaft had twisted to a pretzel!!

With only slightly over  an hour before qualifying to get the parts and fix it. I knew it would be  an impossible task ( which my crew did try anyway..thanks guys) and my day was over. So its a DNS ( Did Not Start) for me which I think is even worse than not qualifying 😛

Jane ,once again ,had her nerves get the best of her and fumbled during qualifying…oh well …call me a sadist but bring on round 2!!!

Results

DNS: Ariff Johanis Ahmad

DNQ: Azrina Jane Abdullah


Goodyear International Drift Series Round 2, MIMC Malacca 31st July-1st August 2010

photo from paultan.org
 

It was back to MIMC Malacca but this time for Goodyear International Drift Series Round 2. Having exprience the short comings of the car here , we had the s13 set up differently and was eager to see how it handles. Car handled alot better  but we  reckon that there were alot  more we could do to improve on . As always that will have to wait till after this event, once we get back to the shop .

photo taken by sham Tom
photo taken by Sham Tom

Jane had also improve remarkably with her runs now being more consistent and aggressive. We did practice tsuiso togather but she spent the bulk of  the the practice session with Tan Tat Wei .

Qualifying

Held the next day, qualifying had me leading during the first round with 87.5 points. However I was knocked off by Djan who had a 91.6 on the 2nd run!

Jane’s runs were smooth with  uninterrupted drifts . However her distance from the clipping points and zones  had caused a huge deduction in points hence having her failed to get to the Best 16. Nailing the points and zones is something I believe she well get better with easily, at the rate she is improving now.

photo from paultan.org

Top 16

Having qualified 2nd had placed me on the other corner of the tandem chart which means I had to go out last!The waiting gave me the opportunity to get to know my tandem partner,Chester.He was driving a borrowed s14 since he car was badly damage during a crash at round 1! During our tandem battle I had managed to pull a gap when I was infront  .While following, Chester had straighten slightly at the first rear clipping which forced me to back down my pace.However there wasn’t any interruption of my drift all the way to the finish.

photo from paultan.org 

Top 8

For the next round , I had to go against a friend and fellow Goodyear mate, Ivan Lim. He was struggling  of setup issues through out the event!! This had him straightening  and taking the inner line while I was leading and going off course during initiation during his turn to  lead.

photo from paultan.org

Top 4

Ivan Lau and I always joked about how we never get to go against each other during competition.For this round we both got ourwish. While leading, I managed to get ‘an advantage’ when Ivan straighten and with me pulling a gap between us. During my turn to follow, Ivan had controlled his pace during the start forcing me to initiate at a much slower speed than I was used to. This made me  having to down shift immediately after initiation and fumbled during the up shift causing me straighten considerably longer than Ivan’s during the 1st run. The win was awarded to Ivan. I will definitely be wiser the next time around!!


photo from paultan.org 

3rd and 4th

The final spot on the podium had me against Djan. He had qualified first , so he had the first lead run. I managed to narrow the gap though he had gained a healthy lead at the start. However I felt my line wasnt as good . Going into the 2nd run being unsure of who had the advantage, had me doing  my best qualifying run only to see Djan in the barrier when I was approaching the rear clipping zone.Thankfully the crash was minor and no one was hurt!

photo from paultan.org 

Though this wasn’t the first time being on the podium this year, I felt that this occasion  was something special as it is   Goodyear’s event..Hopefully my luck holds and do good  for the up coming events!


Videos by eddie ZAKUMALAYA

RESULTS

1st Place IVAN LAU (Bridgestone)

2nd Place TAN TAT WEI (Bridgestone)

3rd Place ARIFF JOHANIS AHMAD (Goodyear Sync Optima)

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

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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)

ZeroToHundred: Sepang Time Attack Rd2; 25th July 2010

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I couldn’t believe how slow I was. No doubt it’s my road car  and short shifted at 5000rpm due to the worrying knocking sounds I heard ( Excuses #1 and #2)  but still ,I had expected a better time. I must have held back a bunch of drivers during my run ..sorry guys …  2’59” WTF????

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time-attack

Jane did better with a 2’54” placing her 4th in her category; all this  on drift setup!!

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But the one that impressed me the most was Nas; it was his first time on the track so he drove at a fairly leisure pace , with the air con on ,with me ridding shot gun, and he posted a 3’8″!!! wow!!

Yoong posted the fastest time of 2’31” on his S13 which is no suprise as he is fast no matter what form of motorsport discipline he enters .Another  person that inspires me is a friend of mine Megat ‘kalau-time-you-bagus-you-masuk-front-page-hall-of-fame-itu-yang-kita-nak-tu’ Arizal (ari7474). He got himself a FD2R and managed to clock a time of 2’38”. His advice for me that day was ” Make sure you trim your arm pit hair when wearing asleeveless t-shirts!!”

ari-daphneMegat Arizal and Daphne..bet he gave her the same advice on arm pit hair

Now I can’t wait for round 3 where I aim to break into the two forties time zone…wish me luck

Goodyear Formula Drift Malaysia: Race Day Part 3

The damage the S13 sustained was alot more serious than it appeared to be. Due to using aftermarket front lower arms and rear A arms, the impact to the wall had caused the front and rear subframe to shift! The tie rods were badly bent and the front knuckle wasn’t spared either. Being so late in the evening, it was impossible to get them replaced so with the help from the boys from Tek Ming Tyres, we basically had to try knocking everything back into place with a hammer and a welding torch.

It was almost 1am when we got everything done to best we could. The car steered straight but the steering would not return to center. I figured this was alright as long as I remember to manually counter steering whenever drifting. Besides  it was so late into the evening and having hardly any sleep the past 2 nights, I couldn’t think straight 😛

I was eager to start the next morning’s pre-competition practice as I was curious on how the car handled.

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Not wanting to risk anything, I insisted for Miki (Ryuji) to lead during our first run. Drifting with a ‘dead’ steering takes a bit of getting used to. It was not  too dificult  have to counter steer manually when both hands are on the wheel but it proved to be a handful (pun intended) when only using one hand when the other is on the handbrake. Having to turn almost one and a half rotations, I had developed the trucker’s style of steering while drifting.img_75

After a few runs , I was beginning to get the hang of it and even considered a career in driving trucks…the effect of the lack of sleep was definitely hitting me at that time

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Soon it came to my turn to go against Rhenadi in the best 32. We both lined up at the start and off we went. Going in at full throttle thru the gears I had noticed something was amiss; the car felt way under powered. It was too late to do anything now so  I had just floor it and clutch kick my way thru the corner. The run was decent enough but I knew I should have done better. Upon reaching the start line, I shouted for the crew to check on the car , then only did my crew realised that they had forgotten to turn the Nitrous bottle open!! To put the effect of this into perspective; My car without the aid of nitrous was pushing about 330WHP, with the 50hp shot of nitrous it had 370WHP. With the nitrous switch turned on but with the bottle shut, it makes the engine run at a very rich fuel mixture with retarded inginition timing, and I was only pushing in the mid region of 2ooWHP. Man, was I pissed. All those sleepless nights , all those times  at the alignment shop seemed wasted because of this silly mistake. We should have taken a five-minute break for me to regain my composure, but I immediately went for the 2nd run. I had given Rhenadi a car’s length distance at the start and followed him into the initiation point. Rhenadi had intiated while i followed suit. As we approached the wall, Rhenadi looked as if he was about to lose it and had slowed the car considerably to gain control of the car. I was forced to slow down which had caused me to straighten. Rhenadi somehow managed to gain control and continued drifting with a clutch kick which I too had attempted to do. However, to my horror , I had forgotten to perform the manual countersteer as the car spun which the wheels were lock into position!!!  I went on for a few meters and did a clutch kick again  and the same thing happend!!!

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It was then I knew my Goodyear Formula Drift Malaysia campaign was over. Frustrated, I just drove back to the pit .

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It was tough to put on a cheerful face on camera after that incident but I know I had to do it

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Explaining to Rhenadi’s parents on what had happened during our run

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The spectators were all supportive.  I really felt I let them down that day

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Having been knocked out so early in the round gave me the opportunity to check out the competition first hand..

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It was good to be able to meet all the fans as we all stayed back long after the event was over, signing our poster and cards. I guess I found it  therapeutic as I felt a lot better after. However it was good I went through what I did as it prepared me for  2010  proved which is about to be  most disastrous year yetdsc03534

Goodyear Formula Drift Malaysia Part 2: Qualifying

Oh god!! has it already been that long??? Well as promised heres the rest of the coverage of FD Malaysia 2009 ,which I thought was my worse FD yet ( This year’s Singapore FD  tops it , hands down!!)

DAY 2

We all got to the track early the next day. It was a good thing that the replacement throttle had arrived as today is the offical practice followed by the qualifying session

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Ming and Cheng inspecting the replacement throttle we got early that morning

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1st practice had everyone in a joyous mood

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everyone is raring to goimg_8793

smiles all around..dsc00969

except for me…:Pdsc00998

Finally we got the car together and I was excited to test the car without its gremlins..dsc01035

everyone was doing well

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The first casualty of the daydsc01113dsc01466

My practice time was cut short due to a leak in my manifold..img_8777

Everyone waited patiently for the judges to arrive for the 2nd drivers briefing. Djan took the opportunity to do a few facial excersise while doing so

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Mad Mike’s immaculate RX7 img_8872

Another beautiful ride belonging to one of the Hong Kong drifter

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Pop of Thailand pulled out a few beautiful runs during practice

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Jane was consistent all day

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I was getting use to the car’s handling and but the manifold started to leak again and I was losing power so i had to stop my practice mid way

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Mad Mike was virtually rubbing his rear bumper on the wall all dayimg_9301

Cheng fixing the leak once again.

As predicted it rained

img_9315Yoong did a good run

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So did Meryvnimg_9367

Unfortunately, nerves got the better of Jane. She straighten on her first run and spun on her second inspite of doing so well during practice

img_9504I managed a good run and was placed third at the 1st round of qualifying. Till Djan knock everyone down a spot to claim first place on the second run. I wanted to better my first run and had attempted to rub the wall with my rear bumper…

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Instead I bent everything on the carimg_9657

Well I was off to the workshop and try get everything fixed …

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Apparently I missed the annoucements and the post qualfying interview but I had Jane to represent me so it was ok..

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