Tag Archives: Tayaria Kumho

RacePod Drift Challenge Series Rd1 @ Dato’ Sagor Circuit 7th & 8th Jan 2012

 

Photos by David Soo

Known to be one of Malaysia’s  best track to drift on , Federation D had chosen Dato’ Sagor circuit to be the venue for round 1 of their RacePod Drift Challenge Series. With it’s fast entries, followed by an equally fast sweeping corner, this track has proven to be on of the most challenging track around. Due to its higher speed, this track is also known to eat up tires. I was as first reluctant to enter the competition as I had only 2 pairs of  new Kumho tyres left  and knew the other used pairs won’t last very long in these conditions . However upon hearing Federation D’s offer to subsidize the trailer fees for all the competitors , I had decided to bring J4M8U  for practice ,as I had a fair amount of 17″ tyres, and will use SLOW for the qualifying and competition!

We were also excited for this competition as our student and friend, Francis  will also joining us with his “Cockroach” A31. This will be the first time for Francis to be competiting in a drift competition .

Things were perfect at the beginning of the day where Jane and I managed to do a few good run until disaster struck;

While avoiding a spun car in front, the car behind me ,which was quiet a distant away, ran straight into me! A broken intercooler, damaged radiator and a broken fan and shroud ended J4m8u’s day thus ending my practice.  I was totally devastated as this ruined my chances of practice and was even considering packing up and leave. However I had decided against it  and  nursed whatever used tires I had for SLOW and did a fair abit of runs on bald tires!! Going fast nowhere would best describe my runs

Day2

The next day I managed to squeeze a few more practice runs on the used tires before turning to the new ones for qualifying and competition. The new tires really had massive grip!!! So much so that I totally screwed my pre-qualifying and 1st qualifying run!! I had one more run to go and gave it everything and managed to place 3rd in qualifying.

Jane did excellently throughout the weekend but  had gearbox issues where the gear kept popping during her first run but managed to do a good run for her second attempt. However it was deemed not good enough for best 16 .

Francis improved tremendously as the weekend progressed and managed to drift the whole course . However he too missed the cut but I am sure it will just be a matter of time before he does!

The tandem runs were fairly straight forward but I was knocked out at the 2nd stage, when I fumbled at the last corner , by Mr Rocker Loh who drifter superbly tat day!!

We would like to thank everyone for supporting  us,especially  H for the tent, Mike and Cheryl for the videos and taking care of Johanna, Jeevan for fixing my drive shaft boot and the GanuDrift guys for towing J4M8U to the trailer 🙂

 

Results

5th placing ARIFF JOHANIS AHMAD  Team Sync Optima Tayaria Kumho

DNQ       AZRINA JANE ABDULLAH Team Sync Optima

DNQ      FRANCIS B FERNANDES  Team Cockroach

 

 

Formula Drift Malaysia 2011 @ Dataran Merdeka 17th-18th Dec 2011

If  there was movie made of Jane and I about this event, it would be entitled; “Screwed up but Happy”. Yes, I was knocked out early in the tandem runs and Jane unfortunately wasn’t able to qualify due to a freak spin right at the finish line!! So what are we happy so about, you may ask?; well the event had not only showed Jane and I our weaknesses but also our strong points.

photo by Andrew Khoo

I had a great practice run, good tandem practice run but screw up when it mattered ;I fumbled at the start, allowing my competitor to take off ahead of me and I initiated early and took a line  at the “dirty” part of the track causing me to half spin; a case of the nerves I would say

photo by Andrew Khoo

Jane due to feeling under the weather ,apart from nerves ,drifted way below par of what she usually is. Proper preparation is in order!

One thing I am most excited about was having the opportunity to be part of Tayaria’s Kumho family whom graciously sponsored me for this event. Yes it was a bit suicidal to be drifting on  tires I had never used before on an event such as this. However from what I heard, I knew the tires were good. The thing was I did not realised how good they were!!! The limits were astoundingly higher than the tires I had used before which takes a bit getting used to! By my 3rd lap I was able to push the car harder than what I could on other tires!  I had decided earlier this year that 2011 was to be filled with research and developments . 2012 is where I will go all out and it certainly I am on track!!!

Also climbing on board with us this year is Momentum with the Alpinestar gears we adorned. Thanks a million!

Jane has decided to forgo upcoming International events and will be concentration on local events where she excels in. One step at a time as she slowly work her way up thus avoiding unnecessary pressure on herself

 

We honestly can’t wait for 2012. Bring it on!!!