photo by Anas Fahmi

After getting  the gearbox  sorted out and rectifying a few minor  things, I was really looking forward to the inaugural GT Radial Drift Force competition held  in MAEPS.  However,as my wonderful luck has it , I caught some bug that was flying around and was sick on the competition day. The thing about the manual  steering rack on my AE86 is  that its exceptionally heavy  and my illness made things even more difficult as i was feeling particularly weak

.Knowing that whining about it wont help ,I tried to rest whenever I could and not exert myself by  staying off my feet or  taking cat naps where ever i could. Kevin Boey did a good job tending to me and also giving me full reports of everyone’s practice runs. Thanks bro!!

For this competition, Goodyear Malaysia had  approved a limited amount of Goodyear Eagle F1 GDS3 tyres for me to test ( reviews on it will be posted later), which marks the first time I  will be drifting on 15 inch tyres !!Due to its limited amount and the tyre eating characteristic of the course, I was forced  to developed a strategy of using my old 14 inch Goodyear Duraplus earlier during  practice and turn to the Eagle F1 later into it . To my dismay ,things didn’t go as planned as  official practice was cut short qualifying was brought forward by almost 2 hours!!This had meant I had no opportunity to test the F1 GDS3 tyres and had to go out with  the untested tires during qualifying .

photo by tatrasta69.fotopages.com

Jane wasn’t spared either, thinking that qualifying was later that day,she had gone off to get her front tyres changed. Only upon arrival was she  was informed of the change of timing.  Thankfully, the organisers had some issues with electricity that night and we were given two runs each before the qualifying.

As I would have guess the 15 inch tyres had a lot more grip than what I was used to with the Duraplus and struggled on both runs, notably during initiation. As it was too late to do anything, I promptly lined up the qualifying session

Qualifying

I managed to do a half decent job of qualifying by clipping the rear zones and the front points but were avoided a low score due to lack of angle during initiation ( suprise suprise) .During my second run, my hands slipped off the steering wheels while turning towards the 1st front clipping zone..I was obviously feeling the effects of my illness. An 8th placing for qualifying was all I got

Photo by Daniel Malek

Jane did very well considering she only went out for a couple of odd laps. She managed to drift the course but was a bit far from the zones and points. She qualified 27th!

Top 32

Jane had to go against Faizal ( I think ) in his Bluebird. I played mind games with him by  jokingly saying to him that I would be extremely embarrassed if I was beaten by a girl .hahahha. Anyways the first round was a close fight with Jane and him winning one round each. However during the one more time, Jane fumbled and had straighten on both runs. She was then relegated to spotting duties ,taking over Kevin Boey ,soon after  .

photo by MasEK9

As for me , I was to go against Mr Te71 ( so sorry i cant remember his name) He was a friendly dude who smiled a lot 😛  I kept a sizable lead during the first run and was able to keep close to him during the next, There was a hairy moment before the finish as he had ‘half spun’ while i was really close to him. I managed to avoid contact and continued to the finish line

Top 16

Ah Heng from Banting is who  I really consider as the true veteran of this sport. In his trusty AE86  he made it an easy pass to the top 16 with he super fast entry speed. During my turn to lead, I managed to  build a gap and during his turn to lead he made the mistake of straightening after the rear clipping point.

Top 8

I was to go against the No.1 qualifier Mat Rock of Feinto D during the top 8 battle. Mat Rock showed good skills by nailing almost perfect runs leading to the top 8 and I knew that it won’t be easy. He lead for the first run and I was able to stick close to him during initiation and all the way to the rear clipping point. The gap grew smaller to the front clipping point and i had noticed he had slowed down considerably to the point where my front fender was right next to his door. However due to the excessive slowing down, the car had straighten and veered off course while i dove into the opening thus avoiding contact to his car. During my turn to lead it was a straight forward run thus allowing me to advance.

Top 4

Mazuan of the Rawang Drifters, was consistently drifting a smooth line on the course through out the day. I manage to distance myself from him while leading and kept a close to him while following

Finals

For the top two places had me go against Mr K from Team GT Radial Drift Force. Mr K was showing good form all day and had eliminated Boy from ACE suspension who was one of the favorites for this competition. Having qualified higher than me, Mr K had the lead for the first run. Having a much later initiation point than me had me slowing down the car upon entry to avoid plowing through the rear clipping point.I somehow  managed and was able to keep close to him till the the finish line. When it was my time to lead, I was able to build a sizable gap on the straights but saw it reduce at the first clipping point where he was fairly close to me. I managed to distance myself again coming out of it all the way to the finish line but the judges called for a one more time. I suspected that his late initiation point allowed him the bridge the gap thus forcing me to also alter mine to avoid the same thing happening again. During the one more time. i managed to get even closer during initiation and stuck to him all the way to the finish.When it was my turn to lead, i initiated a bit later than usual thus reducing his late entry advantage and managed to keep a sizable gap all the way to the end!!

Photo by MasEK9Fresh after the final tsusio battle

Mat Cakap (MC) of the nite Wanbra and Jane who qualified 27th out of almost 40 drifters!!

Judges of the event, Jai and Yoong

3rd place winner, Eric , not a new face in drifting but a new face in competition. Definately someone to look out for!

Mr K , 2nd place, is definitely a force to be reckon with. He often haves his opponents for breakfast and not at all shy to exchange paint work.

Me, 1st, looking a bit worse for wear. Drifting while being sick isn’t so cool 🙂

Results

1st place Ariff Johanis Ahmad Goodyear Sync Optima

2nd place Mr K GT Radial Drift Force

3rd place Eric Kepong privateer

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27th place Azrina Jane Abdullah Goodyear Sync Optima