Monthly Archives: March 2012

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

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

 

Batu Pahat Mall Drift Challenge @ Batu Pahat Johore 3rd-4th Mac 2012

Jane and I had so much fun during last year’s Batu Pahat Drift Challenge that we vowed to come back again this year. This time we brought along the whole SODA Session team; which includes Francis, Kevin Rajoo, Mah Lao ,Jeevan and Heng. Due to their cars not being ready, Jeevan and Heng did not get to compete. In actual fact , Kevin’s competition car was also not ready but  he brought along a SR20NA powered BMW E30 and drifted the car for the whole 1st day of practice. This car , which was inherited from his brother Ivan ,due to it’s poor setup was virtually  impossible to drift.  He then  somehow persuaded Francis to loan him the Cockroach A31 to qualify with. No wonder I kept hearing Kevin saying “You are special” to Francis prior to borrowing the Cockroach.

Qualifying was a straight forward affair with everyone getting two consecutive runs. I was ecstatic to hear that the whole SODA team qualified, with me in 3rd and Jane in 10th!!  Great job guys!!!

So then it was time for the tandem battles!!

Photo by Lian Tze

Being only his 2nd competition , Francis did a good job managing to qualify into the best 32 but due to the lack of experience, nerves got the better of him during his 1st tandem run. I am sure with more competition seat time, he will overcome this!!

Photo by David Soo

Kevin Rajoo, kept a cool head through out his best 32 and 24 tandem runs but was caught off guard in the best 16 due to being unfamiliar to the Cockroach’s handling. I am very sure he would have gone further if he had used his competition 180sx!

Photo by Tan Chin Fu

Mah Lao drifted well , going through top 32 but was knocked out in the top 24 when going against Jason Tan who drifted consistently the whole weekend!

Photo by David Soo

Jane did well going through top 24 but was cut short going into top 16 when she broke her drive shaft while leading.

 

Photo by Tan Chin Fu

I went  up the tandem ladder but hit a snag going against Westlake’s Ah Boy at Top 4. It was weird for me to go against him  as he qualified 2nd and me in 3rd and I should be going against the no 1 qualifier ( or whoever beats the no 1 qualifier ) at top 4. It didn’t bother me much though as I drifted a hard as I could. So much so I was  certain I had won the run but  the judges saw something that I didn’t and a one more time was called and that’s when things went pear shaped; I suddenly developed massive misfire problems and had to hand the win to Boy who drifted flawlessly the whole event!

 

photo by David Soo

Kevin Rajoo receiving his 15th placing trophy!!

Photo by Lian Tze

Jane with her 10th placing trophy

Photo by Cheryl Chew

Me with my 3rd placing trophy

Regardless the mishaps and confusions, we all had fun and will certainly be back next year. Our many thanks to the organisers, the sponsors of the event , the esteemed judges and everyone that came up to us throughout the weekend. Many thanks to Mike , Cheryl and Cathy for helping out with Johanna….

and also to Jeevan who was my spotter for the day…who communicated with me via facial expression and head shaking

 RESULTS:

1st M-Boyz  YH motorsport

2nd Ace-Boy Team Exotic

3rd Ariff Johanis Ahmad Team Sync Optima

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10th Azrina Jane Abdullah Team Sync Optima

15th Kevin Rajoo Macha Alliance

20th Mah Lao KSOC M7

27th Francis B  Macha Alliance