Monthly Archives: August 2012

Conemasters International Gymkhana Challenge Round 2 @ Sepang International Circuit 22 July 2012

Photo by Noelle Yg

After winning the RWD category  the  first round of Conemasters International Gymkhana Challenge, I was  obviously eager to defend  my title for this second round. Word got out to Jane that I had so much fun during the first round that she decide to join this round too.

 

Upon hearing this, organiser extraordinaire, Ben Loh decided to  spice things up putting out a poster with both Jane and I on it with the caption ” Will Hubby Let Wifey Take The Win?”

Well everyone knows the answer to that, after all they don’t call me the “Boss” for nothing!

photo by Vaux RS

Jokes aside; the weather that day was wetter than an otters pocket, which was perfect as I ironically do better  in the wet than in the dry.

One thing I like about  how Conemasters operates was  ;We were given multiple timed runs within an allocated time for our category, which was unique for autocross/gymkhana events here. However despite posting the best time, I was relentless in improving my time as I was going against the best RWD competitor in Malaysia. With the likes of Mickey, Chris, Hafiz and Vijay, I knew that my time could easily be toppled at any given moment and had to continue to strive for the best time I could muster.

Jane with her drift set up competition car was struggling to get grip throughout the course. Though not being able to post a good time , her runs were spectacular to say the least.

Photo by Noelle Yg

The weather soon cleared up and it was soon scorching hot and it became more of a nail biting experience for me as my other competitors time were beginning to improve thus inching their way into the time I had set.

Photo by Noelle Yg

To my relief,  I clinched the  fastest RWD title for the 2nd consecutive time by the skin of my teeth  from  Mickey Teoh!

 

Well all I have to say Conemasters rocks!! From the swags to the pit girls to everything , it just rocks..Bring on round 3 Ben!!!

 

 RESULTS

RWD Category

1st Place ARIFF JOHANIS AHMAD Team Sync Optima

2nd Place MICKEY TEOH

3rd Place CHRIS CHONG

Most Spectacular Award

AZRINA JANE ABDULLAH Team Sync Optima

GRA round 2 @ Bukit Jalil Stadium Car Park B 17th June 2012

Photo by Pohkinz Chu

Like   Formula 1 to racing or D1 Gran Prix  to drifting ,Ian Khong’s GRA events has been long regarded as the pinnacle of Autocross/Gymkhana event in Malaysia. Paving the way since 2005, GRA had set the standard in this  genre of motorsport with their state of the art timing devices and their real time wi-fi broadcasting time sheets to their professional crew, officials and challenging course set up.

photo by Extreme Fotowerkz

I am proud to say  that Jane and I was introduced to autocrossing/gymkhana when we joined our first GRA event in 2009 and though it was humbling experience, to me to at least, we were hooked!

Photo by Pohkinz Chu

The following years our involvement in the sport  dwindle due to clashing of dates of drift events/competitions  and only now we were able to find time to participate.

Photo by Pohkinz Chu

Round 2 of the GRA 2012 series was held at Bukit Jalil Stadium car park, known for its sandy surface we both knew that gaining  traction was essential to clock a good time for this course.

Ian had created  a fairly huge course for this round which made full use of  the whole of car park B space so it was obvious  speed  woulds also plays an important role which will amount to nothing if the rear tires does not hook up.

Our  category was scheduled to begin at mid day which was fortunate as this  gave us ample time to study the  course   and most importantly  catch up with old friends we had not seen for a while.

photo by Extreme Fotowerkz

Before we knew it , it was already time for our category to begin . As I was warming the car up and doing some shift light rev limit adjustment, disaster struck. Well  I wont get into it in detail( Click on “HERE” to read about it) .

 

Basically I had my oil filter come undone which resulted in oil engine oil spilling out of the engine onto the tarmac. This cause me to missed 2 timed runs while waiting for my mechanic to come with the engine oil and ‘correct’ filter.

With only 4 runs left, I totally screwed the first run and managed to only do a couple of decent runs which got me a 6th in my category. I doubt  I would have done any better even with any additional run given as the car did not feel as sharp after a few adjustments I had made prior to this event. The car was understeering into the corners and wheel spinning excessively out of them. Having those ahead of my standing with similar times showed that I was not the only one suffering.

Photo by Pohkinz Chu

The same goes for Jane whom, finished 8th, who was complaining the lack of traction her car had through out the course. Jane however did win the fastest female award .

Photo by Patrick Photograph

As it was my birthday a couple days before, I was pleasantly surprised to have given a birthday song treatment and the fastest birthday boy trophy for this event.

Despite our shortcomings, Jane and I both , as always had a good time and we both vow to come back for the next round !!

RESULTS

Class OD

6th Place ARIFF JOHANIS AHMAD Team Sync Optima

8th Place AZRINA JANE ABDULLAH Team Sync Optima

Fastest Female Award: AZRINA JANE ABDULLAH