Tag Archives: malaysia drifting

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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SODA in-RAGE

The nice people from STAR newspaper in the Rage section , did a write up on us and added a nice video of our ” Drift Lesson” in Bukit Jalil on their website…though they got  my surname name wrong , they did get my quotes right…which I think is most important!! Here’s the video with Cheaka in it..

MMU DCM Drift Challenge, MITC Malacca Carpark 11-12th April 2009

Having competed in the inaugural MMU DCM Drift Challenge in 2006 but  having to miss the following year’s event, it was good to be back for the 2009’s edition. With Cheaka and I now being supported by Goodyear Malaysia and  with the addition of  Jenshen to our competing Sync Optima/WHAT Team , we felt confident and knew for sure we would have a smashing weekend!!

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We always have a good time when we go to Malacca; the people here are  friendly and the food the  is to die for!! Joe Han and Tina were  the perfect guides and brought us to some of the best eatery in  the historic city!!

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I would strongly recommend the Lycee and Dragon fruit juice whenever you go down to Jonker street!!!

Competition Day

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Cheaka,  on a combination of Goodyear  RS Sports and Revspecs,went  strong throughout the event. She did exceptionally well  during  qualifying ,which was in the wet, where she qualified 14th out of 24 participants. She got a free pass to top 16 when Ivan Lau from Team Bridgestone had some  mechanical trouble but narrowly lost out during the top 8  tandem drift battle against the much more experienced Tan Hang Eng!!



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Jenshen, sporting a newly acquired  ‘black out ‘ motif on his drift machine did well by advancing to top 16 by winning his first tandem battle !!  I expect his performance will improve even further with a new engine and a few modifications in the chassis department that we have planned.

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I surprised everyone, including myself by winning the event after a tough close fight with Bridgestone’s  Tan Tat Wei during the finals. We both went on to two reruns until Tat Wei miscalculated my entry speed while I was leading and T boned me!! Other notable experience was when going against Indonesian drift sensation, Ray ,during the top 8 tandem battle. We had two reruns , where one I had misjudged his path when he saved ‘an almost spin’ and got back on line while I was diving in! The result was a smashed custom made rear bumper on Rays car while I suffered side ‘B’ panel damage!! ‘Minta maaf ‘bang”

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I would have to credit my win to the exceptional performance of the Goodyear tyres , a combination of Goodyear RS sports in front  and t Revspecs at the rear. These tires held on really well as I had only used only one pair on the rear for qualifying and tandem.This amounted to 24 runs, which includes 3 practices runs, 2 qualifying runs and 19 warm up and tandem runs!!

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My part sponsor , team mechanic and friend, Ah Leong (above, far right) had not failed us throughout the event!. Not only had he ensured that everything went smoothly , but he was experienced enough to come well prepared went it didn’t!  Thanks buddy!

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RESULTS

1st place ARIFF JOHANIS AHMAD (GOODYEAR SYNC OPTIMA)

2nd place TAN TAT WEI ( BRIDGESTONE)

3rd place Mr K ( ACE Suspension)

8th place AZRINA JANE ABDULLAH ( GOODYEAR SYNC OPTIMA)

Of course there’s no other way to end the day other then fill our stomach up with good Malacca food.. Gebeh, founder and owner of Tonka exhaust brought Team Bridgestone and us to this famous ‘Satay Celup” joint down town.

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Please stay tune for more pictures from the event!!

Bukit Jalil Drift Akademi 29 March 2009

After a long hiatus, Gerakan Belia 4B Selangor had decided to do one of their ,much anticipated  Drift Akademi sessions in Bukit Jalil yesterday ( Sunday). Team WHAT which consist of Leong, Jenshen,Barry,Korlow,Leon, Kong, Cheaka and I were there to join in the fun and basically hang out.

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A total of 30 drifters had taken part in  the session which was incidentally  free of chrage, courtesy from the Ministry of Youth and Sports, with the help of the Belia 4B .Needless to say it was non stop drifting from 10am-7pm that day!!!

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The Feint0-D team were there too, in full force ,to support the event..

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The drifters were also treated to a Para-gliding demo by two dare devils that braved the strong winds that day!!

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The Penolong Setiausaha of the Ministy of Youth and Sports made an appearance to commemorate the event and give out certificates and ‘medals’ to the participants

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It great to have the Goverment to finally recognise  and lend its support to this  of sport.  Please watch this space for more up coming events!!