Its been awhile

Its been awhile since the last post. I was too busy with the racing I had for the past couple of weeks ago. First, its the KKS and yesterday was the Endurance race organized by My-Kart. The KKS was the worst race that I had in my career so far to be honest. I had a very bad setup, I was off the pace by 3 secs per lap and some stupid mistakes in the pit lane itself =( . The final race was wet though. Had to drive with the rubbish tires all weekend, I struggled to get the grips of the kart and had a DNF in the pre-final. At the end of the day I got 10th out of 14th. I feel demoralised after the race until the endurance race.



A week after the KKS, I'm all for the My-Kart's MME. Everything went well at 1st, qualified at the middle since the kart wasn't up to the optimum performance yet. We were 4th coming on to an easy 3rd or maybe more until our wheels almost came off at the half of session running. We had to pit obviously, costing us 12 laps. The mechanics weren't so helpful though. A simple knock on the wheels is enough to make it running again but at a rate off 1.16 mins a lap from fairly consistent 1.12s, all seems to went down the drain. We managed to salvage 9th place overall out of 14th which was not bad considering the damage we had. It seems to me 9th is the way to go for me in 2008. Forget about the last year, its 2009 now and lets start with lots of resolutions!

1st. Be active in motorsports. I mean very active since I have all the time in the world to make that Insyaallah, F1,F2,GP2,GP3,A1,FBMW,FPA,FRenault,BTCC,WTCC any thing you name it!
2nd. Learn something new. I do that every year but this time motorsports wise ;)
3rd. A full season in karting. No matter how good or bad I am, I'm still racing ok? I don't give plank of the criticism >:)
4th. Improve yourself. Not just in racing, life and so forth :)
5th. Join Formula racing. Its a big dream but why dream small when you can dream big?
6th. More passionate
7th. The new Alfa Romeos. May I get one please?
8th. Make everyone happy. Seems hard but not impossible :-)
9th. Quit bad habits
10th. Like every year be faithful. I am by the way :-D
11th. Join MME. If the price/place is right.
12th. Make myself useful in every fields
13th. Get fitter! My fitness is average for a racing driver so must get into the higher level of fitness.
14th. Smile more frown less
15th. Stay away from sins
16th. Be less afraid when it comes to challenges.
17th. Be green. I am a green man but this year I'll try to be as green as a young tea leaf.
18th. Promote people to a healthy and faithful life :-)
19th. Travel around the peninsula with a car!
20th. Errr get a girlfriend? Well if I have the luck but hmmm maybe I'll wait lol

Anyway, that's all that I can think of. Happy New Year!!

Painful and a sharp pill to swallow.

Its a really sad day, a painful one to be frank. First of all, I've decided to withdraw from the Yamaha SL Final this Sunday. The reason was, I had an accident a couple of days ago and it was a bad one. I got thrown out from a kart and landed heavily(just like MotoGP). I have scratches all over me and some swollen body parts =(. I still can kart though, however my mechanics aren't around and I have to rely on Mikko to be my mechanic. I thought I was up for it but after thinking that I'll have to do a hefty amount of lifting a kart and constantly using my shoulders for everything, it won't be a picnic for me even if the mechanics are around so I decided to withdraw and let it heal for the Final of KKS next Sunday. I can't afford to miss out a lot of races now y'know so maybe I just keep my body safe from injuries. I've learned a new lesson too! I should put on all my safety gear(including suits) even when I'm fun karting. I would like to take this opportunity to advice all of you drivers and racers out there. Be safe, be careful, don't be too aggressive, learn more about the safety of a vehicle and such and don't forget the seatbelts(well of course in racing you are REQUIRED to do so).

Not to mention Hari Raya Aidiladha is coming too and I would like to wish you all Selamat Hari Raya Aidiladha =D. Drive safe and enjoy your holidays!

All is well?

Have you ever had a feeling...a good feeling but it ended up very badly? For example when you are planning to go to a fancy restaurant with a date. A beautiful date, you got your salary to spend, traffic's not in the way to disturb you on the way to the restaurant and when you reached the restaurant you found out that the restaurant was burned down and you had do with the restaurant nearby which is a contrast between the restaurant you originally planned? Dirty, filthy and such. Even if you want to turn back, the traffic's full and your date is complaining that she's hungry. Enough about that, it happened to me last Saturday in the My-Kart K3 race. The 1st heat was good, I finished 2nd with a slow kart(the kart ahead was too fast for me and eventually the kart won it all). However, the track conditions made up for it. Wet and slippery that's what I needed for a slow kart. Brandon Lim and me finished 1-2 respectively but we were demoted 10 places down due to jumpstart. This angered me and Brandon because the jumpstart occurred obviously during the start of the race. Yes I do admit that what I did was wrong and was unaware about it since I've raced in real karting competition, when you see a green flags been waved, FULL SPEED AHEAD!! No one is going to give you a chance! The incident happened at the 1st lap of the race. The real penalty for that is a drive through penalty. That would the most fitting penalty for that kind of behaviour. Otherwise why would we be pushing as hell until the end of race? Somebody needs to buy a drive through penalty flag! Moving on to the 2nd heat. So I started legally this time ;) but before that my kart stalled at the rolling lap so I had to take a spare kart(Its ok no brakes but nvm bout that who needs em in 80cc). Again I bit the dust of the fast kart that dominated the whole event. I finished a very safe 2nd though just like the 1st one. That made me qualified for the Group A Final(just). This is the hard part telling. There was a confusion during kart selection. I picked '11' but the kart wasn't there at the grid so I picked up another spare kart which was so so rubbish! I started at the middle of the grid. Right after the green flag waves off, everyone overtook me and yes I finished dead last in the end. No matter, its just a fun race anyway I have other big races to focus on =) . The Yamaha SL Cup final round would be in a week's time. I hope Mikko's back soon so I can enter the competition as I craved for real competition for awhile already. I also booked a hotel for the 13-14th Dec KKS Championship =) . I also made a plan about next year's racing activities including a BIG ambitions to enter the Formula Renault Championships next year. With Rotax Max Challenge, KKS Championships and Yamaha SL Cup, it'll be a packed year full of motorsport activities.

Also this week I brought my 2 lovely cars to take on Sepang F1 track. On Wednesday, I brought the GTI. It's business as usual as the car behaved pretty much safe at the track. Albeit too safe for my reckoning. On Thursday I brought the Alfa 156 GTA which was a terrifying experience. Well a good terrified though. The car was pretty much safe with the traction control on, so we decided to off it and.....all hell breaks loose. We were all over the place! We enjoyed it so much until the brakes eventually fade due to much stress that was put into the car and...we realized it at the last corner at the track which was a 2-3rd gear corner and it requires heavy braking as you're going flat out before that. We did went flat out, then when the braking part needs to be done, it didn't work =0. I was doing the limit of the Alfa could take so yeah we almost end up crashing or maybe totaled car. We survived though the ordeal and hurt our face muscles because we were screaming non stop at the track enjoying the sideways trip =).

All and all I had a great week, a good start where I left off from the eventful last week. All is well I guess.

Boom De Ya Da!

Hey people, sorry for the late post. I'm a bit bummed for a few days. Let's see last week somehow I think it's one of the most filled weekend for me. Me and my friends went to Sepang to catch the action of the A1 GP. It was fun even though our team didn't finish what could have been a podium finish for the team. I went out for a lot of runs in Sepang Kart Circuit. Overall it was great! More positives come to push out the negatives. It seems I have turn it around a bit considering the bad weeks than I had to went through. Its Thursday now, yesterday I went to Sepang(again) to take my car for a stroll in the circuit itself. It was great! Only 4 cars were there to attend the track day since people are getting ready for the track day today. I'm going in as well today. With the Alfa Romeo 156 GTA hopefully. I've been wanting to see the potential of the car on a track even though somehow I knew that the car won't be as much fast the Golf GTI barely better maybe. Even so, its going to be a great day today InsyaAllah =). I also will conduct a test with the my endurance race team this Friday. We would like to conduct a simulation, analysis and so on. It'll be tough for us since our we need to put all our knowledge and experience into it. However, I believe in my team. I have wonderful and skillful teammates so I'm optimistic about getting a good result for the race =) . Also this Saturday I'll be racing in a My-Kart event again. Not sure where are they putting me in but I'll do just for fun. To recap the weekend, I'll be at Sepang again to watch the HPC race. Whoa for second I think Sepang is the new home for me lol. This week I've been there for at least 6 times. Well it's all worth the drive and the new fuel price helped too. So this week I'll be filled with racing activities and with all the plans I've made during the week. I really hope my racing career is going the right path InsyaAllah =). Thats it for now I'll be writing more soon.

A1GP this weekend in Sepang!

Well we all know that A1 GP is around the corner. The Malaysian team is giving away free tickets in effort to get all the Malaysians come and cheer for the team. The numbers that the team gave were staggering since the A1GP started a couple of years back but yet small numbers of people turned up during the event itself. I have to blame myself though because I promise myself I want to go but the end of the day, nothing happened =(. That's all in the past though hopefully, not just me but all the Malaysians as well. As you can see, we are LEADING the championship. Not a fluke just a smooth start and everything is going the team's way. So we really really need your support and please do come to cheer for us! It'd be great to see us on the podium this weekend and if better a win ;) . The Malaysian team won't disappoint you all this weekend I'm sure. Come lah....petrol price drop already and if you all carpool that will be more cheaper =p.



P/S: We maybe have an unpredictable weather as monsoon season is still in progress but I think it'll rain at 5+pm. Happens to every race that I attended. Oh! do wear YELLOW if you are coming =D

Just Hang On and Suffer Well.

Everything seems to be going very well as planned until the weekend arrives. Again I had another 'did not start' for the Yamaha SL Cup. This time its about the team can't sho

w up during the race. I got the message just a few hours before the race started. Lucky for me I didn't travel long miles to the circuit and end up being a spectator. I was dissapointed of course about that. I was really looking forward to it after a smooth practice session on Friday(I used a rental kart rather than my own =( ) . 2 DNSs' in a row huh? Thats bad, thats 80's 90's F1 bad. I was not satisfied with the treatment from my team itself apart from the coach and my mechanic. I was neglected, ignored and basically because I paid for their services thats why they seem 'nice' to me. Even if I want to search for another team, its too expensive and it'll be a hectic work to transport the kart itself. I offered from my friend's team as well and its maybe worth considering since I maybe be the only driver for the team and the team manager and the mechanics have a lot of potential to make me even fight for championship :\ . The only thing that bothered me though, was the budget itself. I'd need more funds to fund myself for the upcoming races. So the my question is...should I stay or should I go?

I also made my desicion to sell my Swiss Hutless Magic kart. I haven't used that kart before and since its a bother to own it without using it might as well selling it. Its RM6k including the engine. Do leave a comment if you're interested in that kart. I'm also considering a new kart(if I have the money though). It's the new Tony Kart Racer EVR, it'll cost pretty much like EVXX but since I have my own engine, it'll be cheaper to buy. I posted some pictures of the new EVR so hope you'll enjoy it ;)

Last Sunday I also participated a snooker tournament at One Snooker Club. Its my first tournament in 8 years and boy am I rusty. I won once but eventually I lost to Kevin Kwan. Sweet revenge eh Kevin? I remember I won the last time we met at the tournament and lost out to his sister(I had to give her 60 points). However, its not the end of the world y'know. I'll practicing more to honed my skills and get my head back to the game.

This probably the highlight of the week. I went to a fancy restaurant in Ampang called Il Tempio with a friend. The reason I'm there because I was just wanted to try what are they serving for the Malaysian Intl Gourmet Festival. It was ok, good starters but so-so mains. I really loved the Beef Carpaccio and the Foie Gras soup. The soup had truffles in it but I don't really know how to appreciate truffles. Truffles in my opinion its an expensive way to have gas in your body. I posted some pictures of the lovely restaurant as well. Hope you enjoy it =)

Intensive Snooker Practice and an unofficial practice session.

Phew! What a night! I played snooker for the straight 6 hours! First with Edwyn and then Pete. well actually we could have shorten the game time but both of the games I played got a bit excited and we decided to continue until one of our necks are badly sored =). My highest break was 25, I know its not much but if I can make it consistent that would be more than enough for this coming tournament. I also went to Sepang to practice for the Yamaha SL Cup as well and it was smooth~. Okay, the engine was a bit daft with the throttle response but apart from that it was plain smooth sailing for me. The problem was...its not my kart, Its a Birel that would be featured as a rental kart for the race, with financial crisis around the world is commencing, I started to feel the effects as well, pretty much of it actually. For this coming round, the worst case scenario would be digging my own pocket to race. I remember that Tom Walkinshaw from Arrows did use his own pocket money to race for the British GP and went on to oblivion =(...hopefully it doesnt happen to me. Well thats all for now...wish me luck for the competitions and the fundings alright?

Another 'Did not start'

On Saturday, after the Arsenal-Man Utd match, me and my friends went out for drink and discuss about the match. I was tired that time and I can feel something's not right. I couldn't sleep as well because the mucus keeps on bothering my nose. The next morning to my own horror the moment I woke up, D%$# I am sick! Sadly I had to tell my team that I'm not joining in a very last minute. I can still drive though but not a race weekend drive and my tires were pretty battered so maybe it's worth not starting the race. However, its in the past now, its Friday and I feel a lot better now. I maybe having a hard time for the preparations of this Sunday's Yamaha SL Cup, engines are hard to rent(weird), tires(obviously) and of course fundings =(. Gosh, I feel like I'm in a Minardi or a struggling team like Arrows. Even so I will try my best to get myself into the racing grid this Sunday =). My snooker tournament also breaks off on Sunday. Hopefully the organisers can change my tournament time which is 7.30pm into 9.30pm. I'll be knackered that day obviously but hey all in a day's work right?

Mixed week but with 75% of good in it.

Its been a hectic week for me, A lot of motorsports activities, negotiations with the other team, problem prior to the KKS Round 2 this Sunday. One of the problem is the tires, apparently the supplier of the tires ran out of it. The next delivery would around 300 sets in January and we still have to think about for the final 2 rounds which is on 14-15 of December. I decided to raced on the old tires I used during the round 1 since its not that battered yet hence why I didn't go for the practice today. I also raced in the K3 My-Kart event earlier today. Its my first time joining the event(I did come a lot of times but I'm too late). I wished I could join the K2 or K1 though but I'm not a member so I can't join it even though the other racers persuaded me to join. Even with the 80cc karts to toy with it's still a lot of fun albeit I had a collision during the final race(ironically the person who i bumped moved into 2nd place). Witnessed a horrific accident where a kart goes on top of the other kart and my watch strap snapped because of the collision. I did badly in the 1st heat, slow kart and so forth. The 2nd was not that bad though I was leading the whole race but at the last lap I've been overtaken by a young lad(light and a great kart). I only do this for a try out so I don't get myself pi$#$ed or that. The lad has a good sportmanship though, right after the race he approached me and say good race. No love lost there :-). Right now I'm almost finished doing the preparations for the KKS race. I managed to cook the F1 drivers favourite dish. The Tomato & Basil pasta =D can't wait to try it and see what's the difference between their food and normal food. I think I'll stop here now, I'll post the pictures of the new helmet paintjob and the KKS Round 2 report as well.

F1 2008

We're just a couple of hours away from the last round of the Formula One 2008. So what is left now is just Massa and Hamilton? Who will win it? Hami has a great of doing it and so is Massa judging by his performances on Saturday where he got the pole and left a pretty huge gap between the other driver. Even though Massa has a slim chance but I will support him whatever happens. However, may the best driver wins, no stupid moves just plain fair exciting racing to everyone!

Payouts and others.

Today I'm going to collect my salary :)..Such a good timing because I have to make my payment for the 6 hours endurance race in December and to pay the other balance for the helmet. I did arrange a practice session in Sepang this Saturday. If you want to come to watch or kart as well, feel free to join me :). I'm also going to Shah Alam track today to get myself tired(practice for the endurance).

Langkawi Trip

Hey there! I just got back from Langkawi. How was it? Well its a little bit mixed to be honest. Lets start with the bad one shall we? First of all I lost my valuables such as iPod(used it for a 1 1/2 week) wallet(badly damaged looks like a old bread), whats inside the wallet(cards,ids etc etc) and almost everything. Moreover I wasn't in the mood to hit the beach or sightseeing yet, so everything apart from karting there was bad. However, if my mood was up, I can tell you that is one the best place to have a vacation if you ask me. The lush greeneries, decent beaches, great hospitality, a lot of activities and of course karting! :) When I first arrived at the track, I was like so this is it? looks small but it's not! its 1.2 kms, a lot of corners to negotiate and just 2 straights to play with. Only 4-strokes kart were available there sadly :( I was hoping for a faster one. A 2-stroke kart would be more than enough but the girl said that tourist keep on destroying the karts. Away I go! At first its pretty hard to find the perfect line to drive. There were so many sudden corners just like the Sepang track, then you have the 'balls' corner. I like that particular corner. Reminds me of Parabolica in Monza but a lot shorter. I had fun with a 4-stroke there, must be even better if I was in a racing kart :D . To sum up the track, its Sepang/Elite track. Very smooth and not bumpy even though it looks unkept, a lot of smooth corners+technical corners. For those who is planning to go Langkawi, be sure to visit there. Its a nice experience ;)

Sunday Racing

I went to Shah Alam Karting Circuit today to have some fun and practice with my friends and family. Also, I passed my helmet to Edwyn so he can get it done soon :) . Me and my friends raced in the 80cc karts and I gave them a try for 100cc too! The race for the 80cc was not that great honestly because the curse of broken karts were there again every time we want to race each other. Mine's had a problem with well everything. The karts weren't up to speed, in a group of 10 people only 2 will get a decent kart to toy with. I had 3 rounds with the 80cc whilst my friends had 2 rounds of it. First round sucked badly though as my race was hampered with a low speed kart. 2nd round was decent, Naza and Danny was in the track but there were too many karters so we can't manage to race each other because the of the slow pace of the other karters. We managed to get a race for about 2 laps? Danny's kart was too slow and by the time we're about to race, times up! Blurg! The 3rd round was bad though. I did have good kart(handles pretty much the way I like) but falls short on top speed. I know I don't use my top speed as my special trait but Afiq's kart speed was kind of obvious that the kart was so much better but I don't want to make any excuses here as long as they're happy, I'm happy with it. Then came the 100cc tryouts. Everyone had a problem with their karts. My cousins fuel was too low and it slows down everytime he's in the corner, Afiq's spunned off and Aiman couldn't find a way through pass with the 80cc karters. Mine's ok but I just realised the kart weren't balanced enough as the weights for the kart is removed. I thought it'll be fun having a light kart but really its not! you go sideways everytime, the power response wasn't accurate, the brakes were not biting and it's scary a little bit. Honestly I always had a problem with Shah Alam track and I can't understand why. I kart there often, understood the track and pretty much seasoned with the track. Rental kart perhaps? I don't know but for the other tracks I don't think I have a problem with it.

To be continued....F1 post ;)

1st post :)

Edwyn messaged me just now and he told me that the helmet that I designed can be painted as soon possible for a reasonable price which is around Rm1k. Thats a lot better than the shop in Sunway which was RM1.8k(starting! nothing addtional). Really looking forward to it can't wait for it to be done. Lets just hope the helmet would be like what I ordered even though in the sketch its a pretty botched job in some angle.

I arranged a race between all of my friends this Sunday also. I also would like to treat my friend a 10-20 mins kart ride since its his birthday a couple of days ago. I hope he fancies 80cc rather than 100cc so more track time. But the weather is not helping at moment, every evening theres thunderstorms in my area. I won't mind though but its a lot work to change your wet clothes to a new one. Lets hope itll be sunny skies on Sunday alright? :)

This Sunday there would be an F1 race as well in Shanghai. Really didn't know about the forecast for this weekend in China. Maybe it'll rain(more excitement and Hamilton could screw up). For now I don't really support both Massa and Hamilton for the title. I fancy Kubica to do it ;). Hope he does the Kimi at the end of the season. Theres a MotoGP this weekend in Sepang as well so this week its a non-stop racing action for racers and racing fans around the world :D.

P/S: I attached some of my helmet designs as well, even though its not a perfect job but still thats the design.