Archive for Motorsports

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Karamjit Singh is back in action again, currently vying for the Overall Champion title of the FELDA-AAM Malaysian Rally Championship 2007 (FAMRC) at the oil palm plantations near Kuantan this Saturday and Sunday.

He is currently leading the championship but needs to score for the 4th round this weekend as he did not manage to score any during round 3, unlike the first two rounds where he managed to get first place. The checkered flag for Round 3 was snagged by lead drive Kan Chee Hong and co-driver Bernard Chin for the Perodua M5 Rally team.

Round 4 this weekend will include more than 20 cars including foreign participants, and will span 2 days - 3rd to 4th November 2007 in Kuantan, Pahang.

“Last year the drivers found the stages to be demanding with a lot of twists and turns, uphill and downhill roads. It will be even more challenging this year if it continues to rain, as the slippery roads will truly put to the test the skills of the drivers and their cars,” said Clerk of the Course for the Championship, Tengku Shaharin Abu Bakar Almarhum Tengku Suleiman.

The First Leg will see participants compete in 8 Special stages (SS) comprising SS1 Tepi Sungai (11.94km), SS2 Ada Tramac (26.54km), SS3 Treler Kuning (7.74km), SS4 Kilang (3.78km), SS5 Tepi Sungai (11.94km), SS6 Ada Tarmac (26.54km), SS7 Treler Kuning (7.74km) and SS8 Kilang (3.78km), covering a total SS distance of 100km. For Leg Two, participants will be covering a total SS distance of 50.54km. Leg Two comprises SS9 Jambatan Best (10.26km), SS10 Pondok (5.86km) and SS11 Sekolah (9.15km). After a twenty minute service break, participants will head to SS12 Jambatan Best (10.26km) then to SS13 at Pondok (5.86km) before finishing at SS14 Sekolah 9.15km). The total Rally covers 150.54km.

The flag off will be at Dataran Kuantan at 12 noon on the 3rd of November 2007.

Click here to read the rest of Karamjit leads the FAMRC Rally

This amusing advertisement has Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton in a little spot of rivalry, both being two of the youngest people in F1 at 26 and 22 respectively. Both drive for the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes F1 team. Of course, at the end they meet big brother. The song playing in the background is “I can do anything you can do better”, originally performed by Annie Oakley and Frank Butler. Hat tip thanks to Damien O.Y. Watch the video after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Anything you can do I can do better F1 Ad

We might end up having our own GT team for participation in the Super GT Series, if Sepang International Circuit Sdn Bhd (SIC) chairman Datuk Mokhzani Tun Mahathir has his way. Datuk Mokhzani says we have quality drivers and mechanics and should have no problem having our own team, with the support of the local motorsports fraternity.

Source

F1 cars might switch to turbocharged 2.2 liter V6 engines in 2011, if FIA president Max Mosley gets his way. And these engines might just use biofuel, and drivetrains might use all-wheel drive. Also suggested are power boost buttons much like the A1GP style, which should be achievable by upping the turbocharger boost.

These changes are an effort to make the F1 sport more cost-efficient, road relevant and environmentally friendly. Part of the environmentally-friendly strategy is to use a single engine for at least 5 GP races, instead of the current 1 engine to 2 race ratio.

Currently F1 cars are 2.4 liter V8s, having dropped from 3.0 liter V10s in 2006. The last use of a turbocharger in F1 was in 1988, with a ban being imposed the next year. These turbocharged engines were limited to 1.5 liter turbo engines, and 3.5 liter normally aspirated engines were also allowed. You had to pick either one.

The turbo engines usually made more power than the normally aspirated ones - 685 horsepower from a Honda RA168E turbo V6 limited to 2.5 bars of boost compared to Ford’s DFR 3.5 liter V8 making 585 horsepower.

Source

Remember the PWRS that I blogged about last year? If you had RM2,200 to spare, you could have burned rubber around the tracks the proper way in a one day exclusive event guided by professional Porsche trained and certified trainers. It’s all over now, and here are the videos from that exciting day for those who missed it.

The 2007 Porsche World Road Show was divided into a few segments, and groups were rotated between the segments throughout the day event. You have the braking test, handling test, off road experience, road tour, slalom as well as demo laps on the track. All latest Porsche models except for the fearsome 911 GT3 were available to drive, but the GT3 did make an appearance later, as you can see in the videos.

Videos are all after the jump!

Click here to read the rest of 2007 Porsche World Road Show Videos

For fans of the new 2006 Honda Civic, you will be able to see race-prepared versions of them in action at the 12-hour Merdeka Millenium Endurance race (MME) 2006 at Sepang International Circuit held on August 27, 2006.

Team Honda Racing, which won the Class A Champion title for 3 years consecutively will be the first team in the world to use the new 8th generation 2006 Honda Civic as race cars. The stock Honda Civic chassis is taken off the assembly line, and is strenghtened using techniques like double spot welding. Then the car is painted white, any race Honda that is not predominantly white would just be wrong. The car is then hand built by the Honda Malaysia Racing Team.

[UPDATED: More photos after the jump!]

Click here to read the rest of Honda Malaysia Racing Team’s MME Civic

Other than giving us the Proton Satria R3, Race Rally Research has been doing alot for the local grassroots motorsports community with their Street Shoot Out series and other activities. 9 amateur racing drivers went through the R3 Merdeka Millenium Endurance Driver Selection Program on the 20th July 2006, held in conjunction with R3’s first Merdeka Millenium Endurance 2006 test session. Race Rally Research ran in a tricked out Campro 1.6 engine in a race-prepared Proton GEN.2 for this first test session. The engine develops 210bhp, amazing!

Race Rally Research considers it part of their responsibility as prominent figure in the national motorsports scene to develop the motor racing fraternity further. Programs such as this realises the potential of our young hidden talents.

The 9 drivers comprise of 5 overall class champions from R3’s 2006 SSO series, and a wildcard selected from the same series. The other 3 are Proton test drivers and engineers. The 4 best drivers of the program will be selected to be MME06 race drivers, while the remaining 5 will be absorbed into the team as technical and race support crew members. These drivers are Hammond Lai, Ian Khong, Ivan Khong, Zaid Idris, Ho Wai Kok, Vernon Chan, Syammim Noori and Mike Yap.

R3 will also be providing a 25% discount on selected performance and competition parts and accessories for MME participants who present their official MME Entrance Fee receipt. For more information on the MME06 promotion offer, contact R3 Customer service at 03-51911055 extension 2919.

Click here to read the rest of R3 MME06 Driver Selection Program

Companies are taking blogs seriously as a communication medium. GM has it’s Fast Lane blog. If you love Formula 1 and especially if you are a fan of the Renault F1 team, do check out Renault’s F1 Team weblog.

It has information on the team’s progress as well as stuff like chat interviews with key team members, complete with photos in a nice weblog format. BTW, congrats to Renault for taking the top two spots on the podium. I suppose the Lion Dance the night before helped bring luck. Some of you might know what I mean.

Am still recuperating from an awesome Renault F1 Pit Party. Anyone went?

The A1 Grand Prix PROTON Pro Celebrity Race went on without a hitch on the last day of the A1 Grand Prix of Nations. We saw an exciting battle between 11 cars driven by local and international celebrities. There was supposed to be 12 cars, but the man behind A1 Sheikh Maktoum had to pull out due to important business obligations.

Click here to read the rest of A1GP PROTON Pro Celebrity Race Results

The A1 Grand Prix of Nations Feature Race results are out - with Team Malaysia driver Alex Yoong managing to get 5th place position after an exciting race.

Click here to read the rest of 2005 A1 Grand Prix Sepang Feature Race Results