Petronas Formula Experience (PFX) Shoot Out 2008

[yazidm]

An article about the PFX in Utusan Malaysia. Picture shown is the current batch.

[url=http://][/url]http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2008&dt=0617&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=Pendidikan&pg=pe_01.htm

The boys has been progressing very well. It is really nice to see how that they have progress from their initial stage in terms of driving skill and also physical fitness which is paramount. They have so far covered 4 sessions with 4 more to go. The next session which is schedule early July will see them for the 1st time driving the full track of SIC. They had 2 sessions at the South Track & 2 sessions at the North track. Some of the boys are expected to do between 2 min 13sec & 2 min 14 sec for the full track session. For the next session each of them will be driving a car with their own set-up. They were sharing cars for the past 4 sessions where the 10 were divided into 2 groups.

Next 2 sessions are to prepare them for their 2 school races scheduled in August. Their 1st school race is schedule in mid August while their 2nd is the support race for MME on 30th August.

In term of racing speed at least 6 of them are very-very close i.e within 1/2 sec. The instructors were very pleased during the last session where 1 of the boys broke the 1min 8sec barrier with a fastest time of 1 min 7.4 sec. During that session they had BMW WTCC driver Agustus Farfus present as one of the instructor.

To make it to the Formula BMW Asia Pacific rounds with Pertonas Hozier team, these boys must beat or at least meet the level set by the 1st batch student i.e Melvin Moh, Imran Zaharias & Johan Adzmi.

For Last years batch only 1 driver i.e Dominic Ang was absorb to the team to replace Johan Adzmi who is now with the Petronas Syntium team racing in Japan Super Taikyu Endurance in the BMW ZM.

7 of the current batch are racing in the Rotax Max Challenge (except Calvin who miss this year’s). They are:-

1. Masadenal Ali Mas Kamal (Senior)
2. Wan Dassila Wan Anuar (Senior)
3. Hasif Azmi (Junior)
4. Fahmy Ilyas (Senior)
5. Calvin Wong
6. Mohd Rahami (Junior)
7. Afiq Ikhwan (senior)

As for Ikhwan, August will be a very tight month for him with 2 PFX school races and also the final round of the Rotax Asia max Challenge. The last round of the Asia Max Challenge (AMC) is schedule from the 30th till 31st August which overlap with the PFX program. Ikhwan is schedule to fly to Jakarta on the 27th August for a practice and will fly back the same day so that he can be with the PFX program from the 28th till 30th August. On the 30th after the last PFX school race he will fly to Jakarta to participate in the Asia Max Challenge. He will miss the qualifying and may also miss Heat 1 of the AMC if the Heat 1 is schedule before 3 pm on the 30th August.

Currently Ikhwan is 3rd in the AMC points table behind Ooi Fei Hong & Mikko Nassi. He is 14 points behind Fei Hong & 5 points behind Mikko. In the Malaysia Max Challenge Ikhwan is 4th behind James Lee, Mikko & Imran. For Ikhwan incidents has become a norm. I just hope that it doesn’t continue. During AMC Round 1 in Kelantan, he was accidentally hit by Fei Hong in Lap 2 after overtaking Fei Hong who won the race and Ikhwan finished 12th. While in Elite recently he was hit by Imran for 3rd position during the Pre-Final and he DNF the pre-final losing at least 20 valuable RMC points. In the final he made a charged from dead last to take the 3rd position at the checkered flag to finish behind James Lee & Masedenal Ali.

For Ikhwan the next 2 AMC races (in Elite 19-20/7 & Sentul 30-31/8) are crucial if he wish to qualify for the next world finals in Italy scheduled in November. He must make up the 14 points deficit. It is not going to be easy as the other 2 drivers are also looking forward for the same.

Thank you to Naza & children, Edwyn and others who came to Elite for the 3rd RMC round.

[Jules]

Yazidm,

Thanks for update on the PFX scene…..there are no news/publicity for those not involved & the public, which is sad.

Btw, u forgot me too at Rd 3 🙂

[naza]

[quote=yazidm]
…….Thank you to Naza & children, Edwyn and others who came to Elite for the 3rd RMC round.[/quote]

…..thats the least we can do and we wish our young friends the very best in the forthcoming races…..we will keep tracking your progress! :up:

[TheFazz]

thanks yazid for the updates. :up: :up:

excellent progress for the boys from my-kart!

[edwynlow]

[quote=yazidm]…….Thank you to Naza & children, Edwyn and others who came to Elite for the 3rd RMC round.[/quote]

You are most welcome~ It was nice knowing you too and the boys. Will be there for Rd4 for more photos

🙂

[yazidm]

Alright… Sorry Jules for excluding you. I am sure I am going to see in RMC4.

Ok. A little update on the boys at PFX. Last weekend was their 5th session. For the 1st time they had the whole Sepang track for them to practice. On Friday they started with laps time like 2min 18sec – 2 min 21sec and by Sunday they were already at racing speed of 2min 14+ sec-2min 19sec. At least 5 of them were clocking between 2min 14+ sec 2min 15+sec. Ikhwan is 1 of them. Comparing against the 2007 batch for a full track race (2nd School race), the best qualifying was 2min 15.768sec and fastest race lap was 2min 16.228sec. I was informed that this bunch are fast. Anyway, this maybe possible with the new resurfaced Sepang Circuit which was done before the last F1 in March if not for their ability to drive. Then again Petronas is not looking for the fastest driver, they want a complete driver.

Their 6th session is due on the 1st,2nd & 3rd August on a full track. I was informed that all the drivers will get a car for themselves to prepare them for their 1st school race due on the 15th, 16th & 17th August. Before this they were sharing cars. They already receive their new set of tires during the last session (5th) and they will have to look after the tires from now on. The school will not replace tires if they’re flat spotted by the drivers.

The 1st school race in mid august will be a half track (North) race while the Second School Race will be a full track i.e. the supporting event for the MME. I suppose each school race will have at least 2 races.

PFX08 is the 1st batch that need AAM National ‘C’ Circuit racing license to race. This simply means that their races will be sanctioned by AAM. The idea is to ensure that they would be able to apply for an upgrade of their license after they graduated.

So for those who are interested to see them practicing or even the school races, take note of the dates above.

[TheFazz]

[quote=yazidm]Ok. A little update on the boys at PFX. Last weekend was their 5th session.[/quote]

thanks for the update bro. looks like ikhwan is doing well. keep going ikhwan! great stuff.

[naza]

Yazid (A0003)… wow! great progress by the look of it. Good job by Ikhwan (B0001) and the rest and do keep us updated. :up:

[yazidm]

The 6th PFX session ended with another smile on the instructors faces. The boys did amazingly well. Each and everyone of the boys were given a car. No longer they share cars. This weekend they had their own set-up to play. So each individual will have to think about on how to set-up the car to suit them. They also have to answer to why they want the set-up. Upon given the nod then only the instructor will allow the set-up to be done.

At least 5 of them were clocking below 2.15s which was an impressive time as far as the instructors are concern. Ikhwan did the fastest with 2.14 flat. When asked, he could have done much better as he did a small mistake at turn 11 and 12 where he twitch the rear of the car. The other which was very close (2/10 slower) was Calvin Wong.

The boys are already looking forward for their 1st school race schedule mid of the month i.e. 15-17/8/08. No doubt this bunch of boys are among the fastest PFX had. Hope they will excel in the sports and make Malaysia proud. My hope is, only if petronas would take all of them it would be great to see them progress in the sports.

[naza]

[quote=yazidm]….. No doubt this bunch of boys are among the fastest PFX had…… [/quote]

…thats the way to go and now to go for consistency!…well done to Ikhwan!

psssst!…Ede , Dass…?

[TheFazz]

[quote=yazidm]At least 5 of them were clocking below 2.15s which was an impressive time as far as the instructors are concern. Ikhwan did the fastest with 2.14 flat. When asked, he could have done much better as he did a small mistake at turn 11 and 12 where he twitch the rear of the car. The other which was very close (2/10 slower) was Calvin Wong.[/quote]

excellent stuff ikhwan! go for it man! thanks yazid for the support and updates. :up: :up:

[bosozoku]

good stuff :up: congrats Ikhwan & all the best to all

[timmsm]

Congrats to all the boys especially Ikhwan and his supportive family 😉 :up:

[yazidm]

The 1st PFX School Race was ran last Sunday 17-8-08. The event was done at the north track and half track was used. It was a national level event where the race was ran by SIC and sanctioned by AAM. This way will allow the boys to get their international racing license once they finish with PFX having met the minimum requirement of 4 national level races.

The event started around 11am with a half hour free practice. In the free practice the boys are allowed to do final set-up for the race. Ikhwan set the fastest time with a lap time of 1:06.923

Qualifying was ran at about mid day. Best of 2 times were taken for the start of race 1 and race 2. The result were as follows:-

1. Mohamed Fahmy Elyas – (1.06.804/1.06.842)
2. Mohd Afiq Ikhwan Mohd Yazid (1.06.836/1.06.936)
3. Calvin Wong Meng Man (1.06.887/1.06.970)
4. Muhamad Hasif Nor Azmi (1.07.008/1.07.102)
5. Masadenal Ali Maskamal Khan (1.07.166/1.07.215)
6. Muhamad Alif Azri Jefri (1.07.348/1.07.505)
7. Muhamad Rahami Mohd Rusdi (1.07.839/1.07.970)
8. Muhamad Ilham Ramlan (1.08.028/1.08.557)
9. Wan Dassila Wan Annuar (1.08.553/1.08.557)
10. Mohd Muzzahafar Mustapah (1.08.631/1.08.644)

Race 1 started after lunch at about 2.15pm. Race 1 was rated one of the best PFX race ever seen. It was a very close fight for at least 4 racers Fahmy, Ikhwan, Calvin Wong & Ede.

With the red lights off Fahmy, Ikhwan, Clavin, Hasif & Ede raced to the 1st corner. The fight for the top three at the initial stage was between Fahmy, Clavin, Ikhwan and Ede. After about 4 or 5 laps, Claivin overtook Ikhwan at the first corner underbraking. Ikhwan dropped from 2nd to 3rd and later to fourth after being overtaken by Ede. After a few attempt Ikhwan managed to overtake Ede and start his chased for the 2nd place. Fahmy made a mistake and spun after being pressured by Clavin. Ikhwan made an attemp and managed to close the gap however there’s not enough laps for him to make an attemp to take on Calvin. He settled for 2nd place with about 1.2sec behind Calvin and Ede came 3rd.

The Result for Race 1 :-

1. Calvin Wong Meng Mun
2. Mohamad Afiq Ikhwan Mohamad Yazid
3. Masedenal Ali Maskamal Khan

Full result for Race 1

Race 1 (20 Laps ; North Track 2.706km)
(Best Time) (Diff) (Total Time)
1. Calvin Wong Meng Man (1.07.549) ( – ) (22.52.765)
2. Mohd Afiq Ikhwan Mohd Yazid (1.07.293) (+1.239) (22.54.005)
3. MAsdenal Ali Maskamal Khan (1.07.521) (+2.383) (22.55.149)
4. Muhamad Alif Azir Jefri (1.07.426) (+6.743) (22.59.509)
5. Mohd Fahmi Elyas (1.07.453) (+12.978) (23.05.744)
6. Mohd HAsif Nor Azmi (1.07.594) (+18.136) (23.10.905)
7. Wan Dassila Wan Annuar (1.08.265) (+23.212) ( 23.15.978)
8. Muhamad Rahami Rushdi (1.08.537) (+25.423) (23.18.189)
9. Mohd Muzzahafar Mustapah (1.08.302) (+30.971) (23.23.737)

Not Classified

DNF Muhamad Ilham Ramlan (1.08.817) (-) (14.05.551)

Fastest Lap : Mohd Afiq Ikhwan Mohd Yazid : 1.07.293

After about 1 hour rest, Race 2 commence at about 4.15pm. At the start, Fahmy had a bad start thus Ikhwan managed to take 1st position with Calvin Wong behind him. Ikhwan started to pull away and only to be more happy to see Calvin was given a drive through penalty for a jump start. Ikhwan lead the race from start to finish with a 9.8s margin. The fight for 2nd and 3rd was between. Ede, Alif, Hasif & Fahmy. These 4 drivers were fighting for position for about 5 laps. Ede fall back after he spun at turn 4. Fahmy also did a mistake and also fall back leaving Alif & Hasif fighting for 2nd. HAsif managed to overtake Alif about 2/3 of race distance and took the 2nd place. Alif finished 3rd.

The result:-

1. Mohamad Aiq Ikhwan Mohamad Yazid
2. Mohd Hasif Nor Azmi
3. Alif Azri Jefri

Full Result:-

Race 2 (20 Laps ; North Track 2.706km)

1. Mohd Afiq Ikhwan Mohd Yazid (1.07.137) (-) (22.40.442)
2. Muhd Hasif Nor Azmi (1.07.234) (+9.816) (22.50.258)
3. Muhd Alif Azri Jefri (1.07.337) (+12.112) (22.52.554)
4. Mohd Fahmy Elyas (1.07.264) (+19.447) (22.59.919)
5. Muhd Rahami Rushdi (1.08.178) (+23.625) (23.04.067)
6. Calvin Wong Meng Mun (1.07.216) (+23.696) (23.04.138)
7. Wan Dassila Wan Annuar (1.08.076) (+28.423) (23.08.865)
8. Mohd Muzzahafar Mustapah (1.08.578) (+34.703) (23.15.145)
9. Muhd Ilham Ramlan (1.08.275) (+36.135) (23.16.577)
10. Masedenal Ali Maskamal Khan (1.07.876) (+43.507) (23.23.949)

Fastest Lap : Mohd Afiq Ikhwan Mohd Yazid : 1.07.137

The PFX Team, was indeed very happy with the boys performance and made very positive comments about the boys. There were also happy as they managed to close the gaps (lap time) to about 1 sec from the fastest to the slowest. They were no major incident recorded and the boys have displayed encouraging race craft.

As per normal race, there prize presentation and later and a press conference. Basically PFX were exposing the kids to the actual race situation and thought them what to expect after any race.

The next school race will be held in conjunction with the MME08. PFX school race will be the support race. Qualifying will be on on Friday morning and Race 1 will be at about 4.30pm. Race 2 is on Sat 30/8 at 9.30am.

[TheFazz]

[quote=yazidm]The 1st PFX School Race was ran last Sunday 17-8-08. The event was done at the north track and half track was used. It was a national level event where the race was ran by SIC and sanctioned by AAM. This way will allow the boys to get their international racing license once they finish with PFX having met the minimum requirement of 4 national level races.[/quote]

wooooo hooooo!!

excellent stuff by all the boys. congratulations to ikhwan for showing strong pace and consistency. look forward to seeing further progress! :up: :up: :up: :up:

* thanks yazid for the updates. :up:

[Author]

Posts