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Ikhwan didn’t race in La Conca, thanks to the people of Thailand. The 3 of us (Ikhwan, My Wife & me) took Thai Airways to Rome with a connection in Bangkok as MAS don’t fly on Tuesday. After his last SPM paper we were then on our way to the airport to take the Thai Airways Bangkok bound flight at 9.00pm. The connecting was supposed to be at 12.01 am Wednesday but unfortunately the Bangkok Airport was closed at 11.00pm. Yes we were stranded at the airport for a night without knowing our fate. We were than asked to leave the airport at about 1pm on Wednesday. We were sent to a Hotel in Bangkok and was not informed when the flights will resume. That was when we knew that Afiq will not make it for the races. Later I decided to go back to KL. We were able to leave Bangkok Friday afternoon at about 4.30pm and reached Hatyai by road 13 hours later. With a help of a friend, he picked us up early morning at Hatyai and we crossed the border at about 8.30am that Saturday. With flights from Alor Star to KL was fully booked, we flew back to KL via Penang and reached KL at about 4.30pm.
The travel agent arranged with Thai to put us on MAS to Rome the same day but on;y to fly back with Thai. We finally flew to Rome at 11.40pm.
We were in time to watch the finals that Sunday and that’s all we did beside an Intrepid factory visit the fallowing Wednesday near Verona.
On the way back again we’re stranded. This time for 2 days and it’s in Rome. Thai refused to put us on another flight as per schedule but instead put us on a flight on Sunday. To make thing worse Thai morning flight to KL was canceled and we were put on a flight back home at 4.30pm. There goes our Hari Raya Haji.
I learned something though i.e Never fly THAI…
As for the results of the Malaysian drivers, I think you guys knew already.
Jules,
I would have to agree with you. I think you’re in the same wave length with the PFX team. Those boys are thought on how to handle media. This is one area where most need to buck-up. In fact most of them were worried about the media conference rather than the race itself.
Thanks for the words, he is trying hard to improve in all areas. It’s not only me felt happy about the whole thing but the PFX team are also happy about it. This batch is considered the best by them.
As for Ikhwan, he is definitely trying to improve and he is learning everyday. To a certain extend from my conversation with him after the race, he knew what the car can do and how to get the best out of it.
I hope he will be given the chance to further polish what he has and be better.
Desk,
No. This is a different Fahmy. Fahmy Elyas is a karter with RL Karting.
Fazz & Naza,
Thanks for the words of encouragement. One thing about Ikhwan as was said by his karting mechanics, he is a driver who likes to “search”. Never fear to try any set-up that can give him the edge. The advantage with him is that to a certain extend he understand chassis and knows what to do with it.
For him the PFX cars, though it is faster than a kart, but it is considered slow for the wide Sepang track. When I asked, this was what he said, “I am still learning on how to drive the car and the best would be to improve my driving. Having to much set-up changes will not help but would further confuse me. Since the car have grip, the best would be for to find the racing line that would give me the advantage with the kind of set-up I have chosen”. And he had chosen to reduce the down force to the minimum. He was the only driver that asked for the low down force set-up which amazed the PFX team. Only at the last practice before the race another driver did the same after realising Ikhwan was much faster.
Quoting one of the PFX team member, “I admire one of the boys courage who has chosen a set-up with very little down force…”. The PFX team before the race, really wanted to see the outcome. They were anticipating that Ikhwan may have problem handling the car at later stage and would very much like to see how he handles it. At the end of it they were happy to see the result. They also really wanted to see Calvin and Ikhwan racing as both the boys had almost an identical set-up. That doesn’t happen when Calvin had a jump start and given a drive through penalty in race 2
Bro Naza, I am happy indeed to see him progressing very well and I believe you too. I may be seeing blinks of light at the end of the dark tunnel and I hope it is a real light. I think Ikhwan has a long way to go still. However judging from him progressing from My-Kart days, end of 2006 till now, he can reach the end of tunnel if only given the vehicle & tools. I cannot afford this expensive vehicle. It is just beyond my reach. It is costing 150,000 euros a year. PFX will be choosing 3 drivers this year because they are so happy with this batch abilities. I can only pray and hope that he will be one of the 3. Being twice at the podium may not guarantee him a place. PFX is looking for drivers that has the package. To our eyes Ikhwan may have it but I am not sure in the eyes of PFX. They may have different ideas. So lets wish him the best and pray for his success.
Jules,
See you at MME08.
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 KhanFull 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 JefriFull 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.
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.
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.
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.
Yes, I was informed by Saiful of PETMOS that Ikhwan is one of the candidate for the PFX2008 season. So meaning to say that I have t visit SIC for at least 24 times this year. He’s ranked 2nd out of the 10 candidates that qualified. I also understand that EDE & DASS also made it. Ikhwan team mate Hasif also made it.
From what I understood the criteria for selection is not only on driving but it also include discipline (on track and off track), fitness, character & also communication. All these areas were given points. There was a candidate who went out and was later banned from driving. He did not do the evaluation laps. This was so because during the Free Practices he lapped the track under red flag for couple of times. Spun few times but did not return to the pit for car inspection. This boy was not at all considered for PFX2008. This guy also broke the starter of the PFX car as he did not step on the brakes and clutch when he spun.
7 boys received notices for track rule violation for things like, continuous driving under red flag, going over white line when leaving the pit lane & passed the chequered flag twice.
For those who were not selected and if they are still within the age limit, they will have another go next year.
The Shoot was over and the 12 boys and 1 girl are now waiting for the results. They got to drive the PFX cars for about 2 hours in sessions last Sunday. Seen familiar faces during the shoot out.
I think what’s important is that this opportunity is open to Malaysian age between 15-18 years and whom have been racing in any AAM sanction races. After a short briefing to the parent, I know understand its objectives.
This is one opportunity that parents should look into for their kids if they love karting. The shoot out itself is already learning session. Every year Petronas will train 10 kids and develop them to be a race driver. They only select karters and only karters. At present the pool of karters in the age category is small. Maybe My-Kart can be a platform to the program by encouraging young potential karters to enter the sanction races so that they can qualify for at least the shoot out.
If there are not enough young karters in the near future, I think this program will die of its natural death and it will be a big loss to young racing going malaysian. I see that strong support from the racing community is vital.
For those who are following the series, the RMC 3rd round will be held in Elite Circuit instead of Sepang next May. The 4th Round will be in Shah Alam and the Final will be back in Elite. Both the track will be homolagated soon.
The 1st Round ws held in early march. Saw Naza, Des-Khoo there. In the 1st round Imran Zaharias came 1st, Ede 2nd, Mikko 3rd, Ikhwan 4th and James Lee 5th. Ikhwan was driving a old SH Toledo which was cracked twice. He told me that it was not easy driving a cracked chassis but nothing much can be done as the new chassis did not arrive and the spare chassis was bent.
In Kelantan he got to drive his new SH Toxic II chassis and Mikko was driving a new Intrepid Cruiser. It was a world of difference for both of them. Ikhwan was faced with engine problem a day before the qualifying. In fact both his engine(main & spare) had the same problem. In practices Ikhwan was very competitive and was faster than Mikko and Ooi Fei Hong (winner) during a session. Mikko had his own problem as well.
With only couple of hours before the qualifying, the mechanic did what ever necessary to allow Ikhwan to go out the next day for qualifying. It was a bad qualifying as Ikhwan was 1+ sec off his practice time. Power valve was not working. He qualified 11th out of 18 drivers. Mikko qualified 8th behind Ede and Dass who was 7th and 5th resepectively.
The mechanic tried to solve the power valve issue before Heat 1. Again in Heat 1 the problem persisted and he finished 11th while Mikko, Ede & Dass finished 4th, 9th and 8th respectively. Again Ikhwan was off pace.
As for Heat 2, Ikhwan gambled by insisting the mechanic to use the original power valve from the 1st engine. Went out and it worked! This time he got the pace and raced his way up from 11th to 4th. He clocked the 2nd fastest time 50.204 sec which was behind OOi Fei Hong by 0.006 sec. Mikko finished 4th with a best lap of 50.453. Ede DNS the heat 2 as he was sick. Dass finished 7th while Imran had problem and finished 10th.
In the pre-final, Ikhwan started from 6th and raced his way up to 3rd. Ikhwan best time was 1/10th slower than Ooi Fei Hong. Mikko and Imran had an incident with the same kart # 17 whom was slowing them down.In both incidents Ikhwan was behind them but managed to avoid the collision. Basically Mikko & Imran collided at the same corner but in different lap and # kart17 survived while both Imran and Mikko were off the track but got back to continue racing. EDE was penalised (10 sec) for a jump start and finished behind Dass (7th) in 8th position. Imran finished 9th.
For the final race. It was expected by many that Ikhwan will be challenging for the 1st position from Ooi Fei Hong basing on his performance in Heat 2 & the Pre-Final. In the final he started from the 3rd grid overtook James Lee who stared from 2nd grid at the 1st corner after the start. Ikhwan followed Ooi Fei Hong closely in the 1st lap with James Lee trailing about half sec behind them. Ikhwan saw an opportunity to take Ooi Fei Hong at the 3rd corner of the 2nd lap, He passed Ooi Fer Hong but unfortunately was touched by Fei Hong at the left rear which sent Ikhwan off the track. For the spectator it was an anti climax as Ikhwan’s challenge lasted only for a lap. For Ikhwan, it was indeed a frustrating moment as he was so confidence of taking the 1st place as he had the pace to challenge Fei Hong the winner of the Kelantan Kart Prix. Ikhwan after off the track drove slowly and waited for Fei Hong to lapped him. After Fei Hong lapped him, he then followed Fei Hong closely but not to jeopardies Fei Hong 1st place until finish. Probably to prove a point that he had the pace to do it. Fei Hong won with 5 sec margin.
EDE had a bad luck when he DNF 5 laps before the chacqured flag after his battery flew off the kart. Fei Hong won the Kelatan Kart Prix with Fahmy Elyas 2nd, James Lee 3rd, Rohairijaz 4th and Mikko 5th. Dass finished 7th.
Fei Hong also won the DD2 category with Mikko 2nd, John King 3rd. In DD2 John King already qualified for the world finals as Fariz Fawzi, the winner of the 1st round DD2 did not participate and Ray Kong was also missing in the 2nd round.
For the result and lap charts http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=290923
Thanks to all. I understand that EDE AND DASS are also part of it… Congrat. to them as well.
I was told that they have sent the letter to 24 other people. They will filter them and have the final 10 this weekend. They wanted to see all the previous results of the candidates. A Champion will qualify himself the 1st day. I think EDE would qualify the 1st day as he was the Malaysian RMC Champion. Not sure about Ikhwan as he was only the “Junior Rookie of The Year”. Nevertheless he had some promising international racing experience, which has made him what he is today.
