Lotus Racing F1 Team Race Report: Australian GP

The Australian GP on the 28th of March proved to be an exciting race. In a race won by last year's world champion Jenson Button, the track was wet with water due to an early rain. The exciting race saw a great start at the first corner where current championship leader Fernando Alonso came into contact with Button and former world champion Michael Schumacher and spun his Ferrari. 10 other drivers had their races ended in accidents and spinning out due to the track's slippery conditions. But all these proved no obstacle to our local F1 team, the Lotus Racing F1 Team. Qualifying saw Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen took up the 20th and 19th spot respectively, but hydraulic problems before the start of the race saw Trulli not making it to the grid. After a hectic race ridden with blue flags and even a safety car period, Heikki finished at 13th place, ahead of fellow newcomer Karun Chandhok of Hispania F1 Racing Team. Once again, Lotus has achieved their target of finishing their races with Kovalainen.

Lotus Racing F1 Team Race Report: Bahrain GP

Malaysia's Lotus Racing F1 Team did the country proud on the 14th of March at the Bahrain GP. After drivers Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli qualified at 20th and 21st position respectively, both cars managed to finished the 49-lap race. While Kovalainen finished at 15th place, team-mate Trulli was hit with a hydraulic problem towards the end of the race, although the Italian managed to nurse the car to the end at a much reduced pace to grab 17th place. In the process, Lotus also made headlines as they were the only newcomer to finish the race. The other two new teams, Virgin Racing and Hispania Racing had their cars retired due to mechanical problems. Team Principal Datuk Tony Fernandes said after the race, "I'm completely over the moon. I cannot describe the feeling. Six months of work and to have both cars finish is just unbelievable. We're thrilled. We wanted to finish the race and to do so ahead of established teams is fantastic. Before the race Clive Chapman gave me Colin Chapman's old Lotus cap and said 'when you win the first race you'll be the man to throw this up in the air like my Dad used to.' That meant a lot to me. It was a wonderful gesture and it's like handing over the mantle of one of motor racing's great dynasties."

No Boundaries

Will we ever find the road we want to walk down, or just drown in this earth with no justice and future for most people?



Seconds hours so many days
You know what you want but how long can you wait
Every moment lasts forever when you feel you’ve lost your way
What if your chances are already gone
Started believing that I could be wrong
But you give me one good reason
To fight and never walk away

Cause here I am still holding on...

Every step you climb another mountain
Every breath is harder to believe
You’ll make it through the pain
Whether the hurricane
To get to that one thing
Just when you think the road is going nowhere
Just when you’ve almost gave up on your dreams
Then take it by the hand and show you that you can
There are no boundaries...

There are no boundaries...

I fought to the end to stand on the edge
What if today is as good it gets
Don’t know where the future’s heading
Nothings gonna bring me down
I’ve jumped every bridge and I’ve run every line
I’ve risked being saved but I always knew why
I always knew why

So here I am still holding on...

Every step you climb another mountain
Every breath its harder to believe
You’ll make it through the pain
Whether the hurricane
To get to that one thing
Just when you think the road is going nowhere
Just when you’ve almost gave up on your dreams
Then take it by the hand and show you that you can...

You can go higher
You can go deeper
There are no boundaries
Above and beneath you
Break every rule cause
There’s nothing between you and your dreams.....

Every step you climb another mountain
Every breath is harder to believe...
Yeah.....

There are no boundaries...
There are no boundaries...

With every step you climb another mountain
Every breathe its harder to believe
You’ll make it through the pain
Whether the hurricane
There are no boundaries...

There are no boundaries...
There are no boundaries.....

3 For The Year!

Since Form 1, I have never got any posts in every school club I joined, as well as my sports house. But this year proved to be a breakthrough year for me. I managed to secure the post of vice-president AND treasurer for my new Kelab Setia and also AJK Peralatan for my green sports house. That makes a total of 3 posts for me. All these is going to be a burden for me, so wish me luck in my jobs! :D

Back At Ipoh 2010

I went back to Ipoh last week for Chinese New Year. It was quiet boring at the beginning for that on the first 2 days we arrived no other relatives is there yet. But once everyone has gathered around, things were fun. I had a great blast talking and cracking jokes with my cousins as well as going shopping. The day before me and my family drove back to Ipoh, I went to my 2nd uncle's home in Mentakab. There, my chef cousin brother cooked up a great lunch for us before parting ways.

Chinese New Year 2010

Time really do fly. It only felt like last month that I celebrated Chinese New Year 2009. Anyway, here's wishing everyone a very heppy Chinese New Year. May the year of the tiger bring you good luck, good health, great prosperity and better luck!

Lotus Officially Unveils Their Formula 1 Car

February 12th of 2010 marks a significant milestone for British automaker Lotus when they unveiled their Formula 1 car for the motorsport series's 2010 season, marking their return to F1 after a 16-year hiatus. The Lotus Cosworth T127, powered by Cosworth's CA2010 V8 engine will be piloted by Italian Jarno Trulli and Finnish Heikki Kovalainen with reserve and test driver Fairuz Fauzy Malaysia. The team, backed by Malaysian entrepeneur and team principal Datuk Tony Fernandes as well as the Malaysian government and Proton Holdings Berhad, the current owner of the Lotus company will challenge for top honours with established teams such as Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren and Renault.

Datuk Tony Fernandes said during the launch, “I am extremely proud to be here today and to be able to show the world the fruits of the team’s hard work over the last five months. It’s humbling for me and my fellow shareholders, Kamarudin Meranun and SM Nasarudin to see how a team that five months ago didn’t even exist is now a thriving workforce, full of enthusiasm and passion for Lotus Racing and the challenges ahead and capable of producing such a beautiful machine in such a short time. Now we’ve achieved two major milestones; confirming our entry and unveiling our car, but now the real work starts. Next we move on to testing and the season ahead and I’m confident that the team will exceed expectations wherever we go, and will do so on a wave of support around the world that has been growing daily since we first unleashed Lotus Racing back in September 2009.”

“The last few months have been some of the most challenging of my career, but it’s been a challenge the whole team and I have thrived on since we first started work on the car up in Norfolk. I’m delighted that we’ve reached this point, and now we have a beautiful car that gives us a great base to work from for the season ahead and a fighting chance of going racing in the right way, with a winning mentality. The hard part starts now, and I know everyone in the team and I are up for whatever lies ahead,” said the team’s technical chief Mike Gascoyne.

Never Give Up...

What would you do when life snatches away things that belongs to you? Would you take it as God's will or would you fight back for it?

The League Of Great Supercars

I thought I'd write a post on 10 of the greatest supercars, in my opinion, that the world has seen.

Porsche 911 Turbo: Quite possibly the most recognizable supercar, the 911 Turbo is an everyday supercar and a benchmark in its class since its introduction in 1974. The latest iteration, the 997 uses a brand-new 500HP flat-6 3.8-litre twin turbo engine mated to a 6-speed twin-clutch Porsche Doppelkupplungsgetriebe gearbox, or PDK for short (a 6-speed manual is also available), which gives it a 0-100 km/h acceleration time of 3.4 seconds and a top speed of 312 km/h.

Porsche Carrera GT: Said to be Porsche's best supercar to date (bar the racing models), the Carrera GT is Porsche showcase of best technological know-how. Power comes from a 5.7-litre V10 engine, producing 650HP and has it transferred to the ground in the form of a traditional 6-speed manual gearbox driving the rear wheels. Acceleration from 0-100 km/h is 3.9 seconds and hits a top speed of 330 km/h. Production of the Carrera GT stopped in 2006.

Nissan GT-R: The Nissan GT-R is Japan's answer to Porsche's 911 Turbo. It comes in a long line of Nissan's infamous Skyline GT-R line of supercars, starting with the 1969 4-door PGC10 and ended with the powerful BNR34 in 2002. Launched in 2009, the latest model (also known by its codename CBA-R35) dropped the 'Skyline' name, as Nissan wants to differentiate the more powerful GT-R from the rest of the range. Powered by a 3.8-litre twin turbo V6 powerplant, this new GT-R has what is possibly the most-advanced all-wheel-drive system in a road car, driven by a 6-speed twin-clutch semi-automatic gearbox. 0-100 km/h time is 3.5-seconds and acceleration stops at the top-end of 310 km/h. It's impressive performance allows it to beat the Porsche at the Nurburgring Nordschleife curcuit.

Ferrari FXX Prototype: This prototype car makes it into my list simply because this could be Ferrari's best supercar ever. The FXX cars are used as a test-bed by Ferrari to provide data and information for their next-generation hypercar. This car is basically a highly-tuned Ferrari Enzo, which sees the base car's 6.0-litre V12 engine being uprated to 6.3-litre and producing 860HP. All this modifications allows it to grab the 'Power Lap' track time record crown in the hit British automotive television series "Top Gear", but was later disqualified for using slick tyres. The rules to qualify for a 'Power Lap' record is cars must be road-worthy, commercially available and be able to negotiate a speed bump.

Dodge Viper: This could be the car that changes the world's perception that American cars are only about big-blocks, straight-line accelerationand handling no better than a shopping cart, the Dodge Viper has seen great success in the world of drift racing. Featuring one of the biggest engines ever seen in a production American car, a 8.4-litre V10 putting out 600HP to the rear-wheels via a 6-speed manual gearbox. Acceleration from standstill to 100 km/h takes 3.6 seconds, maxxing out at 325 km/h. A hardcore road-going version of the Viper, the SRT/10 ACR was introduced with more aerodynamic aid parts such as a rear spoiler, front splitter and canards for more downforce.

Honda NSX: Japan's best supercar, the Honda NSX is christened with impressive handling and track performance. It is one of the most advanced cars on earth during its launch in1990, thanks to its lightweight aluminium chasis and body. Power comes from a naturally-aspirated 3.0-litre V6 engine producing 276HP in the first generation NA1 model while the second generation NA2 gets a 3.2-litre V6 producing 290HP. It's light kerb weight allows an impressive 0-100 km/h time of 4.7 seconds with a top speed of 280 km/h. Honda stopped the production of the NSX in 2005.

Audi R8: Audi's Porsche 911 Turbo beater, the R8 is first introduced to the public as the Le Mans Quattro Concept in 2003. It's 4.2-litre V8 engine makes 420HP and 0-100 km/h acceleration takes 4.4 seconds. Top speed is 300 km/h. A V10 version was introduced in 2009, dubbed the Audi R8 5.2 FSI Quattro. As the name suggests, its 525HP engine is of 5.2-litre and is shared with its 'sister' car, the Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4. Transmission for both engine variants are a 6-speed manual or R-Tronic semi-automatic gearbox, driving all four wheels.

Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG: Mercedes-Benz's latest supercar is the SLR replacement. The German company claims that the SLS AMG is the spiritual succesor to the breath-takingly beautiful 300SL Gullwing of the 1954. The SLS is developed by Mercedes-Benz's in-house high-performance department AMG and features a 571HP 6.2-litre V8 engine capable of catapulting the aluminium bodied SLS AMG from 0-100 km/h in just 3.8 seconds and stopping at a electronically-limited 317 km/h.

Koenigsegg CCX: Koenigsegg, a Swedish supercar manufacturer introduced the CCX model in 2006 as a follow-up model to the 2004 CCR. Featuring a twin supercharger 4.7-litre V8 engine, it has all its 806HP transferred to the rear-wheels via a twin-clutch 6-speed sequential manual gearbox. The usual 0-100 km/h takes only 3.4 seconds and top speed is a blisteringly-quick 394 km/h. In 2007, Koenigsegg introduced the CCXR, a 'greener' and more powerful version of the standard CCX. Running on bio-fuel, the CCXR produces a colossal 1018HP. This green supercar has an even faster 0-100 km/h acceleration time of 3 seconds compared to the stock CCX and can hit a claimed top speed of 400+ km/h.

Pagani Zonda F: Pagani Automobili S.p.A was founded by Mr. Horacio Pagani, a visionary Italian who formerly managed Lamborghini's composite department. Mr. Pagani established his company in 1992 with the introduction of the Zonda C12. The latest model, the Zonda F is the more powerful version of the C12 and has a Mercedes-Benz's AMG-tuned naturally-aspirated 7.3-litre V12 engine with 644HP. Accelerating from 0-100 km/h takes 3.5 seconds and top speed is 346 km/h.

Back To Black

School this year's off to a bad start. First, we have a massive problem regarding some guys defaming the new principal on Facebook in a group, all because the canteen has changed new management. This case has got so bad that the principal went to report the case to the Department of Education. Next up was the canteen. The reason for that provocating attack was because the new canteen management has imposed astronomical prices for the food. For example, a small plate of dried wantan noodles costs RM3 and the portion isn't much! Even the prices of other food seems to be increasing day by day. But thank God, things are fixed now. On happier notes, my class teacher this year is the ever funny and cheerful Mr. Chee! I'm pretty sure he's gonna bring much joy to class, as well as Pn. Francis (who's making a comeback to teach my class English) and Mr. Lim (the 'God' of Chemistry lesson in my school, although he seems reluctant to teach my 5A9 class due to our attitude problems).

Happy New Year!!!

2010 is probably the most anticipated year of all time. I ushered in the new year with a few races in my 'Blue Thunder', which has 800HP now. Here's wishing this year will bring a good year to everyone.

A Little Facelift

I have finished a minor facelift for my room, just painted the wall sky blue (done this all by myself! :D) and laid down a new carpet (with my mom's help. Thanks mom!).

Some Motoring Videos

Watch this drift video from "Hot Version". Cars competing is a WedsSport Toyota Chaser JZX100 and a Bee*R-tuned Nissan Skyline GT-R BNR32 with a BNR34 front-end conversion called the B324R. Listen to the latter's exhaust popping sounds!



Also this tour video of the infamous Initial D mountain: Mt. Akina (real name is Mt. Haruna).

Chris Rock Funny Video

Check out this funny video by comedian Chris Rock in his own talk show. Warning: conatins vulgar languages.

Meet The 'Blue Thunder'

Yes, everyone. Meet the car I call the 'Blue Thunder'. It is my Bayside Blue Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec II BNR34 in "Wangan Midnight: Maximum Tune 3DX" game. It may not look much, but it has 700HP at the moment, which allows it to run at speeds in excess of 300 km/h (well, 320 km/h to be exact).

Wangan Midnight

This is currently the anime that is a hit with me. Although "Wangan Midnight" has already been released in 2007, I only started watching it after playing the arcade game of it. Unlike "Initial D", "Wangan Midnight" focuses heavily on top speed runs on the infamous Wangan stretch on the Shuto Expressway in Japan. The story tells Akio Asakura, a 19-year-old high school student, who during a leisurely drive in his Nissan 300ZX (Z31) with his friend Ma and two girls in the back seat encountered the 'Wangan Blackbird', a black Porsche 911 Turbo (964) driven by Tatsuya Shima, a doctor. Akio then decided to chase it down, only to be smoked by the German marque easily. Determined to become faster, he goes to the junkyard because his mechanic friend tells him he saw a wrecked Datsun 240Z (S30) just like Akio wanted. When he sees the damaged midnight blue 240Z in the junkyard, he remembers seeing this car a few years ago with a nice girl in the passenger seat. Intrigued as to why such a classic Japanese performance vehicle is about to be junked, he convinces the junkyard owner to sell it to him. The junkyard owner was told by the previous owner to scrap the car because it is cursed. He soon finds that the car is unnaturally fast due to a highly-tuned L28 engine, bored and stroked to 3.1 L and fitted with twin turbos. He also finds that the one of the car's previous owners shares his first and last name, and had died in a horrible crash on the Wangan. Every person who takes possession of the Z ends up spinning out of control and crashing, as if the car is rebelling against its driver. This gives the blue 240Z the nickname "The Devil Z". Unperturbed by the nickname and dark histroy of the car as well as against the pleas of his friends to give up driving the car, Akio restores the 240Z and bring it back to its former glorious Wangan racing days. It is worth noting that this anime not only talks about street racing, but also dwells on topics such as the technical aspects of a car and also, rare for a vehicle-heavy show, humanity.

End Of The Road

Today is the end of the road for my Sony Ericsson K300i. There is some problem with either the the charging contact point on the phone or the charger itself. Two weeks after I got the joystick problem fixed, this one came up. After much consideration, my dad said there is no point to get it fixed anymore. I am heavy-hearted to say goodbye to it, as this is my first phone that I bought with my ang-pau money nearly 5 years ago. It has been with me through thick and thin and seen my tears of joy and pain. Although its camera is lousy, it has also let me captured some of the best pictures I've taken myself (like my blog's header picture). This phone is also one tough cookie! I have dropped it numerous times and the only problems that it gave me was the charging contact point getting loose and the unresponsive joystick problem. Also, until yesterday it was still running on the original battery that came with it since day one, but it has started showing its age and I had already contemplating of replacing it with a new one already. At the end of the day, it deserves its long over-due rest and I had to finally say farewell to it. The phone is now in a display cabinet in my house, turning it into a "museum piece".

No Tomorrow

Where is my life heading to? Will I be able to find myself again?