Lotus Racing F1 Team Race Report: Monaco GP

Easily one of the most anticipated races on the F1 calendar every season, the 2010 Monaco GP on the 16th May has tonnes of close wheel-to-wheel action at the famous narrow and tight street curcuit, known for its difficulty to overtake at ease. In the race where only 12 vehicles made it to the finish, Red Bull Racing made their first one-two finish of their season with pole-sitter Mark Webber taking the chequered flag ahead of team-mate Sebastian Vettel. Taking third spot on the podium is Robert Kubica of Renault F1 Team, who made created a few surprises in qualifying with some fast lap times. Michael Schumacher, who is notorious for his 2006 season's qualifying fiasco, created headlines once again when he overtook Fernando Alonso during one of the four Safety Car periods. Elsewhere, Lotus Racing failed to finish their race for the first time of the season Jarno Trulli winding up in an accident and Heikki Kovalainen suffered a steering problem.

Lotus Racing F1 Team Race Report: Spanish GP

9th May 2010 marks the start of the European races in the 2010 season of Formula 1. The Spanish Grand Prix sees a closely battled qualifying session, which sees Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, both from Red Bull Racing, slugging it out for the pole position. Going for pole position here is vital as for the past 5 years the winner of this race started from pole. At the end of the qualifying Mark Webber took the coveted spot, which saw him won the race by a massive 24-second margin ahead of Scuderia Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who is racing in front of his home crowd for the first time in the scarlet machine. 2008 champion Lewis Hamilton, who was ahead of Alonso and poised for the second podium spot, was dealt a cruel hand when his left front tyre suffered a puncture and caused him to crash. This gifted Alonso 2nd place. Taking the final podium spot is Sebastian Vettel. Former world champion Michael Schumacher, who was criticised for his unimpressive performance in the first 4 races, had a better afternoon and finished 4th in a car made to his requirements, ahead of defending world champion Jenson Button. Lotus Racing's Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen qualified at 19th and 20th respectively, but a gearbox failure ended Kovalainen's race on the first lap. Jarno Trulli, who failed to finish a race since the Australian GP, did the team proud and finished 17th. Trulli said after the race, "I'm pleased we finished comfortably ahead of Virgin even though the car felt a bit difficult to drive! I don't really know why but it didn't feel the same as it did on Friday. We achieved what we set out to do and we showed good race pace and finished well." Technical director Mike Gascoyne is confident that the team will do better at the next race, the Monaco GP.

Mother's Day 2010

Mother, a figure that tells of love and sacrifices,
How can anyone's love and sacrifices compare to thee's?
Selfless acts of kindness only a mother can show,
Never complaining of tiredness, pain and sorrow,
Never once showing dissatisfaction of everything done,
Nothing can we do can we repay thy's kindness.

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers in the world!

Sentosa Idol

After last year's failure to even break pass the first Sentosa Idol audition, I found myself heading to the next audition this year after using Green Day's "21 Guns" as my starting point. For the final audition I'll be using "Wake Me Up When September Ends", also from Green Day. Wish me luck now as I head to the toughest stage of the audition on this Friday.

Lotus Racing F1 Team Race Report: Chinese GP

The Chinese Grand Prix proved to be the most exciting race of the season so far. Race day on 18th April was a wet affair, as heavy and erratic rain wrecked havoc on most teams' race tactics. The race was won by defending champion Jenson Button with team-mate Lewis Hamilton coming in second, thanks to some great race strategy. This gives the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team their first one-two finish since the 2001 Italian GP. Mercedes Petronas GP's Nico Rosberg took up the final spot on the podium. In this race littered with accidents and two Safety Car periods, Team Lotus driver Heikki Kovalainen drove a superb race and finished the race at 13th place, ahead of the established team of William's Nico Hulkenberg while team-mate Jarno Trulli's run of bad luck continues when another hydraulic failure cost him the race on lap 26.

Fall For You

I remember the first day I met you,
I remember the day when I first fell for you,
I remember the day when everything first started,
I remember the day when we broke up,
I still remember the day when everything ended,
I had always wanted to tell you face to face that I love you,
But everytime I wanted to do so I loose all my courage,
And now I realize that everything is too late,
And that I would not have that chance anymore,
Leaving just distant memories,
But maybe at the end of the day I still can say to you one thing,
That is happy birthday.

Lotus Racing F1 Team Race Report: Malaysian GP

In its own home race on April 4, Lotus Racing made a surprising qualifying result by making it into Q2 for the first time of the season. The qualifying was hit with heavy rain and saw many big names like Ferrari and McLaren dropping out in the Q1. Heikki Kovalainen did the team proud by making it to the second session and finds himself starting the race at 15th place while team-mate Jarno Trulli started at 18th. After prediction of heavy rain that would wreck havoc of the race on Sunday, the sky held themselves and the race sees Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing crossing the line first ahead of Mark Webber, also from Red Bull Racing. But luck wasn't with team Lotus as Kovalainen suffered a hydraulic problem and had to retire after 46 laps. Trulli meanwhile suffered power steering failure abut managed to soldier the car on and finished the race at 17th place, 5 laps down from the winner. Team principal Datuk Tony Fernandes was disappointed with the result, but remained in an upbeat mood. "We can take a lot away from this weekend. In the end, it is a major achievement to finish," said the founder of budget airline AirAsia.

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.