International Rally of Perlis 2013, Article written by leonachin on October 28, 2013. I participated in International Rally of Perlis 2013 on the 26th-27th October. It was a very good experience for me. So why did I decide to take on the challenge of Rallying? It was a tough decision as my mom doesn’t really agree on me joining the Rally Championship as she feared for my safety. I was given a chance of a lifetime. It was when I drove Nandakumar and JK Siew’s Deus 4wd Mini Cooper Rally car that opened a new chapter of my motorsports achivements. Mr Jagjeet Singh from Wheelspin Motorsports and Akina Teo had a discussion with International Rally team manger Ross Burbridge to place me a seat in the International Rally of Perlis because he has all the knowledge and experience on how to prepare a great Rally car. So one day on the phone, Ross called me from his International phone number and told me that he wants me to drive his Rally Car Honda Integra Dc2 that he brought from New Zealand. I was shocked at first and gave it a thought because I have driven in Rally before organised by Wheelspin Jeet in 2009 and it wasn’t easy! Finally a few weeks before the rally, i was told that if I wanted to rally I had to play my part. My part was to find enough money to cover for the expenses of the entire rally. Expenses like transporting the rally car, accomodation for the team crew, Food, petrol, Registration, rental of service car, printing of tshirts, rental of tent. So it was actually a very important task. If we didn’t have enough support, we couldn’t afford to go for an International Rally. So I started asking on my facebook page that I was looking for sponsors for Rally. I received various emails from interested companies, but some just wanted to give me products. I couldn’t do much with just product sponsors, and politely decline the offer. Then I received a message from a friend from Kenya, Mr. Yusuf from Roadtainers was happy to hear that I will be joining a rally and immediately offered to send money to support my rally fund. I also got an email from IPRO Malaysia, a Malaysian Mobile Company based in Seri Kembangan that was interested to support my rally fund too! I was also contacted by X’traseal Malaysia, a Malaysian Chemical Sealant Company based in Johor that agreed to co-sponsor my rally fund too! My fund was still not enough and I approached my present sponsors Prince Lubricants, Ultra Racing, Tom’s Stickers, Max-3 to support me in Rallying also. They happily agreed to support my Rally Fund. Imran who is an International Photographer from Kenya also offered to be my team Photographer and was prepared to blaze the sun and rain to take photos for me. LB smart auto service centre based in Cheras was one of the most helpful and thoughtful Service Centre that helped to prepare the Rally car. LB Ah meng and Ultra Racing’s Chan Chee Mun and his technicians are motorsports lovers and they took alot of their time to work day and night to prepare the Rally car. CW Car Spray Works did an awesome 24 hours paint job with matte black glitter and yellow stripes. Mr Ross, Mr Jagjeet, Mr Hugo, Mr Akina helped alot and stayed up late through the night for 7 intense days to prepare the rally car. I didn’t have a rally helmet with Peltor system, so I asked Jagjeet to ask Atan his good friend if I could borrow his helmet and he was really helpful and did lend sparco helmet to me. So the day before going up north to Perlis for Rally, we were on our toes! Tired and didn’t give up. The car had many issues, the handbrake wasnt working, the brakes were worn out, the seats were too low, the engine mountings were broken, the alignment was totally out, the windscreen washers were stuck, the horn didnt work, the mudflaps were worn out but everything was able to be fixed in time before the transport of the car. We finally left to Perlis with all our tools and gears and alot of spare parts. Drove for 8hours on the highway to reach Arau Perlis at midnight and drove into the hotel at Putra Brasamana Hotel along the coast. Jagjeet, Akina, and Ross waited through the night for the Honda Dc2 to arrive at Perlis and unloaded the car from the trailer, not catching enough of sleep for the next day. I went to bed early as told by the team. Recce day came and we drove in the special stages ( sugar cane plantation) with a mitsubishi storm. The road was really rotten and bumpy, uneven, narrow with ditches at the side. It was a place just asking for trouble. Some roads were muddy and sticky, the mitsubishi storm got stuck in the rut a few times but I managed to find my way through with guidance from Jagjeet and Akina. During Lunch, my photographer wanted to take some photos of the Honda Integra in the gravel and with nice background, Jagjeet told us that there was a really nice place and was nearby our next recce area so we didnt have to rush to the next recce, we went in the area and we took some photos there and came out before the recce started, the drivers of other cars thought we did an illegal recce and lodge a complaint against us and we had to pay a fine or else we were excluded from the rally. I was shocked as I was new to this but I felt like I was being bullied. Akina and Jagjeet were very unhappy as we were over our budget. Apart from that, Ross brought Thailand’s Rally Team Expert Hin Speed and Luck Speed to help in our service crew. I was really thankful that there were willing to help a tiny girl like me! Day1 came and we were alll ready! we had to follow a time schedule every place we went we had to make sure it was exactly at the time given, it was very strict. It was rainy and windy but during the afternoon the weather was great. My team prepared the car for the opening ceremony, we went up the ram , emcee asked me a few questions, i told him that I was told to finish the rally and comeback in one piece then we took photos and got the flag off. Mr Jagjeet and Mr Ross told me that not to push too hard and keep to rev limit to 5000rpm. They were afraid I would break their precious car. Rally SS1, was 12km long, road was so bumpy that my stomach was feeling weird and my palms were on the verge of giving up it was tiring. There were some highspeed jumps but I wasn’t prepared to Jump and just drove through them. Akina said the next SS was short one, so I shook my hands and brushed of the pain. SS2 was 7km long, muddy rotten terrain with grassy roads and narrow bridges It was half the difficult as SS1. SS3 was 10km long, Grassy, with Many long straights, uphill, downhill, with horrible rotten roads. it wasnt too bad and got the hang of controlling the car after that. then back to Service park to clean the car and repeated the SS 123/456 again, this time I was more confident with the car and went a bit more faster. During dinner, Badhrul came over and gave us two cartons of Drive M7 Energy Drinks to give us more motivation to Drive! Day2, SS7 was the reverse of SS3 SS8 was the reverse of SS2 SS9 was the reverse of SS1 Ss10 was the repeat of SS7 SS11 was the repeat of SS8 SS12 was the repeat of SS9 Everything went well, I was told that I was slower that another lady rally driver 1min 30 sec. The Team told me to rev limit until 6000rpm. Everything got faster, my time was faster than before and I took a Super Duper High Jump on SS9 and so happened there were photographers standing there. Akina told me that the photorapher’s jaw dropped. I couldnt see as I was approaching another jump right after that. Dung dang dung dang I went! Photographer Gary Lee took a stunning photo of my Jump! Finally we finished the last SS and Jagjeet came to me to congratulate me and Akina because we got first in our class and I was the fastest lady! Upon returning to Service Park, Ross Clapped his hands as I drove in the pit and told me thank you for bringing back the car in One Piece! I was Super Happy and all the effort put through the car has paid off. We were all happy and Jagjeet took really ice cold water and poured it on my head! Despite all the issues, The Final results came, Prince Lubricants Rally Team got overall 10th, 1st in class 5 ( Homologated FIA car), 1st in 1601cc to 2000cc class, 1st Lady Driver, Highest Jump of the Rally. Thank you to all my Sponsors Prince Lubricants, Ultra Racing, X’traseal, IPRO Malaysia, Roadtainers, Max-3 Welding Inverters, Tom’s Stickers, TI Carbon Fibre, Wheelspin MMSG,LB smart auto service centre, CW car spray works, Biz Inphocus, Kuraz Motorsports. Thank you to all my crew and support crew, Akina Teo, WheelspinJeet, Ross Burbidge, Hin Speed, Luck Speed, Hong, Azizi and crew, Ikbn boy, Alvin, Wayne, Hugo Mavrick, Mohd Faizal Tuah(atan), Imran and Sumi, Kyle and Terry, Bahdrul, Suhaimi, and My family.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 03:36:46 +0000
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