GRA Autocross Championships 2010

2nd May



Grass Racing Autosports or GRA is a community comprising of Malaysian grassroot drivers who strive for the spirit of driving in a competitive environment. GRA was established in November 2005, and was founded by Ian Khong and Jian Nin. GRA is a close knitted community with its drivers and community sharing thoughts and ideas constantly on the GRA forum.

Today was the 1st round of the 2010 championship. Held at the Metro Driving school in Puchong, the race course requires drivers to negotiate a series of tight bends while avoiding the curbs. It a balance between outright speed and car control.



The first portion of the course has the driver coming in hot at high speed and then doing a figure 8 turn around a safety cone. During the Pro session, you can see some cool drift moves..

Ivan Khong..


Ray Leong


A very cool looking MRS driven by Mickey Teoh..


The 2nd half of the track involves some tricky maneuvering. Go in too hot and you might kiss the curb, go in too conservative and you lose time. It about finding the balance here..





Too bad I was rushing to settle some errands and had to leave the session halfway.
But there's always Round 2...

Tokio Hotel Live

1st May

April was a pretty busy month with some work related traveling and the PC Fair, leaving very little time to go out for a shoot. Fortunately, I got this opportunity to assist in the coverage of Tokio Hotel live concert in Malaysia on behalf of Universal Music.

Hailing from Germany, the band comprise of lead singer Bill Kaulitz, his twin brother / guitarist Tom Kaulitz, drummer Gustav Schäfer and bass-guitarist Georg Listing. After a few German language albums, the band released their 1st English album "Scream" before hitting it big with their 2nd English album "Humanoid". The 2nd single "World Behind My Wall" became a smash hit and has been getting some heavy airplay.

The day started early with a meet the fan and autograph session at The Oval, One Utama. The crowd was already lining up since early morning. When the band finally made their way to the stage, the crowd went crazy.




The session lasted almost an hour before the band went for the press conference. It was a long extended break for us as we waited for the evening session to start. Around 5pm, we went down to the concert venue and it was packed. Despite the drizzle, the fans were lining up at the gate waiting to go in.


This is not the KL Marathon;


Within minutes, the crowd has filled up the concert area.


You can be sure who she's here for...


The concert kicked off with DJ Face spinning some dance tracks to get the crowd off their feet..




Next up was local band Pop Shuvit. The weather didn't help as the rain strated again..




Lead singer Moots working the crowd...


Next up was another local band; Bunkface. I have seen them performed during the Artistry event and I liked it. They didn't dissapoint this time..




Guitar heroes...


Hitz.FM DJ Jin getting cosy with the crowd during the break..


And finally the main act..






The crowd went into overdrive..




A great learning experience for me. And thanks to RL, Vodka, Michael, Philip and Paul for the great fun.

2010 F1 @ Sepang

2nd April

The F1 circus hits Malaysia!!

And this year holds so much promise.. 4 world champion on the grid, hordes of GP2 guys making it into the big league and of course, the return of Malaysian backed Lotus Racing..

As usual, Friday practice session is open to all and it's free access .You don't even have to pay for parking. I reach the track around 9.30am and I can already hear the engines being fired up. It took another 20mins to walk from the main gate to Turn 15 tower. By the time I readied my gears, the 1st practice session begins.. perfect timing..

1st appearance of the Lotus car on home soil as local boy Fairuz Fauzy took over testing duties from regular driver Heikki Kovalainen. Here he is testing the new aero package.





Notice the different engine cover and fin design compared to Jarno Trulli's car.


The Ferrari cars of Alonso and Massa were crowd favourites as usual.




Another "home team" so to speak.. The legend returns after a 3 year absence..


But it's his younger team mate that is delivering the results for the past 2 races..


Another newcomer to the track, the Virgin F1. We now have 3 airlines boys playing in the F1 field..




The "Yellow Teapot" livery returns to the grid..


2 British world champ in the same team. However, I don't think we will see another explosive relationship like the Prost / Senna or Hamilton / Alonso episodes. Unless if Button is able to mop the floor with Hamilton..




3rd time lucky? Blindingly fast but shitty reliability has gifted 2 victories to Ferrari and McLaren.


Ohhh.... how I wished I had the chance to shoot from that spot...


The session ended at 11.30am and was soon followed by the Formula BMW. Lost interest in less than 15 minutes and we made our way back to grandstand to take some shots of the main paddock. Came across this bunch of Ferrari fans..


And also these lovely fans.. Go Prancing Horse!!


The Paddock Club Pit Walk was in progress and these rich and lucky people had the chance to go up close to the garage. Quite a large crowd was hanging around the Mercedes pit, waiting for Schumacher perhaps?


Obviously she is not a big fan of Hamilton..


After a brief rest and a RM25 nasi lemak, we got ready for 2nd practice session. As usual, my fav spot is the Turn 9 hairpin where you usually can get some good shots.

The Senna name lives on in F1..


The most improved team for 2009. No longer the smallest fish in the pond..


This is the first year where Toro Rosso are building their own chasis instead of using the Red Bull's. They must be relived there are other teams occupying the bottoom of the tables.




The reliability demons of Red Bull continues to haunt them. Webber's engine let go during the session.




Memorable quote from Ron Dennis "To finish first, you must first finish"


Maybe Mark should consider a change to MotoGP..


Another team desperate for a good show this year.


Will that "No 1" still be there come 2011?


Never a huge fan of him, but really hoping he can regain his form and shows these young guys how it used to be done...




And also hoping they will make it to the podium at least once this year....