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The R3gister wishes our beloved Malaysia a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Have a wonderful holiday, and becareful of the Rempits on the street 
by Hammond Lai, R3 Team MME Works driver, Waja Class C
My essay on how it all went.
Race supposedly starts at 12.07am but was delayed to 12.13am. We the Waja team qualified in 17th position in our class C, out of 24 cars, and in 60th position overall out of 77 cars. As Friday’s qualifying was partly done in the rain, all the 3rd drivers for class A & O cars had to qualify in the rain. Most advantageous was class B where almost all drivers qualified in the dry, and class C was next advantageous. As such, it is normal that some of the class A & O cars qualified behind us. We were delighted to have japanese drifter/gt driver N. Taniguchi slotted behind us, as well as some of the porsches. Our 1st driver Sutan actually told Taniguchi that he will let him pass when the race starts, hahaha. The odds were, our Waja had the 4G18 1.6 single cam engine, and Taniguchi’s DC5 is the 2.0 VTEC twin cam. Difference is 1 cam.
When the race started in dry weather, our 1st driver Sutan actually gained a few places to about 12th (not too sure but somewhere there). When Sutan pitted, the power steering belt broke and we drove with hand-power for the rest of the race. Though demotivated slightly, but we pressed on. Our 2nd driver Zaid maintained the position, as our pitstop was quick and painless. At about 2.30am, it was my turn to drive. Driving without power steering is a real experience for me, plus I only went out for 3 laps when - shiite - the rain came - immediately after I passed the pit. It was only raining partially in the track at that time. I was at turn 5 when it showered but no rain at turn 14. I knew that the team was waiting for me with rain tires but I was comtemplating not to pit, and try to pull out a Schumacher-in-the-rain trick, all in that 300metres, cuz that’s where the pit lane entrance is! But then again, I thought - “this is no time attack, and I’m not racing myself, but the whole team is looking at me. The main thing in MME is to finish the race.” Yes, I thought of all that in the last 250metres, hahaha, and straight dived into the pits. No doubt about it the crew was waiting for me with rain tires. While waiting for tires to be changed, Adian came over next to my window and said “Just drive at your own pace, relax and most importantly is to finish the race”. I was quite nervous in the first place, cuz I didn’t have any practice in Sepang in rain before, and I qualified in the dry too. So I guess it’s fair for everybody to be nervous during my first stint in the rain. So I went out there, and I was glad bout my decision to pit in, as it was raining cats n dogs all over the track! I was very cautious at first, and was trying out braking distance and cornering limits. Suprisingly the Silverstone rain tires were excellent in heavy rain. I also saw many cars running out of the track, and some are in my class. That song “Another One Bites The Dust” by Queen was singing in my head as I happily pass them, hahaha. As I have watched the Hungarian F1 recently, and saw how Alonso overtook Schumacher on the outside of a turn - which has taught me to take the road less travelled. And so I did. After feeling the new handling in wet tires, I began attacking the track, and not long after that, I found myself overtaking Hondas and Lotus’ that once overtook me in the dry. So I began to drive faster, and braking later, all using a different racing line compared to other cars. I managed to overtake many cars, and at the same time saw many cars crashed out, yellow lights everywhere, flags flying everywhere! It was a real commotion. I must say our Waja was handling really excellently in the wet - cornering and braking far better than other cars in our class and other RWD cars. There was a scary incident where I tried to overtake a Lotus Elise (not the R3 one) at turn 5 on the outside line. I was halfway passing the Elise and suddently he drifted towards me, and I had to sway more to the right side of the road to avoid accident! I managed to pass the Elise unscathed but unfortunately for the Elise, I think he went out of the track, cuz my rear view mirror saw the headlights turn 360 deg. Man, that was a real scare.
When I ended my 1st stint, we were 3rd in class. Sutan took over next, and maintained the same pace, and at one point even managed 2nd position in class. By the time Sutan finished his 2nd stint, we were struck once again with bad news - wipers are not working! We decided to drive it as it is, applied more Rain X (this stuff really works), and in went Zaid. Halfway through, Zaid pitted and said that visibility was poor due to lack of wipers. The team applied more rain X, and cleaned the windscreen, and off he went again. When Zaid came in, and went out again, we lost 1 position and was at 4th. We were thinking of fixing the wiper but afraid of losing precious positions at the race conditions where we are strongest, we decided not to fix the wipers and drive it as it is. So in came Zaid and I went out for my 2nd stint. It was another good decision not to change the wipers, as the Rain X stuff really works, with water just rolling away. We gained back our position at 3rd after my stint, and after that last incident, everything went smoothly till the end.
Morning came, rain stopped, and by 9am, the sun was beginning to dry out the circuit. By the time Zaid did his 3rd stint, the team decided to change back to slick tires. It was another good decision, and our times were back to normal track lap times. I did my 3rd stint at about 9.30am. Next up was Sutan, all done smoothly. The last 3 hours was the most stressful for us, cuz we were at 3rd position and another Civic was catching us slowly. So Sutan and I was told to push. By the time last driver Zaid drove, he was told to go flat out! I was lucky that I wasn’t in that position, hahaha.
When the chequered flag dropped, all of us at the R3 pit was delighted that Team Exige 300RR took top honours but we were even more excited that Team Waja was about to finish 3rd! And we really DID IT! We also finished 15th overall. Congrats to Team Waja for holding it out, doing things at electrifying pace all throughout the 12 hours, and making the right decisions when it matters. Thanks also, to Amin at R3, the unsung hero who’ve been satisfying our stomachs with food, caffeine and the all important Ribenas, 100 plus and water to rehydrate the drivers.
Also to guys at R3, Proton Edar (especially the lovely lovely ladies for their umbrella support ;P ), GRA, Furtive, and other autocrossers, thanks for your support right from the start.
PS : We were racing the Waja with MME Edition body kit - it looks good too, cuz my folks say they want one 
Wonder if any freebies for driver 
by Ivan Khong aka DarkHelmet
1st of all, Congrats to R3, T.Djan, Faidzil, D.French for dominating the race. Of course, they will not be there if it wasn’t for the race crew, Faisal, Adian, Seng, Delloyd, Azman, Osman aka ‘Drift’ Man and the rest.
As to my stint in the race, I was 3rd driver in the Satria GTI, which other 2 drivers are Admi Shahrul and Khaidi. We were sponsored by Menara KL, as the main sponsor, and R3 built the car, and supported us technically for the whole duration.
Qualifying
Admi did a 2.41s during 1st qualifying
Khaidi did a 2.45s, with half the track being wet
I did a 2.45s, with half track wet
So, with an aggregate time of 2.43s, we qualified 8th in Class B, 16th on grid! With some Class O and A cars behind us, you can just imagine the chaos when the actual race starts.
So, the plan was, Admi starts, I take 2nd stint (I lost the rock,paper,scissors game with Khaidi), and Khaidi takes 3rd stint.
Time comes to start the race, and Admi starts off, but is overtaken by lots of cars, with one of the Petronas backed Satria leaning on our car in Turn 4, damaging the door and B pillar.
By the end of 1 hr 15 minutes, after the pit stop/driver change/fuel top up, we end up in 22nd position. And believe it or not, when I came out of the pits, it was like Federal Highway! Serious! There was a jam, coz the Safety Car was out, and everybody had to queue, no overtaking allowed. At certain points, we were standstill on the track. This went on for 2 laps. And I had a Honda Malaysia car on my rear bumper.
At the back straight, I saw the marshall, take down the Safety Car sign, and reach for the Green Flag/Sign. Immediately, I gunned the throttle and overtook a couple of cars which drivers was caught off guard.
I followed the faster cars through the corners, but got overtaken by the faster cars in the front straight, and by the time we got to Turn 1, it was like a traffic jam, cars jostling for positions, trying to block and pass others at the same time.
Remember I said is like Federal Highway? Well…. it was like this for the next 1 hr. Luckily, years of driving on Federal Highway, following ambulances and fire trucks paid off, as the faster cars made their way thru the pack, the slower cars made way for them, and I slipped in-between and amongst them. And they call it ‘racecraft’, I call it ‘Follow Ambulance/VIP/Fire truck’ Method! So, following this method, I made my way up the field from 22nd in class, to 4th in class in 1 hr 10 mins. Hahahhaa….
Next up was Khaidi, which he started and half way thru, had to pit for rain tyres as rain came down in buckets. Khaidi and Admi maintained the lead and came my turn again. With the Silverstone rain tyres (fantastic in the rain), still raining at 5am, I went out. Cars were off the road, Yellow flags all over the track, with incidences of cars spinning into gravel and mud strewn onto the tarmac. Is really like Malaysian North South Highway now during a thunderstorm .. hahhahaha.
So, here I am, visibility on track reduced to 30m in front, front windscreen fogged up, car lights useless, track at night, cant see anything as I come barrelling down the straight. I cant see the left hand turns, like Turn 2, cant see apex, so agak agak only lor. Turn 5, cant clip inside as water puddles are there, turn 6 with the track shiny, it blends with the grass, as that is also wet and shiny, not to mention poor visibility thru windscreen. Turn 7, had to watch out for the kerbs on the left as an indicator when to start braking to start the turn in to Turn 7. Turn 9, the tight left hander, was also a challenge, as I could not see the turn as the windscreen was fogged up. It was like, power on the straight, brake, turn, and pray I dont climb the kerb or worse not turn enough and run wide into the grass. you dont want to touch the grass in the wet believe me! Turn 15 was the same.
We made up 2 places, as cars went off or crashed. Several incidences came up, with the Lotus Exige (not R3 car) hitting X1-R Satria on the straight and caused it to fly off the road and into a concrete barrier. Not a pretty sight.
There was this lap, in the dry, which I came charging down to Turn 9, I hit the brakes, hit an oil patch, as no grip, engine died I think, I saw NA Garage Putra MIVEC off on the grass, on the inside of Turn 9 facing me, and an EK Civic in the gravel straight on! Oh SHIT! I was going to rear end the Civic, and then I yanked the steering to the left, lifted off the brakes, front tyres caught some grip, I pulled the handbrake, car spun round 180 degrees, and I saw cars headlights coming towards me, my car rolling backwards, I can see the Turn 9 apex on my right, my rear end about to collide with the Civic’s rear end, I slotted into 1st gear and put pedal to the metal, with the LSD putting down the grip to the tyres, smoke coming from the wheelspin, I turned steering to the RIGHT to take Turn 9!!!!!! Whew!!!!!
After that incident, I am convinced that Motorsports is really DANGEROUS!
We maintained 2nd in class till about 9.30am morning. Then it was my turn to drive again. By this time, I had enough of driving. I had no problem staying up throughout the night, as Admi and Khaidi and the rest of the crew stayed up to finish the car till late for the last few days. I was the only one rested before the race. This Endurance race was nothing compared to what I went thru during my 4 day rally days.We slotted fresh full slicks even when the track was wet, sun was shining and we gambled that the track would dry up soon. our competitors were still on rain tyres. So, I set out, trying not to spin and to stay on the slippery black tarmac, waiting for the tyre to warm up. For the next 3 laps or so, I was taking turn 5 with opposite lock, turn 6 with opposite lock, and out of turn 8 with full opposite lock! Slowly, the tyres warmed up enough to do a full-on attack, but not before my pit crew put out the pit board for me to go FASTER! I was shouting out the window, ‘I AM!!!!’ Hahahhahaa…. and so, when the tyres were gripping, we were doing laps faster than the VTECs, ad I even managed to overtake a DC5, and mind you, the track was still wet.
So, here I was, hoping to close the gap to the 1st in class Satria, and to maintain our 2nd position. About 20 mins into my driving stint, I could not engage 3rd gear. It happened as I was upshifting to 3rd on the back straight, and so, I selected 4th, and used 2nd and 4th gear only. I pitted, and the crew could not find anything wrong, thinking that 3rd gear must have broke. I set out again, using 2nd and 4th gear, and only went out for 2 laps before i had to come in again as I could not even select 2nd gear. We traced th fault to a worn bush on the linkage, gearbox side. The only remedy was to change the entire cable, but that would have taken at least 30 mins. the crew effected a temporary solution and Khaidi took over the driving. Envisioned that the repair will not hold for long, the crew cut a small aluminium bush to slot in for the next driver change, and when khaidi came in, the crew sprang into action. Car was re-fueled, Admi jumped in, crew slotted the bush in, and off he went. Our lap times dropped to 2.51s, 10 sec down. Later I found out, power steering sprung a leak too, and we had no power assistance. We still could not select 3rd gear, and so, we soldiered on, and our position dropped to 6th in class.
Khaidi took the last hour of the drive and the gearbox finally broke, 5 minutes before the chequered flag. All went like clock-work, until a RM2 rubber bush gave way, which led lost 3rd gear and finally due to the excessive revs and heat, the gearbox bearings gave way.
It was very dissapointing for everyone, as we were lying 2nd in class, catching up to the class leader and the engine was reliable and built like solid granite. Brakes were fantastic, the Alcons able to outbrake any car, with sometimes we were braking at the 50m mark to outbrake other cars.
Team Proton R3 successfully retained their Petronas Primax 3 Merdeka Millennium Endurance (MME) to become the first team to win the coveted title twice as Tengku Djan Ley Tengku Mahaleel celebrates his second winners’ medal at Sepang Circuit today.
With new partners Faidzil Alang and Australian Damien French, Tengku Djan took his Lotus Exige 300RR over 271 laps around the 5.543-km Sepang Circuit within the 12-hour endurance race, which was flagged off by Finance Minister II Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcob at midnight.
In a close fight with Jaseri Racing Team and G1 Racing throughout the race, Djan, however, failed to break the team’s record of 279 laps last year, which he achieved with Super GT driver Genji Hashimoto and Tony Riccirdello of the Australian V8 Series.
Hashimoto entered a Lamborghini Murceilago with top Japanese drivers Takashi Inoue and Akira Hirakawa; but failed to qualify when the American Le Mans Series spec-car was involved in an accident with a Porsche GT3 during qualifying.
2003 overall winner comprising Firhat Mokhzani, Chin Tzer Jinn and Eric Yeo, who drove a specially prepared Nissan Skyline R34G was second after completing 268 laps and finishing just ahead of the Jaseri Racing Team.
Strengthened by three-time MME champion Tommy Lee, the team took second place with Sweden’s Sven Herberger and Datuk Mokhzani Mahathir completing the partnership as they managed an equal number of 268 laps.
Commenting on the victory, Tengku Djan said it was a difficuit race especially with the heavy downpour, which lasted more than an hour beginning from 3am.
“Obviously, we are happy with the results today and to become the first time to defend the MME overall title. With this win, however, our emphasis for next year would be to ensure success by using Class B and Class C cars. That will be the challenge for us,†the Head of Proton Motorsports added.
Honda Malaysia Racing Team continued their domination in Class A for production cars above 1900cc by scoring their fourth win in a row. The partnership of Eddie Lew, Farriz Fauzy and Super GT Hiroki Katoh scored a hattrick for themselves by completing 258 laps to finish fourth overall.
The battle for Class B for cars between 1601cc and 1900cc was won by the partnership from Danville Motorsports; comprising S. Vellumani, Lim Lee Hua and Phillip Tang.
The trio from Team Petronas, with Farique Hairuman, Syahrizal Jamaluddin and Fauzi Othman behind the wheels topped the battle for Class C for production cars below 1600cc.
Flagged off at midnight by Finance Minister II Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcob, a full grid of 77 cars started the race. Seventeen cars, however, failed to complete the race due to various reasons especially broken gearbox, brake failure, overheating engines and accidents.
While the race started off under a clear sky, the heavens broke open, bringing heavy showers for more than hour after a quarter of the race being completed from 3am; perhaps making it the most difficult race in the MME.
Only 50 cars of the 77 starters completed the 12-hour race
More great pics, courtesy of Victor Chen available here
Source: SIC Media
22 August 2006
Former winners – Khaidi Kamaruddin and Admi Shahrul Ahmad Saffian will be taking up a new challenge at Sepang’s 12-hour Petronas Primax 3 Merdeka Millennium Endurance (MME) this weekend; using a lower powered machine and partnering a rally driver.
Winners using supercars in previous editions, Admi, winner in 2001 with TVR Racing Team and Khaidi, team manager for last year’s victorious Amprex Proton R3 Racing Team, would be hoping that rally driver Ivan Khong would be as fast on the tarmac as on the natural terrain.
Launch of Menara KL Racing Team
Driving for Menara KL Racing and competing in Class B for cars between 1601cc to 1900cc, the team would be using a 1800cc Satria R3, tuned up and prepared by prepared by Proton Motorsprts Division, or better known as R3 – Race, Rally Research with Silverstone as Tyre Partner and MOTUL as Lubricant Partner.
“My personal dream in the MME is to win in all the classes. I had managed to win the overall title and Class A in 2001 in a TVR Chimaera. We are determined to win Class C this year,†said Admi, who did not race from 2002 to 2005 because his working contract with Sepang International Circuitof did not allow him to race.
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