Karting Singapore

WSK Singapore Race ‘2011

admin — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:19:30 +0000

The 26th and 27th November 2011 marked the dates that the WSK established its inaugural footing into Asia.

The WSK Singapore Race was held to publicise a WSK-titled regional series that would start from 2012.

Taking place at the end of the 2011 racing season and early enough before teams and drivers begin their preparations for the 2012 racing season, the WSK Singapore Race was organised to introduce WSK to the Asian region.

The formation of the Asian series originated as a project initiated over a year and a half before to take the high profile branding of the WSK in the karting world, and bring its branding directly to the world’s fastest growing market.

Working together with its Asia-zone partners, the Asian regional series will take WSK across circuits in several South-East Asian countries as well as established circuits in Macau and Japan. As a sporting event, the series aims to host the best young racing talents from around the Asian region with plans to develop a reward structure for the best juniors in their category to participate through a wildcard entry, into a WSK season ending event.

Taking place as a national event at Kartright Speedway, the WSK Singapore race brought back many of the drivers who had raced a week earlier in the Singapore Karting Championships (SKC).

The class structures were localised for the event, and consisted of a KF3 Juniors, KF2 Seniors and a KF2 Masters. A supporting class event – the BMS Mini ROK Cup - was also organised by the local promoters to be held during the same event for the cadet drivers.

As soon as practice started, one thing was noticeable – the track surface at Kartright Speedway was being layered faster than on a usual SKC weekend – this was the work of the Vega’s CIK-FIA homologated XM and XH tyres that were introduced into Singapore’s karting scene just for the WSK Singapore Race.

With slight reductions to minimum weights practiced in the SKC as well as the Vega tyres with improved grip – qualifying times began to drop across all classes which began registering over half-a-second improvements in the dry and about a second of improvement in the wet.

The pole for qualifying was 36.579 (Jon Lee), 33.182 (Amin Noorzilan), 32.864 (Thaddeus Lee) and 40.848 in the wet (Paul Lee) respectively in the Cadets, Juniors, Seniors and Masters.

Free Practice, Qualifying Practice, and 2 Heat race events completed the first day of racing. An eventful qualifying session in the Seniors saw Randall Ng crash into the barriers in the back straight but fortunately Randall was confirmed to have no major internal injuries after being checked at one of the local hospitals. Conditions also proved tricky for the remaining competitors as the local November weather proceeded to play havoc with tyre choices – raining hard for short periods of time in the afternoon whilst a hot tropical sun shone onto the track. Nowhere was this most apparent that in the Juniors class where 2011 SKC Champion Amin Noorzilan and Manon Maistre made a decision to take the grid with slicks whilst everyone else picked the wet tyres – the wet tyres ultimately proving to be the right choice when it rained mid-race.

Fortunately, the local weather proved to be much better on Sunday and there was no longer any rain throughout the remainder of the event. In the dry conditions, the front runners stamped their authority on proceedings winning their Prefinals and Finals convincingly.

In the Cadets class, Jon Lee took his first WSK win 4.8 seconds ahead of Javier Chng and brother Josh Lee. In the Juniors class, Yeo Hong Yang won the event beating his close rival Gabriella Teo and Amin Noorzilan by a comfortable lead. In the Seniors race, 2011 SKC Champion Thaddeus Lee was commanding in his victory and even clocked the fastest lap of the tournament – a 32.638. Thaddeus’s win was mirrored by his father, Paul Lee who took the race win in the Master’s class.

Albeit a relatively small grid, however the enthusiasm of the drivers, teams and parents to embrace the arrival of the WSK series was extremely supportive – from those that attended as well as many who could not be there but sent greetings, congratulations and promises of support for the 2012 season.

OCBC Corporate 2011 Challenge (Finals)

admin — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 08:51:47 +0000

Leading up to the OCBC Corporate 2011 Challenge Finals, over 30 teams took part in 3 preliminary rounds to compete for 4 places per round, which would secure them a place in the Finals, held on 15 October 2011.

Karting Singapore members, forming two teams of drivers and sponsored by job consultancy firm, I-Resource, secured their entry into the Finals with one team winning their grouping and the other team finishing 4th in their preliminary round.

With the determined efforts of the drivers, the ice-cool decision making of the race engineers and the support of their fellow community members, team managers, volunteers, sponsors and supporters both teams secured the maximum result of taking both the 1st and 2nd positions at the four-hour mark of the race. They did so in style - completing 311 laps and 309 laps respectively, beating the highest total laps record set in the prelim rounds of the competition and securing pole in qualifying. Rounding off the podium was Aston Martin Singapore Drakar Racing, which finished ahead of CTMC2! PDB Maddox Racing. Both the later-mentioned teams were worthy opponents but encountered issues during the race that affected their overall finishing.

Taking the win and the runner-up position meant a lot for the Karting Singapore community - the OCBC event proved that the community in Karting Singapore were a force to be reckoned with. The result was a symbolic affirmation that in rental kart racing at Kartright track - the community had some of the fastest drivers around - no easy feat having beaten teams made up of drivers with established race kart and saloon car racing expertise.

The momentous occasion is perhaps, better captured in a series of photos that can be found in the album http://www.asiankartingphotography.com/p951649649

The following are some photos from the album.

Karting Singapore Thunderkart Racing Series 2011 (Race 3 & Season Results)

admin — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 07:20:20 +0000

And so all good things must come to an end.

Karting Singapore held its last race for the 2011 Thunderkart Series on the evening of 1 October 2011. This was the 3rd and final leg of the series, a somewhat shortened season in view of the many other racing events dotting the 2011 calendar.

Once again, the response proved overwhelming and when the automated registration system opened registration, all 30 spots were subscribed under 2 hours.

Race 3 was gifted with good weather and fortunately for all, the track stayed dry for the duration of the event. Format remained generally the same - everyone having a practice-cum-qualifying session followed by a short 10 minute race. It was definitely a pleasure to see many new faces mixed in with the older members for the event. In the races, experience still proved the deciding factor with Jonathan Lim taking the race win for the Under 70kg class, followed by David Lau and Ron Tay. The consolation race in the Under 70kg, was won by Cheng You Zhi. In the Over 70kg class, Hamizan Ali finally took his first race win in Karting Singapore - he was closely followed by Charles Theseira and Jason Lou completing the podium.

With all 3 races completed, the points table was recalculated and Tresca Wee was declared the 2011 Thunderkart series champion for the Under 70kg class and Bong Andres was declared the 2011 Thunderkart series champion for the Over 70kg class. Tresca finished 12 points away from his nearest rival Jonathan Lim who had won 2 out of the 3 races. Bong finished 7 points ahead of Charles Theseira who was one of the 3 race winners of the season in his class.

Race 3 Winner (Over 70kg) - Hamizan Ali

Race 3 Winner (Under 70kg) - Jonathan Lim

2011 Thunderkart Series Champion (Over 70kg) - Bong Andres

2011 Thunderkart Series Champion (Under 70kg) - Tresca Wee

Race 3 Results

2011 Thunderkart Series Points Table

OCBC Corporate 2011 Challenge (Qualifying Rds)

admin — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 14:58:43 +0000

The OCBC Corporate 2011 Challenge attracted 30 teams which battled across a preliminary round, with 10 teams in each draw, racing against each other in a 4 hour endurance session, with the top 4 teams in each of the 3 draws qualifying for the Grand Final that will be held on the 15 October 2011 at Kartright Speedway.

When the dust settled, the following 12 teams had made the cut to the next round.

Draw 1

1st - Aston Martin Spore Draker Racing2

2nd - Rising Sun

3rd - MC2 Peregrine

4th - Eye2Eye Burners

Draw 2

1st - iResource KS1

2nd - CTMC2 PDB Maddox

3rd - Propnex Powerhouse

4th - Unilever Formula None

Draw 3

1st - Team Stamford Tyres

2nd - Road Runners

3rd - Bar Bar Black Sheep

4th - iResource KS2

Stay tuned for the October race report of the Grand Finals as we cover the event from the perspective of iResource GOC and the two Karting Singapore teams they sponsored.

More photos for the event can be found via the site www.asiankartingphotography.com:

Karting Singapore Thunderkart Racing Series 2011 - Race 1

admin — Sun, 22 May 2011 16:18:54 +0000

Its a new racing year for everyone including the grassroot community.

Karting Singapore launched their 1st race of the year at Kartright Speedway as a night race on the evening of 21 May 2011.

In usual fashion, it was great to see that people still enjoyed value-for-money racing at $70/head and all 30 participant slots were snapped up just days after the registration list was opened via the Karting Singapore forum.

Several changes were implemented this year following feedback over the 2010 races. These were:

# classification of Karting Singapore grassroot rental kart racing as the “Thunderkart Racing” series.

# the creation of 2 classes for the “Over 70KG Clubman” and the “Under 70KG Clubman” in order to reduce the effects of weight on racing performance.

# rolling laps would be mandatory for all races. this is aimed to move all participants to a higher awareness of race starts at karting’s higher classes

# zero-tolerance for contact - penalties would be dealt out to participants for reckless or over-enthusiastic racing deemed to potentially lead to collisions or accidents

# adopting Kartright’s blend-line ruling - penalising anyone crossing the blend line at the Pit exit as per the rules introduced by SMSA for sanctioned events held at Kartright

Fortunately, with clear skies and a relatively dry track with isolated spots of puddles, racing commenced. The results of which are as follows:

Clubman Over 70KG class

1st - Charles Theseira
2nd - Bong Andres
3rd - Jason Lou

Clubman Under 70KG class
1st - Jonathan Lim
2nd - Tresca Wee
3rd - Jeffrey Sim

Consolation Awards
Race Winner of 2nd Finals for Under 70KG - Lim Zijie
Fastest Lap of Event - Jonathan Lim

Singapore Nationals 2011 - Race 2

admin — Sun, 22 May 2011 15:18:15 +0000

For Round 2 of the AutoInc Singapore Karting Championship, there were interesting changes in the racing dynamics due to the rain that poured down on the racetrack on both the Saturday and Sunday mornings. Round 2 took place on the 14 and 15 May weekend where the rain and cooler track conditions benefited drivers better at navigating in the wet. The final results of Round 2 saw new faces on the podium for the Cadet and Senior Class, and new faces in top place for all classes.

Sanctioned by the Singapore Motor Sports Association (SMSA), officiated by Singapore GP, and supported by the Singapore Sports Council, AutoInc Singapore Karting Championship 2011 has been deemed by drivers and motorsports fans as a fantastic competition to engage more Singaporeans to take interest in kart racing and promote motorsports from the grassroot level.

Despite the heavy downpour, the competition days saw large turnouts where the viewing galleries were packed with family members, supporters and fans rooting for their favourite drivers and teams. The weather certainly did not dampen the atmosphere of the race ground.

Instead, the race got Kartright Speedway heated up as the 43 drivers from 5 different racing classes (Cadet, Junior, Senior, Senior Master and Senior Veteran) took their “unfinished business” from Round 1 on to the 750-metre-long technically challenging circuit with 8 technical turns in Jurong.

The atmosphere was livened with commentary by professional motorsports and karting personalities: Benjamin Potter, a popular GP Commentator and Leonard Kong, an ex-employee of Kartright Speedway who is well versed with the track and drivers.

Williams Racing Javier Chng continued to pose a threat to reigning champion Jon Lee of GP racing. Despite losing to Jon Lee in the first round of AutoInc Singapore Karting Championship 2011, Chng had gained an upper hand in the Cadet Class race. Chng played the condition of the racetrack to his advantage and topped the podium, sending Jon Lee into second placing. This race proved to be crucial for Chng in retaining his title hopes. In addition to winning the weekend championship title, Chng was also awarded the Best Presented driver award for Round 2.

Jon was unable to retain his pole position and his younger brother, Josh, lost his third podium placing to Lucas Maistre, a French National. Despite these disappointments, the Lee brothers are expected to make a fierce comeback in Round 3 in July.

In the Junior Class, the racers on the podium remained the same as Round 1, albeit a shuffle. Amin Noorzilan, who won first place in Round 1 dropped to third place where Gabriella Teo managed to get ahead of him during the races to take top position on the podium with Yeo Hong Yang fighting his way into second place, only inches ahead of Noorzilan.

Defeating the title holder of Senior Class Round 1 race, Saravanan Rajakumar, was fifteen-year-old Thaddeus Lee. His victory against Rajakumar had confirmed his credentials as one of Singapore’s most promising go-kart drivers, with him coming out tops in the Senior Class despite a toe injury. Mohammed Nasri Naufal was second in the Senior Class, and managed to clock the “Fastest Lap” for the weekend with the impressive time of 33.552s, beating Thaddeus Lee by a mere 0.044s.

Yap Kheng Weng, Benjamin Goh and Eric Ho had amazing track action as they battled for the top podium positions for Senior Master Class. Yap had a solid performance, climbing from second place in Round 1 to clinch the champion title for Round 2, with Goh and defending champion Ho clinching the first runner-up and second runner-up positions respectively.

In the Senior Veteran Class, it was a race between the BMS Racing Team’s Anthony Seow and YZF’s Kenny Yip. Having gained more understanding and exposure of his opponent’s race strategy in Round 1, Seow’s hard work paid off when he beat Kenny Yip to clinch the first place in the Senior Veteran Class.

Luxury automobile broker AutoIncSports has come in as the title sponsor for this year’s championship, and new sponsors that have also come onboard to support the championship include Xinya Media, Kartright Speedway, Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen, Wimobilize Singapore Pte Ltd and Eurohaus, and prizes include trophies to the top 3 drivers of each class for each round, as well as cash prizes for the AutoInc SKC 2011 overall champions.

The championship will be broadcasted worldwide on Xinya TV and is available in Singapore on SingTel mio TV Channel 72. There will also be an SKC IPTV Video-On-Demand Channel featuring full races at the official website www.skc.sg. The organisers, McElrea Racing believes strongly in media distribution to promote the SKC and has also generated strong presence in the social and networking sites, YouTube and Facebook.

Round 3 of AutoInc Singapore Karting Championship 2011 will be held on Saturday, July 23th and Sunday, July 24th.

Singapore Nationals 2011 - Race 1

admin — Wed, 11 May 2011 15:02:31 +0000

The Singapore Karting Championship returned for a second season with Round 1 races held over the April 23rd and 24th weekend. Organised by McElrea Racing Pte. Ltd, karters will compete for the top place over 5 race weekends from April to November 2011 at Kartright Speedway in Jurong.

Sanctioned by the Singapore Motor Sports Association (SMSA), officiated by Singapore GP, and supported by the Singapore Sports Council, karters compete over a 750-metre-long technically-challenging circuit, where the results of each race are combined to determine the overall winners for the championship.

Luxury automobile broker AutoIncSports has come in as the title sponsor for this year’s championship, and new sponsors that have also come onboard to support the championship include Xinya Media, Kartright Speedway, Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen, Wimobilize Singapore Pte Ltd and Eurohaus, and prizes include trophies to the top 3 drivers of each category for each round, as well as cash prizes for the overall AutoInc SKC 2011 champions.

As a competitive sport, the AutoInc Singapore Karting Championship is still at its infancy stage compared to other more established series in Asia, but the turnout for competition days at Singapore’s only National Motorsport Championship proved to be very encouraging where paddocks were abuzz with family and friends rooting for their favourite teams and drivers. The races were made even more exciting with live commentary by Singapore’s motorsport personalities: Yuey Tan, the championship’s ambassador and a professional racing driver competing in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Series, Arj Kulasegaram, Porsche Club Singapore team boss & Porsche Carrera Cup Singapore GP Commentator, and Benjamin Potter, another popular GP Commentator.

The 2011 season started off on a high note with many familiar faces like veteran karting champion Kenny Yip, super-speed racer Vincent Nathan, and last year’s Cadet champion Jon Lee.

With 38 racers participating in 5 different racing classes: Cadet (8 to 12 years), Junior (13 to 15 years), Senior (15 to 35 years), Senior Master (30 to 45 years) and Senior Veteran (45 years and up), the national level karters displayed impressive driving skills.

Despite having fewer participants this year, competition was even more intense with drivers more familiarized with the race track. Reigning “Cadet” Champion Jon Lee kept his number one status by coming in with a complete score of 5/5. His closest competitor, Javier Chng, also managed to retain 2nd place despite having dropped from P2 to P6 during the qualifying rounds and getting a 10-second penalty for a jump starting in Heat 2. Lee’s younger brother, Josh Lee, clinched the third spot on the podium on his racing debut.

Standing out from the rest of the competitors in “Junior” class was 12 year old Gabriella Teo. Teo’s participation in the SKC makes her one of the two female athletes to race competitively in the championships this year. In the opening race of Heat 1, Teo manage to get ahead of the rest of everyone with Amin Noorzilan, the reigning junior champion close behind.

However, her anxiety to maintain pole resulted in a three-kart crash in her first lap. Race marshals halted the race and sent it a medical team and surprisingly, the resilient Teo was back for Heat 2 later in the day.

Second day proved to be trickier for Teo where the experienced Noorzilan showed his skill on the track during the final and managed to overtake Teo who was ahead of him, and went on to keep his title as “Junior” Champion for the 1st round. Yeo Hong Yang came in third place after Teo who placed second.

In the ‘Senior’ class races, the fastest karter for the championship to date, Vincent Nathan held pole positions for both Heat 1 and Heat 2, with Saravanan Rajukumar and Ted Linn coming close behind. However, Nathan was unable to maintain his lead in the final and at the end of Round 1, Rajukumar, Linn and Jack McGregor finished on the podium in first, second and third place respectively.

For “Masters” class, Eric Ho managed to maintain his lead throughout the two days. His consistency helped him replace Ben Goh as the reigning champion in his class. Despite an unfortunate collision with Yap Kheng Weng in the pre-final, both Goh and Yap managed to come in second and third respectively in the final.

For “Veteran” class, reigning champion Kenny Yip, displayed his consistency and maintained his position ahead of other racers, and placed first on the podium for Round 1, with Anthony Seow placing second and Leon Khoo in third.

The championship will be broadcast worldwide on Xinya TV and is available in Singapore on SingTel mio TV Channel 72. There will also be an SKC IPTV Video-On-Demand Channel featuring full races at the official website www.skc.sg.

Round 2 of AutoInc Singapore Karting Championship 2011 will be held on Saturday, May 14th and Sunday, May 15th.

Mykart 300 Lap Enduro

admin — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 16:53:53 +0000

Today, over 20 Singapore residents, representing Karting Singapore, travelled up to KL to take the competition over to our compatriots in My-Kart, our sister organisation in Malaysia.

We had but one practise session to learn the track but thereafter with some ups and downs that we will treasure as experiences, the Singapore contingent finished a respectable 5th, 8th and 9th out of 12 teams. Given that it was our first attempt and the missing personnel we encountered in Teams 1 and Team 2, it was a fair result for the day and we were grateful that we took the battle to our friends across the Causeway.

Our JB friends Rizal, Kenyi and Mun Keat who formed one of the teams in Vertical Speed did well and finished as one of the top teams.

Here is a copy of the results and a couple of the photos. We sure did have fun as a whole and look forward to going back and improving next year.

Commissioning A Painted Helmet

admin — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 13:25:34 +0000

The application of paint and design onto a helmet is an expression of art. It provides the wearer, a sense of individuality or in the case of a team design, a sense of belonging. There is no right or wrong to a driver’s personal decision to wear an unpainted or painted helmet – this is purely a personal decision on aesthetics; which although having no effect on performance, certainly adds to the existing fanfare involved in participating in Motorsports.

The following are 10 suggestions concerning Helmet Painting that I would like to share:

(1) Picking the Helmet: This is probably the most important decision to get right. If you can look past the branding and styling; a good helmet would not only protect you. Very importantly, it needs to be comfortable to wear or else it becomes an impediment to driving fast. There are a number of articles on the internet advising how best to chose a helmet but here are my opinions on what a karter really needs – ( a ) if you can afford it, choose a helmet with a “K” level Snell rating. Snell is an organization that test and rates helmets and a “K” rating denotes testing for suitability for Karting. Ignore the automobile ones, especially if you are the type that thinks pricier is better. The difference in ratings is that the “SA” automobile rated helmets include a layer of nomex fire retardant material which can dramatically increase the price as well as weight of a helmet. Try an Arai SK5/SK6 then an Arai GP5/GP6 and you will find a big difference in weight. Factor in the additional G-force on a heavier helmet around corners in a long race and you will realize how practical the weight savings are to actual kart racing. ( b ) Purchase a full face helmet (if budget permits) that covers the chin. This will protect you in a head-on collision. It will also mean that the visor will have a body to snap on securely. ( c ) The helmet needs to fit snugly but comfortably. This phrase is frequently misinterpreted by newbies. They either purchase a helmet that seems to be comfortable in the shop but when racing in a kart, the intense neck snapping jerks result in the helmet moving around and result very quickly in being a major nuisance. On the otherhand, newbies take snugness to an extreme and get a helmet that is too tight. In the heat of a kart race, they find the helmet too constrictive and may find it difficult to breathe. It can be difficult to get the choice right on the first attempt at buying a helmet but after trying different helmets and different brands, you start to learn which helmet brands and sizes suit you best.

(2) Accessorizing: If you going to spend cash on a painted helmet, why not go all the way? One of those tinted visors is a must – be it staring down another driver to checking out a cute chick – do so in style behind a mirror chromed visor. Make sure you consider purchasing a helmet spoiler which gives your helmet a modern F1 helmet shape. Finally, don’t forget to purchase a summer balaclava for inside wear.

(3) Finding a Painter: This is a tricky affair as a paint job once done is not refundable. You need to find a credible painter who will do a satisfactory job, and who is within budget. As there is a Karting Singapore forum thread on local and international painters that you can approach, I will avoid duplication. Please refer to the forum post for URLs to the respective painter’s website. Before contacting the painter, have an idea of a design that you want. Preferably, create a drawing or else copy a picture of what you have in mind that you can send to the painter. The painter cannot read your mind so be clear in your guidance of what you are looking for. This will cut down the design time. Based on the initial concept you have, ensure that you have shortlised 2-3 painters for which you can seek quotes. Please realize that the better known or more established painters will charge more. They do so not to cheat you but because their previous work has established their reputation in the community for delivering a quality paint job. In my opinion, you get what you pay for. If you are unsure of the painter, post on local and foreign forums for feedback from their previous clientele. Try asking the painter for drawings – some will do so, either at a cost or free, some will not. In addition, many painters also sell helmets as part of their services. Save some cost in mailing a newly purchased helmet out to foreign painters by purchasing directly from them. You might even get a small discount on the paint job for the packaged deal.

(4) Timing is Everything: Helmet painting is a seasonal affair. Painters get the most requests just before the start of the racing season. Sending in orders at this time may mean that you will be charged a premium for the job or that you may be queued on a long line of client requests. This is further compounded when using a reputable painter whom celebrity drivers go to. Their helmets come first – even if they join the queue later. That’s just the facts of life. Hence, contacting a painter at the right time is key to getting your helmet done right and in a timely fashion – I recommend doing so at the end of the racing season when nothing is really happening for the painters and business is slow.

(5) Deciding on the Coating: So you have decided on a design and colours for your helmet. Now, you need to decide on the practical aspect which is what coating should you get. There are 3 considerations here – firstly coating affects cost, i.e. a chrome finish will cost more and take longer to finish than a matt finish. Secondly, the coating has an affect on the design, i.e. designs look different with the different coatings. Also know that in respect of aesthetics, you can choose to mix and match, i.e. matt and chrome finish on different parts of the helmet. Lastly, from a practical point of view, you need to picture what circumstances these helmets are going to be exposed to, i.e. if you are driving on a track which has a lot of stones on the surface that get flicked up by a kart you are following behind, and if you plan to take the helmet out for racing where accidents can occur, it makes sense to do so with a matt or normal painted coated helmet rather than a chrome finished helmet.

(6) Protecting your Investment: When you own a painted helmet, you may need to make some changes to your habits when at the track. Purchase a helmet bag that you can store the helmet when moving between home and the track. You can add create an additional level of safety by placing the helmet in a cloth helmet bag before placing it in the helmet bag. At the track, wipe down the helmet with a soft cloth whenever you drive back into the pit, before keeping it stored in the cloth bag in between your track time. For chrome-finished helmets which can scratch easily, you can add a stoneguard plastic wrap that you can install quite easily on the helmet. The transparent plastic wraps will help protect your finish from small stones that get flicked in your direction by the kart in front. The stoneguard can be purchased from UK shops and is distributed by Arai UK http://www.whyarai.c…ture_shield.php. In addition, should you also have an expensive Caracoat or FMV tinted visor, you will definitely want to purchase transparent tear-off strips for your visor – like the helmet stoneguard, it will add a small degree of protection from flying debris and accidental scratches.

(7) Stains: The best way to take off stains is to polish it off as soon as they occur. The latter you try to remove them, the harder they are to remove. I use natural turpentine as well as a soft car polish to clean my helmet at the end of a track day. Remember to also use a soft cloth.

(8) Cleaning the Inside: Inevitably the helmet will smell from all the perspiration that stains the inner linings. Many helmets have removable paddings that you can pull out and wash. For those that don’t, you may wish to take your helmet with you to the bath whereupon you can jointly shampoo both your hair and helmet. Washing a helmet is inevitable – but you can extend the duration between washes by wearing a balaclava (the cloth lining will capture most of your perspiration) as well as airing your helmet in the sun in between sessions at the track.

(9) Driving in the Wet: Karters that use darkened visors or have tear off visors, should immediately take them off or change to a clear visor, before driving in the rain. Lightly tinted visor users may be lesser affected by the darkened sky which accompanies rain. However, those with dark visors (which look the coolest as they are fully opaque) will find their visibility affected by the lower levels of light. This is fine for casual driving sessions but absolutely dangerous in racing pace conditions. Karters with visor tear-offs, will experience build up of water trapped in between the strips and the visor – this will also affect visibility and is dangerous in racing pace conditions.

(10) Take Photos: Eventually, you may wish to get a new helmet painted with the same design. Taking photos of the helmet from different angles will help the painter (who may be the same or a different person from that who painted your original helmet) achieve a close replica of the original design. This is especially necessary when dealing with foreign painters who don’t have the luxury of visually sighting the original design.

Singapore Nationals 2010 - Race 5

admin — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 16:44:18 +0000

Singapore’s racing season drew to a close with Round 5 of the Nescafe Karting Championships. Intended for the 30-31 October, the dates were rescheduled to 13-14 November to facilitate the younger drivers who were schooling and would be in the midst of their examinations. As with the preceding events of the series, Round 5 was held at Kartright Speedway circuit.

Saturday, 13 November was a particular good day for karting. Sunny skies throughout the entire day keep the program firmly on schedule. In Qualifying, several drivers across the classes earned themselves time penalties of +3 seconds, for crossing the pit exit blend line. Given the number of penalties awarded and in some cases, repeatedly to the same driver, the grid positioning for the Heat race were a mixed bag of surprises. At the end of qualifying, Anderson Martono, from the Junior’s class was the person to set the standard, clocking in Saturday’s fastest qualifying time of 33.509. In the Heat races, there were not too many surprises as the class favourites began to establish themselves and any significant effects of the qualifying penalties were unwound.

Sunday 14 November. One could say that the prefinals, held in the morning for the various classes played according to a script. Apart from several DNFs and James Pull received a post-race +10 seconds penalty for jump starting, there were no significant surprises in the driver finishing positions. It was perhaps fateful that nature added a little additional drama to proceedings when in Singapore’s typical tropical fashion, the skies opened during the lunch time interval and soaked the track, leaving a greasy layer of rubber.

This was unfortunate news to the Cadets who were therefore the first class to race their Finals on the slippery track. In the treacherous conditions, the track claimed Ethan Wei, Glenn Chiam and James Pull who all failed to finish. To the credit of the driver-mechanic combination of John Lee and his father, James Lee that led to a determined drive through the race in which Lee finished 20 seconds ahead of second place, Tan De Shuen. Jordan Tay, a Drakar teamate to Jon Lee, finished third after being awarded a 10 seconds penalty for a jump start. The win also gave Lee the Overall Cadet Champion title for 2010.

In the Juniors finals, Saravanan Rajakumar, picked the timing for his first race win to perfection, and took first place honours in his class with a confident drive in the wet and the right chassis setup by his mechanic team from William’s Racing. Class favourites, Anderson Martono, fell to the wet conditions when his kart slowed down just 4 laps from the chequered flag and whilst in first place. Martono’s kart stalled just in front of the pits, with a fouled spark plug whilst Thaddeus Lee, who took second, was unable to hold back a charging Rajakumar. Amin Noorzilan, drove a safe race and finished in third place, a position which was enough to ensure that he took the Overall Junior Champion title.

Nasri Naufal, better known locally as “Opai” secured his Overall Senior Champion title in style by winning the Seniors Finals in commanding fashion. In wet weather mastery, Naufal lapped every other competitor in 24 laps of racing. Sean Hudspeth took second in the class followed by Ivan Lim in third. Alan Habin, who showed flashes of speed throughout the weekend ended a dismal weekend with a DNF in the Finals.

The Finals for the Masters and Veterans class involved a merging of both classes running in the same race. The Veterans showed that age was never a factor, by finishing in the top few positions of the merged class race. Benjamin Goh won the Master’s class followed by Danial Walker and in third was Lim Keong Liam. Paul Lee who finished outside of the podium, still won the Overall Master’s Champion title when his nearest title rival, Sheridan Thomas, did not compete in the final round of the SKC. In the Veteran’s class, Kenny Yip secured his Overall Veteran’s Champion title by beating everyone to the finish line. Finishing second in the race was Jerry Ibara followed in third by Richard Wee.