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Busy, but so many things to do for my-kart

Busy and multitasking

It’s the usual year end thing. You see, I’m an accountant – of sorts. Our company year end is December. So January is usually a hectic time for us as we close our books and the auditors come in. But typing this down is already boring, so I’ll quit.

I guess karting is more interesting.

Anyway, a few weeks back a few of us my-kart guys paid a visit to Rosedi Kart at Subang Jaya. Subang Jaya navigation is not for the meek, I must say. With all the massive road works and the terminal & inherent traffic problems, you really need to know exactly how you are going to get to your destination. Otherwise you’d be stuck in a chronic traffic jam.

The visit to Rosedi Kart was good, but I’ve written more of it on my-kart.org. It is interesting that there are many people around who believe and want to push grassroots racing & karting. Fellow my-karter Yusnee and I also paid a visit to Brian Palmer at Shah Alam to chat with him about the state of the industry.

In conclusion, there seems to be a lot of work to be done to get the industry into first gear. Unfortunately for years the motorsport industry has been starting and stalling, starting and stalling. A sad state for us fans and enthusiasts. The oil, air and fuel filters are all clogged up.

my-KART is fired up to be a part of the solution… but how? Are you keen to be a part of this wave of change?

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Tested my Rotax 125

Yesterday, Munib and I went to the USJ Elite kart circuit for a few rounds on our Rotax Max.

I can concluded 3 things:

  1. I don’t know much about karting technicals
  2. the track is very bumpy and physical (ouch!)
  3. need to improve my fitness *sigh*

The chassis is an Arrow 2004 ax5-125 chassis. Not sure whether that is correct. The handling was alright, although the bumpy USJ circuit did not help the relatively stiff chassis. A few times the bumps caused my foot to either fly off the pedals or on to it! Imagine going round one of the fast (& bumpy) corners and having the left foot accidently hit the brakes… that was a bugger moment for me.

Luckily for me, the kart was set with a bit of toe-out (1mm), thus making the kart less likely to spin under braking. Still, I felt that it made cornering a bit less compliant. Perhaps a bit more neutral toe setting. May want to experiment with a bit of toe-in as well.

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my-KART updates: these guys are getting fast!

Jules at IC3 2005

To round off 2005 for my-KART we kicked off with an Inter Company / Car Club (“IC3”) Challenge. We even had a newspaper coverage in The Star recently. The participation was very encouraging and I have had a few enquiries from companies and car clubs about wanting to participate in 2006. The Star article did help a lot – I received several phone calls that day. Problem is I may need to think of how to manage an entry list of more than 12 teams….

Anyway, I am pleased that the 2005 my-KART activities has been very good. The last round of the race was a key & successful one for me. We also opened the 2006 KART series last Sunday the 8th of January 2006. The rain forced us to postpone the race by one from the scheduled 7th January date. Still the participation was very competitive and encouraging despite the initial wet weather. My co-founder Azlan found it enjoyable too.

Since the various articles and increased word of mouth, many Klang Valley (and some from outside the Klang Valley, as far as Melaka) are joining my-KART events. Some of these guys are very quick drivers. One thing’s for certain – there are many keen racing enthusiasts around.

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my-KART championship – what a tough year!

Fazz wins the 2005 K2 Championship

Saturday 10th December 2005 was a culmination of a tough year in the my-kart K2 championship. The competition is truly getting tougher and tougher each year. But one solitary win and 5 podium finishes was enough for me to retain the K2 championship for the second year and maintain my 3rd my-kart overall championship.

To top this off, my team -Tail Happy Racing- also won the 2005 my-kart Mega Enduro Series.

2005 was also a very busy year in addition to racing. my-kart held three Foundation Conferences to start working on plans for my-kart to build the foundation for stimulating growth in the Malaysian motorsport industry (foundations #1, #2 & #3). Various initiatives were launched and alliances were made with established figures in the local motorsport industry.

Tail Happy Racing wins the 2005 my-kart Mega Enduro Series

In addition to this, my-kart held its first annual function on Saturday the 10th Dec which was attended by over 60 drivers and their better halves. The event was also graced by Aminuddin Omar -President of the Porsche Club of Malaysia, and also the 2005 Malaysian Super Series Champion. Present too were members of the local car magazines such as Faizal of Torque, Al Bakri and Yogen of Carma.

Read my full round 10/2005 event report at my-kart.org:

I am very happy the way 2005 turned out for my-kart. To this end, I’d like to thank my co-founder Azlan, members of the club protem committee, Naza & Wei Li for setting up the organisation structures, all the volunteers who had helped out during the year full of events and of course all the members and participants in our races.

2006 will be a more eventful year for my-kart with 10 more K2 and K3 races, 6 mega enduros and a few more Foundation Conferences. The full calendar can be found here.

Come join me in this journey towards building racing talent for the country by laying down the foundations for popularising grassroots motorsport in Malaysia.

Forza my-KART!

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my-KART project updates

my-KART logo

One of the best things that I’ve been involved with outside of family and work is the things that Azlan and I started with my-KART.

my-KART started out as a way that Azlan and I could have regular kart races with our friends. We previously found it very difficult to get a good “quorum” individually so decided to “pool” our group of friends. We then formed the Yahoo mailing list and that was when the interest spread quickly – mainly thru word of mouth.

Today (Nov 05) we have something like 170 registered members (give or take 20). And we constantly attract around 40 participants for our monthly races and our quarterly enduros.

We now see a lot of opportunities opening up to my-KART. Certainly, my-KART has a key role in shaping the motorsports industry in Malaysia. Our vision of building racing talent for the country through popularising grassroots motorsports starts with the amateurs, the PBEM (professionals, businessmen, executives and managers) segment, the casual enthusiast, the parents, local companies, car-clubs and not forgetting the youngsters who are the country’s future. To this end our aims and behaviours must be noble and sincere. We must ensure we build the community and awareness whether they race or not.

Over the next few months until end 2006 we shall focus on 5 key areas (in no particular order):

  • community: building the community & be active in social activities
  • members: continue to drive memberships & inculcate our values amongst our members
  • excellence: focus on excellence in our racing events
  • alliances: forge alliances
  • awareness: create corporate awareness, and wider visibility

Now we have a group of 20-30 core members sharing common ideas and actively contributing towards my-KART’s and the local motorsports industry’s future. I would invite all of you to be part of this journey as my-KART moves into 2006 and beyond.