LDMC held Miri’s first ever Gymkhana event at the end of 2016, with 1 year hiatus, Alan and his LDMC gang are back with full force and planned for a 2 round series in Miri for 2018, with 1st round held at Miri’s Coco Cabana, he also brought in some help from veteran Gymkhana driver Locksley who drove all the way from KK, he’s also the guy that provides the technical advise and support, and setting up the Gymkhana course layout.
With the blooming scene in Sibu, I managed to convince quite a lot of friends to join us on the convoy to Miri just for this event, we stopped by Bintulu and proceeded straight to Miri, the convoy was great and everyone was enjoying every moment of it.
On the big day itself, weather was super fine and I was super stoked, I had the chance to wear my first ever race suit sponsored by Suzuka Benedict, also we saw the tremendous support from local Miri guys, namely Johnny Yong, Michael Wee and the famous Youtuber Hee Wei Seng.
The day started first with Gymkhana in 3 categories, FWD, RWD and Open class, I joined RWD and Open, and I snatched 3rd place in both categories, also snatched the Fastest Tme in RWD single lap. After all Gymkhana classes completed, the organizer proceeded straight with the Drift Challenge, they brought in KK DK ‘Mah Lao’ as judge.
The Drift challenge layout was simple, with a 2nd gear low speed entry to the right and a flick to the left hand sweeper with 3 rear clipping cones to finish it off, many were struggling as the level of skill was still low, my consistency helped a lot as I fought all the way into finals facing my teammate Roy Chai in his R32, I had a good chase but while I was leading, a misjudgement had my Charmant knocking off all 3 rear clipping cones, resulted in the deduction which in the end gave the win to Roy instead, I’m happy that I still get to win the 2nd place trophy though.
Overall it was an awesome event and LDMC truly outdid themselves again, with R1 now finished, we very much look forward to R2 now!
We got news Miri Lutong Drag guys were going to organize its first ever Gymkhana event in Miri with collaboration with SAS Kuching, after some talks with my gangs in Sibu and Bintulu, we’ve decided that we should drive over there and give our fullest support, my other agenda was to hopefully meet more of the Miri car enthusiasts, it was very exciting to say the least.
There were a total of 7 cars from Sibu and Bintulu, me and Yap (only 2 from Sibu) departed 1 day earlier prior to the event and stay overnight at Bintulu.
Only 2 cars joining from Sibu, me included
The night before the actual event, 2 of us from Sibu hang out with the rest of the Bintulu drivers at Paragon for a little night time photoshoot, we were all in a very excited mood and were all happy to be able to hang out and just chill, we then went on for a little drink or two before we call it a night as we will be waking up before 4am the very next morning for a very very early convoy departure to Miri.
Total lineup of 7 cars competing from Sibu and Bintulu
another shot with the drivers
4AM D-Day, time for the 2.5 hour long drive from Bintulu to Miri…
Woke up before 4am the next morning!
Meet up at Bintulu Mcdonalds before departure
Gas refill, group photo!
Short break at Batu Nia, halfway to Miri
By 8AM++, all of us arrived safe and sound, road condition wasn’t that good with uneven surfaces which caused a very bumpy ride, sometimes you really have to be extra careful not to fly over the bumps or you’ll have to say bye bye to your suspension, good thing was that there was barely any potholes.
Once we arrived Miri, first thing we did was to have breakfast, then head straight to the nearest Petronas station to have all our gas refilled, its time for our very first Gymkhana at Miri!
Gas refill at Miri before competition
The most popular motorsport-themed Sarawak Youtuber, Hee Wee Seng, is originally from Miri, so it’s no surprise he was there as well, he was very happy to see us all also, can’t miss the chance to have a great wefie together once more! I’d share his coverage QCCS video below…
Hi again! Hee Wee Seng!
Anyways, let’s cut straight to the competition itself, surprisingly, the total number of participants for this event didn’t even reached 20 cars, to be honest I was pretty disappointed by the low turnout, among these participants, there were also those from Brunei, which also means the ones participating from Miri are considered very, very few.
SAS president himself, Obiwan and Secretaryt, Airphah were there to assist Lutong Drag in the overall organizing of the event and provide advises, most importantly, setting up the track layout for the Gymkhana course.
The venue was at Riam E-Mart, parking size wasn’t too big, but sufficient to have some basic Gymkhana fun, plus this was the very first Gymkhana for Miri so too big, too fast may not necessary be a good thing also.
Alright, the runs! Yes! While I had no problem memorizing the layout, my friends were having some difficulties such as wrong course, severe understeer and so forth, but in the end all of us managed to get at least 1 good run in. Me, however, felt great and my Charmant ran great as well, the surface wasn’t too grippy as there’s tiny gravels so I was struggling for grip, but I did my best and was very happy with my time as it got faster and faster, I’ll let the videos do the talking (video taken by Elena):
Long story short, I was lucky to have great runs throughout the day and managed to snatch the first prize!
Woot! MGC2016 Champion, what a day!
Not only did I won the first place, but overall our team from Sibu and Bintulu did very well, 2 of my friends from Bintulu also snatched 3rd and 4th place! Hong with his R33 Skyline and Jeff with his Fairlady Z33. Here’s a clip of Hong’s run in his RB26DETT R33:
And here’s a couple more videos of the other participants and some drift demos after the competition ended:
Here’s a demo run by Obiwan himself in Michael’s R34 skyline, check out those drifts!!!
Some sideways fun after the competition ended:
And here’s the coverage by Hee Wee Seng himself, check it out:
After so many years, I also managed to meet the best drifter in Miri, Bobby, in person! Here’s a selfie, its good to have a short chat with the guy, friendly overall, now drives some serious M powered beemers and also had some sideways fun in the track, but sadly I don’t have any videos of it though. Bobby used to drive a Silvia S15 and was super active many years back, he was also a competitor in some drift events in KK. Hopefully we can get to have some drifting sessions together in the near future.
Selfie with Miri DK, Bobby!
Lastly, do check out Ms. Elena’s coverage of the event from her point of view:
Sibu Dorifuto! 