Street Race through KL

by **Aaron** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:12 am

A few years back during the F1 festivities, city karting (i think!!!) organized a go kart demo in front of Lot 10. A small track was set up on the road and anyone from the public could "play". This was in conjunction with tag heuer and the driver who recorded the fastest lap time won a watch. I had a go (didn't win a watch) and this contributed to my decision to start karting!

I reckon it would be cool if a street race through KL could be organised. It would be great fun and a new challenge for the drivers. This would also be great for promoting karting in malaysia, just imagine the crowds that it would attract! The best way to promote this sport and to help it grow is bring it to the public.

Driver's... who would be up for that?

Of course, there would probably be a lot involved in orgainsing an event like this... council approval (DBKL??) to close the roads etc.... track inspections / approval etc ........

by **Chan** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 3:37 pm

This year in conjunction with the F1, Tag Heuer also held the event at Jalan Bukit Bintang. We, Swiss Hutless organised the event for them. Member of public were give a chance to try out the karts. Prizes were given to 5 fastest lap time posted.

by **Jules** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 4:05 pm

Chan,

May I ask what karts were used and how they were decided, since its for public?

by **Mikko Nassi** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 4:26 pm

They were actually Rotax Junior karts - but the track was tiny tiny tiny... they didn't allow much space to be used for the track. :roll:

It was two hairpins and the total track distance was probably about 30 metres - no joke. Yet it still created a lot of interest from the public even though the track was almost hidden.

A street race somewhere in KL would be absolutely AWESOME. I've been looking on Google Earth for possible locations and there are quite a few, some that don't have to use the main roads but would still be very much in the center of the city so wouldn't cause too many traffic problems and would still attract a lot of attention.

How many here went to the Johor street race in 2002?!?

That's Aaron Lim in the 100cc category.

by **homoskedastic_kanit** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 5:28 pm

Last year in Thailand we had a street race in Bang-saen (one of the well-know beach on the way to Pattaya), the race were held in celebration for his majesty the king bhumibol, for his 60 years of his reign (incidentially, the race was held just 1 or 2 days after the official ceremony on june 9th, 2006) It was 462 metres track in anticlockwise layout with 10 corners, very tight corner, high speed decreasing radius curve, hairpins, and comparatively long straight with respect to the length. The event was held in only one whole day, 3 practice sessions in the morning, qualifying after lunch, 2 heats before 6pm (followed by coyote dance!!) and the final race held during the night time!! (seriously, night time), races finished by 9pm followed by the prize giving. There were 5 classes, Comer 60cc, Puma 85, Junior Rok, Rok and TaG. TaG had the most racers of about 16. At night there was also the Super VIP races, with 25 racers! (i think it deemed dangerous as the track was very tight and too much karts on it), where some famous persons race to raise funds for remote schools and student scholarship. It was so much fun but very exhausting. Especially the night race, it was so exciting, i saw the brake discs glow red!!! And it's also a strange race, i remember my sprocket number was Z11/93 in the Rotax Max engine (gosh it revs fast and hard, the engine just scorch so louder than ever!!), top speed i think was 86 kph something, but in the tight hairpin, you get the powervalve lag so badly even with only 1 click of the powervalve!!, one more thing was that, they had to use standing start for safety ground (i really don't like it at all, every heat, i stalled as soon as i started releasing the brake from the grid eventhough i dabbed the throttle on standing!!!)

This year the organizer of Superkart thailand (same as last year) promised of the bangsaen street race for another run, the track got extended to about 1050m with a long straight of 300m, i'm not sure whether it's on december 2nd or 9th (9th would be unlikely as there would be another street race for cars, the supercar thailand race, the track is expected to be 3700m), again, the race, would coincident with his majesty the king's 80th birthday on dec 5th. I think the race layout would be the same as last year. I'm really looking forward to seeing this race!!!

by **homoskedastic_kanit** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 5:32 pm

oh, i forgot to post some of my pictures of that street race!

more pics in my mac, hope i can upload some other time

by **CRG Asia** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 9:08 pm

Hey CRGs!

Sweet looking as ever eh? BTW, what model are you running on?

by **JohnKing6** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:17 pm

Aaron wrote:A few years back during the F1 festivities, city karting (i think!!!) organized a go kart demo in front of Lot 10. A small track was set up on the road and anyone from the public could "play". This was in conjunction with tag heuer and the driver who recorded the fastest lap time won a watch. I had a go (didn't win a watch) and this contributed to my decision to start karting!

I reckon it would be cool if a street race through KL could be organised. It would be great fun and a new challenge for the drivers. This would also be great for promoting karting in malaysia, just imagine the crowds that it would attract! The best way to promote this sport and to help it grow is bring it to the public.

Driver's... who would be up for that?

Of course, there would probably be a lot involved in orgainsing an event like this... council approval (DBKL??) to close the roads etc.... track inspections / approval etc ........

Count me in :-)

by **homoskedastic_kanit** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:46 pm

CRG Asia wrote:Hey CRGs!

Sweet looking as ever eh? BTW, what model are you running on?

Hi, I'm using CRG Road Rebel 2006 with 17 mm stub axles but large spindle (I think i bought it too early, should have 25 mm instead) and VEN04 brake.

by **CRG Asia** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 9:11 am

Hmm.. ven 04 brakes. thats the old version. How much did you buy for it?

by **homoskedastic_kanit** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 10:43 am

I still prefer VEN04, eventhough i've already tried VEN05, it is more durable, more reliable and more controllable than VEN05, especially when you have the 05 with duralcan disc (some of my known have had their discs chipped, cracked, faded-to-scratch, overheating)

I bought the whole thing for THB 150,000 when the exchange rate was about US$/THB40, so it's about US$3750

Anyway, shall we talk more about the idea of street racing elsewhere??

by **Fazz Rahman** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 3:33 pm

we discussed this at my-kart a while back. in principle it is about bring the races to the people... as opposed to the current approach of "forcing the fans to the track".

this would bring racing back to its roots (before custom built circuits) where races would generally be held around public roads (some f1 races still do this).

i would love to see this happen as it would definitely create that buzz and excitement around the sport. more people would be able to see it.

by **James Leong** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 10:05 am

I remember the good old days when I raced on the streets in the 80's. However time has changed. Karts are much faster and the handling is different. So to have a race in the city - there are many things to think about. Of paramount importance is the safety aspect of the spectators as well as the drivers.

New regulations from CIK on street racing is limited to National status which meant likely that Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei etc will be excluded from the race. I suppose we can make an appeal to the Zone secretariat to approve a zone status but the safety aspect will be very stringent.

Unless there is a major sponsor who is going to pick up the tab for the safety wire netting around the course, heaps of tyres barriers etc, I find it very unlikely for anyone wanting to do this event. Maybe Shell or Petronas might be enticed to sponsor. I am prepared to organise the event provided I have the funds to do it.

James Leong

by **Alex Ritchie** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 12:51 pm

The last street race I attended was in the 70's in Penang. At that time I was a marshall for the PMSC and I remember it was a nightmare.

It was very hot and very bumpy. Facilities for teams and spectators were non-existent.

One driver broke his leg when he hit a wall at the roundabout in Gurney Drive, which was part of the circuit.

Pak Chik, Mak Chik and their four children wandered across the track whenever they saw a gap in the race traffic...

In short, street tracks are best saved for 4-stroke rental karts, for fun events.

by **RocK** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 7:26 pm

Last Malaysia street race I race was in Kuantan in the mid 90s. Was fun until my chain broke. :cry:

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