The Passing of a Patriarch

July 11th 2006.

My dad called to tell me my grandfather had passed away. Over the phone I could tell my dad was having a tough time holding it together. Surprisingly, I took the news fairly stoically - I think it was because this was expected to some degree, as he had been suffering from terminal liver cancer for some time now. I'm glad the end was quick, I hope it was painless. I was glad I had the opportunity to fly home in May to visit him before he passed on. He had lost a lot of weight, but he still seemed pretty cheerful.

My grandfather was #2 of 18 kids. In the picture on the left (which we believe was taken in 1948) my grandfather is second from the right in the back row, next to my grandmother. He grew up in Ipoh, Malaysia, and started Overseas Motors when he was 19 - a company my father & most of his siblings were intimately involved in running for many years. I remember the shop was little more than a 2 storey shophouse on Victoria Street many years ago. Even before my dad worked there, I remember my sister and I going to visit my grandfather at the office, and going for lunch (prawn noodles). My grandfather was a source of inspiration and motivation, who was always cared about others before himself. He was the consummate provider, and yet never forgot his roots, often donating to schools in Singapore and various parts of the region. I am so proud of my grandfather, and what he accomplished.

I have a picture of my grandfather & I from my sister's wedding in 2003. He looks healthy and happy - exactly how I'd like to remember him.

July Race Weekend

July 9th 2006

Unfortunately, this weekend's race was pretty much a bust. Due to the Formula D drift event, the track was modified on Saturday to run "short 7" - taking away 2 long straightaways and turning it into a much tighter track. While the entrance was pretty wide, it got really tight in the middle. Qualifying was OK, but when the race finally got started, I got a little too ambitious in attempting to capitalize on position off the start. Due to the "accordian effect" of a long string of cars, I thought we were getting held up a little bit, so I tried to make a pass going into turn 4. Unfortunately, I didn't quite manage to pull off the pass, and hit another car just as he was turning in. My left front wheel, his right rear wheel, and my car got tossed up and back down. I couldn't get the car started after that, and that was it for Saturday. (Fortunately the damage was minimal - a very lightly damaged front wing, and a set of ackerman (steering) plates.

On Sunday, we got the big track back - Sears 7 and 9/9A. This was exactly the track we ran last month. Things went well during qualifying, I felt pretty good about the car, and the track, although I could still use some work on turns 2 and 6. Race started, and I was much more cautious this time around, and had pretty much settled into a nice rhythm chasing (oddly enough) the guy I hit Saturday. I was inches behind for about 7-8 laps, before I had my second "racing incident" of the weekend. Going into 9A (a tight right hander followed immediately by another tight left hander - it's pretty much a chicane to stop people from putting the car into the wall at 10) - I clipped the car behind me turning in. I think he was trying to make a pass, but from my point of view I didn't think he had it. Since I barely felt the contact, I kept racing, and finished 9th. Later on, I found out that his car had the left front control arm damaged, and my right rear shear plates (that attach the suspension to the frame) damaged.

In retrospect, I should have made a pit stop to have the mechanics check things out. But I was reluctant to lose my position (running 8th at the time). I ended up finishing 9th. Oh well, there's always next month...

During last month's race, one of the other racers with whom I was sharing a car let me use his camera during qualifying. He sent me a DVD, and I just watched it tonight. I was surprised to see how fast I was. I think negative progress has been made... :(

It seems like the really fast guys are either 15-17 years old, or retired. Grr...

Update 2006.07.11. I looked up the race results from last month. My best time around the exact same track was 1:52.9, this month it was 1:51.5 - so I take back the part about negative progress. Last month I finished 5th, this month I finished 9th - so I guess it was just a stronger field of competitors...