BA V8 Supercar Competing in Malaysia

[Bucket]

Was wandering in down town Kuala Lumpur when I came across some hot looking cars. One being a Class Three Le Mans racer and the other draped in Black...completely covered...one thing caught my eye though. It had a Bonnet Bulge and a big spoiler. I also spotted a guy in a racing team shirt. We got talking and he tells me its BA V8 Super Car from the Fujitsu Championship in Australia. Well that just got me all excited. Also met some of the guys who are in the Pit Team. Aussies from Melbourne and Perth, at least one of them has worked with SBR.
It's racing tomorrow in the Malaysian 12 Hour Enduro...

Fugazi Racing Team To Be Driven By Burning Patriotism At MME
Fugazi Racing Team To Be Driven By Burning Patriotism At MME

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 21 (Bernama) -- Inspired by patriotism, the all-Malaysian Fugazi Racing team hopes to race against the odds to overcome their more illustrious opponents during the 12-hour Petronas Malaysian Merdeka Endurance (MME) Race in Sepang on Saturday.

Fugazi Team manager Hafiz Marzuki said he was aware rival teams had invested heavily on top-class drivers and powerful racing machines for the 12-hour endurance race and the odds would be stacked against his team to win.

"Yes, I fully agree the odds are against us, but we have full confidence in ourselves and in our homegrown talents," said Hafiz who announced that former Porsche Carrera Cup Asia driver Rizal Ashram Ramli with partners Wira Dani Daim and Tseu Chee Kee would spearhead his team's challenge.

He said the team had initially considered inviting foreign drivers to boost their chances for the eighth edition of MME, but eventually opted for local drivers whom he believed are capable of upsetting the form books.

"Though there were enquiries from international drivers, we decided to use local expertise. Maybe, we were just being emotional to see a homegrown team winning in conjunction with the country's 50th independence anniversary celebrations," he said in a statement.

Hafiz said the drivers had enough experience to match their rivals.

While Rizal Ashram is a proven international class racer with experience in competing at the German F3 Championship (2002), British F3 Championship (2003) and the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia (2005), Wira Dani and Chee Kee raced in the Malaysian Super Series and the now-defunct Proton Car National Championship.

"This is endurance racing and we believe we have the machine that is capable of winning," he said, referring to their newly-acquired Australian V8 Championship race car, a five-litre Ford Falcon V8, rebuilt with endurance specifications for the race.

During practise on Sunday, the mean black Ford Falcon machine, which can accelerate up to 300kph, caught the attention of other drivers and teams with its thunderous roar and blazing speed, especially over the two long straights at the Sepang Circuit.

"Everybody loves the V8 machine and everybody agreed that we use the car for this year's MME race," Hafiz said, adding that the other factor driving the team would be the burning patriotism and nationalistic fire in each of the members.

"Winning will be our present for Malaysian racing fans," said Hafiz, who, however, acknowledged that the Petronas Syntium team with legendary driver Hans Joachim Stuck, Johannes Stuck and Fariqe Hairuman behind the wheels would definitely start as favourites with their awesome BMW Z4M Coupe.

A total of 98 cars had registered for this year's race at the 5.5403km Sepang Circuit.

-- BERNAMA

[Lukeyson]

nice find

[Force6]

Awesome! Good spotting mate. Should be very interesting to see how the Falcon fares over the 12 hours, hopefully in number one spot!

[Polyal]

98 cars..damn!

When is this race? So they brought an ex-V8SC?

[FPV8U]

Mmm Black BA Supercar, looking forward to piccies.

Did they say who built and ran the car originally, and who preped it for the race?

[Bucket]

Not to sure...im waiting to find out results atm

[SHIFTN]

are you there?

-SHIFTN

[fou_bleu]

Go Ford!!! ;)

[Bucket]

Originally Posted by SHIFTN

are you there?

-SHIFTN

I cant seem to find the results online atm.
I've been in KL all this week just been with work. Touched down back in Perth this afternoon. Unfortunately, had I known that the 12 hour was on before I booked my tickets over, I would have stayed the extra day to watch.

[Bucket]

Hong Leong-Kencana Win Merdeka Endurance In Sensational Style

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 25 (Bernama) -- In a sensational end to the 2007 Petronas Primax 3 Merdeka Millennium Endurance race (MME), Team Hong Leong-Kencana Racing snatched victory from the Petronas Syntium Team after the favourites retired from the race at the Sepang Circuit tonight with less than 55 minutes to go and 13 laps ahead.

Leading the race from the second hour and cruising to what looked like a sure victory, the engine of the team's powerful BMW Z4M Coupe simply stalled at the back straight with driver Fariqe Hairuman leaping out of the car hopping mad in anger and frustration.

That opened the door for Hong Leong-Kencana Racing - with drivers Mokhzani Mahathir, Sven Herberger and LeMans driver Lars Erik Nielsen, taking the checkered flag, after completing 288 laps in the 12-hour race, a record in the eight-year history of the series.

The previous record was 276 laps achieved in 2005 by Amprex Proton Motorsports.

Honda Malaysia Racing Team took second and third spot with the partnership of Eddie Lew, Hiroki Katoh and Shinya Hosokawa taking second overall and first among Class A racers with 282 laps.

Wonderkid Jazeman Jaafar's Team Proton R3 Motorsports had a short outing of only 80 laps in just over three hours after their Lotus Exige 300RR machine - the car that won the race in 2005 and 2006 - encountered electrical problems and retired.

Following are the Top 10 Finishers (Number of laps covered after 12 hours):

1. Mokhzani Mahathir, Sven Herberger, Lars Erik Nielsen) (Porsche 911 GT3 RSR) 288 laps

2. Hiroki Katoh, Shinya Hosokawa, Eddie Lew (Honda Civic Type R) 282 laps

3. Rueben Wong, Fahrizal Hassan, Aaron Lim (Honda Civic Type R) 282 laps

4. Marcus Goh, Yasuhiro Kuhara, Ken Yap (Honda Integra DC5) 271 laps

5. Unemoto Junichi, Kusumoto Yoshiharu, Nagano Kenya (Honda S2000) 271 laps

6. Shaun Juniper, Paul Kelly, Craig Bird (Porsche 911 GT3 RSR) 270 laps

7. Helmi Ilyas, Adam Ilyas, Hisham Jahudi (Lotus Exige 240) 269 laps

8. Siu Tit Lung, Siu Yuk Lung, Keitasawa (Porsche 911) 268 laps

9. Erwin Azizi, Adam Azizi, Johnson Chen (Honda DC5) 268 laps

10. Keifli Othman, Peter Leemhuis, Tony Ford (Honda Integra DC5) 267 laps

The winners according to class;

Class O (Open class) Mokhzani Mahathir, Sven Herberger, Lars Erik Nielsen (Porsche 911 GT3 RSR) 288 laps,

Class A (production cars above 1900cc) Hiroki Katoh, Shinya Hosokawa, Eddie Lew (Honda Civic Type R) 283 laps,

Class B (production cars between 1601cc and 1900cc) Wong Yew Choong, Tek Kean Kang, Soh Kee Koon (Honda Integra DC5) 256 laps,

Class C (production cars below 1600cc) Kenny Lee, Sherwood, Chris o'Shannessy) (Toyota AE101) 259 laps