FXOpen Drift Challenge 2010 – Round 1 : Djan Wins Plus Speedway : RaceRevo

FXOpen Drift Challenge 2010 – Round 1 : Djan Wins Plus Speedway

Posted by Muaz Zakaria on Wednesday, June 2, 2010 · 2 Comments

On Sunday evening Prince of Drift accomplished his monstrous run of form by defeating Tan Tat Wei in the final tandem battle at Plus Speedway. It was a spectacular demonstration of consistency and style in front of the full house crowd in the grandstand. The Tandem Assassin strikes a blow yet again and established himself as the undisputed King of Drift in this region.

The event was smooth, great effort by the organizers. For me, it was such a surreal feeling walking the grid. Big cars with enormous power but yet so refined and nimble through the tight and twisty track.

Tengku Djan, Ah Fai, Wonderbro, Loyai and Tan Tat Wei. These are the semifinalists except for Wonderbro who is the MC of the event. I have to say, his witty comments and the way he cheer up the crowd added a lot of spices to the atmosphere. A job well done Wonderbro! By the way, this airborne thing was his idea. He made these guys jump twice for us, the photographers. Top marks for Tan Tat Wei for making the highest jump.

Wonderbro and Djan doing some crazy stunts here. Don’t try this at home, you need a lot of skills to pull this off.

Djan doing burnouts at the semifinalist drivers presentation. One of the reason why drifting is so fun. It’s just not about the drifters, it’s about the fans too.

Djan was the crowd’s favorite as always the case.

One of the Malaysian drift god Ah Fai giving the universal symbol of love to us en route to the semifinalists presentation.

The first semifinal battle saw Ah Fai live to fight another day as astute performance from his first tandem battle run with the Prince forced a “One More Time”. The judges were having a nightmare to make their minds up as both drivers were equal. It’s a very tight battle between these two giants of drifting.

Taking “One More Time” as a sign of warning, Tandem Assassin perfected his aim and strikes the bullet spot on. The judges calls victory for Djan. Ah Fai narrowly missed the chance to unseat the Prince of his throne. An impressive run from Ah Fai without a doubt, but Djan was in his prime. At this rate, it’s safe to say Djan was possessed.

The writing is on the wall, the Tandem Assassin is at large.

The next semifinal tandem battle between Loyai and Tan Tat Wei ended up with an easy win for the latter. The creeping car problem faced by Loyai was too much to bear in the end. But he did tried, but to no avail. The stage is set for Tan Tat Wei and Djan in the final.

Another angle of the battle between Tan Tat Wei and Loyai.

In the battle for 3rd place, Ah Fai stuck to Loyai like a leech running hungry on a blood. There is nothing much Loyai could do considering his earlier problems.

Loyai in the transition zone. Nothing is more amazing than seeing these cars powering through the slow first clipping point generating a lot of smokes in the air. You couldn’t see Ah Fai, he is hiding behind those smokes, he was real close to Loyai. But all credits to Loyai for not giving up despite his car troubles.

Ah Fai is throwing the car at a more aggressive angle this time. His entry speed was fast and borderline losing it, it was almost rear end first to the corner. Almost instantly, power was smoothly transferred and the weight shift propelled the car nicely through the clipping points. Absolutely crazy stuff! With Loyai having problems with the car, there was simply no chance to deny Ah Fai’s 3rd place claim.

With such a fierce showing from Ah Fai, Loyai in the end conceded, he cruised his sicken car to the finish line. The sound of a failing car is very visible. Wonderbro suggested in his commentary that it could have something to do with the exhaust.

The maestro is all set for the final. The man and the machine is at harmony.

Concentration is the name of the game.

The final tandem battle was explosive. Tan Tat Wei started following Djan first. And he did great, not far off Djan when they reached the finish line. Djan had to do something mega in the second run. It’s all or nothing now for Djan.

Tan Tat Wei was trying hard to open up the gap to Djan.

Many haven’t digested the new livery on Djan’s Silvia yet, but I’m sure it will grow on us as the rest of the season progresses. As for me, the livery already grows on me, it’s amazing that I just need two days from the event. But that besides the story, despite some great moves by Tan Tat Wei in the second run, Djan’s second run was phenomenally quick and was enough to seal the victory. Before the first clipping point, Djan almost lost it and this has resulted in Tan Tat Wei opening up quite a huge gap in the beginning. Djan knows this spells disaster, like a true champion he dig up another gear by the the second clipping point, the gap was very close they almost collided. In the end, it was a masterpiece showcase of accuracy and determination by Djan.

The gap at the final clipping point!! How about that for some real action!

In the end, it was Djan that once again takes the first spot, making his new FXOpen sponsors very happy. Taking the victory at their own organized event.

We hope you enjoy our coverage of the series, in the future we will look at it more in depth. Consider this as an introduction to the series. To part with, these are some of the shots from the event.

Hashiguti Anderson lost out to Djan in one of the Tandem Battles. I really hope he can participate as many rounds this year, it certainly makes for a more international feeling atmosphere.