This section collects various general and introductory articles and write ups in relation to my-KART. From time to time, I shall include subjects like the history of my-KART, what we do, the people behind the group, how you can participate etc. This is a good "Readme" reference guide to my-KART. Enjoy!
Please give me feedback on any other items that should be included here.
I first organised a kart event when I was in Price Waterhouse in 1994.
This was after the height of the Prost vs Senna battle in 1993, and the emergence of one Michael Schumacher. We also had Mansell making a cameo. The racing fever for us started long before Malaysia even dreamt of hosting an F1 race. Then I read about a developer in Templar's Park who had converted a piece of land into a temporary karting circuit. We organised two races there before the track closed down once the developer got his permit to develop that very land.
Since then, my infrequent karting activity stopped for a while, and I soon joined Shell. It was only in 1998 at an impromptu kart race at Batu 3, that I found a karting kaki in the name of Shahrul Azlan. We then attempted to form a karting club within the sports club, but failed to get it off the ground.
Fast forward to 2001, and I took over as sports club chairman and immediately introduced karting, with Shahrul Azlan the chief organiser. The first season was a resounding success with about 20 drivers turning up each event. This was no doubt helped by the greater awareness of motorsports in Malaysia -now that we are an F1 host country. 2002 was another successful year with even more participants from within Shell.
In early 2002, I was aching to having a karting reunion for my former PW buddies. We did one at Mofaz Penchala, and were amongst the first to race there. Off an on, I would organise some informal races with some of my karting buddies. And so did Azlan. By mid year, we were aching to have joint karting event to make it more meaningful as opposed to the usual free style events. We soon saw an opportunity to develop a network of karting buddies outside Shell.
Thus in August 2002, my-KART (independent of any company sports club) was formed from a mailing list which combined our karting buddies. We used Yahoo!Groups as the mailing list to manage our communication and event announcements for amateur karters primarily in Klang Valley.
2003 was our first full season of karting with 9 races in total. In 2003, we ran one category (80cc & funkart) which attracted around 15-20 karters each event. During 2003, we were able to -
Early in 2004, we organised 4 half-day coaching sessions over a weekend at Sepang. 22 drivers from the group responded and had the opportunity to learn driving techniques on both the Yamaha 100ccs and the Rotax Max Seniors. The feedback from those who participated exceeded all expectations.
Given the increasing interest, we introduced a new K2 category for 2004 and raised the performance bar to the 100cc category. This is receiving very strong interest. Now, we have two race categories for each event:
Currently event participation is accepted through referrals (member introduce member) with very little publicity. All participants are to subscribe to this website. Total website subscribers now stands at close to 500 people (as at December 2006) which is almost ten times the number at the end of 2003. Each event currently attracts more than 40 karters in total for both K2 and K3 categories.
Recently, we obtained approval for the registration of Kelab my-KART Selangor. With the formation of the club, we would be expanding my-KART's awareness to the wider public.
We are currently growing our group of karters and with the recent pilot of the K1 (125cc) category, we are beginning to see some subscribers getting more serious about their karting. There are more opportunities awaiting us, and we believe we are at the forefront.
Happy karting and safe racing!
Cheers!
Fazz
my-KART.org, or my-KART is a group of people who have the passion for racing and karting in particular. It organises an amateur karting (used to be known as go-kart) league in the Klang Valley, Malaysia. This karting league is called the my-KART DRIVERS series. The emphasis is on safe & fun racing, in a competitive but friendly environment.
A Yahoo! mailing list was established in August 2002 at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/my-kart/to serve as the initial communication medium for members. However, this website serves as the primary platform for communications to members and the wider public.
We aim to popularise grassroots motorsports, specifically karting. By popularising karting, we create more awareness & support of motorsports. More motorsports fans will drive increased exposure for motorsports in the country which will in turn attract more sponsors. Attracting sponsors will be the key to talent development and team formations. Thus building the automotive / motorsports industry in the country. Lofty ideals? Perhaps. Nevertheless, the opportunity is here as long as Malaysia is on the major international motorsports calendar.
To do this, my-KART remains close to its origins, particularly for its members and the racing enthusiasts. We focus on the following general principles:
By doing this, our events -
We will post / upload info documents on this website and on the Yahoo mailing list in the files section. Please feel free to browse our sites and participate in our discussion forums.
You can also find further reading / reference materials -
Most reference materials can be found on the my-KART information menu bar.
Folks
I need your views and feedback on the attached documents:
Please give me your feedback on this thread.
Cheers
Fazz
Saturday 16 June 2007
Citykarting Kart Circuit
Shah Alam Stadium
Kelab my-KART Selangor ("my-kart") was officially and publicly launched today with several members of the print and electronic media, with the participation of around 100 amateur karters. The launch event was aimed at creating awareness to inform recreationally active residents of the Klang Valley of the existance of a club that organises high value and low cost year long karting series.
"Shahrul Azlan Ariffin and I started the club because we love the excitement of racing, but did not have the money to venture into competitive karting or circuit racing," enthused club founder and president Fazlur ("Fazz") Rahman.
"With my-kart, now everyone can race," he beemed.
my-kart positions itself as the Foundation of Motorsports by focusing on the casual amateur karting segment. It organises series to help enthusiasts ease into karting and gradually progress upwards by developing skills, particularly in racing conditions.
"Motorsports in Malaysia is a relatively underdeveloped sport. Right now, its participation and appeal is limited to a very elite and select group of people. What we need is a bigger grassroots foundation of enthusiasts, not unlike the people who play football at the local fields on weekends. We need something very affordable and accessible which will popularise grassroots motorsports," Fazz explained.
my-kart organises monthly races for amateurs on an arrive, pay, and drive basis.
"You do not need to commit to buying any karting equipment. Thanks to kart & track operators like Citykarting and Kartquest, we can race on rental karts and not break the bank," Fazz clarified.
"In addition, my-kart emphasises safety and professionalism in everything that it does. We completely believe that safety and professionalism is a state of mind and an attitude that needs to be ingrained in our participants. We spend a lot of time and personal touch to drive this message amongst our participants. That is why you will find that my-kart members have a very strong personal bond with each other. We are racing with trusted people. This is what makes the racing fun and competitive.
my-kart has been organising rental karting events for the casual amateur since 2002. It currently organises a drivers championship series called the KART series. There are currently 3 categories in the KART series today: the K1 category which is run on 125cc karts, the K2 (100cc) and the K3 (80cc) categories. There are 10 events planned for the 2007 KART series. Saturday's event was round 6 of 10.
In addition to the 10 drivers championship events, my-kart also organises a team championship series called the Inter-Company & Car Club championship, or IC3 for short. This series emphasises teamwork, where strategy is more important than individual skill. The IC3 is targeted at company employees, particularly for those companies with brands associated with technology, development and racing, as well as car enthusiasts and car club members. Each team shall race under the company or car brand.
"The IC3 championship is an important series which we believe will widen the appeal of karting to another segment of people who identify themselves to well known brands in the market. The value that these brands can get from IC3 is a linkage to my-kart's ethos of building the foundations of motorsport -the emphasis being on 'foundations'" Fazz informed.
"Karting is the very basic of motorsports, particularly for open wheel or circuit racing. Technique and track experience is possible through karting, whereas it would be more expensive in full fledge circuit racing. It is also the entry level for anybody who wishes to pursue a career in racing. By having more people involved in karting, we create a group of people who start to appreciate motorsports, and indirectly create wider interest and visibility for the sport and industry."
The focus on the casual amateur over the past many years has been a key factor in my-kart's growing popularity. Today it attracts an average of 60 participants per half day event. The key has been low cost, high value with emphasis on safety, professionalism and plain fun racing. Participants do not compete for prizes and the events are currently self funded by participants and unpaid volunteer members.
Moving forward, my-kart aims to expand its appeal, in particular to the student segment by addressing affordability, development and safety aspects through co-operation with the corporate sector.
"Even rental karting is considered an expensive recreation for many, thus limiting local participation. Based on our member feedback we know that there is a high level of interest in karting as a recreation. To some, karting is even a sport of choice. The key is to generate wider and regular publicity for my-kart's activities and in particular the KART and IC3 series. To do this, we seek corporate contribution to help fund the operations cost as we further enhance the safety management and skills development aspects of our events, so that the participation cost to the casual amateur remains low," Fazz stressed.
"In this respect, we would like to thank ING, Shell, TeleVAS, Table Talk and Citykarting Enterprises for the support given for our launch event. Also special thanks goes to His Excellency Lody Embrechts the Ambassador for the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The launch has been a great success and we believe that these companies are paving the way for the role of the corporate sector in social and sports-industry development. The value in the motorsports industry is yet to be tapped and there is enormous growth potential here," Fazz stated in closing.
Further information on my-kart can be found at their official website at http://www.my-kart.org/ or Fazz can be contacted at 019-3855 055. One time membership joining fee is only RM10, and annual subscription is RM120. Family members will enjoy preferential membership rates. Members will enjoy various karting benefits as well as special discounts on related purchases.
Folks - It has been sometime since we discussed my-KART's sub-project "Racing for Children".
I strongly believe that my-KART has an important social role in building for our future. The synergies between "building racing talent" and building our nation is something that can and should be leveraged to great effect. To me we (Malaysia) suffer from a low supply of talent making their way into racing. The root problem is affordability. And given a large percentage of families not being able to spend on luxuries such as karting, the need for my-KART to play a social role is even more important. "Racing for Children" is therefore key. And I would like to thank Brian E for the concept... but I would like to see some fruits of this idea become real.
I would therefore like to stimulate some discussion on this subject with a view to get some clarity on the following points:
__________________________
http://www.thefazz.com/me
Fellow myKARTers,
I invite all members to participate in building the foundations for myKART as it embarks on its journey towards popularising grassroots motorsports in the 21st century. As is often said, the sky is the limit: for just more than two years myKART has established a reputation as the best kept secret in karting. This should no longer be a secret, and the time is ripe for myKART to be a significant player in the country's motorsports ambitions. This journey will be tough initially, but shall be sustainable and rewarding to all stakeholders.
Therefore, we shall have the 1st myKART Foundation Conference within the next 2 months. All interested myKART members are welcomed to participate in the Foundation conference in a collaborative manner. Those with special links to media and influential figures in the industry will be most helpful.
These "Foundation" members will be tasked with delivering the following:
Foundation members are expected to be able to commit time and resources to this project. Also expect rewards to be deferred until myKART achieves critical mass and sustainable profitability.
I shall be working to identify a suitable location for the Conference. I expect the Conference to last a whole day with a dinner/karaoke to round it up. Costs of the conference will be shared by participants.
Please keep checking this website for the formal event notification, but in the meantime, please register your interest by posting a comment to this topic.
May we all play a significant role in motorsports in the country.
Cheers
Fazz
"Forza myKART!"
__________________________
http://www.thefazz.com/me
Since 2002, myKART has been fairly successful in meeting the needs of a growing niche of grassroot karters and motorsports enthusiasts.
Going forward, our plans must remain focussed on myKART's main purpose to popularise grassroots motorsports in the country. We need to take small steps first.
I invite all of you to discuss in our open forums.
As an immediate step, I'd ask you to discuss with me on the following subjects (please keep the discussions within those threads as linked below):
We will never solve everything, but the more material and feedback that we collectively have, the better we can respond to the growing needs of members. We all thrive on feedback to keep us progressing on an ever improving path. Your feedback will be valuable to prioritise our developments and actions.