Friday, October 3, 2008
Article By Ringo Chong.
Finally the day has arrived and I am driving on my home track, it's something that I have waited all my life. The atmosphere was electrifying. So many spectators and so grand! The track was very interesting and demanding, lot's of hard braking and 90 deg turns. In order to go fast, you need to use the kerbs and stay close to the walls and maximize the entire track. It was also very bumpy and braking lines are slightly different then usual.It was an interesting experience for me to drive over 200 km/h on my home ground and going flat out in corners that I would usually drive no more then 60 km/h.The track gave me a very special feeling and I have never experienced it any where else in the world. It was an emotional experience but I didn't have the time to savour much of it as I had learn the track and drive as fast as I can within 30 mins. It wasn't an easy task as the truth is : The more careful you are the slower you become, the
more chances you take the easier for you to encounter the wall!I try pushing the Aston hard and very soon found out that the brakes didn't managed to hold out the 23 turns. The track was very demanding on brakes if you want to have fast times.Only managed to do 5 laps before retiring back to pits and almost crashing into Sasaki rear in the pit lane as I couldn't stop at all.
Qualifying day.
The crew did some work to my car by adding additional cooling hoses and re bleeding the entire brake system. After 3 laps the same problem persisted but wasn't as bad as practice day.Paddle feel was soft and travel was longer then usual.I didn't managed to set a fast lap due to traffic on the first 3 laps and after that my tires were already off it's peak. I pushed hard later trying to go faster but clipped the kerb going into the Anderson bridge, it threw the alignment off and that was the end of my qualifying session. Managed 4th.Race Day.
More brake bleeding were done to the car and alignment re checked. My engineers had a strategy to conserve the car for the race. I was told to stay back from the front pack and wait, attack on the last 3 laps when they signal me. We knew the brakes wouldn't last more then 6 laps if pushed hard.The rolling start was easy to catch drivers off guard as it's easy to get a penalty if you move a bit too far of the front car and that was what Danny Watts the number 2 position did. I was smiling when I saw him passing Sasaki before the start line. I knew I was third position already. Dilantha the series leader was right behind me and started to attack into Turn 1, I had to defend and cover myself all thru until after T7 when I had a slight gab from him.
The front 3 were still fighting until Danny spin and crashed out in T5. After that it was Christian the ex German F1 driver taking his turn at Sasaki. I followed and brake as lightly as I could to save the brakes from over heating again. They were pulling about 1 sec a lap from me but I knew that the difference would be more then 5 secs a lap when the brakes fades. I kept my cool and played the waiting game but it all went wrong after a car crashed before Anderson Bridge and the safety car came out to slow the entire pack down. We were behind the safety car for the next 2 laps before we started again. It gave them the chance to cooled their brakes and recover.
Dilantha was very close to me at the 2nd stat and he attacked again, I had to defend again and cannot focus to race with the front 2 cars!He almost passed me into turn 2 but I managed to hold him off. It was very close, we almost touch twice.I pushed hard to pull away from him, I didn't want to lose my podium finish on the last lap.
By the time I had some breathing space from Dilantha, Sasaki and Christian were about 2 sec away from me, I tried but knew chance were slim to be fighting with them and stay contented to my childhood dream of finishing on the podium for something that I have waited for 35 years!
For next year I will work hard to be in the middle of the podium and want to hear our national anthem playing!
Ringo Chong became the first Singaporean driver to finish on the podium at the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix event and indeed, the only Singaporean driver to have such an honor
over the Grand Prix weekend, when he finished third in the Aston Martin Asian Cup.
Ringo comes from a background of motorsport. Ringo's father, Chong Boon Seng, was one of the 'pioneers' of motor-racing in Singapore in the late sixties. He finished second in his Lotus 23B in the last ever Singapore Grand Prix ,Sport and GT race in 1973. Exactly 35 years on; his son Ringo is to go down in the Singapore motorsport history by finishing third in the Aston Martin Asian Cup at the support race of the world's first ever night race; and thus rising the Singapore flag on the podium again.
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