At 10:30am on 22nd November 2009, the much awaited Macau GT Cup race is held on the Guia Circuit in Macau. Lamborghini GT3 driver Keita Sawa beats three times Macau winner Darryl O’Young to take the race win. British driver Daniel Watts finished in third place. Bufori Motor Company’s Bufori BMS R1, racing for the first time in its world debut, had an accident at Lisboa corner and sadly retired from the race.
The race began with a rolling start, Alex Yoong’s Bufori BMS R1 started in 28th position. Right after the start, he began to show the car’s potential by passing many cars. At the end of the first racing lap, he was already in 23rd position, with a best lap of 3:00.388.
But in the following laps, many accidents happened on the track, two Chevrolets and a Ginetta retired from the race. The race organizers decided to send out the safety car. During the safety car period, no overtaking is allowed.
At the end of lap 4, the safety car left the track and the race is re-started. Just as Alex Yoong is shaping up for another overtaking move, he had an accident at the Reservoir Bend, brushing the barriers with the right rear of his car. A piece of debris from the track got in the car and jammed the throttle, so Alex decided to stop the car.
“At the start, I passed a few car and at Mandarin Oriental Bend I passed another car around the outside. Then I went into Lisboa side by side with a Ferrari and although he tapped me at San Franciso Bend, I was able to accelerate up the hill and overtake him. Unfortunately I brushed the barriers and then debris from the track caused the throttle to be stuck. Without power I had to stop. It is a sad end to the race and I am sorry for my mistake.” Alex Yoong said.
But Alex also feels that the car is much better than yesterday already. It was already faster than some of the cars in front and it has huge potential. “In just 9.5 weeks, we have arrived in Macau with a brand new, completely Asian designed and built sportscar. This kind of project has never been done in Asia, except in Japan. Today on the track, we have beaten the likes of Aston Martin and we were racing with Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche...etc. Without any testing, we were already the quickest GT4 car in today’s race. The car has amazing potential.”
The team and the car will now return to Malaysia for repairs and testing at Sepang Circuit. Both cars and the two drivers: Alex Yoong and Frank Yee will be driving. “We still have a lot of work to do, there is a lot of oversteer, we need to add a rear wing and get more horsepower, because we were losing power on the straight.”
BMS Team Principal, Bufori Global distributor, BMS Sales & Marketing (BSM) CEO Mr. Joe Lim said, “Although we only completed four laps, the race experience has provided the team with a lot of useful data. Whether in the development of the CS road car or the BMS R1 race car, it will be a great help. This is also why we entered this race in the first place: implementing race developed technology and utilizing the race experience on our road car.” Mr. Joe Lim also mentioned that the both the Bufori BMS R1 and the Bufori CS road car will appear in the Beijing Auto Show in April 2010. Bringing Bufori’s hand crafted sportscar to the Chinese market. “We will insist on using race car technology to develop our road cars. Therefore next year we will take part in the Asian GT Masters. That will be the time when we will show our true potential.”
Photo & Text Credits: Bufori Motor Car Company (M) Sdn Bhd
