Loco Racing’s #10 currently holds second place in the Saga Cup Rocco (Novice) category with an overall 990 championship points- 145 points shy from current champion #522, which carries 1135 points in the bag. Ideally speaking, the chances for #10 to grab the champion title is very slim. “If I’m not mistaken, even if i win both heats, I still lose 5 overall points. But anything can happen in a race, right?” Slim chances are still chances that Ahmad, driver for #10, can hope for. One of the best case scenarios for #10 is if #522 Did Not Start (DNS) or Did Not Finish (DNF). That would then make #10 the immediate Saga Cup Rocco champion. But will the odds be in his favor?
Analyzing the situation led Ahmad to believe that it is still possible climb up the scoreboard. “If he (#522) finishes 3rd or 4th, maybe I’d have chance.” He also studied the sector times for both cars and claimed to be faster than #522 despite having a 10km/h disadvantage on the straights. “His car reaches 168km/h on the straights whereas mine could only manage 158km/h.”
Ahmad takes this year’s season as a valuable experience for him and his team, regardless of coming home with first place or not. “Not much more could be done to the car right now but we do have an engine being built for next year. We will be running it for round 6 if time permits.”
“I can see some participants maturing this year but you still see the ‘whack only’ type,” he added.
“The grid line up is also better now.” “I see better enforcement of the rules and regulations now and it will be good to see a stricter enforcement in the future.”
The car sits on Fawster suspension with the alignment done by SMR. The 4G15 head has been hand ported by R3 with the bottom running Kembara pistons. “The (pistons) are common among Saga builders. You can have higher compression pistons that are available in the market but that would lead to more complex modifications and would exceed the capped 1.5L capacity.”
Ultimately, Ahmad aims to become champion and bring exposure to Loco Racing and SMR through the Saga Cup series. Even if he does not finish first, there is hope for next year’s season as “the next engine would be faster,” or so he claims.