RC – Biography Alvin Koh

My name is Alvin Koh, like many other boys, I loved cars since I was a child. The first word I spoke wasn't mom or dad but "car". My dad told me that my eyes only lit up whenever cars drove by. I was probably destined to be car's best friend. My mom bought me lots of toy cars when I was very young, some radio controlled ones from Tomy, Nikko and die cast from Hotwheels, Matchbox etc.

I'm a relatively late starter in R/C racing, at the age of 15 (1996). My first car was partially financed by my most loving Grandmother and some of my pocket money. I managed to buy a Tamiya FF (Jaccs civic) with an Acoms radio and some old Tamiya NiCad batteries from my eldest cousin.

I acquired most of my driving techniques from my first car (Tamiya FF01), often chasing hard behind the 4WDs of Tamiya TA-02s, Kyosho PureTen EP Spiders and HPI RS4s. Chassis setup was alien to me. I got to know many good friends along the way and some of them remain my best in life. I was recruited into (privateer) team Monster Motorsports as a race driver while I drove my friend's highly modded Yokomo YR4 series. We raced together in Malaysia for a short time and enjoyed reasonable success before everyone moved on with other things in life.

Milestone 1

My first win came after the track was rain soaked and I drifted my way to my first milestone. I drove a Kyosho TF2 with competitive equipment (Thanks to a good friend who decided to give up the hobby for studies) which he sold me at "student price", TQed and won. It was an amazing feeling. Although I would have preferred to win in "normal" circumstances, but the win allowed me to make new discoveries to my driving and most importantly, self belief. The experience in leading a race was intense, especially being the first time, but I grew as a driver. Subsequent races became much easier and I was always at the sharp end of the grid challenging for podiums, if not wins.

I kept on racing and fortunately found myself local sponsorships along the way with Corally (C4 & SP12 G3), Yokomo (MR4TC), HPI (Pro 4) and finally Tamiya. I was also fortunate to have equipment sponsors from Racecraft Infinity (Mr BK Lim). My first supported car kit was TB Evolution, which won me many races in the local Tamiya Championships numerous times. With the new sponsorship, it took me to a whole new level, exposing myself to international races in Asia. I soon raced with TRF 41X series cars.

Milestone 2

I made another milestone when I won back to back Tamiya Asiacup Championships in 2004 Tamiya asiacup (F201 class) in Hong Kong and 2005 (Expert Class) in Singapore. In both years, I competed in the world Championships in Japan and finished 14th and 4th respectively. More notable for 2005, I drove the TB-Evo4 and finished ahead of both TRF drivers Satoshi Maezumi and Kiyokazu Suzuki. It was also the same event I witnessed how fast Ronald Volker was in his fixed-ratio TA05, which finished a whole lap faster than all of us in TRF class. I knew how much I need to work on, both driving and setup knowledge to be truely world-class.

I continued to have many good races with Tamiya Singapore (Stargek Pte Ltd), however I could'nt fully commit to R/C as work responsibilities caught up. I did my best whenever I could invest time in R/C racing while balancing a life without racing.

I went on to compete in F1 simulators in 2006 (RBS) and won myself a trip to Valencia (Circuit Ricardo Tormo) to experience F1, test drive Formula ford and racing go-karts with Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima (then with Team Williams F1). I was runner-up the second year and had much fun competing once again.

Milestone 3

In 2013, Stargek officially form Team Tamiya-SG. We had strong representatives in Stock racing as well as Mechanic Chhua Joo Kiah to support us for every race. I benefited alot from a very understanding partnership with Stargek Pte Ltd, supporting me whenever I was able to race.

A local series race was formed that year and it was called the "Elite Series" organized by Raceworks hobbies. The stakes are high and I am privileged to partner the now grown-up and super fast Nicholas Lee driving the Tamiya TRF 417 V5. Competition was stiff, notably from Team X-Ray and Yokomo. However, Team Tamiya-SG was well-equip with Hobbywing Escs supported by Razor R/C. Nicholas ran his Reedy powered motor, while Stargek supported me with Pro-Spec motor and Silverback batteries.

We went into the season hoping to finish a strong 1-2 for the team, testing different setups and additives to make the car work at its optimal. After a long and hard fought season, I was the eventual winner, with Nicholas finishing 3rd overall despite a very unlucky season. I was very happy that one of us managed to claim the overall championship for the team when the other was plagued with bad luck (It happens in racing). The takeaways for this season is priceless, learning very much from 2012 Ifmar World Champion Jilles Groskamp on how important teamwork is, this has paid dividends for the team in Elite Series.

Moving forward

The future remains exciting for the team. I hope to achieve more along the way and I wish my team mate Nicholas Lee all the best for the all important World Championship Year for 2014.

Special Thanks
Corally: Tay Wui Kiat
HPI: Julia C, Mr Seah, Nigel Lim
Tamiya: Andrew Law

Racecraft Infinity: BK Lim
Imminent RC: John
Stargek Pte Ltd: Andrew Law
Razor R/C: Raymond Lau
Hobbywing: Salton Dong

2005 Asiacup SG: Peter and Nicholas Lee