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PERSONALITY
52 | FireFlyz
Leona Chin:
Catching Her Drift
Destiny has a habit of showing up unannounced and sometimes, it even knocks twice.
In Leona Chin’s case, it first pitched up at amechanic’sworkshop and then again in an
empty car park.
N
ine
years ago, Leona’s
mechanic remarked
that her 1989 Nissan
Silvia was ideal for
drifting and suggested
she take it out for a
spin. To someone who
had been a gear head since high school
and a regular at the nightly drift events
in Sunway Extreme Park, this was a
golden ticket.
A year later Leona, 27, got herself a
rear wheel drive turbocharged Nissan
180sx and drifted for the first time in an
empty car park. From that night onwards
she practiced the donut and figure eight
drifts over and over again until her bare
hands wept from the blisters.
Once she got the hang of it, she moved
on to competitive drifting to further refine
her skills. Today, Malaysia’s first female
drift racer boasts a tally of close to 80
races and is nowhere near stepping on
the brakes.
What was your first drifting experience
like?
It happened by chance. A friend I
met on a local car forum sat me in
the passenger’s seat of a drift car. The
experience was so different because
instead of slowing down before a corner,
the drifter would charge into it at high
speed while controlling the back end
of the car with the steering wheel and
pedals. When I finally sat in the driver’s
seat, it was love at first drift.
W o r d s :
S t e p h a n i e S t a M a r i a