Hey everyone! First of all, I’d like to thank Tom Goh and the team at zerotohundred for giving me the opportunity to work with them. I haven’t maintained a blog since I was breaking into my teenage years, so I’ll try my best!
Firstly, an introduction. I am an 18-year-old Malaysian – my mum is Malay and my dad is British. Kuala Lumpur has been my home my whole life, and it has recently seen me graduate from the Alice Smith International School, where I’ve toiled through 14 years of education.
Motorsports, particularly Formula 1, has always been a sport that has had close links to my childhood. One of my earliest and fondest memories would be huddling around the TV at dinnertime with my family to watch the Sunday evening races and devouring a box of pizza. It was safe to say that my earliest career ambition was to be a Formula 1 driver – and is an aspiration that stays with me to this day.
My first experience behind the wheel was at the Shah Alam go-kart circuit in 2007. My family and I went down to try the rental karts to occupy an afternoon, and I was hooked since. For my 12th birthday in 2008, my dad bought me a 2-month training package at Sepang in a kart academy that covered all the basics of driving. After the course was finished, I entered my first race in the Yamaha SL Cup, and I haven’t looked back. It wasn’t long before I got myself on the podium (in my third ever race), and soon enough I was winning races, with championship titles in my sights. My racing exploits have seen me privileged enough to travel around the world at a fairly young age, representing Malaysia at karting events all over Asia, as well as world championships in Italy and Portugal.
Last year I made my debut in single-seater formula cars in the Asia Cup Series, racing the FBO2 Formula BMW racecar. The season ended with the Malaysian Championship under my belt, and the overall championship only 4 points away. This year, I’ve made a return to the Asia Cup, as well as making my debut in the Formula Masters China Series. As for my 2015 plans – all is yet to be revealed in good time, so stay tuned!
Keeping up with my academic studies became a real challenge as I got into my GCSE and A-Level exams, but I’m glad to say that I’ve gotten over those hurdles. Now that high school is behind me, I’m currently undertaking a gap year and have put university on hold, all in order to pursue my motorsports career. 2015 will essentially be my “make it or break it” year, and I hope to maximise every single day that I’m given. My dad has been my motivation and rock, sacrificing so much to keep my passion alive – I only hope that I can make him proud in the upcoming year.
Now that you know more about me, I’ll tell you a bit more about this blog. I’ll try and update this as much as I can, giving you all an insight into my weekly adventures. This upcoming year should be pretty exciting, so I can only hope that I can convey the adrenaline of my year into my writing. I have always envisioned myself one day heading a monthly article in Top Gear, so I will try and maintain a Jeremy-Clarkson-esque style of writing so you don’t get too bored!
And on that bombshell, we’ve come to the end of my first entry. Happy reading!
Dan
You can follow Daniel on his social media accounts.
Instagran – @DanielWoodroof
Twitter – @DanielWRacing
Facebook – Daniel Woodroof
