The New Paper
Va-Va-Vroom
Our writer speaks with William Lyou, a motorsports veteran, who has done it all
Motor Torque
CHERYL TAY
npsports@sph.com.sg
The New Paper, Va Va Vroom, 18 Aug 2010
He was introduced to wheels by his school teacher who gave him rides on a motorbike.
Then, at an age with more guts than brain, William Lyou bought his first motorbike – a second-hand Honda 50 for $400 – when he was 17.
“I was racing motorbikes in the streets first, and I wanted to see how I can make my bike faster than others. Another school teacher then introduced me to cars,” said the 62-year-old semi-retiree.
With a new interest in cars, Lyou borrowed his friend’s Mini 850 and started competing in local motorsports competitions organised by then-Singapore Motor Club, now Singapore Motor Sports Association (SMSA).
His first car race was the 1968 Dunlop Gap Hill Climb at South Buona Vista Road along with his friend Dr Winston Lee whom, he met at a workshop.
Other than hill climbs and sprint races, Lyou also took part in the Singapore Grand Prix at Old Upper Thomson Road in 1968.
He competed in the production saloon class which was a side event to the main race.
With his friend’s Mini 850, he took part in the 10-lap race and finished last of 25 cars but was still awarded a trophy as he was the only competitor in his class.
“It was tremendous encouragement nonetheless and I wanted to race more; then I met with an accident,” Lyou recalled.
It was Lyou’s 20th birthday and he just bought himself the latest Tom Jones LP (long-playing record).
Riding very carefully and slowly after making his purchase, Lyou was hit by a car and fell into a monsoon drain.
“I broke my right leg and I was on crutches for six months. I was very annoyed because at that age you just felt so invincible.
“But the accident made me realise how dangerous riding bikes is. Just a simple crash can break your leg.
“After I recovered, I took my repaired bike and went for one last thrashing to regain my confidence. I charged down the streets and was going round bends so low that the foot rest was touching ground.
“Once I regained the confidence, I decided to do away with bikes for good.”
Between 1969 and 1970, Lyou did not take part in any races and concentrated on recovering from accident and on the car tuning workshop which he started.
In 1971, he built a special racing Mini out of a car which he bought from the junkyard.
Beaten again
After rebuilding it, he took it to the Singapore Grand Prix that year and raced in the production saloon class again. This time he was beaten by local female racer Anne Wong Holloway, whose father owned a tuning garage.
Wong led most of the 25-lap race with Lyou closely behind but, unfortunately, he lost control of his car towards the end of the race and crashed.
Lyou continued taking part in the Singapore Grand Prix until the last one in 1973, when racing got banned with concerns that it promoted reckless driving.
“I turned to go-karting after that. I used to laugh at karting and called it kids’ stuff until my friend Allan Lau challenged me to a race.”
Lyou took up the challenge but lost. Thinking that Lau had a faster kart, he switched karts with him but this time he lost, trailing even farther.
That got him thinking about his driving technique, and so he invested in a second-hand 2-stroke 125cc go-kart for $800.
He then went on to race karts at the Kallang car parks and won the now-defunct Karting Club of Singapore’s first open race in 1978.
In 1980 he opened a go-kart pro shop for two years at Kallang Leisure Drome after closing his tuning workshop.
He stopped racing cars after 1973 as there was no track.
Lyou was appointed motorsports manager of Nissan Rally Team in 1982 where he was hired to prepare and race Nissan Sunny cars for the Formula Shell Economy Rally which he won many times.
He switched to sales in 1994 and moved out on his own to start a car dealership until 2006. Since then, Lyou has been an independent consultant for car sales and technical training as well as advanced driver training.
“Motor racing in the past was like a ‘dirty word’ and seen as a bad boy thing. The local motorsports culture died when the Kallang car parks were closed in 2005,” said the former SMSA president.
“Formula One has revived the interest for motorsports in Singapore but it would be good to have a track of international standard to bring in international races. It was a pity we didn’t get the circuit that was proposed in the eighties.
“People say that motor racing is dangerous but it is not, as I am still alive. It’s not the sport but the driver who is dangerous. For those pursuing motorsports, be dedicated and passionate about your sport.”
Lyou’s concluding thoughts about the local motorsports scene: “This is only the beginning after a drought; at least motor racing is not a dying trend anymore and the sport definitely has a lot of potential to grow.”
Singapore, 1 September 2010 – It was a victorious weekend for Drakar Racing at the fourth round of the inaugural Nescafe Singapore Karting Championship (SKC) 2010. The red and black team colours shone proudly as the team topped three of five categories: Cadet, Junior and Senior. The entire Cadet podium was a 1-2-3 Drakar finish, with championship leader Jon Lee clinching the win along with Glenn Chiam in second and youngest participant Jordan Tay scoring his first podium finish in third. Amin Noorzilan comes home in first place for Junior and Mohammad Nasri Naufal (Opai) sweetens it up with a victory in Senior. These three category winners are also leading the championship with only one more round to go. Keep reading →
