It's the driver, not the car. An embarrassment to Ferrari that a 430 can't outrun a C-class. I've always said, many monetary rich Ferrari owners buy the car to show off, but they are poor drivers.
I'd once commented somebody's Ferrari 360 couldn't outrun my Boxster on a B-road. He has hated me every since! (Some people in the stockbroking industry know who I am referring to)
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Not safe on N-S Highway, even in convoy
Sep 8, 2008
By Carolyn Quek & Kimberly Spykerman
THIS is the car that was wrecked in a daring robbery along the North-South highway in Malaysia on Friday.
The Ferrari 430 Spyder was bought only 10 months ago and cost the owner about $900,000.
It was on its way to meet a convoy of about 20 Ferraris and Maseratis, which had set out earlier that morning for Genting Highlands.
But the lone Ferrari found itself pursued by a Malaysia-registered Mercededes-Benz just before Sungei Besi, the exit for Kuala Lumpur.
The Ferrari driver, a businessman who was accompanied by his wife, tried to shake off the pair in the C-Class Merc - unaware that the same duo had made three attempts to rob members of the convoy earlier.
In the end, he was undone by the weather. His metallic-grey car spun out of control and crashed into a railing and another car.
The thugs used a crowbar to smash the vehicle, before dragging the owner out to rain punches on him.
While his wife fled to get help, four other thugs joined in the attack, before running off with the man’s two watches.
Blood on his face, the victim flagged down oncoming vehicles for help.
As luck would have it, a Maserati, which had been part of the convoy he was trying to join, drove by. The driver, lawyer Krishna Ramachandra, had himself managed to shake off that same Mercedes twice earlier.
Members of the convoy, from the Singapore Ferrari Club, returned to Singapore yesterday evening. So too the Ferrari driver and his wife via another car driven by their chauffeur. The damaged Ferrari is being repaired at a workshop here.
The robbery stunned motoring enthusiasts in car and motorbike clubs for whom convoy trips to Malaysia and beyond are becoming an increasingly common weekend past-time.
BMW Motorcycle Club’s committee member Matthew Chua said he was surprised that a convoy was targeted. ‘In a group, it is highly unlikely they will attack you,’ he said.
Most representatives of motoring clubs said they were left well enough alone on the highway, especially if they maintained ‘convoy discipline’.
In most cases, there is always a designated leader as well as a ‘sweeper’ - usually the car that brings up the rear of the convoy. Vehicles are also equipped with long-range walkie-talkies to ensure that the members are able to maintain contact with each other throughout the drive.
This is when they warn each other about slow or fast-moving vehicles and when a vehicle needs to make an unscheduled stop.
In the case of the Ferrari, it was not hooked up to the communication system that the other cars in the convoy were on.
Private fund equity manager Mok Weng Sun, 41, member and leader of the Porsche Club Singapore’s racing team, said his club has formal rules on being part of a convoy. No car, for example, is allowed to overtake another and position has to always be maintained.
When the club makes long trips in convoys of 30 to 40 Porsches, there are experienced drivers in the middle to hold the group together.
While there have been no incidents of robbery or other crimes that he can recall, the club still makes sure it does not invite trouble.
They try not to make too many stops or go into small towns off the highway. For toilet or meal breaks, they will keep to the bigger and more popular rest areas.
Mr Mok said that while cars may occasionally try to get into a race with his Porsche, he ignores their challenges. ‘The key is to not attract unneccesary attention and to stay out of trouble.’
Mr Tony Goldman, 65, safety officer of the Harley Owners Group in Singapore, said: ‘For motorcycles, we have to maintain a strict formation when we ride, and we also don’t encourage overtaking.’
Motorcyclists also either use blue-tooth walkie talkies attached to their helmets or stay in contact through mobile phones.
All these safeguards are to ensure no member of the convoy gets left behind.
Economic Development Board senior officer Justin Choo, 26, and his party of six found themselves lagging behind - and out of walkie-talkie range of - a convoy of seven cars heading up to Kuala Lumpur last December.
They were in a rented Silver Toyota Wish cruising along the North-South Highway when they realised a black BMW tailgating and honking at them. ‘I assumed that he was honking at us to get us to give way to him, but he didn’t give us any time to react before he tried to cut in front of us,’ he recalled.
Several kilometres of zig-zagging later, the BMW cut in front of the Toyota and forced it to the side of the road. The driver got out and started hurling insults, claiming he had a parang in his car.
Mr Choo said: ‘He clearly had a chip on his shoulder because he kept insulting Singaporeans. We had to pacify him. We didn’t even dare get out of the car. If not, things might have got out of hand.’
The man got back into his car on the approach of a highway patrol vehicle.
The fact that the Friday’s convoy consisted of Ferraris and Maseratis - both flashy and expensive sports cars - might well have attracted attention.
But the motor clubs say that it could happen to any car - luxury or not.
Mr Melvin Goh, 52, managing director of Lamborghini Singapore, disagrees.
‘It doesn’t matter what car you’re driving,’ he said. ‘The sheer fact that you’re driving a Singapore car on a foreign road should make you more alert. And Singaporeans should drive more courteously. After all, it’s the Malaysians’ road - you have to give them leeway.’
He alternates between driving his Alfa Romeo and Lamborghini to Malaysia once a week.
As for Maserati owner Mr Krishna, Friday’s scare is not going to stop him driving to Malaysia: ‘This is certainly not going to deter me.’
Terror on N-S Highway
Singapore Ferrari Club members hit by thugs in Merc
09 September 2008
The New Paper
By Karen Wong
WAS it the Singapore-registered flashy cars? Or were the harassing, the high-speed chase, the beating and robbery a flash, unplanned by thugs in a Mercedes?
The flash was the fleet of Singapore-registered Ferraris and Maseratis out for a fun drive up to Genting Highlands. Taking part were about 20 members of the Ferrari Club.
But despite safety measures such as keeping together and communicating with walkie-talkies, it turned out to be a trip filled with the terror of high-speed car chases, three attempted robberies capped by a brutal beating of one Ferrari car owner.
The incident happened on Friday afternoon on the North-South Highway between Malacca and Kuala Lumpur.
The Ferrari Club convoy, which included some Maserati drivers, had left Singapore on Friday morning at about 10am, according to its motorsports director Chia Boon Teck, who was part of the group.
The fleet of about 20 cars was led by the president of Ferrari Club’s Singapore chapter, Dr Ben Neo, the husband of Member of Parliament Lily Neo.
All was well until the group was nearing Malacca.
That was when a black Mercedes-Benz C-Class, with two men inside, flagged one of the cars down.
One of the men produced an identity card.
Meanwhile, the rest of the convoy - who were all hooked up with walkie-talkies - also pulled up along the road shoulder.
Mr Chia told The New Paper on Sunday that the two men had pretended to be custom officers.
But, he said, when the men saw that all the cars had stopped, they pretended it was a misunderstanding and drove off.
Later, the group pulled into a petrol station near Ayer Keroh to refuel.
About 10 minutes after leaving the station, the drivers in the black Merc tried their luck again, this time targeting the cars at the tail-end of the convoy.
They stopped a Maserati. But another Maserati also pulled up.
Mr Chia was one of those who had pulled up along the road shoulder. But he stopped several metres ahead of the two Maseratis.
On hearing through his walkie-talkie that the two men were aggressive, he called the Johor police, he said.
To give the police a point of reference to their location, he drove further up where there were road signs.
Meanwhile, another Maserati driver who had stopped ahead of the two Maseratis decided to reverse his car, along the road shoulder, to back them up.
The two thugs found themselves outnumbered and left - but not before one of them snatched one of the Maseratis’ keys from its ignition and made off with it.
Luckily the driver of that Maserati had brought his spare key along.
Meanwhile Mr Chia, who was on the phone with the police, did not realise that the thugs had left the group of Maserati drivers.
Suddenly, he said, while he was on the phone, the black Merc cut in front of his car.
‘One of them flagged me down aggressively.
‘But I quickly put my car into reverse and shot off.’
Car chase
Mr Chia said that the Merc driver then gave chase.
‘I was travelling close to 200kmh, zig-zagging in between traffic. Then I hit a patch of heavy rain and lost him.’
The rest of the convoy were waiting for them at the Sungei Besi toll, the exit point for Kuala Lumpur.
Mr Chia said that while all that was unfolding, the members of the convoy knew what was happening as they were in communication with one another.
But, they did not realise that another Ferrari Club member was also making his way up to Genting. He was part of the trip, but not part of the convoy, Mr Chia said. It is not clear if he had a walkie-talkie.
As it turned out, this man was driving up behind the group.
Somehow, this driver caught up with the black Merc, whose robbery attempts had been foiled so far.
When the black Merc started chasing this driver, he sensed he was in trouble and he started speeding, hoping to lose the thugs.
‘The Merc tried to bump his car three times, unsuccessfully,’ Mr Chia said.
But when heavy rain came, the Ferrari driver lost control of his car and spun around, before crashing into the rail and another car.
The Ferrari driver and his wife, in the passenger seat, were shaken but fine.
Then, another danger - the black Merc pulled up alongside and used a crowbar to smash the window of his metallic-grey Ferrari.
The two thugs dragged him out of the car, and started punching and kicking him.
Mr Chia said that four more thugs joined the two men in beating the Ferrari owner, who is Malaysian. They then fled with his two watches.
By then, the Ferrari owner’s wife had run off and to get help from passers-by. She was unharmed.
The Maseratis came upon the scene and helped the injured man before making their way to Genting Highlands.
Fearing for the group’s safety, the group called for the representatives from the hotel to escort them to the next toll booth, Karak, from which they were escorted by the police for the rest of their journey.
He said that it was not clear to them if the attack had been pre-planned or just out of the blue.
Another Ferrari owner, who is also a member of the club but was not on this trip, said that going to Malaysia in a flashy car like a Ferrari is like ‘an open ticket for any robber’.
‘When there are more than 10 cars in a group, we are going to draw attention.’
This owner, who has been on more than 20 convoy trips, said that one of the safety measures was that they always drove in a group. ‘The buddy-system has kept me safe so far.’
Hooked up
Mr Chia added that apart from ensuring that every member of the convoy is hooked up with walkie-talkies, they also try to drive ‘tight’, so that each car is not more than 2-km away from the other.
He said: ‘The robbery victim was oblivious to what had happened to our convoy and he was very unfortunate to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.’
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