by Cyan Muirhead & Karen Tho (Communication Interns)
November marks the month where roads on the Macau Peninsula are closed off, rainbow-coloured seats are set up, and the intense sound of motors revving are heard throughout the streets. It’s a special month for many, including one particular student who dreams and enjoys the thrill of speed. “I like racing; I like to push a lot of things to the limits,” he comments. “Just to be in something fast is really fun.” TIS grade 11 student, Charles Leong will be racing in the Suncity Group FIA Formula 3 World Cup at the Macau Grand Prix for first time this weekend.
Charles’ racing journey has progressed quickly, transitioning from Formula 4, a category intended for young drivers, to breaking time records in the Asian Formula Renault Series in June 2017, to becoming eligible for the more skilled category, Formula 3. Charles recalls the events that helped him reach this point in his racing career, “In Grade 2, there was a school trip to a theme park in Guangzhou, there was a small karting track. We went on it, and it was really fun. A year later, I started indoor karting in Zhuhai. In grade 4, I started coming to Macau to practice on the go-karts and raced pro karting. When I was 13, I was into formula cars and Formula 4s which led to racing Formula Renault when I was 15. [For me to get into racing], there were a lot of connections and luck involved. You need to choose which step to take.”
Of course, honing your craft does have its challenges. Charles admits he had to miss school last week so he could practice. “[Racing is] not like any other sport. For example, in football, the ball is that size forever, but with racing, we need to adapt to different cars and tracks. It’s a lot of preparation: A lot of meetings, sponsor events, track walks. We need to walk around the track because there are a lot of things that we can’t see from inside the car. It’s really hard to find the time to train because they need to sort out the time we get on the track. When we don’t have time to use the track, we use the simulator. We do a lot of neck exercises and some full body exercises.” Charles goes on to tell us how the school and teachers at TIS have been very supportive of his racing career, allowing him to take time out to train and assisting him to keep up with his schoolwork, “I know some of my racing friends from Hong Kong have to use sickness as an excuse to take time out for training.”
When asked about his plans after high school, Charles wasn’t certain. “I don’t know, racing is too complicated. [It’s] more than what people think; there are a lot of challenges and money involved. We need to [keep a good public image] and not do anything stupid in front of people. It is a very expensive sport so we have to find sponsors. This year I am sponsored by the Macao government and a private company, Evisu.”
Charles is excited to take on the challenge at the upcoming FIA Formula 3 race at the Macau Grand Prix. “It’s pretty exciting to race in Macau because it’s my first time [racing here] and I think I am the youngest this year. Macau is really special for racers; all of the best track racers went here before. It is a very special track that has a lot of walls and fast corners. It’s a really challenging track, one of the toughest in the world.” Charles will be racing with the Hitech GP team and will be up against many experienced racing car drivers including the 2018 FIA F3 European champion, Mick Schumacher (son of Michael Schumacher).
The 2018 Macau Grand Prix takes place this weekend from November 15-16, Thursday to Sunday.