Proton and new local competition. Perhaps they could consider an additional revenue stream?

Lotus, who I am hoping to interest in my proposal... Are owned by a Malaysian company DRB Hicom, who have many divisions, Defence, Post, Automotive etc...
Proton was started by Tun Mahathir, and was recently owned by the Government. It is now privately owned.
Up until now taxis in Malaysia were mostly Protons. Now that is about to change. Toyota products have now received official blessing.
Toyota Innova MPV officially unveiled as TEKS1M cab - (Paul Tan)

Tun Mahathir is now the Chairman of Proton and Lotus. I cannot speak on his behalf, but I suspect that he will not welcome the competition!

Protons Malaysia market share in the past 10 years has dropped considerably, this won't help.

In England, my local garage stopped selling Protons a couple of years ago.

Proton, have agreements in place with Honda and Suzuki to share platforms and technology, and their new vehicles will reflect that...

Lotus will be building their next new vehicle, an SUV in China. Here is a small portion of todays Malaysian Reserve article:
The market presence of Lotus cars in China was done via Goldstar Lotus Automobile Co Ltd, a JV company between the three parties. Proton, Lotus and Goldstar will own 40%, 10% and 50% respectively in the JV company, which will cost up to 10 billion yuan (RM6.15 billion).

I am not an insider... So I don't know for sure if this is being based on an existing platform, Proton Exora being the most obvious, or with the Lotus Toyota connection, they use their engines, possibly a Toyota platfom, or as Proton have agreement with Honda and Suzuki possibly something they currently use...

Building from scratch would only make sense if it were to be a global platform possibly, selling it back to one of their OEM partners. Car Makers do that, but I'm not sure that is going to happen. You would really need an agreement up front to do that. The Platform would then have to be designed around your needs and that of the sharing OEM.

I certainly wish them all the best!

It would be nice if they could leverage their brands, particularly Lotus in a more out of the box way. My proposal does that... However, it seems a lot of people think I'm out of my box proposing it!

Here's a video showing a couple of losers talking about something similar.

Alastair Campbell was Tony Blair's media man, and Brian Barwick was the CEO of the FA.
The College is now a physical entity, here is a promo Video.

Lastly, I saw this video on youtube: I attended an ASLI conference with Alex. He was the most photographed man there!

I know a couple of other drivers from my time in Malaysia who would love to driving in this!

 

Caterham not Group Lotus to produce Renault sports car?

Group Lotus were rumoured to have a contract with Renault to partner in the design of the new Renault Alpine.
Reports today say that Caterham, who are a Renault customer in F1, and who appointed a Renault executive, Cyril Abiteboul, as their new F1 CEO recently, will be signing the partnership deal.
Joe Saward, a Caterham cars Director and journalist recently wrote an article:
Who is Cyril Abiteboul?
Apparently, Caterham will also produce a new car from the same Renault platform!

So the first new Caterham car under Tony Fernandes will be based on this cars platform.

Group Lotus must be very p'd.

I have in the past been in contact with Caterham over my proposal. At the time I didn't know it! I spent a couple of days with Alex Yoong at the ASLI Automotive conference 2009.

Soon after Alex took up a position with Tony Fernandes as the trainer/talent spotter for Lotus now Caterham F1.

He still has contact to Group Lotus heirarchy through DRB-Hicom.

Maybe it's not too late for Caterham and Lotus to work together. Who knows! (I don't)

As far as my MUM proposal is concerned I would be happy to work with DRB-Hicom, Caterham or Petronas if we are talking about Malaysian companies.

Obviously, I don't have any negative history with any of these entities.

Exciting times!

My new promo video for charity book. Group Lotus suspend 3 Managers.

Whilst waiting for things to come together on the Motorsport University project, I have made a short video.
This video promotes the book 'Innocence lost in the ice cream forest'

I hope you enjoy it. It's a webcam video I made at home. No professional
studio, no script. Just truthful and to the point.
BUY THE BOOK!
I am due to speak on radio on Thursday 12 July. You can get the broadcast in America.
I hope it helps sales.

This morning (Friday 29 June 2012) I see that Group Lotus have suspended 3 more Senior Managers from Group Lotus.
http://www.edp24.co.uk/business/three_group_lotus_managers_are_suspended_1_1425520

The suspended managers are believed to be part of the legal, human resources and finance teams at the Hethel-based car maker.

The decision is thought to have been made by DRB Hicom’s board in Malaysia and not by the firm’s new chief operating officer Aslam Farikullah, who took over the day to day running of the company following the departure of Mr Bahar.

It seems Lotus is in the eye of a storm. Sad to say, nothing new there!

DRB-Hicom assemble cars for several OEM's. Here is a picture I copied from Paul Tan. Here you can see the Hicom MD (middle) Dato Kamil at the release of an Audi model in KL Malaysia.

With him are Alex Yoong and Dr Mahathirs son, Dato Mukhriz.

http://paultan.org/2012/06/29/audi-q3-launched-2-0-tfsi-170-hp-rm258k/

Alex works for Caterham as a talent spotter/trainer. He also works for ESPN as an F1 pundit and still drives competitively. I attended 2009 ASLI Automotive conference with him. He is a big personality in Malaysia. I have never been photographed so much in life!
I used to have a commendation from Alex supporting my MUM project on my webpage. He asked me to remove it. Obviously, a misunderstanding.

Those in favour... Please speak up!

Still waiting for the Green light for the project. I had no idea I could be this patient!
It is my hope that Tun Mahathir likes the idea and puts in on the Proton/Petronas table for discussion and financing.
It would be nice to think that my name would appear on the ensuing org chart.
I read on a blog (Lotusbuzz) that the old Group Lotus CEO is in hospital with a lung condition.

My only contact with him was by telephone. It was obvious that many people had spoken to him about me. Mostly in order to ensure that I was not hired!

One thing I would like to clear up. I do not have an axe to grind with anyone associated with the Hethel Engineering Centre. The previous head of engineering Dave Tait was instrumental in setting the centre up. I met the man once and shook his hand. He seemed to be very personable. End of story.

I don't intend to answer any other accusations or libelous statements. I do occasionally wonder what makes some people tick.

I'm sure that Tun Mahathir is his own Man and will see through the BullsDoody and make up his own mind.

It would be nice if those who see merit in this would speak up.

Once again for those of you who cannot envisage this, here is a link to the SkySports video on the Burnley football college... 'Why has nobody thought of it before?'   -Brian Barwick FA Chief Executive 2005 - 2008

Formula1.com has an article on how a former F1 in schools student got a job at Red Bull F1 team. Adrian Newey is a patron of F1inschools. It reads like an adfomercial.
Here's the link: A dream realised - from F1 in Schools to Red Bull Racing

I read on the forums that Tony Fernandes was interested in buying Group Lotus at one point, pre Dany Bahar I imagine. I attended an ASLI Auto conference with Alex Yoong a couple of years ago. Alex told me he had met a Lotus Engineering Man on a plane who had suggested he do some work with Lotus Engineering Malaysia (Part of Group Lotus).
Alex now does Driver development for Team Lotus...
Here is his boss on CNN:

All things Lotus lead to Malaysia!

It's official Team Lotus or 1MalaysiaF1 now own Caterham.
Team Lotus is owned by Tony Fernandes and his partners.

I've just posted this comment on the Independent site:
This is great news. Now Team Lotus have an F1 team which feeds into a sports car manufacturer.
Group Lotus must be very jealous!

The Independent also wrote a negative article on the UK coalition governments attempts to encourage private Universities in Britain. I have to say I think a well run Motorsport University would be great! I am a little biased though...

Westfield has entered an agreement with DRB-Hicom to assemble and import their cars... the Lotus 7  replica being the most well known.

Group Lotus is owned by Proton.
Oh well... There is something quintessentially British about Malaysia.

For a country that hardly buys any Lotus cars they certainly are into the brand.

From the Motorsport University perspective Caterham and Westfields allow the students to self assemble and are much cheaper than the real Lotuses coming down the line.

This combined with Team Lotus actually being an F1 team would have a great synergy.

Group Lotus have the finance and political clout to make this happen. They don't appear to have the will.

When I was punting the idea around in KL. Tony Fernandes partners NAZA were often mentioned as bumiputra entrepreneurs who might be interested in the project. Alex Yoong knows all about my plans. He is part of their team. Lets see what transpires.

Interesting times.

Out with the old in with the new!

This is my last entry for this year.

My previous entry was sent to Group Lotus top management.

Motorsport university ... Show me the money... Billions

Here is a small portion...

^{Using this as a template: 1 million students would mean 10 billion dollars revenue.}

^{This is far more than I projected using Malaysian Open University figures 4-5 billion Malaysian Ringitt (1 billion plus American dollars)}

^{Presently Phoenix seems to operating on an income that is 13.4% of Revenue...}

^{On a 10 billion Dollar revenue that would be 1.34 Billion dollars a year.}

 ^{So far no reply}

^{During the ASLI Conference I used the 1 billion Dollar figure as the total revenue stream. I may well have undersold the project.}

^{Never mind.}

^{In 2009 I attended ASLI with Alex Yoong as my guest.
Alex was Mister popularity and got some work out of the conference (Bufori). Later joined the Tony Fernandes F1 team (now Team Lotus) as Driver Development coach.}

^{This year I attended with a couple of my team. People are aware of the project.}

^{Here is Tony with some of his 2010 friends. (Courtesy of lotusbuzz)}

^{Times change.}

^{I fully expect the project to get funding in 2011.} 

^{Goodbye 2010... Hello 2011}

Tony Fernandes may not use Team Lotus name, although he legally owns it. ASLI Automotive conference coming soon. Go it should be interesting.

Renault have sold their 25% share in the F1 team to Proton.
Proton will now spend Euro30 million a year for the privelege of promoting the Lotus brand. Tony Fernandes has stated he does not intend to have two Lotus named cars in F1. I have to assume we will now have an Air Asia /Tunes / Naza named car on the grid.
http://paultan.org/2010/11/13/telephone-interview-with-tony-fernandes-of-lotus-racing/
Tony now owns the Team Lotus name.
Oh well.
I'd be happy to use the Team Lotus name in relation to my MUM proposal.
Base it in Johor. MUM could quite happily co-exist with both Tony and Proton as an independent educational entity.
I will be at the ASLI automotive conference in a couple of weeks. I'll punt the idea around there.
http://www.asli.com.my/cgi-bin/event_calendar.cfm

This years conference will have a Motorsport portion.
http://www.asli.com.my/cgi-bin/details.cfm?type=conference&id=286

It would be nice if Alex Yoong and Tengku Djan could attend.
Alex works with Tony Fernandes.
http://paultan.org/2009/09/26/alex-yoong-lotus-f1-deputy-team-principal/

 Djan is head of Proton Motorsport



I'm sure that Proton will send some big hitters, I'm not sure about Group Lotus (Dany Bahar) or Tony Fernandes.

Tun Mahathir is a keynote speaker...
Resolve Lotus issue amicably, urges Mahathir

It should be interesting in any event!

I am a speaker at ASLI Automotive Conference in December. Lotus to produce IRL Aero Package?

I have been invited to present my MUM proposal.

The conference is in December.
Hopefully, by that time I will have some positive developments to report!

This will coincide with the KL Auto show.
Motorsport and it's influence, educational and otherwise will be on the agenda.


It would be nice if members of Team Lotus made an appearance. I'm not sure about Group lotus. Last year top level Proton management attended. The then Group lotus CEO also made a short appearance.
Hopefully, this year the new CEO Dany Bahar will feature.
Last year Alex Yoong was my guest. I hope he returns this year.

Since last year a new entity Lotus Racing headed by Tony Fernandes has come into existence.
1Malaysia F1Team are a new F1 team presently based in Norfolk. Long term, they will be based in SepangF1, where they are setting up a centre.

I have to ask the question. From a racing perspective Tony Fernandes run the F1 team. Group Lotus run a Lotus branded team in the American IRL series (I used to volunteer at the old CART Belle Isle race).
However, Here is a portion of a recent Autosport article:

The Lotus Group is already involved in the branding of Takuma Sato's KV Racing car.

 Lotus Racing boss Tony Fernandes hinted at an increased role (for Lotus F1 racing) after yesterday's announcement.

"Lotus Racing congratulates the IndyCar Series on this exciting news and supports the revolutionary concept of a standard safety cell with various manufacturers producing aero kits," he said.
"We look forward to seeing more details on this future car strategy, and hopefully, allow our involvement in the series."

 Team Lotus (1malaysiaf1 team) obviously have an aerodynamic team in place, computational and physical (wind tunnel).

A small part of an interesting article from SpeedTV.
Open Source Aero
• It is still frustratingly undefined, but the panel will require aero kits to be made available to whomever wants to buy one. Whether that means HVM Racing can buy the current version of a Ganassi aero kit, or if a Ganassi would get to use the kit for an exclusive period before others could buy it is unknown

Maybe we can expect a few Air AsiaX and 1Malaysia decals on next years IRL car(s)?

The new IRL rules allow for several engine manufacturers. Lotus (both team and group) have agreements with Cosworth. See if anything develops there.

This is my slideshare presentation:

Motorsport University Malaysia

View more presentations from johnsean.

Lotus range extender. Fagor Ederlan to productionise engine. F1 intoduces 107% rule

Well Proton and Lotus management have now been locked in a room for two days. Brainstorming.
I was not in the room. So nothing to report!
A couple of years ago I went to the Geneva motor show. I was supposed to meet Mike Kimberley, at that time Group lotus CEO. Mike got called away.
I was fortunate enough to speak with a few of the engineers. A version of the range extender engine was on show then. It is nice to see it is being productionised.
pic borrowed fron Automotiveworld.com

The BBC reports that F1 will reapply the 107% rule for qualifying.
Among other changes are a re-introduction of the 107% rule, which prevents any driver whose quickest time in the first qualifying session is slower than 107% of the fastest from taking part in the race.
I believe that Lotus F1 are too strong to fall foul of this rule. It will keep the new boys on their collective toes.
Sitting in the paddock watching the race as a spectator would be a very embarassing situation for any team or Driver.
It be interested to hear Alex Yoong talk about this rule on the weekend.  I like Alex, but sadly he has some negative experience with this...

Returning to the range extender engine. I have just viewed a video of Mark Reuss discussing GM's Volt. GM have built their own range extender.
I worked with Mark in the past. I'm pleased he has done well for himself. General Motors appear to be making a good recovery from their bankruptcy.
Here's the video:

DRB-Hicom are busy opening a college and importing Westfields

Today I read two articles on DRB-Hicom

The Star
The International College of Automotive (Icam) is situated within its integrated complex in the Peramu Jaya industrial area here and can accommodate up to 1,300 students.

He said RM31mil had been allocated for Icam, and so far RM6mil had been utilised to set up the temporary campus on a 1.9ha plot of land. The facilities include an administrative building, a student affairs centre, 10 classrooms, five laboratories, a resource centre, a multi-purpose hall and a computer laboratory.

The permanent campus is expected to be completed in 2012 on an adjacent 14.9ha site.

Birmingham Post
The Kingswinford company, which currently produces about 400 vehicles a year as kit-car or ready-built models, agreed a deal with Malaysian firm DRB-HICOM following support from UK Trade & Investment.

Maybe DRB-Hicom might want supply some cars to Motorsport University Malaysia.
Perhaps the students could assemble the kits at the campus. We could then use them for driver training... Just an idea.
Westfield are available as kits


 Their education division may also be future suppliers of educational products and even students! Alex Yoong, who was kind enough to lend his name to my project (see MUM Webpage) is ambassador to TOC another Malaysian Automotive college that is gaining recognition locally.

Things are slowly falling into place.

New Economic Policy +Iskandar region = MUM ? plus a little GM history

Bob Lutz retiring from GM. The Globe and Mail, a Canadian publication wrote a nice article:
GM will be a poorer company with Lutz gone. Not everyone agrees with him both within and outside GM, but he is universally respected. His legacy at GM is a stack of new models with good interiors and strong ride manners. And what he has helped create at GM during the past eight and a half years has a chance of continuing under GM's new president for North America, Mark Reuss. He's a car guy, too, just like Lutz.


I don't know Bob Lutz. He was and is famous in automotive circles. I have done work for Mark Reuss. About 20 years he was a GM product engineer. I did a manual drawing for him. A full size side view of the Oldsmobile Aurora. This was done in Troy Michigan.
Later, I worked on the same project on the computer in Flint Michigan. The design facilities in both Troy and Flint are both now 'Closed".
The Flint Tech Centre was recently auctioned off. Click this link to view the abc12 video
The Aurora was supposed to save the Oldsmobile brand. That too has now been 'closed".
The 1995 Oldsmobile Aurora


Mark has done well for himself. Now he is president of the North American portion of GM.


Enough looking back!

In todays NST Business Times they have an article on Malaysia's New Economic Model (NEM).
CRITICAL reforms on the education front would be an important signpost for Malaysia's structural turnaround, says Morgan Stanley Research Asia Pacific.

"In our view, the crux to Malaysia's reform agenda and the structural inflexion point lies in the skill-set upgrade, either raising the quality of the labour force either via education or via import of foreign talent," it said in a report.

"Without a suitably qualified labour force, other policy initiatives of creating a competitive domestic economy, jump-starting private-sector-led growth and enhancing other growth sources would be futile," it added.

The Malaysian government has long called for Malaysia to become the educational hub for the region. It has earmarked the Iskandar development corridor as one of it's growth areas for among other things 'Education".

Motorsport University Malaysia

View more documents from johnsean.

If you view slide 4 you will see Creative Industries and Education head the list of desireable industries the government wants to attract to the area.

Alex Yoong kindly allowed me to use him as an endorser of my project. You will see his picture on the front page of my webpage.
Today, he got a full page in the New Strait Times. He mentions his new autobiography 'The Drivers line'. It's F1 weekend here in Malaysia, and Alex is responsible for driver development for LotusF1.

Tony Fernandes and Paul Fletcher... great minds think alike!

I read Tony Fernanades interview in Autosport today.
In it he states that his F1 project is receiving funding from Proton car company...
Q. Proton is putting money into the project now?

TF: Yes they are. And obviously they will have some technological spin-offs and hopefully they can use our platform to show the world... obviously they have had some maybe not so positive experiences on some television programmes, and I think they could possibly use being in F1 to show they make world class cars as well. So it's a technological collaboration, there is money behind it as well, but the main drive will be to improve Lotus.

Wow!

He goes on to say...

Q. This team obviously grew out of the Litespeed Formula 3 team that was considering building it's own chassis. Could we see a Lotus F3 chassis in the coming years?

TF: We had two or three developmental teams and it shows again our seriousness about this that we had put money behind Fairuz in the Renault series and we will assist Litespeed as well. Both of those teams will be development teams for us...
We have put a substantial budget behind that because it is very important to not only develop future drivers but to develop engineers and know-how, and commercial-world know-how in running a Formula 1 team.

I would like to say that this mirrors the opinion of Paul Fletcher MBE Founder and Managing Partner StadiArena.
Paul and Tony think alike... Smart Guys!


"We want to open a football university — the first ever in this country. There are plenty of places where you can study football itself but nowhere where you can learn about the financial, commercial and social aspects of the game, from advertising and pitch technology to the business side.

(Please read my previous entry)

He (Tony) finishes this answer by saying...

My experience at Air Asia, one of the first things I did when we made some money, was to build an academy and we trained our own pilots and engineers etc and we invested a lot of money. When I looked at West Ham the thing I liked about them most was the academy. So we are putting a lot of effort into the development side of the team.

Driver development for Lotus F1 is under Alex Yoong. Proton Head of Racing is Tengku Djan. They have both worked for A1 Team Malaysia. Djan has raced for Proton and Petronas, and is currently involved in 'Drifting'.

My advice is read my proposal. Talk to Petronas about the synergies between your wants and needs and theirs.
I don't think Paul or Tony are stupid!
Below is a slideshare version of my proposal.

Motorsport University Malaysia

View more documents from johnsean.

Petronas contributes 45% of Malaysian Government revenue and has new CEO

Just to carry on with the Petronas influenced blogs of late. Petronas has a new CEO as of 10 February 2010.

Datuk Shamsul Azhar Abbas- New Petronas CEO (pic borrowed from the Star)


I found the Star article interesting for two reasons.

Datuk Shamsul has not received an email from me giving him an overview of Motorsport University Malaysia.

It would be really nice if he reviewed one of my slideshare presentations!
This is a slideshare version of my webpage. On the webpage the video is password protected. Should Datuk Shamsul require it, I would be happy to help him!

Motorsport University Malaysia

View more documents from johnsean.

Secondly, the Star article states:
It (Petronas) contributes 45% of government revenue. Last year, Petronas reported RM52.5bil in profit on revenue of RM264.2bil, making it Malaysia’s most profitable company.

“And it is something of an irony that Petronas’ international debt ratings are slightly higher than the Malaysian sovereign,’’ the report said.


No wonder Alex Yoong of LotusF1 was so upset when Petronas decided that MercedesGP would get their F1 sponsorship budget!

Motorsport University Malaysia in my view represents a project that has long term sustainability, and would be happy to partner both teams,plus others in research, development, driver training... It ticks all the boxes, and should the long term goal of ONE MILLION virtual students be attained should and could rank in the same league as any International acclaimed University.
Datuk Shamsul has the opportunity to make his mark upon Petronas almost immediately! Datuk, please check out the Motorsport University Malaysia proposal!
Should you wish to donate the 150 FP1 motorbikes sitting in Basildon,Essex I'm sure they would be very welcome as part of your Motorsport University Malaysia funding package... A win win for everyone!
When you think of Oxford do you think Morris Minor or University?

Limkokwing sign MOU with Maxis. Proton sign with Petronas

I see today that Limkokwing University has signed an MOU with Maxis, a major player in the Mobile communications industry.
Here is a quote from the Edge article:
Under the MoU, Maxis will provide LUCT students and lecturers with Apple iPhone 3Gs bundled with special prepaid and postpaid plans to facilitate learning on the go.

"With the growth in uptake of advanced mobile devices and data services — the way we change and connect is being rapidly transformed.
This video is one of CNBC's it deals with 'Apps'. I feel sure, it has many educational possibilities...

I have used Limkokwing as my benchmark for the ONE MILLION virtual students figure I have quoted on my website below.
See page 5 on the slideshare presentation.

Motorsport University Malaysia

View more documents from johnsean.

I have previously mentioned that I am invited to participate at the ASLI Automotive conference (Asian Strategic Leadership Institute)planned to coincide with Kuala Lumpurs Auto Show.3-12 December 2010
Auto Show to conicide with ASLI auto conference

Last year Alex Yoong was my guest. I am hoping that this year that some Lotus high flyers will make an appearance. Motorsport is a specialised aspect of the complete Automotive industry however, given the new Group CEO at Lotus and the newly formed LotusF1 I think Malaysia would enjoy hearing from the new kids on the block!

This week Proton, owners of Group Lotus met with Petronas, Sponsors of Mercedes F1 and Yamaha MotoGP to sign an MOU for lubricant useage.Petronas are major shareholders in Proton and by default Group Lotus.
The videos below show the event.
Several people in the videos have received copies of my Slideshare/webpage presentations.

Asean Strategic Leadership Institute 2010 Automotive Conference

l will be helping ASLI promote their future Automotive Conference:




It will coincide with the Kuala lumpur Auto Show.
Official Auto Show logo


Proton, the Malaysian car company that owns Group Lotus intend to show their cars in the Geneva Auto show for the first time this year.
Presently, the Detroit Auto show is on. I have been many times. Not this year though!
Here is a link to the Detroit News. It is an interactive flash demo allowing you to design your own concept car! The Detroit News and Freep both give the show good coverage. Incidently, China has just become the largest buyer of automobiles in the world overtaking America. So I imagine the Shanghai show is gaining relevance.

I went to last years ASLI promoted Automotive conference with Alex Yoong as my guest. The conference did not revolve around Motorsport, and as such Alex probably wondered why he was there! We did have several chats with the Bufori representatives. Alex has done some 'Motorsport' work for them since.

It did give me some credibility and it was nice to know that Alex is sympathetic towards my project. (Motorsport University Malaysia).

If Michael Schumacher is reading this please feel free to contact me and I'll see if I can get you in this year...

I do think if ASLI want Motorsport specific people to attend they might want to organise the topics for discussion to reflect that.

I have been invited to paticipate this year. As such I will be expected to present a slideshow for discussion.

As Motorsport University Malaysia is still in the proposal stage I may use the one below for discussion purposes.

Motorsport University Malaysia

View more presentations from johnsean.

You will see some project figures for potential students on page 36. These figures add up to ten thousand virtual students. You must remember that I felt these figures made sense at the time (3+ years ago).

On my webpage, I have revised these figures to reflect the expectations of Malaysia's most successful private University, Limkokwing.
The CEO of this University is setting the bar at One Million virtual students in the next ten years.

In corporate circles we benchmark against the best, or our perceived competition, so my more recent webpage reflects the Limkokwing goal...

My benchmark for virtual students Limkokwing





“I hope that within 10 years, we will reach one million students. You can’t have one million on campus but you can have one million students if you have a lot of them doing online courses,” he adds (taken from an interview with the Limkokwing CEO published on the 28th May 2009 in the Star)

I might add that in the initial slideshare presentation, I mention my history with group Lotus, and their apparent ambivalence (uncertain or unable to decide about what course to follow; - wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn) towards the project.

Well, we have a whole raft of new management at Group Lotus, and a new entity in LotusF1 so I hope this will be reflected in their attitude to Motorsport University Malaysia.

Additionally, Petronas are a many faceted organisation. They are a major shareholder in Proton and group Lotus, as well as sponsors of Mercedes F1 among many other Motorsport teams. Perhaps they will give this project the consideration it deserves.

Well done Alex!

Today I read that Alex Yoong has joined LotusF1 as the person in charge of driver development.
Good luck to you Alex!
Alex joined me for two days as my guest at the ASLI automotive seminar. He also agreed to endorse MUM. No fee involved.
It looks like Alex is going to be based in Sepang. LotusF1 have (I believe) educational agreements with UTM and Petronas university. So it looks like they have moved quickly to get some good local talent onboard.

Group Lotus are still in the early stages of making plans for the future. Dany Bahar will announce his plans in the near future.

I really hope that Group Lotus can show the same entreprenuerial spirit that Lotus F1 have shown.

They can't say I haven't bugged them enough... Dany Bahar is the 3rd Group Lotus CEO I have contacted about MUM... Plus I used to work for them in Malaysia, and formally proposed MUM at that time. To give you a timeline, I remember the draw for 2002 World Cup was doing the rounds in the Lotus office!
I certainly hope it is 3rd time lucky with Dany and Claudio.
I any event, I would like to wish Alex and his team all the very best in their venture! Let me know if you want any support from me!

Motorsport University Malaysia

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A little support from Moneyweek Asia reporter

Not too much to report.
I replied to a recent article in Moneyweek Asia.
The reporter Cris Sholto Heaton answers the comments!
He viewed my presentation (MUM) and was positive in his assessment.
This the reply:

Thanks John. Your proposal looks interesting and I hope it suceeds - that kind of skills development is what they'll need to make Iskandar a success.

*(Niether the reporter [Cris Sholto Heaton] nor Moneyweek Asia are endorsers of my proposal... On my webpage, I have an endorsement from Alex Yoong. Alex is a supporter of my proposal and gave me his permission to use him. No fee was involved)*

I would hope that this view is held by others in a position to positively influence events.
Obviously, this has not always been the case! But I won't go into that here...
I have embeded the slideshare version of my web page below:

Motorsport University Malaysia

View more documents from johnsean.

A new CEO for Lotus F1 a new Motorsport boss for Group Lotus

The last few days have seen group Lotus hire a new Motorsport boss...Claudio Berra...
Additionally, Riad Asmat a former Proton employee has been appointed by Tony Fernandes to his F1 team... as CEO no less!
I do not know Claudio. I assume the new CEO Dany Bahar has worked with him before, and feels comfortable with him in his inner circle.
I am sure he is well qualified and I wish him well.
When Riad Asmat was in the employee of Proton I sent him my proposal and included him on my mailing list.
I don't have his new email!!!
I have copied a portion of the Malaysian Insider report:
Among the familiar faces at today’s press conference were former F1 driver Alex Yoong and Team Malaysia A1 man Owen Leeds who was often seen conversing with Riad.
Alex yoong attended the Sepang announcement. Alex is well aware of my proposal, and as I have previously stated was kind enough to spend a couple of days supporting (and raising my profile) during the ASLI automotive conference in KL.
Tengku Djan, head of Proton Motorsport has never publicly supported me or the proposal. He is however aware of the MUM project, and must have worked closely with Riad during their time together at Proton, and with the A1 Malaysian team.
I hope MUM gets discussed by both Team Lotus and Proton/Group Lotus.
At the end of the day, MUM has the potential to leave a long lasting legacy for the local region, and of equal importance globally!
In my opinion, both Proton and Lotus would benefit immensely from its existence.
For those of you who haven't seen the MUM proposal I have embedded a slideshare below: Google Motorsort University Malaysia

Motorsport University Malaysia

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Why is Lotus a bad name to use?

I have noticed that there is a mixed reaction from people regarding my proposal, and the issue of Malaysia in F1 generally.
The use of the Lotus name is also a point of contention among many.
First a bbc video link.
Here is a letter sent to me from someone well qualified to comment.

Why is it bad to use the Lotus name? There is a proud history to take advantage off, and i think its great that this name is back in Formula One. It will never be Team Lotus now, and the reason for that is because there is no more Team Lotus. People make a team, not a name and all the best people from the Team Lotus days have all left.


But, if Lotus F1 gets started again, then there is a possiblity that those engineers will come back. They are all still there in F1 and if the team is run well and sponsored well, why would they not come back. Ask any engineer worth their salt in F1 and they remember the Lotus brand fondly. As long as the team stays true to the concepts that Colin Chapman put in place, then it will attract quality engineers.


I would have to say that top people in their field are attracted to being on the cutting edge. F1 is the cutting edge.
From an educational aspect, it would wonderful if Motorsport University Malaysia had ties to this industry.

One major drawback in attracting students is the lack of job prospects at the end.
I agree. Even if in the future ten F1 teams set up in the region, there would not be enough jobs to employ the numbers I envisage.
Click here to see my proposal.
However, I do feel that the skills that can be gleaned from Motorsport can be easily transferred.
Management/Engineering/Driving/ Problem solving/ ETHICS! / Sports psychology... The list goes on.

I sincerely hope that Petronas in particular can see this link, and use their Petro dollars to set up an institution that will hopefully outlive it's founders.

I sincerely hope that Tony Fernandes/Dany Bahar/Alex and Tengku Djan sit down with Proton's major shareholder (Petronas) and put their case. When doing so, please mention Motorsport University Malaysia.

There is much more to this than simply a podium finsh for LotusF1. The region should and could benefit!

Once again I have embedded my web page (Slideshare version). Check slide 2
Alternatively click here to see the actual webpage

Motorsport University Malaysia

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Alex Yoong approached by Tony Fernandes... LotusF1 may have a new employee

I read on the web that Alex Yoong has been approached by Air Asia boss Tony Fernandes to be part of his F1 team.

First of all I am biased. Alex Yoong spent two days as my guest at a recent ASLI conference on the global Automotive business.
He has given me permission to stick his pic on my webpage, and has openly supported MUM.
This is more support than I received from any member of Group Lotus, past or present.
So 'Yes' I hope Tony uses him. Hopefully, he is not in it for the money. Rather, because he can visualise the 'Big picture'.
Once again, I admit I am biased!
I have embeded my webpage below:

Motorsport University Malaysia

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