Veteran race car driver Denis Lian comes out of retirement for Goodstock SpeedFest in August

SINGAPORE – Dusting off his helmet and wearing his racing gloves again, Denis Lian will be back in action at the inaugural Goodstock SpeedFest, to be held at Changi Exhibition Centre, from Aug 11 to 13.

Expressing his excitement at competing again after retiring five years ago, the 51-year-old said: ”Once a racer, always a racer... I just couldn’t say no!

“It’s very hard to turn down an invitation (from organisers) to race and especially to fly the Singapore flag on our shores.”

Lian, along with compatriot Jonathan Xie, 33, who finished third in the 2022 Malaysia Championship Series and will be competing in his first US Legend Cars race, will be among 22 drivers in action on a temporary 400m oval track.

The line-up features drivers from Hong Kong, the United States, Japan, Malaysia and Australia and will be headlined by top Inex Series drivers Donovan Strauss and Garrett Gumm as well as former Nascar Xfinity Series driver Akinori Ogata plus his fellow Japanese Rina Ito, the only female in the event, as they race for the $100,000 top prize.

Charles Scott Moseley, 52, of the United States, and Hong Kong’s Frank Yee, 55, are also on the roster and Lian noted how stock cars are less physically demanding than their Formula counterparts and suitable for older drivers.

He said: “What really fatigues a driver is the number of G forces while racing. Formula cars can exert around 5Gs while drivers only experience 1.5 to 2Gs in stock cars, so it’s a lot more accessible for veterans.”

US Legend Cars are made of fibreglass and are a five-eighth, scaled-down version of the popular Nascar race cars. The engines can produce a maximum of 125hp and cars can reach top speeds of up to 240kmh.

Lian, who became the first Singaporean to win an international motor sports title when he captured the 2002 Formula Asia championship, stressed that the level of competition for the US Legend race is still very high.

“Having veteran drivers together with the young upstarts is going to make for some very interesting racing,” he noted.

Lian retired in 2018 partly due to his age and a lack of sponsorship but is slowly getting himself back into racing shape.

Despite his vast experience, he has never raced on an oval track before and said “what’s challenging will be the constant left turns”.

He added: “I’m trying to train up my neck to mitigate the fatigue that I’m sure will set in.

“But, at the end of the day, it’s about having fun and trying my best to win.”

Besides the main races, spectators can look forward to the Bandolero Ladies Race and Gymkhana race. The former features miniature stock cars that have a full tube-frame with a roll-cage and go up to speeds of 110kmh, while Gymkhana is a type of autocross racing that involves drivers performing stunts and drifting while navigating obstacles on track.

Tickets are available at goodstock.sg.