Thailand's best known drifter
Sak Nana, or Kiki, went from ferrying customers around on his motorcycle-taxi to racing cars in England and Europe
Published: 13/12/2009 at 12:00 AM
Bangkok Post: Newspaper section: Brunch 
Sak Nana, or Kiki, is very masculine yet courteous, and is a very driven man - literally. He has made a name for himself in the unusual motorsport of drifting and you may have seen him in television commercials for Red Bull, PTT and Toyota.
"In England, I started a car-repair and modification business, and I can say that I'm one of the drifting pioneers in Europe starting in England, Germany, Ireland, Holland and France. Nobody knew what drifting was. It used to be called 'sideways driving'. I co-organised drifting competitions and events in those countries, as well as forming drifting teams."
The term drifting refers to a driving technique where the driver intentionally oversteers while accelerating hard, causing a loss of traction in the rear wheels through turns, but while maintaining control of the car as it slides, or drifts, sideways.
Sak, 34, became involved in the sport when he was sent to study in England by his parents in an attempt to curb his rebellious behaviour.
"I started professional racing in England with regular circuit racing such as with Formula Ford and Touring Car racing.
"Then the economy collapsed worldwide in 1996-97 and there were no sponsors, so I started my own car-repair and modification business. I also had more free time, which made me want to find an answer to something.
"When I was racing in Formula Ford events in '94, the brakes were overheating and the car lost its balance, causing it to spin. That made me finish second instead of first. I wondered what caused the car to spin, so on Sundays I started to test my car at Turweston Airport, which is a private airport, but I paid the guards so they would let my friends and I in."
Sak is a driven person. Although he was born into a privileged family, he was raised in the traditional way. His parents did not want to spoil him, so he was never showered with money.
As an enterprising seven-year-old, he sold pictures, paper bags and ice-cream.
"There would be telephone numbers on the ice-cream packaging, so I called them and asked them to sell at school. Then I'd take pictures at school functions such as sports days using a cheap camera and post them on the school notice board to sell. The teachers helped me because the Ratsamee Kullachol Kindergarten that I attended belonged to my family. During school breaks, I gathered maids to help make paper bags from newspapers to sell in the market. I would do the folding because I could fold most neatly. I would spend the money on things such as toys and firecrackers."
At the tender age of 13, Sak became a motorcycle-taxi rider. His family's driver would pick him up from school and Sak would borrow his driver's licence and take a bus out to Pattaya where he would rent a Honda Dream before returning to Bangkok to join the taxi queue near his house.
"Back then I was almost as tall as I am now, and Pattaya was the only place that I could rent a bike. My motorcycle colleagues probably thought I was the son of a maid from the big house. Up to today, I still wai them if I see them before I go inside the house."
Eventually Sak's mother discovered what he was doing. It was his own unique form of revolt as the Ratsamee Kullachol Kindergarten that he attended was owned by his family, and was located within the grounds of his family's vast residence in the Sukhumvit area.
"I liked to buy things. Whatever I wanted, I had to get, but I didn't like to ask them [his parents] - especially when they were so strict. Also, my motivation came from being looked down on by my relatives - I was born into a rich family and I'm the youngest son, so people thought I would get a lot of privileges and I would surely waste all of my parents' money."
With his love of speed, Sak eventually became involved in illegal street car racing at night, using a car he modified at home. He recalled: "Without speed, my life would be lonely. However, with illegal street car racing, I saw people dying in front of me every week. If I could turn back time, I wouldn't do it again. It's simply putting your life at risk. Winning and losing equals the same thing. Have you driven by at night and seen the noisy cars racing on public roads? I was like that."
To stop him from being a motorcycle-taxi driver, his father taught him to invest on the stock market. "My father gave me money only once - 200,000 baht - which was considered a lot at that time. I earned a lot from it, and very quickly. I spent it on clubbing, brand name stuff, and started to not come home."
One day he ran out of clothes, so he returned home. "When I saw my bed, I lay down and fell asleep. My parents knocked on the door and handed me an envelope. Inside were my passport and a ticket to go to school in England.
"I was 17 years old then. I couldn't speak a word of English. I was lonely. Every letter I wrote to my family and friends were stained with my tears."
Still, his quest to make extra money never ended. "I had a monthly allowance of 140, which was approximately 6,000 baht at that time. A burger set me back 10. My parents said I had to survive on that amount because there were many people worse off than me."
So he went back to work, starting in a Thai restaurant then on to a better-paid gourmet restaurant while he earned a bachelor's degree and an MBA at Oxford Brookes University Business School.
While studying for his bachelor's degree, Sak started buying cars and doing them up to make them look nice. Soon customers started lining up for his cars and it became a profitable business.
"Friends at school saw my cars and it became word of mouth." In a garage at the back of Sak's house, his small business rapidly grew from car upgrades to repairs and later to modifications.
He became involved in car racing while studying and working, but this time it was professional and legal. After he completed his master's degree, Sak moved his businesses to the famous Silverstone circuit, the home of the British Grand Prix. Being at Silverstone enabled Sak to work with Formula One cars as well as all types of other racing cars.
During one of his races he discovered "sideways racing", and wondered how to slide his car and keep control. He took it to Turweston Airport and was later dubbed the "Drift Guru" by popular British newspaper The Independent.
"Every weekend I would go there practice and try to understand why the car would get out of control when pushed beyond its limits. Many people came to watch and ask for lessons. Europeans at that time did not know much about the drifting technique, and the number of spectators kept growing. In 1999, I decided to organise a drifting event.
"I was the first Thai to organise an event at the Silverstone circuit, which is one of the best circuits in the world, and also one of the most famous. It was a very big step for me. The rent was 50,000 per day. Fortunately, the event was very successful and extremely profitable."
He started taking drifting to venues outside England, while continuing his profitable motorsports business. However, when his mother fell ill, Sak sold all his business interests and came back to Thailand.
"I was very happy when I read my 2007 birthday card that my parents gave me, which said 'we are very happy to have a son like you'."
Sak is now an advisor to the OPT Drift Club, which operates in Europe, but he is the pioneer and founder. It is an event organising company for car shows, stunt shows, motor shows and more.
"In Thailand, I help with the rules and regulations, as well as introducing drifting to Thai people. The name OPT Drift Club is also used here as the name of drifting and circuit racing teams."
He also teaches drifting at the Toyota Drift School and Singha Drift School. He is also a freelancer, looking after the marketing side of motorsports for Toyota, Red Bull and PTT, as well as being on a subcommittee of the Royal Thai Police.
"My role is to assist in getting misbehaving policemen into jail. I'm like a judge for the police."
Other than that, Sak takes care of his family real estate business.
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