Marching to Macau

This article first appeared in the Sep/Oct 2015 issue of WGM.

Hong Kong racing driver Marchy Lee is a legend of Asian motor racing – the first Hong Kong driver to race Formula 3, the first to win four different international championships and the first to earn a spot as a factory driver (with Audi). Ahead of this year’s Macau Grand Prix, WGM Managing Editor Ben Blaschke caught up with Marchy to discuss his incredible career and why Macau’s Guia Circuit is the toughest in the world!

Ben Blaschke: Thanks for taking some time out ahead of the Macau Grand Prix to speak with us, Marchy. Let’s start at the beginning – being from Hong Kong which hasn’t historically had a close affiliation with motor racing, how did you first become involved in the sport?
Marchy Lee: Well my father was an amateur driver in karting and also in some of the GT racing in the older days. I started off quite young which was a very big benefit to me. I was 9-years-old when I started. My father was a very open minded person. He really encouraged me that maybe I would have a different role in life to the other kids. Also, the first time I drove a go-kart I knew straight away I could be good at it.

BB: So you had a natural talent?
ML: It was a very weird feeling. Once I started racing, my speed came really naturally. Hong Kong didn’t have a very high level of karting but immediately I was dominating the junior levels. I don’t know how but I knew immediately I would be a professional driver and have a long career. Hong Kong never had a good structure for racing drivers before that but I had a good feeling I would be a professional.

BB: What was the biggest challenge for you in becoming professional?
ML: I think if you’re a Hong Kong driver you have a lot of disadvantages. The government didn’t really offer any help with anything. At that stage we didn’t even have a karting circuit! There were a lot of downsides and it was hard to find sponsors. I have to say a big thankyou to my family for helping me. They had some connections in Japan so I raced one year in Japan in professional karting and also some of the top level of karting when I was 12 or 13 in Europe. That was very lucky. I’ve also been very lucky through my career to be the first Chinese to achieve each thing I’ve done so I had a lot of support in that sense.

BB: Who were your idols growing up?
ML: To be very honest my idol in motor sport would definitely be Ayrton Senna. I really admire what Michael Schumacher has done too but my hero would be Ayrton Senna. Then my personal life hero would be Michael Jordan. I like his competitive spirit – so competitive and so motivated all the time. And of course the other one is Bruce Lee – all three of them are my idols. When Michael Jordan released his book and I was driving in Grand Prix races I didn’t even go out to the bar to have a drink – I would just go back to my hotel room to read the book!

BB: You’ve driven everything from open-wheel to touring and production cars during your career. Do you have a favorite?
ML: I really don’t have a favorite car. I look at them differently to normal people. Normal people will say, “Oh this car looks very nice, the handling is very nice.” But I see it a different way and the most important thing to me is that it’s fast. I don’t care about the look or anything, it just needs to be fast and reliable. I mean, these past few years working with Audi … we just finished the 24 hour Nürburgring race in Germany and the car was just so amazing. Not a single thing failed during the 24 hours – not even a light! That is amazing to me. Audi in all those 24 hour races like Le Mans and Nürburgring has been like that and as a driver that really stands out to me. I think these past few years working for Audi, they treat me like family and they are so well organized so if I had a choice now, I’d say the R8 is one of the best cars I’ve driven because I’ve achieved a lot with them.

BB: Obviously racing at such high speed comes with an element of danger. Is it something you think about?
ML: As a driver, you’re not thinking about it all the time but the death of Jules Bianchi (a French Formula 1 driver who passed away earlier this year after an accident) recently was very difficult for all racing drivers. I think if you choose to work with a team you have to work with some good, professional people. You also need to know that the car is safe which is one of the great things about driving the Audi – I know the car is safe. The people I work with are highly professional and very alert. You can’t work with amateur people because that’s when mistakes happen. I still think motor sport is dangerous but the chances of something happening are really low and the circuits have been improved a lot too over the years with their safety.

BB: What’s the scariest accident you’ve been involved in?
ML: I’ve had a lot! But I think it was in go-karting in the old days when I was 15 in France. That day we had 120 drivers doing battle so it was very competitive. I believe I was in the first qualifying heat and I crashed with a driver and I flipped over the track – went out of the track. It was a very high speed corner and my kart and I went flying back to the pits! It was a big one. I was unconscious for almost half an hour. When I woke up I was in hospital and my racing suit had been cut off so I was naked in the bed! It’s a really weird feeling. Also, your eyes aren’t very clear so you’re worried that you can’t see anymore. I was only 15 and I could only see some shadows but not the real pictures. That’s something I’ll never forget. I landed on my head so the helmet saved me but luckily nothing was broken. I was very, very lucky. That was the accident that was the most scary.

BB: Is it hard to get back into the car after a big crash like that?
ML: To be very honest, racing drivers have to bypass a lot of things to do what they do. Some people would say that to be a racing driver you need to be a bit stupid! If you’re scared of crashing your career is already finished.

BB: Let’s talk about the Macau Grand Prix, which is coming up again in November. Does Macau hold a special place in your heart given that it is your home GP?
ML: Yes, the Macau Grand Prix will always be special for Hong Kong drivers and Macau drivers. It’s the best track for us to show what we can do in front of our friends and Macau is such a difficult track. People say Monaco is so difficult, well I can tell you that Macau is 10 times more difficult than Monaco. Macau is one of the most special tracks in the world. You can really challenge yourself, the fans get very close and the atmosphere is amazing. I’m looking forward to it – it’s not 100 percent yet but it’s about 90 percent that Audi said I can race in Macau this year.

BB: What makes the track so difficult?
ML: The main thing is that it has so many different types of corners and if you make a mistake you will crash into the wall immediately. You know that you have to push it to the limit but you can’t go over the limit. Once you go over the limit, you’re done because you will touch the wall. Also one of the biggest challenges in Macau is that the lowest part of the track is extremely high speed while in the mountains it is very narrow and there is a first gear corner that is extremely slow, so how do you set up your car? Do you want to have a mountain car or a high speed car? You never get a perfect car in Macau. You have to compromise.

BB: You must be amazed at not only how far the Macau GP has come over the years but how much Macau itself has changed?
ML: Yes, Macau has changed a lot! It has become very professional and with a very high class of racing. The organizers in Macau have been amazing to keep this street circuit going for 62 years. And Macau itself has changed too! So many big hotels, so much entertainment, so many big businesses there so the Macau Grand Prix has become more special. I mean, this year the GT race is the FIA GT World Cup which is incredible because the GT3 platform is so big and to do a world final is huge. If you race in the GT3 World Cup you are already in the top 20 or so drivers which is very amazing.

BB: Can you run us through what you’ve been up to so far in 2015, Marchy?
ML: Sure. I raced the 24 hour Nürburgring race with the Audi Asia team. The Audi Asia team that we have, I have some very good teammates I work with – Alex Yoong, Franky Cheng and one junior driver called Shaun Thong. We entered the Nürburgring with the Audi factory team and out of the 170 cars we finished 12th. We raced in the top class and finished 12th which is amazing. The Nürburgring is so challenging with different weather and it’s such a big track with 160 corners. There were a lot of crashes so it was a big, big race for us and Audi did a great job. All four drivers drove very wisely.

I’m very good with the weather changes and my speed is always very good. Alex is also very good with the speed at night and Franky is quite good at night. I drove into the night and out of the night, Alex drove during the night as did Franky and the junior driver Shaun did a very good job too. He drove during the daytime and did some very good lap times, he was very stable and made no mistakes at all. The Audi Asia programme is showing that Asian drivers are really coming up to the international level and really can be top drivers.

I’m also doing the Blancpain Endurance Series with Shaun Thong the junior driver, so it’s kind of programmed to give the young drivers a chance to learn from the more experienced drivers. The experience for him is good. There are 60-odd cars every race so there is a lot of traffic, a lot of traffic management and Shaun has been learning quite a lot. The other thing is the Audi Cup in Asia which is getting bigger and bigger. The level of driver is very high now. I was the 2012 champion but this year I’m still fighting because I’ve had too many crashes!

We’ve had some good pace though. The Audi Cup has been very successful in Asia. Obviously we’ve got the Macau Grand Prix coming up and we will also be focussing on getting the new Audi running by the end of the year so we’ve got the new car next year.

BB: You’ve got a young family now with two daughters. Is it hard to travel so often and be away from them?
ML: Yes. This year has been quite tough because I’ve had to travel for 15 or 16 races not including the PR work I do for Audi. Sometimes I have to go to China and do PR things so it can be quite tough but I have two kids – one seven and one two – and sometimes they will come to one of the races to visit me and afterwards they will stay behind with me for a bit of a holiday. Each summer we also have a big trip with the family. We just spent a month in Vancouver. It can be tough but it is managed.

BB: What do you do to relax when you’re away from the car?
ML: For me with racing, I don’t feel too many pressures. I don’t feel too much pressure because I started when I was nine years old. Now I am 38 years old so I’ve been racing for almost 30 years. But I do a lot of sports like hiking or basketball. I like fishing. Really, my release is just being with family and friends, having a good dinner back home and drinking some wine.

BB: I’ve heard you’re a handy cook?
ML: Yes I’m quite a good cook actually when I have time. You travel so much that you always want to spend time with the family. In Hong Kong, it’s so full of people that you don’t want to queue up at a restaurant so you try to cook yourself. I really like catching up with friends and family, cooking for them and talking – having a good evening.

BB: Finally Marchy, you’re in the twilight of your career. What are your ambitions for the future?
ML: To be honest, I still think I have three to five years at the top in my professional career and I hope I will finish my career at Audi. The next target I’m still searching for as to what I’m supposed to do. I still feel that I kind of have a mission to help the young Hong Kong or Chinese drivers, so maybe I will start a team or maybe I will do management or give advice to young drivers because I have so much experience.

They have so many ex-professional drivers in Europe but in Hong Kong they don’t have very many at all. I was so lucky to learn so much so I feel I have a responsibility to give back to Hong Kong and Chinese drivers to help them improve and be very competitive. I still don’t know what will be my ultimate goal but as a racing driver I just want to keep being competitive. At the moment I’m really surprised because I’m still improving despite my age. I have no special things I really want to do now other than stay competitive.