There’s no mistake that online aliases and nicknames have often been created as part of who we are; a reflection of character, personality or traits. In the presence of automobile enthusiasts where the population of online users can amount to an averaged sized province or US state, user names become rather creative as new users are forced to pick unused combinations of letters and numbers. Ever watch that game show “Bumper Stumpers”?

Amongst the hundreds of thousands of users, one nickname that has graced the Honda community interestingly reflects what speed-driven-gear-heads typically avoid – being slow. What’s more interesting is that, locally, there are few that know his actual name. So let’s get the facts straight: Kenneth Lau is Turtle.

My first recollection of someone mentioning Turtle was while reading some threads, someone had brought up that their car was tweaked by Turtle. “Oh, Turtle setup the suspension on this car…” or “Yah, I remember that [insert car model]… it was Turtle’s daily and weekend track car…” whatever it was that I had read, it led me to question, “Who is Turtle?”

Fast track a few years to 2009. In the midst of parting out my car, I receive a PM (private message) from a guy who signed off as Turtle. He wanted my Bride Zeta II bucket seat and he offered to come pick it up at my office. When he showed up, he introduced himself and said “Hi, my name is Kenneth but everyone calls me Turtle”. “Turtle…” I thought, “the infamous Turtle?”. He explained briefly how he helps setup race cars and drove for some teams. Then he mentioned, “The Mugen N1 suspension you’re selling… They used to be mine. Good setup.” He paid for the seat and left. Easiest sale ever.
So who is Kenneth exactly?

Turns out that Kenneth started his racing career, like many, as a mechanic. Oddly enough, it was for a shop that specialized in BMW’s. It was also with working on the BMW’s that he realized he wanted to switch brands. When he had moved back to Canada from Hong Kong, his background soon became heavily rooted in Honda vehicles. Not only were they reliable, but they were affordable to modify and the aftermarket industry heavily supported import racing at the time.



…it was this need that made him impervious to the show car scene. You’ll never see lambo doors or neon lights on any of his builds.

Soon, working with Honda’s became more than just a profession; it became a passion. His number one priority, of course, was speed and it was this need that made him impervious to the show car scene. You’ll never see lambo doors or neon lights on any of his builds. His pursuit for speed eventually led him to build a relationship with Allan at Kennedy Hi-Fi’s racing shop; Kensai Racing. After working with Allan for a couple years, Kensai started up a race team and Kenneth, as Chief Mechanic, was asked to test drive the race car around the track to see if there are any problems. It turned out that this was actually a test, and being the fastest around the track (even faster than the hired pro driver at the time!) Kenneth was given the opportunity to be their official driver.



This wasn’t a one time opportunity for Kenneth. For the next four years, Kenneth had pushed Kensai into several wins at the Ontario Touring GT Championships as well as competing in the Grand-Am Cup and the Quebec Touring Car Championship. By 2007, a new leaf turned and Kenneth was signed on by Durabond Racing as their Crew Chief for CTCC, the Canadian Touring Car Championship. As well, he had also started working with Compass360 Racing as Crew Chief for the Grand-Am Cup in ST class. At this point, the fun had just began. Each yearuntil the end of 2010; Kenneth’s expertise had led both teams into multiple 1st, 2nd and 3rd overall wins in their respective classes; quite an impressive feat regardless of your racing pedigree. In 2009, Kenneth had also worked with Lombardi Honda Racing as their technical support. The next two years, Lombardi would see two 1st place overall wins in the CTCC in Super Touring Class. Despite his ongoing success, Kenneth’s true character and passion for the sport never turned him away from his initial break into the professional racing industry. Till this day, he continues to provide support to Kensai Racing after hours. “for tuning?” we had asked, “yea, tuning… technical stuff… still helping him [Allan]… even yesterday!” he answered.



The crew chief aspect aside, Kenneth ran Project Motoring on the business side and this shop was just immaculate. With not much more than, say, a thousand square feet to work with, they managed to juggle a handful of race cars and a couple DC2 Integra Type-R’s. Ah yes, the Type-R. It’s interesting to note that Kenneth has a soft spot for this car.



“I’ve had so many cars, I start with the [Mitsubishi/Dodge] Colt, CRX, I had Eagle Talon, I had Corrado, I have Integra, and EVO VIII… so many cars… but what I like the most is the Integra, until right now, still… the Integra… DC2.” He confidently tells us.

“Even compared to the NSX?” we asked, knowing he currently owns one super sexy NSX (more on that later)

“Compare to NSX is different… I would say the best RWD Japanese car is the Honda NSX… but Integra… definitely the best front wheel drive I had. The Integra is a really good racing car… race car platform… double wishbone suspension design… and it got so many racing parts development for that car that we can choose. And actually, we use the new style engine… K-series engine put on that car to make it more powerful. Compare to original engine, B-series, maximum we can make is 220 to the wheels. And K-series… right now we can easy to hit 280 to the wheels, and 2.4 liter is still pretty balance on the car.”



It was obviously no surprise that when Pürbread had stopped by, there were two DC2 Type-R’s sitting pretty in the bay. However, to gain full appreciation of the shops cleanliness requires you to imagine a garage that was just opened… last weekend. Things have been organized, down to all the hooks on the wall that indicate every gear and final drive combination best suited to the K-series transmission. Down the other side of the wall, columns of fresh R-compound tires tower the garage. Amongst the fully caged Civic Si race cars, a fully built K24 longblock hides beautifully underneath clear plastic ready for its eventual unveiling.



By the way, did I mention Kenneth is fast? Surely enough there are plenty of hints to suggest he’s a quick driver. Having been urged to compete by long time friend and driving coach, he quickly got his racing license in 1999, followed by his International C license and Canadian Regional license in 2003. Some may remember last year’s 2010 Import Expo Time Attack where Turtle piloted a DC2 Type-R (of course) and a GD STi to take 1st place wins in Modified FWD and Modified AWD classes. It doesn’t quite end there though. He also collected a CSCS Time Attack 1st place in the Modified FWD Class, and drove the Asia GT Challenge where he took 2 starts, grabbed 2 poles, and finished with 1 win, and a 2nd place. And to add icing on this racing cake, he just set the record for fastest lap in a production car on the Shanghai International Circuit (F1 Track) in a Gumpert Apollo. This guy is serious.



Interestingly enough, for someone like Kenneth that has the ability to be so quick, his key aspirations lie simply in being the Crew Chief; albeit Crew Chief for a WTCC team. With no desire to switch out of touring car racing, it’s clear where his passion lies. And as with many skilled mechanics and drivers before him, he has sought out his next challenge and Asia bound he went. It’s a good thing he has a modded S2000 waiting for him there! Now, back in Hong Kong, he currently is the Crew Chief and Test Driver for SPS Motorsport overseeing a fleet of Lamborghini Gallardos that compete in the Asia GT3 Series. An interesting change from a Honda… All the best, Kenneth!

Kenneth Facts:

Kenneth’s brother bought the Mitsubishi/Dodge Colt. Kenneth became fast and his brother… well, let’s not go there.

If he builds a customer’s car, he will tune it too. He will not tune an engine that was not built by him, nor will he build an engine that will be tuned by someone else. The reason: His unique understanding of the synergy of parts allows him to maximize the capability of the package. As well, if he tuned a car he didn’t build or vice versa, there is liability. Whereas if he provided the package, it’s all on him.

If he didn’t race Hondas, he would be racing BMW’s as he feels it’s the best FR platform out there.

Kenneth once co-drove with Modified Mag Editor, David Pratte, in Dave’s K-swaped EG and won every race they entered regardless of where they started – even at the back!

Drives a BMW X5 as a daily beater.

Converted his NA1 NSX to NA2 spec over the course of 2 years using all OEM parts. In person, it was absolutely beautiful and sounded like it was about to eat Ferraris for dinner.

Got his nickname, Turtle, as a kid because he refused to street race (from one chill spot to the next) and ended up being the slowest guy in the group.