Dr. Ku Li Ng Phaan

I love it when Formula 1 teams play April Fool's with the media. And I love it even more when the Malaysian press takes it very seriously and makes it one of their leading stories, without checking the facts!

Excerpt taken from : autosport.com

In Australia last weekend, Scuderia Toro Rosso caused much amusement when its pre-event press release of a mock Sebastien Buemi diary was taken as fact by a local journalist. Poor Buemi had found himself asked in an official FIA press conference if it was true that his Toblerone bars had been confiscated by Australian customs.

But Toro Rosso went one better in Malaysia last weekend when an April Fools it sent out was also believed to be true by far too many people who should have known better.

In a press release issued by the team on the morning of April 1, the team announced that it was to use its Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) for the Malaysian Grand Prix. Indeed, the first paragraph looked like a genuine news story about KERS being used to power a cooling-aid for the drivers.

It was so good in fact that it suckered a few people in. It was only if you read Toro Rosso's story further that you realised what they were up to.

"We are indebted to Professor Hugh Masterby-Jerrkin of Imperial College, London for his department's assistance in moving this project forward so quickly," commented Wayne Kerr, Toro Rosso's Head of KERS.

"While the team was racing in Melbourne, we came directly to Kuala Lumpur to evaluate the system in real conditions and for this we were given invaluable help by the Thermal Energy faculty of the Kuala Lumpur Polytechnic, particularly the head of department, Doctor Ku Lin 'Ng Phaan."

The names should have acted as enough of a warning, but Toro Rosso's press office could not quite believe it when some publications printed stories briefly.

And their jaws dropped to the ground when Malaysia's local newspaper the New Straits Times, ran a big story under the headline: "Toro Rosso get 'invaluable' help from a local polytechnic."

Worse was to come later when senior management from Toro Rosso's clothing supplier Puma started asking questions about why it had not been consulted about modifications being made to the drivers' race suits!

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Kuala Lumpur has a Polytechnic with a Dr. named Cooling Fan?? hahaha