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Below is my blog entry for the recent Sepang Adventure - Read it as one big post broken into many posts to let you digest slowly... and the 'quote' button when pressed, won't carry 5 pages of text...

I hope others would follow to blog some of thier cars' interesting outings and experiences for others to know, share info and insights.

Cheers!

With such a load in the car, I went onto the track with my ‘sifu’ beside me… his only question was ‘have you secured everything that can fly when you ebrake?’ I said yes, and he said ‘ok let’s go…’ hahaha… helmets on, we went out.



Sifu was good, telling me which gear for which corner, and when to hit the brakes… as I near the corner. I just needed to concentrate on negotiating the corner at the recommended gear… after 2 rounds, I was doing faster and turning harder… actually I turned quite hard already on the first corners hahaha… and felt the car’s suspension working hard, but not at their limit… so tyres, suspension and brakes held up for 3 laps no problem…





8)

Water and oil temp also held up well. Water was going up to around 90degrees but cooled a bit as we hit the straights… not that 900m is a long straight when you are accelerating at full throttle 3rd tru 5th gears…



Here is when you learn that heeling and toeing is important to downshift from high speeds… your rpm counter will dance and car will jerk… and most importantly you hit your clutch a little harder…but all held together quite well. The ES is a great car to learn to play here…


Then I parked my car at the pits – to rest the car and enjoy the adrenaline high… I was reminded to leave the handbrakes down… as engaging them after a few rounds of track would melt them as they contact hot hubs for long time… so my car no put brakes at rest hahaha… just wheel chocks

Got invited to sit in ‘sifu’’s ES5… and he went 3 rounds with me sitting beside him… gee… I was very slow that last 3 laps… hahahaha… learnt more to know when he put on the throttle, when he brakes, and how well the ES really can do in the corners… now really must learn to heel and toe properly leow… he does it so well.



When I was let off after 3 laps, my adrenaline was even higher than before… as he took his co-driver out for a few more laps… damn, his brakes and tyres really really can perform… 800 degree pads… and super premium ‘track’ ready street tyres… damn…



:shock:

My next 3 laps after an hour of cool down for my car was with sifu’s co-driver. He did not know the track well, so I just ask him to help me look forward to the upcoming corners – I was still not too familiar with the track, having only had 3 rounds around it… hahaha… but when I hit the tracks, the turns come more familiar leow… and some of the turns, I really thought I was near the car’s limit…but, the rear did not spin out, nor did I lose any traction… and accelerating out of the corners, the car gamely put out usable power that even ‘impressed’ my co-driver… who tot that my tyres sure die in some corners, but did not…



Right up to the 6th lap. The steering wobbled whenever I braked hard midway tru the lap… and that was it… I had hit the 500 degree limit on the pads… and they now start to fade. The kiasoo/kiasi me slowed down in the remaining few corners and headed back to the pits…





:no:

On inspection, my tyres have also gone super sticky… ‘melting’ as sifu calls it. And some chunks of it was ‘peeling’ off a little bit… *Afternote, after cooldown and inspecting it today, no more such thing.. tyres look normal, and can go another 20,000 km. Rain grooves still got 5mm at last check/rotation.*



So street tyres driven at speeds at Sepang, no worries… just go till they are near the limit… it won’t eat them. Unlike PG… I heard that road is much rougher. Sepang is world class race track, and the roads on sepang are class 1. super smooth and good for the tyres to grip.



Whoever said they needed coilovers probably won’t be driving them to the limit like ‘sifu’ does… and for me, I would, when my stock shocks expire, change to premium shocks, or go for basic coilovers so I can adjust height for street vs track use. There is no need to go for ‘best’ as I never go near there anyway. But I’d not go for things that cannot be ‘rebuilt/repaired’ as all suspensions die in 2 to 3 years – especially the shock absorber part be in coilover or stand alone shocks. Time to scout for coilovers that can be rebuilt at a reasonable price… den I save on replacements in a few years. Pity the European coils are difficult to repair… else I will get my favourite ones… hahaha…homework… homework… or should I just get stock shocks to replace since they work so well with my aftermarket springs… wa… good price to replace leh… no heart pain…







:idea:

So my Turtle has had enough fun after 6 laps… tyres and brake pads near their limit leow (time to get higher spec tyres/pads) sifu went on to drive 16 laps total before he had any signs of brake fade… his were 800 degree pads… and his tyres… after 16 laps looked better than mine… shucks… that’s the difference between $120 tyres and $210 tyres hahaha… and he drives much harder, brakes much harder then I do… what can I say…





But mine is not a sad story…





There was this WRX STI with a S203 badge on the front grill parked with us in the same paddock. When he was warming down he open his bonnet… see until saliva drip dry… but on his second ‘warm down’ engine oil was dripping from his engine to the floor… whole puddle of nice clean golden engine oil… something seriously wrong leow… no more track for him… he told us his turbo also got something wrong as well… hmmm…



:roll:

Time stands still when you drive on track. But when you wait for sifu to go one lap it seemed like ‘forever’ as faster cars keep going tru… I can only imagine how much slower my Turtle was running… but when running, a while only one lap leow… go figure… and never stop smiling in my mind… so much fun…



:afro:

Got to see a race spec Lambo that day… the V12 scream is exactly like a F1 car… yes – scream… not roar… all other cars roar… the V12 engine screams… you have to hear it to appreciate how loud and how sharp it is… and downshifting? Wah… and braking? PRO la… paddle shift leh… no need to clutch… and it has auto blipping when downshifting… fugging beautiful to hear lor… everybody give way to that car man… the sound of it approaching is enough to make way for him…



Haha… other cars on track? Toyota Starlet… Mitsu Colt/Proton Satira, Corolla G9, of course you have your usual track monsters, the S15, Integras, WRXs, DC2s, lots of EGs and EKs, Protons, Lotus Elise and other Lotus track cars… even a BMW M3 (which got tia by the Integras) and a Mercedes supercharged sports coupe…. Also got Nissan Sunnys there too and one Toyota station wagon on the track… damn…… and only 2 Honda ES5 Civics… we gotta have a bigger presence there man… I will try my best to help more ES drivers go out to track to play.