Fan-squealing-tastic!
That how I would summarize my Sunday, although a couple of friends might be a bit small liver (kecik ati) for not attending their wedding reception today (sorry Nasir & Muzzamil).
The day started like any other normal Sundays. A visit to the local newsstand for a few newspapers, buy some breakfast for the family ... oh wait ... I didn't ... I bought a cooking gas instead ... but basically ... it almost the same as any other Sundays ...
At around 10.15 am ... I depart for Sepang ... slow and easy ride on the Elite Highway at 80-90kph ... had a pit stop at the Dengkil R&R to refuel because the two bars indicated on the fuel gauge was not so convincing ... so I pumped RM40 which I reckoned would be enough for the action later ...
11.15 am ... I arrived at the paddock of Sepang F1 Circuit ... park the car ... and head straight to the Media Centre where the driver's registration took place. After registering ... I was given a couple of PVC stickers displaying my car number, 112 ... which I need to stick it on the car ... and I can tell you it was quite a pain in the a** to stick it perfectly without any bubbles ... but with the sun shining brightly on top of my head and was started to get sweat ... I just simply stick it and begone with it ... boy, if this was one of Che Mat's* assignment ... my botch job will surely be shredded and burnt to crisp
*Che Mat was an Art lecturer of mine back in MMU and he simply doesn't tolerate botch job.
Done with the pesky stickers ... it was time for Safety Briefing at around 12.10pm which was conducted by Mr Brian Eravelly, one of the key figures of the event and also an instructor. Basically he just highlighted the things that was mentioned in the documents sent a few days ago ... the flags ... the pit entry and out ... how to overtake safely ... bla bla bla and so on. Once done with that ... Group 1 drivers (beginners) was gathered at the lunch room where they were assigned to their respective instructors ...
I was assigned to an instructor named Huffidz Fahro Rozi, an MME driver and also a My-KART member whom I have never met or seen before although we have joined the club for a few years already. Once we got acquinted, it was time to have a go on the Myvi
1st Session
Huffidz asked me to drive on my own first to assess my current driving skills. Mind you that it was not my first time on the Sepang Circuit ... so I have pretty much the idea of how to get around the circuit quickly. After the assessment ... Huffidz said my racing was okay ... it was just that I need to tweak it a bit on some of the corners ... and so I did. At this stage, I was still trying to find the limit of that little Myvi. But as soon as I found it ... it was exhillarating! I never thought that little Myvi can give you so much fun driving ... it corners well despite the understeer of a front wheel drive ... although you might feel discourage by the lack of power ... but hey ... what do you expect coming from a 1.3 litre standard powerplant?
2nd Session
On the 1st session, I found out that the transmission change response time is COD DAM slow if you set it to just "D" without overdrive (yeah yeah go ahead laughing at me for using an automatic transmission car) ... so on the 2nd session... I play around a lot with only two gears ... the 2nd Gear ("2") and 3rd gear ("D" overdrive). You won't get to change to 4th gear that often in Sepang if you really throttle the engine till the red line (7000 rpm)
Anyhow, while driving the Myvi on the limits and try out a few racing lines into the critical corners, I was caught up with a VW Passat 2.0 ...
This guy was fast on the straights ... but slow on corners. I would say it was one of the most exhilarating drive I've ever done ... when on the straight piece of road ... he would definitely left me to eat his dust ... but on the corners ... I actually managed to catch up again with this Passat ... and a darn close one too! I could actually saw my car's reflection on the Passat's rear bonnet ... maybe just a foot in length at 70kph (i think) at Turn 5 and 6 ................. okay fine, I made up the length, but I promise you it was darn close!3rd Session
Final session Group 1 drivers. It was already around 4.30pm and the track has become much cooler compare to the earlier sessions. I once again out to push the envelope of limit for standard Myvi auto. But amidst the eagerness to find the limit, I somehow misjudged Turn 7 with massive entry speed and eventually spin the car 90 degrees to the right and went on off track ... luckily I didn't get to introduce the car to the wall and managed to get back on the action a few seconds later ... syukur alhamdulillah ... here's a depiction of what happened (more or less ler ...):
After the incident, I kept on driving the Myvi to the limit. I was getting faster and faster through the bends ... although it was a bit disappointing since I can't get my full lap times recorded as both of us didn't have a stop watch. But I do managed to find out that this little Myvi could go up to 140kph on the main straight (mind you the straight was only 900m long ... so you don't actually have enough room to see how fast this sucker could really go with all it's power).
After the chequered flag had been waved to signal the end of the session, Huffidz managed to share a few secrets in taking a few corners at Sepang ... and it was a very valuable one indeed!
Also ... remember the RM40 fuel I pumped earlier? Yeah ... it's all gone just for that three sessions which is only for less than 90 minutes drive! Hahaha! See ... when it comes to speed ... all the fuel saving DVVT stuffs doesn't really come to effect ... if u wanna go economy ... maintain rpm 2500 or lesser only at all times ... dont turn up the aircond ... and dont fully wind down the door mirrors ... just 1/3 should be enough ...
Back at the pits, I thanked Huffidz for his support by being the my instructor for the day and also for sharing some of his experiences on track so I can learn better. I would also like to thanked HPC for having such a great event for us speed freaks. Looking forward to the next HPC event!
P/S: to all Homeroom E buddies. I met Azam Razali earlier and he became boroi like me too! Hahaha! But a boroi with a Mini Cooper S ... cilakak! jeles jeles! Here's his number : 016-3 2222 78. Tak sempat bergambar ngn dia.
