yup ... finally am ... tho gotta run ... be back late afternoon ... prob come back to another zillion pages ...
kens write up on his track day experience... entertaining.... and seemingly accurate.... Yes just like harold, i'm addicted and now its a question of how often I can go and how much I can spend on the car to win the world drivers championship - its the start of a beautiful and expensive love affair (but hey I've done that before...and will do it again! ... )...So these are my thoughts of my 1st track day - Night before I follow Kodok's golden rules of no booze and no sex (well one out of two aint bad!), set a triple alarm clock cos I'm worried that I will oversleep and miss the convoy..but no fear of that cos I'm so psyched I get up at 4am and call Harold cos thats what I do each morning (kidding!, the pool grotto moment comes later) and find that he is also so psyched that he has had like 10 mins sleep! We cruise up to the last gas station on AYE before the wild wild west of malaysia where bandits roam free, food is spicy, and women are smoking... pull in for a refuel cos we dont want any of that 95 stuff in malaysia (turns out plenty of v-power gas on the way) and pump ourselves full of ice coffee and red bull...not long before the boys and gal start rolling in, MP with cold hard grey lambo superleggera, DK with matte red 430 cab - love that film work, Mikey with the AMG monster 6.3 litre, Chris drinking red bull, Ally brings a boy, Ron brings a boy (Andrew) - so its all good baby! Hammer up north south highway, Harold aka "I'm afraid of the dark, wheres my nightlight" gets on the walkie "hey pat, we can go a bit faster"...dawn breaks thru, morning sun starts to wake up and misty hills of malaysia roll left and right of the highway, beautiful countryside, on the walkie we discuss how to buy a banana plantation here and migrate to the good life! ...MP and DK quickly attain light speed and warp into the distance Finally reach Sepang, never forget the drive in...down a steep drive way that ridiculously bottoms out to smack the car on the underside, as if to say "welcome, you gonna get ***** slapped so get used to it!"...grandstands of Sepang arch into the distance, we pull up into the garages where actual F1, cup cars, moto gp have also sheltered to be set up for the track - we are here, awesome!!... immediately Ron's one man pit crew and Fongster & Kin's 10 man crew go to work on their cars - changing tires, setting transponders...whilst I try to work to put on my helmet strap (Ron, thanks for the advice to "just tie a bow") and also to convince these 3 stunning girls to be in my pit crew - they would be slow but who cares! We miss the briefing from Kodok aka Doctor Smooth aka Sade (smooth operator) but it doesn't matter cos all we want is the little orange wrist ban that gets us on thunderdome...rest of the boys are there, fongster, kin, ringo...heli chris pulls up in gt3 looking like a rock star with pink tinted sunglasses, camo shorts, and gold chains, we shake hands and he mutters something about breaking both of Kodok's golden rules! Theres about 30+ cars which looks like 100 because we all under one roof, then go! Most take off but we still hanging back - mainly cos I've got no fricking idea which way to drive!..Fongster gets in with Harold and goes...Kin kindly goes with me to show me which way to point my car (advice not taken...haha) On the track!...1st corner after pit lane, Kin says "take it easy, get to know the track"..my initial apprehension fades quickly as my stupidness (some say fearlessness...haha ) takes over, this is ridiculous! corners come up so quick and so tight that I would never imagine my car taking them at that speed...My first ever lap continues, Kin is saying brake now, slow slow...or did he say fast, fast - at least that what was in my head...turn 9 hairpin comes up fast, i carry too much speed into the corner (I blame Kin for saying fast, fast!) and the corner decides to say bye bye and slap me into the gravel ...car going sideways into the gravel then the grass - I didnt realise but Porsche as a great future in the World Rally Championship ...complete the spin and wind up facing the opposite direction - just like in the video games...but hey we all gotta spin sometime may as well be on first lap! Back on the track and complete 2 laps...Kin takes the turbo out with me as passenger, shows me hows its done with the lines but honestly you gotta do it yourself, cos I aint remembering nothing! ... Back in the hangers and Heli Chris takes me out in his gt3 - man that guy can drive, with his own sound effects too - "this is where you shift down..zoom, zoom, zoom..like that!"...amazing, he brakes far later then I would have thot possible and comes out far quicker... then I go out with Dr Smooth himself and Kodok shows me hows it done, so smooth and that there is minimal tire screech whilst blipping & heel toeing, making it look easy, and braking so late that I'm thinking this is fricking ridiculous but awesome! - now this is the line to take but if only i can remember! I say forget this and back in the turbo to apply the lessons learnt, back on the track...seem to be braking late and overshooting the apex point, pulling the turbo around too tight... shuddering as the car goes sideways and tires put thru lateral movement that is not meant to be, feather the throttle and counter steer slightly,,,technology kicks in, 4WD, PCM and the tail comes back in and off I shoot again!...amazing! technology more than compensating driving ability ...but this is not the way, I need to be Dr Smooth! Start doing more & more laps, you never want to come in...have one or two corners (merely corners not even laps) when car is balanced and fast!...like a knife thru butter or the sweetest golf shot, so effortless and sweet that you want that feeling again! ...someone hits a monitor lizard on the track at the corner henceforth to be know as gecko corner (turn 4) and I run over it thinking its a piece of wood, but no its a lizard that quickly disintegrates into mush as i round a few more times.. WTT turbo is freaking loud down the straights, he gets a personal best time of 2.33!...DK throws the 430 around without abandon and fear of nothing, he has made peace with his maker and now has a score to settle with Enzo, so much so the rear light pops out and Harold almost loses his lunch being the passenger - face was as green as zkermit! ... ...Harold has brake failure on the 2nd lap in, pulls the car into hanger, lets it rest, gathers his nuts his mouth ala chipmunk style , and goes back out never to stop again until the end! Track session is finishing, I wanna go out for the last round, go to start the car with foot on the brake - squishes all the way down to the floor..interesting, this must be brake fade too!...gather my nuts and go out again for last time... brakes are squishy and ABS kicking in as I can feel the vibrations through the brake pedal but dont wanna stop! Finally red light on the track and I'm almost out of gas...come back in, take off my sweaty helmet and still pumped, can probably drive back to singapore but decide to stay overnight, debrief by the pool with harold with a couple of ice cold beers yes it was kinda gay, especially when the life guard asked us to get out of the grotto, but still a perfect day! Next track day - new brake fluid, hoses and brake pads!...then new turbos!...haha See everyone there!
that was a fun read .. it was almost like I was there ps. I think we surpassed warp speed somewhere around the 130km marker .. wat comes after that trekies?
I gave one of the young Fchatters a lift .. but they were some of my most untidy laps of the day .. I cudnt hit an apex to save my life (especially gekko corner). Car was tired, I was tired, and worst part was he got it all on HD video!
"Not putting miles on your Ferrari is like not having sex with your Girl Friend so she'll be more desirable to her next Boy Friend." - Our very own Napolis
