Gohtong Jaya Drive with the MSC #01

Pic 1: Heading towards Ulu Yam

The Malaysian Skyline Club had a drive to Gohtong Jaya via Ulu Yam road yesterday. Now it has been ages since my last drive (approx. 6 months ago!) thus was looking forward to do some driving. I've already decided not to push it like last time due to the ER34 having fresh tyres, fresh brake pads and also just had the rotors skimmed. Well PLUS I am a much slower driver nowadays, getting old might have got something to do with it, and also with a little one on tow does have its effect. :)

Anyway, I reached the rendezvous point at 6:30am only to see a huge gatherings of Alfa Romeos that are heading up the same route as well. As they start to move off, the rest of the Skyline chaps arrive in great numbers. There were a mix of cars from Skylines, Silvias, Pulsar GTi-R, Cefiros, R35 GT-R, Lancer Evolutions, 300ZX, etc....

Pic 2: Regroup before the cable car station


Pic 3: Regroup before the cable car station

How many cars? Gosh I really don't know man. It's a huge turnout!

The weather was not on our side this morning as it was raining pretty heavily on some stretch and the roads were soaking wet! It's at this point that I am glad I shod the ER34 with Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetrics. These were great in the wet!

Even in these adverse conditions, some of the front runners were really gunning it mad. I couldn't even catch a glimpse of them. Naturally in such a big group, the cars broke into two groups pretty soon. Those that are ahead and those that are a a little bit behind.

I stayed with a bunch of cars throughout comprising of R32s, A31s, Z31, R35 and some R34s. It's quote entertaining to watch those R32s drift round the wet corners ahead of me. Good stuffs!

The final destination of the Cable Car station was reached pretty quick. This is where we grouped up for a much deserving breakfast before the group start to move off back home individually and in small groups. Nothing much to report on thus I'll just proceed with some pictures of the day.

Enjoy!

Pic 4: Regroup before the cable car station


Pic 5: Regroup before the cable car station


Pic 6: Regroup before the cable car station


Pic 7: Yes it was really raining mad!


Pic 8: Yours truly

Pic 9: Slammed RPS13

Pic 10: The dorifto guys


Pic 11: Sexy and very rare Pulsar GTi-R


Pic 12: Probably the most awesome BCNR33 in the country

Bumped into a Ferrari F430

What do you do when you encounter a Ferrari F430 on the twisty mountain roads? Try to keep up of course!! *grins*

I bumped into a Ferrari F430 on the roads heading to Gohtong Jaya and had a bit of fun tailing it. Needless to say, the F430 is freaking fast! Well it does have a 4,300cc V8 under it's hood pumping out 483hp at 8500 rpm and 465 Nm of torque at 5250 rpm. Yikes!!!

But what impresses me the most is the gear changes. Ferrari's F1 gearbox for the F430 is a gem. It changes the cog so freaking fast and instantaneous (150 milliseconds to be exact)! Makes perfect sense. Why spend idle time changing gear while you can be constantly accelerating? I was losing ground each time I shift up or down. Dang it!

Check out the below video of my run-in with the F430. I was short-shifting at 5,000rpm as this drive was my shakedown run after the completion of my Stage II mods. :)

DILYSI #16: Genting Highlands

Pic 1: Grouping up

Well theoretically, I shouldn't call this a DILYSI session since I am not the organizer but just an invited participant but for the sake of easy of reference, I'll call it DILYSI anyway.

The route this was from Ulu Yam to Gohtong Jaya and up Genting Highlands. Not my favorite route but it'll do I guess. It has been exactly 11 months since my last DILYSI. Yea man, it has been that long! What the hell .....

Pic 2: Enroute


Pic 3: Grouping up before the drive

Pic 4: Be afraid when this is staring at you from the rear

I would like to focus this entry about my 'feelings' on the ER34 after my Stage II upgrades. The car definitely has more power and torque but I think the original setup is far better suited on the twisties. The turbine now spools later which makes exiting out of tighter corners a real drag as one has to wait for the turbine to spool before you get any action happening.

With so much torque on tap (well more than previously), throttling out of fast corners or long sweepers will see the tail coming out. In fact, the ER34 tail was sure like a happy dog. It kept wagging around coming out of corners. That's on 255mm width tyres! And they're Yokohama AD07s, sort of like your street-legal semi-slicks. What the ......

I had to have the ER34 on low boost throughout the journey to make it more 'easier' to drive. :(

So yeah, it's now much harder to drive on the twisties as throttle modulation is crucial. I must admit I got scared shit countless times when the ER34 tails out more than expected.

Back to the drive; after the twisties of Ulu Yam, the group stopped for breakfast in Gohtong Jaya before proceeding up to the Coffee Bean in Genting Highlands. Over there we were greeted by the sight of loads of Ferrari, Lamborghini and Lotus. Some were leaving as we arrived. Superbikers were in full force too. There's just so many of 'em. We were all congregating at the same place. :P

What's surprising is that, upon arriving, we were guided by the local coppers to park by the side of the road right outside Coffee Bean. Very convenient indeed. :)

Allrighty then, check out some of the pictures I took. There are also some videos of the drive. Do enjoy. :)

Video 1: ER34 heading up to Gohtong Jaya


Video 2: ER34 going up Genting Highlands with a FD3S RX-7 and a R35 GT-R

Pic 5: Spot the odd one out


Pic 6: R34 rear end looks huge compared to the Porsches


Pic 7: The Jap pack


Pic 8: Regular readers will find this car looks familiar (it was white previously) :P


Pic 9: Clean FD3S and a wicked looking CBA-R35


Pic 10: Privileged parking up in Genting Highlands :P


Pic 11: Superbikes from BMWs to Kawasaki and KTMs to everything in between


Pic 12: Couldn't keep up with this F430 coming downhill from Genting Highlands


Pic 13: F360 Modena twin stove round lighs


Pic 14: Twin round lights on the CBA-R35, F360 and also F355


Pic 15: This VR38DETT is packing massive power


Pic 16: This FD3S is freaking loud. Straight pipe yo!

DILYSI #04: Genting Highlands

Check out this video :P

Drive It Like You Stole It #04??? What happened to #03? Well, we decided to postpone drive #03 due to many of the regulars can't make it and with the public holidays round the corner, the road might be a wee bit congested as well. So we decided to hold our Cameron Highlands drive until further notice......

Thus we skipped #03 and went on to DILYSI #04 to Genting Highlands taking the below route:-

Batu Caves - Ulu Yam - Ulu Yam Bahru - Gohtong Jaya - Genting Highlands - Karak - Kuala Lumpur

Pic 1: The 4 cars for DILYSI #04

We only have 4 cars for this drive, 3 ER34 and 1 Smart Roadster. We started out meet up at 6:45am (Yes! Darn early!) and left at around 7:20am. It rained heavily that day and only stopped close to 7:00am. The roads are therefore slippery wet!!

When we entered into Ulu Yam's infamous twisties, it was still manageable, my ER34 took it up surprising well despite the crap tyres. At some long corners, the traction control worked overtime trying to keep the rear tidy. Twitchy rear end on sharper corners is still within control. But once we pass the little township of Ulu Yam Bahru and entered into the road going uphill to Gohtong Jaya, I had to slow down tremendously as the rear of the car constantly has the urge to overtake the front! Twitchy at every corner and felt like it's gonna go into a slide at any time.

Sorry guys for the slow drive this stretch. Pity those fellows behind me that had to slow down as well, especially the Smart Roadster that seems to corner as if it's on rails!

Pic 2: Breakfast stop

Once we reach Gohtong Jaya, we stopped for breakfast before proceeding uphill to Genting Highlands. Here, we were utterly surprised at how the nimble Smart Roadster handle the corners. Like a go-kart on public roads!

Here again, I drove up slow to keep the rear in check. Perhaps the drifters would have loved it, but I'm no drifter you see. Perhaps being stuck in a front wheel driven car for 11 years has that effect. :(

Pic 3: Parked at the huge empty carpark

Pic 4: Myself burning some rubber

Pic 5: sakakida adding smoke to the misty/foggy morning Genting Highlands

Pic 6: thehornbag dorifto!

Anyway, once we reached the summit, we stopped by a big empty carpark for some little fun with with our cars. One hell of a big empty carpark and some rear wheel driven cars spells DONUTS!!!

Each of us took turns to do burn some rubber onto the tarmac. Hehehehehe Think we were at it for quite sometime as the police came by and spoiled our little fun. We were told to stop as they have receive complaints from the Genting Highlands staff quarters that we were making too much noise. Perhaps we were disturbing those night shift staffs that only gets to sleep in the morning.

Pic 7: The first Police Patrol Car arrives

Pic 8: Being escorted to ensure we head downhill out of Genting Highlands :P

The funny part was that we were escorted out of Genting Highlands by the Police. :P

A Proton Wira and a Proton Perdana followed us and ensure we head downhill out of Genting Highlands. Hahahaha

That's a new experience! :P

The downhill run was a fast one; I stayed at the back due to the same reasons; and tried out my new brakes (Probably still not fully run in yet!). Braked hard last minute at corners and am happy with the bite. The only thing that annoys me is the loud noise produced when one pedals to the metal on the brakes. Sounds like race brakes. Hahahaha

Upon reaching Kuala Lumpur, we head to the car wash to clean-up our rides before heading home for a well deserved rest. :)

One thing we learned was to never mess with the puny Smart Roadster. This 790kg car will handle the corners like a more diminutive mini Lotus Elise. :O

Pic 9: We left some souviners behind

Pic 10: Looks like crop circles :P