Drive It Like You Stole It #08 - Frasiers Hill

Pic 1: The group.......

Frasiers again?? Didn't we just go to Frasiers Hill last weekend? Hehehe... Well, since I was pretty rusty last weekend and many of the guys can't make it last week, why not eh? :P

So guess Mun Kit and myself got our familiarisation done last week on DILYSI #07 and now we can push it a lil bit harder. LOL :D

We have an interesting mix of cars for the drive. There's 2 Nissan Skyline BNR34 V-Spec II, 1 Toyota MR2, 1 Nissan 350Z, 1 Subaru Impreza STi Ver. 8, 1 Satria GTi and myself in the ER34.

Pic 2: Russ and Nicole's Veilside kitted 350Z

It was a day after the Malaysian Election day, and seeing everyone so excited about the drive amidst fears of possible demonstrations was great. Politics aside, driving is such bliss after staying up the night before waiting for announcements of results from the telly and the internet for various constituencies, states seats, parliamentary seats, etc...

Anyway, we took the usual route to Frasiers and luckily for us, traffic was quite sparse that early morning. Just perfect for us to blast through the countryside and the twisties. Razlan in his monstrous BNR34 kept us in our toes to push harder in order to keep up with the beast. This car just pulls away from us effortlessly.

Pic 3: Razlan's monster BNR34 packing in huge horses under the hood....and big brakes too

As per last week, going up and down Frasiers Hill are still on the old format of time schedule based. I wonder when will the new road up are opened again, miss that crazy road with curbs on either side. :P

After breakfast up in Frasiers at our usual joint, we headed to the Jeriau Waterfalls. It has been a while since I've been here, many years ago in fact. Everything looks new to me, as if it's my first time here. :)

To get to the waterfalls, we had to drive our cars through a 4km treacherous single lane road to reach it. Quite scary if you're pushing the car too hard; the ravine doesn’t look too inviting to me.

Pic 4: The Jeriau waterfalls

The water at the falls were kinda murky, it wasn't like that a couple of years ago, wonder what happened to the water source. We did not trek all the way in to the bigger falls though. Instead we just hung out mid-way before we head back out from the falls to meet the 12:00pm timeline to head back downhill.

Traffic has begun to fill the roads on the way down, thus at some point or other we were stuck behind some slower traffic before opportunities came about for us to overtake. After the Gap, we made a pit stop at the Sg. Selangor Hydroelectric Dam for a quick breather before we head back to the urban jungle of Kuala Lumpur. Overall, this was an excellent drive coupled with great companies. I reached home dead tired but pleasently pleased with my morning spend on the twisties. :)

Pic 5: Pitstop at the Sg. Selangor hydroelectric dam

I’ve record a 10 minutes video footage of myself and Razlan’s monster BNR34 going up the Frasiers touge. Do take a look; the video is worth the download. :P

Comments welcomed. :)

Some other pics......

Pic 6: The group at The Gap. My bumper scooped a lot of leaves.....

Pic 7: Hanging out at the Jeriau waterfalls

Pic 8: Touge!!

Pic 9: Staring at the beast??

Pic 10: The 2 R34 GTR V-Spec II

Pic 11: Waits for regrouping.....

Pic 12: Someone runs out of fuel........hehehe

Drive It Like You Stole It #07 - Frasiers Hill & Genting Highlands

Pic 1: Charging up Frasiers Hill

Goodness! My last drive to Frasiers Hill was like 6 months ago. Been pretty busy with work and life to devote much of my time to pursue my driving fix. Sigh....:(

This drive is sort of like a last minute thing and together with Mun Kit in his SGTi and Arun in his S15, we blasted off to Frasiers Hill to cure our addiction to driving on touge routes. Bro Isma rode shotgun with me. :P

We took our usual route up and this time I'm noticeably rusty in my driving. Been a while since I really 'drove' the ER34. Heavy downpour the night before has dampened most parts of the route especially on The Gap and the way up to Frasiers Hill. The ER34's tail was a wee bit too happy for my liking. TCS being not 100% fail safe is not that reassuring especially on some corners whereby the car swung out more and longer than expected. Shudder.....

I tried running the ER34 on 0.6 bar and 0.7 bar of boost but the power cut is too erratic and thus the additional power does more harm than good. Boost even spiked to 0.8 bar and these sort of power cut is not something I want to encounter when powering in mid corners. Switching off the EVC fixes that problem but the reduction in power is a sad thing indeed. Oh well, that’s one thing I have to live for until I get it sorted out.

Pic 2: Stopped for a breather at The Gap

Upon reaching The Gap, I'm utterly surprised that they have reverted back to the old format of going up Frasiers Hill. The new road up was closed and we have to use the old way up and down based on a time schedule. Oh darn....looks like we will be stuck up in Frasiers Hill longer than expected. The road up Frasiers was really damp; from wet patches to wet leaves to all sort of fallen debris from overhanging trees. Surprisingly, instead of the super bikers, we have huge number of cyclist on our routes. Practising for the Tour De Langkawi perhaps??

Up in Frasiers Hill, we had our breakfast in our usual joint before heading back down. Arun just got his hands on the S15 and wanted to try some donuts with the car. Hmmm...where else?? This initiated a detour to Genting Highlands open air carpark!!! We have had fun here before in April '07 (write-up here). That was a fun drive indeed. Hehehehe

Pic 3: The group....

Genting Highlands it is....so we proceed back downhill and took the turnoff to Goh Tong Jaya via the old route before joining back the road up to Genting Highlands. I am not particularly fond of driving up Genting Highlands and this is no exception. Arun tried to do some donuts in the carpark but wasn't that successful. I gave it a shot and found that I too can't do donuts anymore. Horrors!!! Those darn 18 inch wheels and fat tyres are such a pain. Looks like there will be no more donut days for me. :(

After trying and failing a couple of rounds, we left Genting Highlands and headed back to Kuala Lumpur via Karak Highway. All in we clocked in about 220km of nice twisties. Can't wait to do this again. :P

Pic 4: At the Genting Highlands open air carpark

Drive It Like You Stole It #06 - Frasiers Hill & Bukit Tinggi

Finally after an absence of 3 months, we had our next Drive It Like You Stole It (DILYSI). For DILYSI #06 we head to Bukit Tinggi. Located in the state of Pahang, Bukit Tinggi is 2,500 feet above sea level. It was a cooling 19 degrees celsius when we were there.

Funnily enough I missed the planned route of

Batu Caves - Ulu Yam - Gohtong Jaya - Karak Expressway - Bukit Tinggi - Karak Expressway - Kuala Lumpur

INSTEAD, the route taken was actually:

Batu Caves - Ulu Yam - Batang Kali - Kuala Kubu Bharu - The Gap - Frasiers Hill - Raub - Bentong - Karak Expressway - Bukit Tinggi - Karak Expressway - Kuala Lumpur

The joke was that I only have Frasiers Hill route in my mind all the time. Errrr.....sorry guys for missing the Genting Highlands turnoff and the extra long route but hell yeah it was a really really fun drive yesterday eh??

The drive this time round has the below vehicles:-

3 Nissan Skyline ER34
1 Nissan Skyline BNR34 V-Spec II
1 Nissan Silvia RPS13
3 Toyota MRS (ZZW30)
1 Proton Satria GTi
1 Toyota Supra (MK4)
1 Mitsubishi Evolution 7 (CT9A)

Yea it's real diverse bunch of cars. From front engined front wheel driven to front engined rear wheel driven to mid engined rear wheel driven to front engined all wheel driven. All are represented here. Hahahaha :D

Pic 1: At Batang Kali waiting at the traffic lights

Some of the participants are first timers through these routes thus naturally the group eventually split into 2. Nevertheless, there's not much drama as all managed to remain not too far off from each other.

Some portions of the Kuala Kubu Bharu and Frasiers Hill route were kinda slippery. There were some patches that are wet, some corners with sand and lots of fallen debris on the road (leaves and small branches). One of us went sideways 90 degrees but luckily enough no harm was done. Another one got a 'lil bit of a scrape that tore away a small portion of the front bumper and dented the front fender. Nothing was wrong mechanically and thankful the driver was ok and was in full spirit too I must add.

Pic 2: Parked at The Gap

We went up to Frasiers Hill for breakfast before heading back down and towards Bentong town via Raub. It's my first time going through these roads. The route was magnificent. The twisty bit was just as fun as the road leading to The Gap. Simply marvellous. It has very minimal traffic and cool lush greenery on both sides of the road. Awesome indeed!

Pic 3: Stopped for refueling at Raub

Pic 4: Mun Kit eyeing the ice cream man. Hungry for ice cream??

Upon reaching Bukit Tinggi via Karak Expressway, we stopped at the Rabbit Park for a breather. We had a pleasant surprise too as a helicopter was landing and we saw Tan Sri Dato Seri Vincent Tan alighting and went off in a Hyundai Santa Fe 2.4 GLS (SM).

All in the total distance travelled is around 220km of pure twisty roads. We set off at 7:30am and ended the drive around 2:30pm. The drive was truly enjoyable and am glad to meet a few more like minded individuals who enjoys driving as well.

Till the next drive..........

Video 1: A short video clip in Ulu Yam

Pic 5: The cars next to the helipad at Bukit Tinggi

Pic 6: The cars next to the helipad at Bukit Tinggi

Pic 7: Catching a breather at Bukit Tinggi

Pic 8: Real driving and virtual driving?? (At Bukit Tinggi Rabbit Park)

Pic 9: Helicopter landing

Drive It Like You Stole It #05- Frasiers Hill

Yes, for Drive It Like You Stole It #05 (DILYSI), we went to my favourite route, Frasiers Hill!!!

The usual route is taken, i.e

Batu Caves - Ulu Yam - Kuala Kubu Baru - Batang Kali - The Gap - Frasiers Hill

Pic 1: The group enroute to Frasiers Hill

For this drive, we have 2 ER34, 2 Smart (a Roadster and a ForTwo), 1 WRX Sti Version 8 V Limited and 1 Satria GTi. It's interesting to note how the rest of the cars fare against the lighter and more nimble Smart.

While we were blasting considerable faster on Ulu Yam, Kuala Kubu Baru and on the Batang Kali road, the Smart proved it's capabilities on the twistier roads leading to The Gap and up to Frasiers Hill.

At some straighter stretch, the ER34s touched 200km/h!! That's madness on B-roads. Hahahaha......

I have to give it to the Smart; those lightweight small capacity turbocharged little midget of a car is crazy on the twisties. They can brake at the very last moment (at times no need to brake at all!) prior to charging into a tight corner. They can even stay in the middle of the road (on the dividing line) to overtake cars. :O

I even saw the ForTwo overtaking on the left via the road shoulder. Crazy dude!! Hahahaha

Pic 2: At Frasiers Hill

Pic 3: Time for breakfast

Upon reaching Frasiers Hill, we stopped at our regular stall for breakfast and a bit of a breather before we head back down. This 150km drive consumed quite a bit of petrol as I stayed on the higher revs most of the time. This trip took up 3/4 of my 65 litres fuel tank. Damn!!! :O

Here are some pictures of the day.....

Pic 4: The group at Frasiers Hill

Pic 5: At The Gap

Pic 6: Parked at The Gap

Pic 7: Jason ran out of water for his intercooler water spray yet again!

Pic 8: Don't mess with this Scooby

Pic 9: Waiting for the rest to regroup

Pic 10: A view of the lake

Drive It Like You Stole It #01- Frasiers Hill

Well the new year of 2007 brings to me new excitements in the way I approach driving enjoyment - just like a couple of years ago during Project 8110. :)

I had slowed down tremendously for the past two years or so.... BUT now, with the ER34, guess I can safely say I'm back to incorporate my weekends with 'drives'. Well, after some thought, I came up with a name for it and decided on "Drive It Like You Stole It" or DILYSI for short. :P

Anyway, the very first DILYSI for 2007 was none other than up my favorite route, Frasiers Hill.

For this drive, there were 2 ER34, 1 WRX Sti Ver.8 V Limited, 1 SGTi, 1 RX-8 and a dorifto HCR32. The usual route was taken, that is:- Batu Caves - Ulu Yam - Kuala Kubu Baru - Batang Kali - The Gap - Frasiers Hill

We pushed off at 7:30am sharp on a fine Saturday morning on 10th February 2007. This is a first time I'm organizing a morning drive on a Saturday. Guess it throws the term 'Sunday Drive' out the window. Hahaha....

Pic 1: First RV point, The Gap Rest House

Anyway, the traffic was surprisingly just as scarce as a typical Sunday morning.

Excellent!!!

Billy in his RX-8 was a first timer in this sort of drives thus we started out on a slightly slower pace than usual. The pace was gradually picked up and think we were doing about 8th tenth on most stretches up Frasiers. Ariff was having fun doing some drifts going up hill as well.

Pic 2: The trek

It was interesting to have our dear friend Mun Kit in his SGTi keeping up to pace (and giving them a run for their money!) with the more powerful cars. As Billy says, the car is not important; it's the person behind the steering wheel. Totally agreed!

There were however some casualties. Jason's Sti had its check engine light on, Ariff's HCR32 had a 'stuck' throttle body, any my navigator vomited quite a bit. :P

Pic 3: Breakfast in Frasiers Hill

Pic 4: 10:45am and it's time to head downhill

Thanks for the great drive guys and gals. Those that pull out last minute due to work commitments, ensure you are available for the next DILYSI #02! It will be to Kuala Kelawang, Negeri Sembilan via the trunk roads.

Stay tuned for it after Chinese New Year.

Can't wait ....................

More pics below:-

Pic 5: Touge roads are fun!!

Pic 6: HCR32 charging downhill

Pic 7: Sti Ver. 8 in its natural habitat

Pic 8: HCR32 when its not sideways. LOL