DILYSI #14: Frasiers Hill

Pic 1: The cars up in Frasiers Hill

The 14th installment of the Drive It Like You Stole It (DILYSI) series was to Frasiers Hill. Not many cars went this time round as some decided to pull out last minute. You know who you are .....

Anyway, my last trip to Frasiers Hill was way back in December 2008. Damn ... it sure didn't felt that long ago. Time really does flies. A total of 7 cars met up at our usual rendezvous point before heading off. There were:-

2 Nissan Skyline 25GT-t
1 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec II
1 Mitsubishi EVO VI
1 Mitsubishi EVO VII
1 Suzuki Swift Sport
1 Proton Satria GTi

Traffic was slightly on the heavier side along Ulu Yam this time round but after that it's pretty clear all the way. I was really gunning it despite the traffic. Going fast, braking hard and overtaking all the way. Midway through the course on a sweeping left-hander, a chap waving his arms in the air caught my attention. Oh shit! Something must have happened up front. Throttle eased off slightly, I caught sight of a spun Alfa Romeo 156 on the right hand side of the road. The car belongs to another group of driving enthusiasts. I saw a fair mix of continental cars parked at the roadside. Saw amongst others a Fiat Coupe, Fiat Punto, Mercedes Benz SLK, Alfa Romeo 147, Volvo S40, etc.. The car looked like it spun 360 degrees and ended up on the embankment. I hope the driver and car is ok. Check out the video at 7:20 onwards. You'll see the ER34 passing the incident site.

Video 1: ER34 at Ulu Yam

After seeing some picture of Jon's orange EVO VI, I finally got to see it in its flesh. This is one intimidating beast. Stripped interior, roll cage and sporting an Ikeya Formula sequential shifter. You wouldn't wanna mess with this car. :P

Pic 2: Jon's EVO VI

Heading up towards The Gap, I was taken by surprise right after a bend; up ahead is a fallen tree right across the road! I literally shouted "FCUK!!" in my heart and slammed on the brakes progressively to stop a couple of feet away from the tree. Hazard lights on and lifted my hand out of the car to signal a 'halt', I reversed my car a tad bit away from the debris. The two charging Evolutions behind luckily managed to stop in time and avoided each other and me too! The tree must have just fallen early in the morning. It was still in a mess!

Pic 3: The felled tree practically blocked the whole road

We are in a dilemma now. To proceed or not to proceed? Jon started work almost immediately to rip off some branches to create a pathway wide and high enough to squeeze underneath the tree. After letting a passing Perodua Kenari to perform the acid test, it looked safe enough and we proceeded on.

Pic 4: Deciding to proceed or not

Pic 5: Going thru....


Pic 6: Going thru...

Luckily enough we reach The Gap just in time; 10 minutes before the gate closes for traffic going uphill. The 10km way going uphill towards Frasiers was very very tricky. The road is damp and there's wet leaves strewn everywhere. The ER34 struggles for grip and constantly lost traction. Having semi slicks on the car doesn't help either. Those AWD boys would probably have a better time than me. LOL :D

Up in Frasiers, we had some great American style breakfast and took a walk around before going back downhill when the gate opens at 12:00pm. Enroute down, we took a little breather at the Sg. Selangor Hydroelectric Dam before heading back to Kuala Lumpur via the same route.

Oh, btw the felled tree was already cleared when we head down. I must say that's might quick and effective work by the authorities. And that's on a Sunday too!

It was another great drive and it was truly enjoyable driving with you guys.

Till the next drive.....

Pic 7: Going downhill


Pic 8: Jon's EVO VI


Pic 9: At The Gap checkpoint


Pic 10: The cars of DILYSI #14


Pic 11: What's under the hood?


Pic 12: Charging downhill


Pic 13: Mun Kit's Swift Sport and Jon's EVO VI


Pic 14: Hwa Ming's BNR34 and my ER34


Pic 15: Alvin's ER34 and Yap's SGTi

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

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