Drive It Like You Stole It #03 - Cameron Highlands

Pic 1: View of the tea plantations

Drive It Like You Stole It #03?? Shouldn't it be #07 since the last one was #06? Hehehe, well actually DILYSI #03 was planned long time ago but kept on getting postponed. So here it is finally.....

We finally concluded it even though in between, the ER34 made a few trips to Cameron Highlands alone. This was an impromptu drive, thus there were only two of us. Sakakida in his yellow ER34 and myself.

We basically took the same route as I always does, i.e

Kuala Lumpur - North South Expressway - Tapah - Cameron Highlands - Simpang Pulai - Kuala Lumpur

We departed quite late in the morning around 11:00am-ish as we slept really late (2:30am!) the night before for the Malaysian Skyline Club meet-up. The drive along the North South Expressway heading up North from Kuala Lumpur to Tapah was the usual. Speeding in some sections while on others were hampered by traffic.

Pic 2: The ER34 going uphill

Pic 3: Sakakida on my tail

Upon reaching the Tapah exit and heading up Cameron Highlands on its twisty backbone, it dawned upon me that it has been a long time since I have a drive with another like minded enthusiast. Sigh....really need to plan a drive to Frasiers Hill and group up the gang again. :(

Going up was really fun with the short straights and sharp bends of the Tapah route up. Traffic was minimal and the echo of the exhaust and blow-off valve resonating off the mountain hills were terrifically addictive. The SLIP warning light of the TCS (Traction Control System) was going nuts!! It's blinking on most sharp bends as the rear naturally tends to step out on on-throttle 2nd gear corners.

Pic 4: Going into a corner

Pic 5: Some of the aboriginal houses along the roadside

We stopped by for lunch at T-Cafe in Tanah Rata as recommended by cameronhighlands.com (thanks for listing me in your Travellers Blog section!). Foods were not bad and love the homely decor. Really cool place and will definitely try its Western selections on my next trip here. :)

We put up a night at Hotel Equatorial and did a bit of shopping for veggies the next morning before heading back downhill via Simpang Pulai. The journey down and back home was one of great excitement.

Shortly after entering into the Simpang Pulai route downhill, we came up to a black Audi TT (first generation Typ 8N) and had quite a bit of fun. We were also joined in later by a red Sil80 (Nissan Silvia RPS13 with S13 front end conversion). But too bad, the Sil80 had to stop by the roadside after about 15-20 minutes of keeping up with us. Not too sure why he stopped though.

Anyway, so there were 3 of us all. The Audi TT, followed by myself and then sakakida. Observing the Audi TT, I realise it handled very well. The vehicle were pretty well balanced through corners, thanks perhaps to its quattro all wheel drive system. Power wise were adequate as it was pacing itself quite well. I had loads of fun tailing the Audi TT and watching it overtaking cars, trucks, etc.....

I must say the driver is a driving enthusiast as well. He tried to shake me off for a quite a while but I was a bit devilish as I kept on pressuring the Audi TT and sticking up close to its rear end. On some straights, I drove up next to him and then braked and tucked the ER34 back on its rear end. After a loooong while, the Audi TT gave me a few indications to overtake. He kept the car on the leftmost and slowed down, but the devil inside me decided not to do so. I was having loads of fun placing the ER34 on rear of the Audi TT; sometimes right behind, sometimes to its left and others to its right. I bet sakakida must be having a blast watching the two of us from the back. LOL :D

Reaching, the bottom of the hill, we were quite surprised to run into a police road block. Luckily it was nothing serious, just some checks on the road tax validity and off we go. Immediately after the road block, we were already going all out. 1st gear till red line followed by a quick up-shift to 2nd. On the rear view mirror, I saw the coppers staring at me chasing the Audi TT. LOL :D

Upon reading the highway entry, I honked and gave a friendly wave to the Audi TT. The driver waved back and gave a smile. Think he was pretty pressured; he gave me a smile and friendly shake of his head. Hahaha.....

Unfortunately (or fortunately!) we went off into separate ways. I head down south while he headed up north of the highway. If so happens by chance you are reading this, it was great driving with you. Cheers mate!!

So off I head back to Kuala Lumpur beaming with satisfaction of a great drive while sakakida made a detour to Ipoh. Along the highway, it was the usual, high speeds on certain sections and slower on others. I stopped at the small town of Bidor for its famous Duck Drumstick Noodles at the Pun Chun Restaurant. And guess what? I saw the Sil80 passed by the restaurant I was in!!! Such a co-incidence!

Pic 6: The 996 Porsche 911 GT3 RS

After my meal, I entered back into the highway. Enroute, I got bullied to the max by not one BUT two Porsche 911 GT3 RS! Both were travelling 15 minutes apart from each other with trade plates.

The first unit was a green 911 GT3 RS (997) that hardly gave me any chance to follow. The driver was swerving in and out of the fast and slow lanes giving me a hard time to keep up. Slower traffic that didn't give way soon enough was overtaken on the slow and/or emergency lane by the GT3 RS. Madness!!!

Soon after, I saw another unit coming up real fast via my rear view mirror. This time, it's a white 911 GT3 RS (996). This driver is a bit more restrained and I managed to keep up with it for a slightly longer period before it disappears way up ahead. These machines are capable of 310km/h top speed out of its 415bhp engine. There are NO WAY I can keep up. But I bet the new 2008 R35 Nissan GT-R with its VR38 twin-turbocharged 3.8 litres V6 will be of equal standings with the 911 GT3 RS.

Ahhhh......another satisfying weekend drive. Just what I needed to de-stress from my crazy workloads.

ER34 got booked by the coppers

I was caught for speeding last month when I was heading up North to Kulim, Kedah to visit the Inokom Assembly Plant. The plant assembles the Atos, Getz, Matrix and Santa Fe models. Midway, I was stopped by the coppers along the North South Highway and given a ticket for speeding.

I was given a month to compound the summon, failing which I'll have to appear in court. With the deadline a couple of days away, I took time off from work and went to the Traffic Police Headquarters to settle it.

To my horrors, they print out a couple of other summons linked to me. Darn it, this is going to be a costly affair. All in I have 4 traffic summons and they are all for the same offence. SPEEDING!!

Gosh....there goes my RM900.00 (USD 265.00). Luckily they accept credit card. But those nincompoop they called cops are hopeless in the administrative department.

When I went in to check my summons, there is an officer called Raymond that prints out the offences under me. After which I went to another counter to pay. So here I was at this second counter to contribute a chunk of my wages to the country when I was told I needed another print-out in order to pay. So I returned back to see Raymond and he has to cheeks to tell me in a stern voice, "You have to tell me if you want to pay. Then I print out your statement for you". I was like wtf!

Pic 1: I hate traffic summons!!!

Anyway, after Raymond prints out the statement for me, I went back to the payment counter where this one officer with the name Yaacob (93830) entertains me. Now this guy is a joke. I paid via credit card and he has problems with:-

1) Keying in the details into the computer (requested help from a colleague)
2) Using the credit card terminal (requested help from a colleague)

3) Can't differentiate which slip I should sign on (requested help from a colleague)
4) Printing the receipt (requested help from a colleague)

Sigh.....what a joke. The Royal Malaysia Police should at least train its employees better. I hope my payment for the summons can go into their training funds instead of being utilized to buy coffee and cakes for their mid afternoon tea daily.

110km/h speed limit sucks!!!

ER34 revisits Cameron Highlands

Pic 1: The winding road beckons in Cameron Highlands

Well this Cameron Highlands drive was supposed to be the next Drive It Like You Stole It (DILYSI) but many aren't able to make it thus the ER34 went up by itself. Oh well......

I departed early Saturday morning onto the North South Expressway heading down South from Kuala Lumpur. After travelling on the mundane highway for an hour or so, I exited at the Tapah exit. Now this is where the car is in it's elements. The way up to Cameron Highlands via Tapah is the kind of roads that I love. Short straights, tight corners and shuffling between 2nd and 3rd gear most of the way.

Pic 2: My kinda roads

Luckily, it was a relatively quiet morning. There were little cars and overtaking them was not much of a problem. Err....except for one crazy overtaking manoeuvre that involves overtaking 3 vehicle at one go; a 16 wheeler truck ferrying an excavator, a petroleum tanker and a pickup. Mad move indeed. Hehehe :P

Passing Lata Iskandar waterfall and then Ringlet I reached Tanah Rata. Tanah Rata is situated 1,400 metres above sea level. The temperature here gets a wee bit colder. Great to get away from the bilstering hot Kuala Lumpur! After Tanah Rata, the drive uphill continues till I reach my accommodation of the night at Hotel Equatorial. The great thing is I got to park at the lobby. Safety guaranteed. Woohoo!!!

Pic 3: The view from my hotel room

The next morning, the downhill run begins via Tringkap, Kuala Terla, Kampung Raja and down Cameron Highlands via the Simpang Pulai route. I don't particularly like this route as fast sweeping bends aren't exactly my cup of tea. Anyway, I took it easy downhill and came across a couple of groups of bikers and a trio of Lotus Elise as well. A Ferrari F355 Spider was also spotted.

All in I clocked in 500km from Kuala Lumpur to Tapah and down via Simpang Pulai back to Kuala Lumpur. A great way to spend the weekend away from the stresses of the city. Hopefully, the next drive the regulars can make it...... *wink*

Here are some of the pictures from my drive.....

Pic 4: Beautiful roads eh?

Pic 5: Charging uphill via Tapah

Pic 6: Warning!! Winding roads.....

Pic 7: Uphill via Tapah

Pic 8: Shopping at Kea Farm

Pic 9: Veggies!!

Pic 10: Downhill via Simpang Pulai route

Pic 11: Glorious bends!!

Pic 12: And more corners!!

Pic 13: King of the Road in Cameron Higlands

Redline MT-90 Tranny Fluid and Engine Oil change

Pic 1: Redline MT-90 75W 90

I have trouble going into 1st gear recently which prompted me to search around for a better transmission fluid to see how much it will help. The Redline MT-90 75W 90 was decided upon and I poured it in over the weekend. These fluids need to be run in over a period to properly gauge the difference in improvements. Thus far after 2 weeks of usage, the notchy 1st gear engagement is no longer there. I hope this will stay on for good.....

Since the ER34 is already up on a hoist, I changed the engine oil and oil filter at the same time. Not really to save labour cost but rather just to save my time going to the workshop. Been pretty busy of late. :(

According to the marketing talk, the Redline MT-90 are designed to provide excellent protection and improved shiftability for manual transmissions. It allows proper shifting over the entire temperature range which the transmission will experience. The synthetic base oils used have a very high viscosity index which provides relatively constant viscosity as temperature changes.

In summary, it provides excellent protection of gears and synchronizers and its balanced slipperiness provides a perfect coefficient of friction, allowing easier shifting.

The prices are steep but thus far worth it........

Pic 2: Filling up the Redline MT-90 75W 90 into the transmission

Painted metallic blue engine cover

Pic 1: Painted RB25DET NEO engine cover

The engine bay kind of look a bit on the plain side of things and it struck me that I have to do something to spruce it up a bit. I explored 2 options:-

1) Paint the engine cover
2) Paint the engine block cover (and ditch the engine cover!!)

Exploring around I found someone in Japan selling painted RB25DET engine block cover in custom blue colour with thick metallic flakes. The paint is one of a kind as it's from the House of Kolor. Interesting indeed but I reckon I'll have to remove the TCS and do a custom plenum (ala RB26DETT) for it to look really good.

In the end I decided to go with the cheaper option of just painting the engine cover. Afraid that I'll mess up mine, I got a spare set in from Japan. All in it's not too cheap to courier the engine cover in. :(

Pic 2: Here comes the RB25DET NEO engine cover

Pic 3: Thankfully it's nicely bubble wrapped

Once I got the engine cover in, I sent it to my painters with my idea of colouring it blue with white accents. Why blue? Well it matches the same blue on my brake callipers. :P

It was stashed in my painters place for a couple of weeks as I was not in a hurry and he's doing it in his spare time. Initially I would have thought that the whole engine cover would have been painted in blue; and then white accents and letterings would have been painted in via masking off the edges around it. Boy, was I wrong.....

Instead, the whole engine cover was painted in white first. Then, the coat of blue was laid on. The white accents were then revealed upon removal of the blue paint on top of it. Lest to say, it's one hell of a time consuming and difficult job to do.

The end results were amazingly beautiful. Here are the pics of the finished product.

So what do you think?

Pic 4: RB25DET NEO engine cover in its original state

Pic 5: Painted in white

Pic 6: How it looks when it is done

Pic 7: Comparing a before and after side by side

V•Sixers Tour de Malaysia: 50th Years Of Independence

What does V•Sixers: Perdana V6 Club has to do with this blog?? Well, the club holds a very dear place in my heart and I can't resist blogging about their latest excursion for the year 2007. The club is creating a new Record Run for Malaysia Book of Record. They will be convoying a minimum of 50 units of the Proton Perdana around Malaysia crossing 10 Peninsular States with approximately 1800km for 4 days & 3 nights.

This event is held on Merdeka Eve to Celebrate 50th Years of Independence, hence the 50 units of Proton Perdana in convoy. The event will begin on the 31st August 2007 until the 3rd September 2007. The convoy will journey through the below route:-

Kuala Lumpur - Penang - Terengganu - Johor Bahru - Kuala Lumpur

I was at the flag off event, and it's a joy to see members from all walks of life working together in full camaraderie towards realising the clubs' dream of securing a place in the Malaysia Book of Record.

In line, with the Visit Malaysia Year 2007, it also serves as a promotion on behalf of the Tourism Board of Malaysia. With all the cars fully "stickered-up" with decals from generous sponsors it's really a sight to behold. All of the vehicles are equipped with communication devices; from rigs to handies to simple FRS radios.

Below is the video I took during the flag off session. A total of 54 cars were flagged off from the Malaysian Tourism Centre in Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur.

I'm very proud of the club, the committee and the members. Let the sprit be alive and the flame of togetherness be of equal if not greater proportions since the inception of the club in 2001.

V•Sixers Rocks!!!!

Pic 1: Zero car at the flag off

Pic 2: Some of the participants

Pic 3: Isma in the Control car

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