well, it's been a long time since we've had any post, just shows how much inactivity we had :-p
anyway, the reason i can't swipe this stupid grin off my face was bcoz we've recently upgraded the Old lady, and how can i say, i've fallen in love all over again X-p
haha... the past week we had sent the Old Lady to our trusty old mechanic to slap in the roll cage.. osteoperosis (is that how you spell it? X-p) does not only affects humans, it affects all beings... all that is aged... well, over time, nothing is left but entropy.. X-p
Well the babbling beside, i've finally taken the Old lady back yesterday, and may i say, that we've put braces on her knees... X-p
and the feel of the Old lady is... how should i put it?... invigorated X-) i just mildly try out the feel of the chassis on the way back, and it was truly GREAT X-) which immediately made me feel like trying out some donuts or take it out to the touge X-p
since donuts would kick up a lot of dirt and ruin the paintjob, i settle for a touge test run yesterday night X-)
called up Hanz -unfortunately, Hanz had a very unfortunate accident a day after CNY (4 times rolling X-p a couple more would be like what Kimi Raikonnen achieved at rally mexico :-p) - and though he may not have the ride, but he still have the spirit X-) so he's game, and more than eager to see how well the Old lady will perform... :-)
and this time around, i decided to bring along my lovely little wife ^^ let her have some insight into my night escapades X-p
We met up at the usually spot in KL, and after chatting hours on ends, we finally made the move to the touge around 3.30 X-p 6 cars went with us :-) including the old lady :-p Hanz's stock bare spare satria, 2 member's of satria neo club, my friend's car and another... 2 neos, 1 satria, 1 honda city, and 1 kelisa...
Once we got there, they started discussing on who should ride with who... one of the Neo's absorbers are leaking, so he would stay out of the run... my friend with the Honda city is definitely not joining since he didn't even know we were going to the touge X-p the other kelisa i suppose will try to keep up... I didn't want my wife to be riding in the FC bcoz it'll definitely pop off her knees X-p anyway, we decided to decide who rides with who once we've checked out the road, so off we went to scout ahead..
Hanz lead with his old stock satria, with me following... i don't know the remaining order, bcoz we pretty much left them behind after the first few turns :-p we were just scouting, but i suppose our pace was a bit faster than ordinary stock cars can handle X-p Hanz wasn't pushing it, just cruising, but on the downhill, i could really see that even though he was just cruising, the car was already at the limit O.O OMG!!!
His Satria was wriggling from all the steering correction Hanz had to put in to remain in control of the car :-p reminds me of when i rode in his car watching ryousuke struggle in the old lady trying to keep her under control X-p once we reached the end, i tail whipped the car facing the other end X-) GOD!!! the chassis felt so GREAT!!! X-)
anyway, once we've checked the road, the rest of the crowd finally arrives... :-) since i didn't want to put my lovely little wife in harm's way, i persuaded her to ride in my friend's honda city, since he'll definitely only be joyriding X-p (on the way to the starting point, my friend, not knowing the road, almost got in a lot of trouble when he was caught by surprise by a lot of those sharp downhill turns that always just suddenly turns-in sharper... shaken, he proved to be the right choice when he really drove slow through the touge almost sending my wife to dreamland X-p)
Hanz would be riding shotgun, Farizz would drive Hanz's car, and the rest would follow suit.. :-) so off we went, just as we were beginning, two cars suddenly streak down the touge (they're apparently also enjoying the twisty road as well :-p) i didn't caught what type of cars bcoz they just whizzed past, and passes Farizz by a few hair length (bcoz he forgot to turn on his headlamp, and i suppose they not realizing Farizz was there, started eating up the opposite lane in trying to gain more speed through the turns :-p) praise the Almighty that nothing untoward happened that night... :-)
my run was great i suppose, i was getting to grips with the Old Lady's new characteristics, and since some parts of the touge is wet, and another is covered with dense fog, we decided to play safe... so apart from the whole new revelation of how great the chassis feels, i didn't really know how well the Old lady is at the limit... but with that little amount of revelation, i was convinced that it was enough to at least follow hanz through the turns.. :-) the only thing left is a set of balls of steel X-p
Once the whole crowd catches up again, we decided to go another run ^^ this time, farizz wants to ride shotgun, and another satria neo club member, Edi, wants to join in as well, so what the heck :-p i said if he can somehow fit himself between the bars at the rear, then by all means, be my guest ^^ and he was dead serious in squeezing himself in X-p
Once we all got inside, i started off... since the night was dark, i couldn't see the road very well, i didn't really try to push it all out at the uphill run... but once the downhill starts, i tried to go a bit faster through the turns...
The Old lady feels FANTASTIC X-D she's so meek and controllable now, that i feel like i really want to abuse her and see if i could get away from it unscathed.. X-p so i tried to push her a bit harder in the turns, and it was great to finally feel the LSD kicking in and adjusting the rear ^^ the rear just tucks in so nicely, that i couldn't stop smiling silly X-p the car feels just like, even better, then the time when we went touge with the big guns for the first time (and surprised everyone at how grip the old lady could handle through the turns X-p)
Then, i tried to push her a bit more, and the rear break rank and traction went fleeing X-p but with the chassis so well and firm, i could really confidently feel like i can control the drift right through the turn X-) then came the final turn, and again i tried to drift the car, but there was so much grip, that i didn't manage to whip the rear out :-p
I was so confident with the car, that at the very end, i tried to tailwhip the car again, but broke traction a bit too late, took the turn a bit too wide, and almost went in the ditch X-p i immediately braked and the engine died off bcoz i stepped on the clutch too late X-p but we were having so much fun, that we just laughed our heads off X-p
And i went into doing donuts at the junction there until smoke was just everywhere :-p Edi was having a blast by sitting at the back, clutching the bars, and felt as if he were in a roller coaster ride X-p
I took off after the donuts and went right back up the touge :-) but bcoz of the flash of the camera, we stopped to get rid of it :-p and resumed our run.. this time, i was so confident with the Old Lady, that i tried to drift in every turn X-) driving at the limit had never been so fun X-D the rigidity of the chassis just inspires limitless confidence X-) only sometimes the tyres disappoint when it understeered at the damp areas of the touge...
finally, by the end of that run, gas was running low and we had to call it a night... :-) i went home pleased and really looking forward to driving the old lady again X-)
Well, as a conclusion, the findings i found out that night was that the Old lady hasn't really gone up to par with Hanz neo's handling... the body stiffness is there, but without better tyres, the old lady couldn't dream of pulling the kind of G's Hans's neo could pull off... but still, with the confidence the chassis brings in, i believe we could really put up a fight and hold on to hanz through the turns, and probably drift our way through if we have to.. :-p but we could never know, since Hanz has practically retire while he's at the top of his game... He retires as a champion without a doubt.. and muses of taking in a better car, the neo cps, once his neo finally comes out of the bodyworks... well, just when we finally caught up, our competitor is running off again... just like Aaron and his indomitable neo turbo :-p he finally sold off his neo, and i'm sure the car will serve the new owner well :-) can't wait for him to pick up that subaru he was planning on having X-) then it'll be like old times again... being pawned by Aaron night after night X-p haha...
the disadvantages of having the roll cage is well, first it makes ingress and digress from the cabin a bit tricky :-p not so much for the passenger since he wouldn't need to contend with the steering and the bucket seat, but for the driver, it's a whole new yoga one has to learn X-p and since there are parts where the cage rubs with the body of the car, rubbing squeaks are quite inevitable :-p i suppose we have to cover the bar with sponges ^^ luckily it's just a bolt on cage, easy to dissemble and DIY :-p
anyway, it's getting really late so i should go to sleep now... that's all the update i have of the old lady, well not really, i have a lot of things to say about her, but words cannot begin to give justice to it all X-p this post is dedicated to Ryosuke who's cracking his head at France trying to learn new numbers for his job.. X-p i suppose it's quite hard to teach an old dog new tricks X-p haha... read and weep ryosuke.. X-p i can't wait to drive the Old lady again (however, on the way back, reality slaps me in the face when the Old lady emphasized how thirsty she could be X-p oh dear, she really is just a trophy wife, one can only enjoy as much as one's economic position can allow X-p and i'll post the vids once the other fellas uploads it on the net ^^)
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