Ok, I haven't written anything for a long~~ time, mostly because there's no more activities (since Ryosuke is gone) and because I got tonnes of work piled on me... X-p
But I guess I can't run away from slacking off, whether by writing this blog post or taking a nap on the toilet bowl... X-p work has just got to wait.. :-p
Well, this post is not about any activity, more like an information supply.. X-p
Just wanted to talk about steering correction, the thing that we failed that led to the massive accident damage on 'Shiro Suisei' :-p Paul Brand, a Star Tribune journalist got this to say about skiding and steering correction :-)
"A car oversteers because of the "yaw" generated by the rear tires sliding while the front tires are still gripping the pavement. The vehicle is effectively a pendulum pivoting around a vertical axis through the center of the front axle. There are only two key issues to saving a slide like this -- steer the same direction as the back end is sliding, and make the steering correction right now!
Little actual correction of the wheel is optimal, but only if the steering is corrected virtually instantly. The key to this is the eyes -- look where you need the car to go, not where it's going. Because the hands naturally follow the eyes, by looking in the direction the car is sliding, the hands tend to make the right correction.
Sadly, inattention, distraction, lack of understanding, inexperience and panic tend to delay the driver's recognition, processing and response to the slide. This allows the slide to increase in angle, meaning the front tires are no longer pointed where the car is headed, and once the correction is begun, more steering input is necessary (because of the increase in the angle of the car).
Now, if the steering correction is properly dialed in, the pendulum effect begins to slow. If there's enough traction available from the pavement, the rear tires will finally stop sliding, and the vehicle is at the limit of the yaw/slide and ready to snap back in the opposite direction. In performance driving vernacular, the energy built up in the rear springs unloads as the tires regain grip, initiating the "second reaction" hook slide. This occurs because the driver does not recognize the pause of the pendulum and the impending second reaction, and the back end snaps back in the opposite direction while the steering is still corrected in the direction of the initial slide. The instant the rear of the vehicle begins to swing back in the opposite direction, the front tires are no longer pointed where the vehicle needs to go -- thus the start of the back-and-forth "fishtailing," or, in the racing world, "death wiggle."
To prevent this, the three steps necessary to save a rear-end slide are 'correct, pause, recover' -- or C-P-R in the motoring world. Steer into the slide just enough instantly, anticipate the pause as the back end rotation begins to slow, and continue to look where you need the vehicle to go. Prepare to steer back in the other direction at the same moment the back end begins to snap back. Timed correctly, C-P-R keeps the vehicle traveling in the same direction it originally was before the back-end sliding.
Thus, there's really no such thing as "overcorrecting." It's more of a delay in initial steering input, then a delay or lack of recovery -- turning the steering back toward the center/neutral position as the back end snaps back. It gives the appearance of overcorrecting because the front wheels, as the car snaps back, are still turned in the original direction of the skid. But it's because of the delay in recognizing and responding to the second reaction, not because the wheel was turned too much initially.
One final key point. In terms of how much steering correction to input, this is entirely dependent upon two things: How quickly the correction occurs, and how rapidly the pendulum or back end is rotating around. There are wimpy little slides on dry pavement that require only small corrections, but then there is the "mother of all slides" at higher speeds or on wet pavement that requires every bit of available steering wheel input/angle to keep the front wheels pointed where the vehicle is sliding. This is why the "shuffle steering" technique is so important. It doesn't matter how quickly the steering correction is done -- if the steering isn't turned far enough to keep the front wheels pointed where the vehicle is sliding, the back end is never going to pause, giving the driver a chance to recover.
The last words on this issue: What if you don't "catch" the slide? In racing terms, "if you spin, both feet in," meaning lock the brakes hard instantly and keep them locked until the vehicle comes to a complete stop, and if it's a manual transmission, push the clutch in to keep the engine running. This slows the vehicle as rapidly as possible and keeps the vehicle traveling in a straight line, hopefully right down the middle of the road, as it spins." --Paul Brand--
Apparently, what occured to us was the "mother-of-all" slides plus the "second reaction" hook slide X-p a deadly combination... Zid was able to correct the intial slide, but failed to anticipate the 'second reaction' and the force the rear throws back at us that sent us spinning like a drunken bumble-bee... X-p
Well, hope we've learnt a lesson from that, and improve on our pathetic skills X-p haha...
(I'll be posting more tips on advanced driving whenever I feel like slacking off again.. X-p or when I'm not sneaking away to the toilet for a nap... X-p hoho...)
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Oilfield joke
Okay, now I'm getting really bored...
I guess writing our blog post during office hour is in our family's blood...
Keisuke likes to do it, my brother likes to do it... and now have influenced me T.T
OMG I have sold my soul..... xD
Anyway, now this post is waaaaaaaaayy off our usual post, this has nothing to do with the Shuzoku RedSuns, but just a funny joke that's worth sharing^^
It's about a preacher, he have a son name Jimmy.... and Jimmy just like any other teenagers don't have any idea of what he wanted to do when he grows up... so his father the Preacher intends to find out...
One day when Jimmy was at school, the preacher went into his room and place 4 items on his desk... these items are : a Bible, a $10 note, a bottle of wine and copy of the latest Playboy magazine^^
And then he hid behind the door and wait patiently for his son's return, he figured that if his son were to pick up the Bible, then he would be a preacher... just like his father, o what blessing that will be...
If he were to pick the $10 note, then he would be a business man... o how fortunate that would be for the family...
If he were to choose the bottle of wine, then he would be a no good drunkard... and if he were to take the Playboy magazine then he would only be one of those skirt chasing bum....
Then Jimmy came back and into his room, his father hiding behind the door anxiously to see what his son will choose.... Jimmy puts down his bag, and as he heads out of his room he notice the items on his table...
He then grabs the bible and slip it under his armpit, took the $10 and drops it into his pocket... uncork the wine and enjoys the magazine centerfold ^^
"Dear Lord have mercy", his father thought.... "he is going into the oilfield" xD
I guess writing our blog post during office hour is in our family's blood...
Keisuke likes to do it, my brother likes to do it... and now have influenced me T.T
OMG I have sold my soul..... xD
Anyway, now this post is waaaaaaaaayy off our usual post, this has nothing to do with the Shuzoku RedSuns, but just a funny joke that's worth sharing^^
It's about a preacher, he have a son name Jimmy.... and Jimmy just like any other teenagers don't have any idea of what he wanted to do when he grows up... so his father the Preacher intends to find out...
One day when Jimmy was at school, the preacher went into his room and place 4 items on his desk... these items are : a Bible, a $10 note, a bottle of wine and copy of the latest Playboy magazine^^
And then he hid behind the door and wait patiently for his son's return, he figured that if his son were to pick up the Bible, then he would be a preacher... just like his father, o what blessing that will be...
If he were to pick the $10 note, then he would be a business man... o how fortunate that would be for the family...
If he were to choose the bottle of wine, then he would be a no good drunkard... and if he were to take the Playboy magazine then he would only be one of those skirt chasing bum....
Then Jimmy came back and into his room, his father hiding behind the door anxiously to see what his son will choose.... Jimmy puts down his bag, and as he heads out of his room he notice the items on his table...
He then grabs the bible and slip it under his armpit, took the $10 and drops it into his pocket... uncork the wine and enjoys the magazine centerfold ^^
"Dear Lord have mercy", his father thought.... "he is going into the oilfield" xD
Saturday, August 9, 2008
The best of F1
Yeah.... I just got bored again xD
So in my boredom I browse through lots and lots of YouTube video, and stumble upon my old passion.... F1
My very first passion of racing started in 1999 during the inaugural Sepang F1 Grand Prix, and the image of Micheal Schumacher blazing the track was unforgettable...
Obviously Micheal Schumacher is my favourite F1 heroes, but there are those in history that deserve respect... and none more deserve respect than the late Ayrton Senna.
Senna was involved in the development of the Honda NSX Type-R, which is why the car is considered to be one of the best handling cars of its time... notice how he controlled his drift through the corners, incredible racing drift technique^^
And here is one of the saddest moment in F1 history, the San Marino Grand Prix of 1994, 2 drivers died in that race,Roland Ratzenberger during practice and Ayrton Senna during the race T.T
After I started getting the drift fever, F1 started to lose its appeal to me... and eventually I lost interest in it due to the fact that several rules and regulation that was really outrageous were made to dent Ferrari dominance, some of it was so dumb that they were applied only for several races and a couple of seasons, and now the sport have turned from a sprinting race to more of a marathon... T.T
But after learning all the racing techniques and theories, F1 is once again the epitome of speed and car control techniques in my view... of course after looking back the old clips in YouTube xD
And Micheal Schumacher is one heck of a driver, some may say that his dominance was because there was no real rivals to challenge him and that his driving was without soul and he's fast just because Ferrari is fast etc, etc...
They can make all kind of excuses, but Ferrari didn't become dominant by chance... and Micheal stack all those World Title not because there was no real rivals, simply because he was so far ahead of the rest... people can criticize him for driving without soul or winning just because Ferrari is fast, try to look back during the days when Ferrari was a back end team when he first joined it, or when he was with Benetton, even in 2000 when he won his 3rd world titles, his Ferrari was slower than Hakkinen's McLaren by almost 10km/h on the straights... he was just simply fast.
Mind you, I don't mean any disrespect for Hakkinen... he was obviously a fast driver... so fast that after he retired, no one could actually mount a sustained title challenge to Schumacher... I have all my respect to Hakkinen, and to all the F1 drivers in the world... they are truly a cut above the rest
Just as Jackie Stewart say : The transformation of the Ferrari team was Schumacher's greatest feat ^^
Here are some interesting clips I dug out from YouTube about the man^^ :
Waaa!!! So much more to learn about driving... these drivers are simply amazing!!!
And as a tribute to Micheal, here is a clip of his last race at Interlagos where his performance was classified in the press as "heroic", an "utterly breath-taking drive", and a "performance that ... sums up his career"
So in my boredom I browse through lots and lots of YouTube video, and stumble upon my old passion.... F1
My very first passion of racing started in 1999 during the inaugural Sepang F1 Grand Prix, and the image of Micheal Schumacher blazing the track was unforgettable...
Obviously Micheal Schumacher is my favourite F1 heroes, but there are those in history that deserve respect... and none more deserve respect than the late Ayrton Senna.
Senna was involved in the development of the Honda NSX Type-R, which is why the car is considered to be one of the best handling cars of its time... notice how he controlled his drift through the corners, incredible racing drift technique^^
And here is one of the saddest moment in F1 history, the San Marino Grand Prix of 1994, 2 drivers died in that race,Roland Ratzenberger during practice and Ayrton Senna during the race T.T
After I started getting the drift fever, F1 started to lose its appeal to me... and eventually I lost interest in it due to the fact that several rules and regulation that was really outrageous were made to dent Ferrari dominance, some of it was so dumb that they were applied only for several races and a couple of seasons, and now the sport have turned from a sprinting race to more of a marathon... T.T
But after learning all the racing techniques and theories, F1 is once again the epitome of speed and car control techniques in my view... of course after looking back the old clips in YouTube xD
And Micheal Schumacher is one heck of a driver, some may say that his dominance was because there was no real rivals to challenge him and that his driving was without soul and he's fast just because Ferrari is fast etc, etc...
They can make all kind of excuses, but Ferrari didn't become dominant by chance... and Micheal stack all those World Title not because there was no real rivals, simply because he was so far ahead of the rest... people can criticize him for driving without soul or winning just because Ferrari is fast, try to look back during the days when Ferrari was a back end team when he first joined it, or when he was with Benetton, even in 2000 when he won his 3rd world titles, his Ferrari was slower than Hakkinen's McLaren by almost 10km/h on the straights... he was just simply fast.
Mind you, I don't mean any disrespect for Hakkinen... he was obviously a fast driver... so fast that after he retired, no one could actually mount a sustained title challenge to Schumacher... I have all my respect to Hakkinen, and to all the F1 drivers in the world... they are truly a cut above the rest
Just as Jackie Stewart say : The transformation of the Ferrari team was Schumacher's greatest feat ^^
Here are some interesting clips I dug out from YouTube about the man^^ :
Waaa!!! So much more to learn about driving... these drivers are simply amazing!!!
And as a tribute to Micheal, here is a clip of his last race at Interlagos where his performance was classified in the press as "heroic", an "utterly breath-taking drive", and a "performance that ... sums up his career"
Monday, August 4, 2008
The fall of the Touge Monster....
Finally... the indomitable Amemiya RX-7 Touge monster in Best Motoring has lost its title.... T.T
In the latest Best Motoring Volume 93... the newly tuned up Amemiya RX-7 title was challenged by a barraged of highly tuned cars...
The highlight of the battles are of course, how would the new Amemiya RX-7 go up against the new MCR GTR? O.o
Now this is one of the coolest battles, both drivers Tsuchiya Keiichi and Daisuke Ito displaying superb car control at extremely high speed...
The GTR was fast... extremely fast at the tight corners considering it weigh in at 3800lbs... thats almost 2 tons O.o
But it lacks speed at the high speed corners, where its mentioned almost in every GTR review... the GTR tends to understeer a little too much at the high speed corners... maybe because of the weight or the computer... I dunno... but the whole package is most definitely fast on the track... the touge, lighter car rules^^
But sadly, the RE Amemiya RX-7 lost to the J's S2000 afterwards, the battle was in wet condition, maybe 450hp is too much to handle in the wet... with the J's S2000 clocking in only at 300hp...
The J's S2000 went on to win the Touge Monster title beating also the FEED FD3S... also in the wet... with the FEED punching also 450hp T.T
hmmm... last time around the FEED pawned the J's S2000 in the dry, but maybe in wet conditions... the J's S2000 is just the more balanced car, or maybe this time around the J's done some really fine tuning and engineered their S2000 to better the FDs...
well that's my 2 cent review... I know it is out of topic from our usual post in the blog, but what the heck... I was getting bored ^^
In the latest Best Motoring Volume 93... the newly tuned up Amemiya RX-7 title was challenged by a barraged of highly tuned cars...
The highlight of the battles are of course, how would the new Amemiya RX-7 go up against the new MCR GTR? O.o
Now this is one of the coolest battles, both drivers Tsuchiya Keiichi and Daisuke Ito displaying superb car control at extremely high speed...
The GTR was fast... extremely fast at the tight corners considering it weigh in at 3800lbs... thats almost 2 tons O.o
But it lacks speed at the high speed corners, where its mentioned almost in every GTR review... the GTR tends to understeer a little too much at the high speed corners... maybe because of the weight or the computer... I dunno... but the whole package is most definitely fast on the track... the touge, lighter car rules^^
But sadly, the RE Amemiya RX-7 lost to the J's S2000 afterwards, the battle was in wet condition, maybe 450hp is too much to handle in the wet... with the J's S2000 clocking in only at 300hp...
The J's S2000 went on to win the Touge Monster title beating also the FEED FD3S... also in the wet... with the FEED punching also 450hp T.T
hmmm... last time around the FEED pawned the J's S2000 in the dry, but maybe in wet conditions... the J's S2000 is just the more balanced car, or maybe this time around the J's done some really fine tuning and engineered their S2000 to better the FDs...
well that's my 2 cent review... I know it is out of topic from our usual post in the blog, but what the heck... I was getting bored ^^
Friday, August 1, 2008
RedSuns Machines!!!
Okay... now I'm getting bored again, so ANOTHER post!!!!! xD
It's back to work for me and normal peaceful life for Keisuke and Cloud^^
Hope you guys are doing fine there, and take good care of the FC ;-)
As the title mentioned, this post is dedicated to the tortured machines of us RedSuns^^
Tortured, battered and left to scream in agonizing pain is what happened to most of our street machines with the FC being no exception to our unending lust for crazy adrenaline rush and spine chilling excitement xD
First off : The Touge Machines aka Battle Gears...
Mazda RX-7 FC3S "Shiro Suisei"
The best of our machines line up so far, engine is stock with a detuned turbo boost of 0.5bar
Extremely agile in terms of our skills and still learning to drive the car to its full potential^^
Currently the FC is undergoing "rehabilitation" after its too close encounter with the Touge hill wall :-P
Its now full of bruise and scars and we need to dig deep in our wallet to patch up the FC to be Touge worthy again, so far... any plan to beautify the FC has taken a backseat xP
Perodua Kancil L2 Turbo "Turbo Junior"
The useless beast of burden... the tires are too wide for the body, and the suspension is even higher than stock O.o
Feels like it can blast off into space xD it tends to overheat on every touge session we brought it... which is not much xD
This Kancil has gone through all kinds of mods that even dwarfed the FC in the tuning department, too bad none has been done to fix the wide tyres and suspension problem :-(
The turbo boost is set at 1.0 bar, but the car tends to vibrate dangerously approaching 160km/h xD
In other words... this car totally sucks!!! T.T but its rather cool to drive, with its blow off valve louder than its exhaust note xD
Bid daddy turbo with little Junior Turbo
Next in line : The Scouting Gears...
Proton Iswara 1.3 "Meteorain"
A pure survivor... even after all the torments we put it through... it still pulls us through^^ through Genting and Frasier and back, 320km in one night^^... all with a leaking gasket and carbon build ups 3 times thicker than its valve and an overdue service xD
This car belongs to Cloud, currently in progress to patch the car up after decades of loyal service and negligence to his family^^ now it is officially Cloud's car and responsibility... and finally having the attention it deserves to make it ROAD worthy xD
The car is currently under going a full engine overhaul, but the good thing about the Meteorain is the In Car Entertainment (ICE^^) system... the car's audio has been progressively upgraded by Cloud through the blood and sweat of his brothers and sisters from whom Cloud applies his loan xD
The car may forever remain our scouting machines or may be upgraded to be Touge worthy... depends on Cloud's plan for his gear, in the meanwhile it is loyally serving us in our numerous scouting expeditions^^
Meteorain!! Banzai!!! xD
Meteorain in action in one of our Scouting Expedition^^
Perodua Kancil 660 "Howling Banshee"
This was our first Touge Machine, loyally screaming through the busy touge of Bangi during our early Touge years xD
This car has been downgraded to scouting gear because of the period in which it is neglected and now screams with all kind of pain that even scare us whether the steering wheel can hold on or not xD
This car was originally under my care during my studying years, but since I have started working, the car falls into negligence in my family and now almost everything about the car is not right... from the steering rack to the drive shaft all the way to the suspension, it keeps on creaking and screaming weird noises that worries us all the time T.T
The car receives its name from the Howling scream of its engine produced when driven at its limit, the engine is left stock... only that is has always been overdue for service even sometimes up to 5000 km more than the original mileage for service, thus the engine produces weird howling noise...
The only mod the car has gone through was a stiffer suspension, which I was able to convince my father to installed it after the original suspension has leaks and failed early in its lifetime^^
But currently the car is starting to get the attention again back home, with my mother started to seriously patching up the car since she is using it all the time nowadays ;-)
Anyway, Howling Banshee... GAMBATTE!!!!! ^^ Arigatou for all the years you taught us how to drive and acquire all the skills that we currently have... ARIGATOU!!!! ^^
The rear end of the Howling Banshee, since the front end is too ugly and does not pass our censorship board xD
To Zid:
p/s - Come on and join us in our Touge with your lightly modded Wira, its gonna be fun^^ Accidents can happen to anyone so don't brood over it for too long, we're starting to miss ya xD
It's back to work for me and normal peaceful life for Keisuke and Cloud^^
Hope you guys are doing fine there, and take good care of the FC ;-)
As the title mentioned, this post is dedicated to the tortured machines of us RedSuns^^
Tortured, battered and left to scream in agonizing pain is what happened to most of our street machines with the FC being no exception to our unending lust for crazy adrenaline rush and spine chilling excitement xD
First off : The Touge Machines aka Battle Gears...
Mazda RX-7 FC3S "Shiro Suisei"
The best of our machines line up so far, engine is stock with a detuned turbo boost of 0.5bar
Extremely agile in terms of our skills and still learning to drive the car to its full potential^^
Currently the FC is undergoing "rehabilitation" after its too close encounter with the Touge hill wall :-P
Its now full of bruise and scars and we need to dig deep in our wallet to patch up the FC to be Touge worthy again, so far... any plan to beautify the FC has taken a backseat xP
Perodua Kancil L2 Turbo "Turbo Junior"
The useless beast of burden... the tires are too wide for the body, and the suspension is even higher than stock O.o
Feels like it can blast off into space xD it tends to overheat on every touge session we brought it... which is not much xD
This Kancil has gone through all kinds of mods that even dwarfed the FC in the tuning department, too bad none has been done to fix the wide tyres and suspension problem :-(
The turbo boost is set at 1.0 bar, but the car tends to vibrate dangerously approaching 160km/h xD
In other words... this car totally sucks!!! T.T but its rather cool to drive, with its blow off valve louder than its exhaust note xD
Bid daddy turbo with little Junior Turbo
Next in line : The Scouting Gears...
Proton Iswara 1.3 "Meteorain"
A pure survivor... even after all the torments we put it through... it still pulls us through^^ through Genting and Frasier and back, 320km in one night^^... all with a leaking gasket and carbon build ups 3 times thicker than its valve and an overdue service xD
This car belongs to Cloud, currently in progress to patch the car up after decades of loyal service and negligence to his family^^ now it is officially Cloud's car and responsibility... and finally having the attention it deserves to make it ROAD worthy xD
The car is currently under going a full engine overhaul, but the good thing about the Meteorain is the In Car Entertainment (ICE^^) system... the car's audio has been progressively upgraded by Cloud through the blood and sweat of his brothers and sisters from whom Cloud applies his loan xD
The car may forever remain our scouting machines or may be upgraded to be Touge worthy... depends on Cloud's plan for his gear, in the meanwhile it is loyally serving us in our numerous scouting expeditions^^
Meteorain!! Banzai!!! xD
Meteorain in action in one of our Scouting Expedition^^
Perodua Kancil 660 "Howling Banshee"
This was our first Touge Machine, loyally screaming through the busy touge of Bangi during our early Touge years xD
This car has been downgraded to scouting gear because of the period in which it is neglected and now screams with all kind of pain that even scare us whether the steering wheel can hold on or not xD
This car was originally under my care during my studying years, but since I have started working, the car falls into negligence in my family and now almost everything about the car is not right... from the steering rack to the drive shaft all the way to the suspension, it keeps on creaking and screaming weird noises that worries us all the time T.T
The car receives its name from the Howling scream of its engine produced when driven at its limit, the engine is left stock... only that is has always been overdue for service even sometimes up to 5000 km more than the original mileage for service, thus the engine produces weird howling noise...
The only mod the car has gone through was a stiffer suspension, which I was able to convince my father to installed it after the original suspension has leaks and failed early in its lifetime^^
But currently the car is starting to get the attention again back home, with my mother started to seriously patching up the car since she is using it all the time nowadays ;-)
Anyway, Howling Banshee... GAMBATTE!!!!! ^^ Arigatou for all the years you taught us how to drive and acquire all the skills that we currently have... ARIGATOU!!!! ^^
The rear end of the Howling Banshee, since the front end is too ugly and does not pass our censorship board xD
To Zid:
p/s - Come on and join us in our Touge with your lightly modded Wira, its gonna be fun^^ Accidents can happen to anyone so don't brood over it for too long, we're starting to miss ya xD
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
A night to remember 2....
What the... Keisuke just posted a half hearted post =.=
Man, he's really slacking off now...
Anyway, back from where he left off... eee to.... hmmmm?
Yeah, back from where we seem to have the balls to follow Danni through the Ulu Yam Touge, that was one of the most craziest experience we ever had...
I mean, I never did push the FC to such extent... even at the High ways I still have lots of reservation in driving the FC, but that night everything was like Hell...
We were going at 160++km/h at the Touge!!! O.o the FC tyres being cheap and the thread already worn off was almost breaking traction at any moment... that was really a GAMBLE RUMBLE xD
Anyway, to make things short... by going to the touge with Danni, we can see the difference in skills.... it was like heaven and earth, he wasn't even pushing hard and we were already struggling just to keep pace....
I was jumping into corners not knowing how the corner is, everything was new to me and I pushed like heck!! Just to keep in touch with the MR-2.
On the return run, I lead the MR-2... with the FC having more horses under the hood, the MR-2 fails to follow in the straights... but he really burn our behinds at the corners...
I was already jumping into the corners like a lunatic but that MR-2 just keep on hugging our ass like it was nothing... incredible!!!
Too bad that there was far too much traffic on the touge that night... if not it would be far less scary than it was xD
Anyway, we only made a single run at the Ulu Yam touge and parted ways at 11:30, with Danni giving us a lot of advice about our car, it was really an enlightening experience meeting people like him^^
With protest from Keisuke, here is the video of our first run with the MR-2 leading and Keisuke being the noisy camera man xD
Man, he's really slacking off now...
Anyway, back from where he left off... eee to.... hmmmm?
Yeah, back from where we seem to have the balls to follow Danni through the Ulu Yam Touge, that was one of the most craziest experience we ever had...
I mean, I never did push the FC to such extent... even at the High ways I still have lots of reservation in driving the FC, but that night everything was like Hell...
We were going at 160++km/h at the Touge!!! O.o the FC tyres being cheap and the thread already worn off was almost breaking traction at any moment... that was really a GAMBLE RUMBLE xD
Anyway, to make things short... by going to the touge with Danni, we can see the difference in skills.... it was like heaven and earth, he wasn't even pushing hard and we were already struggling just to keep pace....
I was jumping into corners not knowing how the corner is, everything was new to me and I pushed like heck!! Just to keep in touch with the MR-2.
On the return run, I lead the MR-2... with the FC having more horses under the hood, the MR-2 fails to follow in the straights... but he really burn our behinds at the corners...
I was already jumping into the corners like a lunatic but that MR-2 just keep on hugging our ass like it was nothing... incredible!!!
Too bad that there was far too much traffic on the touge that night... if not it would be far less scary than it was xD
Anyway, we only made a single run at the Ulu Yam touge and parted ways at 11:30, with Danni giving us a lot of advice about our car, it was really an enlightening experience meeting people like him^^
With protest from Keisuke, here is the video of our first run with the MR-2 leading and Keisuke being the noisy camera man xD
Monday, July 28, 2008
A Night to Remember...
Well, haven't written anything for quite some time now...
Finally I got some work last Thursday so I couldn't write any updates on our activities, even now I'm supposed to be busy, but as usual, I'm slacking off.. :-p
Anyway, last Thursday we went scouting on a new Touge route in Mantin at the road leading to its industrial area with the trusty old meteorain :-) this time around, Cloud allowed us to drive the car ^^ haven't driven an iswara for quite some time :-p a nice decent car actually :-) (as it was the first car we had before Ryo went sending it to kingdom come X-p)
There were two routes to the Touge (based on our research X-p extensively done by Cloud... I guess he got tired of our exciting kamikaze attitudes... X-p) one was through the town of Mantin itself, the other was through broga... We decided to take the latter (as we've never tried that route before, during the days when we used to occasionally go up the other Mantin Touge...) and boy~~ what a mistake that was....
Finally I got some work last Thursday so I couldn't write any updates on our activities, even now I'm supposed to be busy, but as usual, I'm slacking off.. :-p
Anyway, last Thursday we went scouting on a new Touge route in Mantin at the road leading to its industrial area with the trusty old meteorain :-) this time around, Cloud allowed us to drive the car ^^ haven't driven an iswara for quite some time :-p a nice decent car actually :-) (as it was the first car we had before Ryo went sending it to kingdom come X-p)
There were two routes to the Touge (based on our research X-p extensively done by Cloud... I guess he got tired of our exciting kamikaze attitudes... X-p) one was through the town of Mantin itself, the other was through broga... We decided to take the latter (as we've never tried that route before, during the days when we used to occasionally go up the other Mantin Touge...) and boy~~ what a mistake that was....
Half-way through the route (right after we passed the town of Broga) the tarmac road gave way to a Rally-spec gravel path O_o (since the road seems to be going under some sort of renovations) that went on for the next half an hour or so... Not to go so hard on meteorain (as she got enough trauma from our last climb up Genting and Fraser in one night... X-p) we drove through the gravel roads barely more than 10 KMH... It took us almost forever to get through the area...
When we finally got there, the course didn't disappoint ^^ it's quite a narrow road (with a number of debris strewn at the roadside, obvious signs of disuse...) which was really quiet even at 10 p.m X-) (considering it was suppose to be the road leading to Mantin's industrial area... X-p) from where we started, it began with a mild uphill slope with fairly easy sweeping bends, nearing the top (about 1/3 through) the road twist and turn in violent hairpins, and stoop down the remaining 2/3 of the course for a downhill run filled with more hairpins and tight chicanes, one after the other in rapid succession.
Rather suprising was that at a certain hairpin, there is this dog that sleeps at the middle of the road O_o it does move away when we arrive, but still, whenever we came back, he's there again at his favourite spot (we made 3 runs; one run each). Whatever it is, it's a GREAT course >:-) and we've tagged it as a possible second home course for us ^^ (since it is rather close to our area...)
But better things are yet to come >:-) we went there again on Friday, this time with Turbo Jr and meteorain tagging along as back up car ^^ (in case things go awry… :-p) We started off at 12 am, got there at 1, and scouted the road… To our surprise, all the animals of Mantin really enjoy a sleep on the tarmac O_o
First there was the dog that was there since yesterday, always sleeping at the middle of a hairpin corner… X-( though he always got up and gave way (albeit rather sluggishly) but he may not make it in time if we went blazing through the corner… X-p so that was our first concern (didn’t want to cause any unnecessary casualty for our reckless fancy… :-p)
Secondly, and worst still, there were cows sleeping on the road O_o COWS!!! OF ALL THE PLACES IN THE WORLD TO FIND A NAP, WHY ON THE TOUGE???!!! WORST STILL, THEY WERE ALSO SLEEPING AT A HAIRPIN NEAR THE EXIT!!! X-( albeit a bit by the roadside… All 3 of them, one happy family… X-(
And there was also a whole pack of dogs sleeping on the middle of the road O_o what’s this? A zoo? Well, with all the wild animals running loose on the streets, we had to be extra careful (especially the cows…)
Ryo started off the first run to and fro with Jr riding shotgun (it runs uphill till up to 2/3 of the course, and slopes downhill afterwards… The reverse obviously when running the other way around…). Cloud, in order to save the expensive fuels, decided to stay back with me at the starting point…
After about 10 minutes or so, Ryo was back, and then Jr got a shot at it next… The booming sound of the FC’s exhaust note echoed through the mountains… Again after 10 minutes, they got back... And it was finally our turn, Cloud and I X-)
Of course I was scared shitless X-p so I went in really easy (never even pressed the gas more than half :-p) and on the end of the uphill run, we ran across a police patrol O_o (WHAT ON EARTH ARE THEY DOING AT THE TOUGE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT??!!!) We tried to call back to Ryo and Jr to tell them to run off as cops are coming, but as expected, there was no line there at such a God forsaken place… >.>
So we headed back, the plan in mind was if the cops were there interrogating Ryo and Jr, we’d continue on as if we don’t know them… X-p and as expected, the cops were there, having a field day throwing questions and suspicious glances on Ryo and Jr (also inspecting the funny faces they had on their license and IC X-p) SO we slowed down to a very law-abiding pace and when we passed them, Ryo went on and signaled us to come over!! O_o there goes our getaway plan… X-p apparently Ryo had told the cops they were waiting for their friend there, and they were only told to wait there… :-p bummer… Next time we’ll have to coordinate our protocol when it comes to cops… X-p
Anyway, the whole event upset us all and Cloud decided to skip his run and head back (luckily no one ended in the local pound X-p) So we started the journey home and that was the end for the night… Greater things were still to come… >:-)
Ryo had afterwards set up a meeting with Danni, a Touge enthusiast who drives a Toyota MR2… :-) We were to meet up at Sunday night and go for a cruise through the Ulu Yam Touge… X-) Sunday couldn’t have come any sooner…
When the time comes, Jr had something up so he couldn’t join us, so was Cloud, thus it was left only me and Ryo… We set out at 8.30 and reached Batu Cave at 9.30… Ryo was really tired so he had a nap… around 9.50, he went out for a leak and ordered some burgers as well… around 10.05 I saw a red MR2 pass by O_o SH****T!!! He’s here!!! and our burger’s not done yet… X-( So Danni had to wait for us till half pass 10 :-p man, we came so early to avoid such an embarrassing moment, and there we were, embarrassing ourselves… X-p standing there with our pants down... :-p
Anyway, Danni was a really cool guy :-) and his car was really beautiful X-) to think it is just one year younger than our FC was astonishing O.o the car looked like brand new, while our FC really showing its age… X-( after some brief introductions, off we went setting out for the Ulu Yam Touge :-) Danni took the first lead… And boy was he FAST!!! O_o (His favourite Touge ground is the notorious Fraser Hill O_o him and his gang would drive from Ulu Yam till Fraser Hill, punch through to Bentong, and ride back the highway… No wonder Ulu Yam touge is considered chicken feed... Considering his level of playing field...)
He was BLOODY FAST!!! And he actually wasn’t pushing it all out (he had his street tires on, so he didn’t want to ruin them… Apparently he has another set of tires reserved only for Touges… O.o) but still, trying to keep up with him was really shaking our boots… X-p Ryo was driving like mad trying to keep up :-p (I didn't drive that night as obviously because I have a bit more sense and not the balls to go THAT fast on my first run… X-p unlike Ryo, more ‘kamikaze’ly insane than I… :-p)
Ryo was going so fast through the corners, that more often than not, the car's traction was only holding on to the road by a thread... Ryo went in the corners so fast in his first run was only because he sees Danni doing it, and he inferred with the simple logic “if he could do it, why not me?” of course, Danni was suicidally fast, and Ryo was suicidally crazy... X-p
But better things are yet to come >:-) we went there again on Friday, this time with Turbo Jr and meteorain tagging along as back up car ^^ (in case things go awry… :-p) We started off at 12 am, got there at 1, and scouted the road… To our surprise, all the animals of Mantin really enjoy a sleep on the tarmac O_o
First there was the dog that was there since yesterday, always sleeping at the middle of a hairpin corner… X-( though he always got up and gave way (albeit rather sluggishly) but he may not make it in time if we went blazing through the corner… X-p so that was our first concern (didn’t want to cause any unnecessary casualty for our reckless fancy… :-p)
Secondly, and worst still, there were cows sleeping on the road O_o COWS!!! OF ALL THE PLACES IN THE WORLD TO FIND A NAP, WHY ON THE TOUGE???!!! WORST STILL, THEY WERE ALSO SLEEPING AT A HAIRPIN NEAR THE EXIT!!! X-( albeit a bit by the roadside… All 3 of them, one happy family… X-(
And there was also a whole pack of dogs sleeping on the middle of the road O_o what’s this? A zoo? Well, with all the wild animals running loose on the streets, we had to be extra careful (especially the cows…)
Ryo started off the first run to and fro with Jr riding shotgun (it runs uphill till up to 2/3 of the course, and slopes downhill afterwards… The reverse obviously when running the other way around…). Cloud, in order to save the expensive fuels, decided to stay back with me at the starting point…
After about 10 minutes or so, Ryo was back, and then Jr got a shot at it next… The booming sound of the FC’s exhaust note echoed through the mountains… Again after 10 minutes, they got back... And it was finally our turn, Cloud and I X-)
Of course I was scared shitless X-p so I went in really easy (never even pressed the gas more than half :-p) and on the end of the uphill run, we ran across a police patrol O_o (WHAT ON EARTH ARE THEY DOING AT THE TOUGE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT??!!!) We tried to call back to Ryo and Jr to tell them to run off as cops are coming, but as expected, there was no line there at such a God forsaken place… >.>
So we headed back, the plan in mind was if the cops were there interrogating Ryo and Jr, we’d continue on as if we don’t know them… X-p and as expected, the cops were there, having a field day throwing questions and suspicious glances on Ryo and Jr (also inspecting the funny faces they had on their license and IC X-p) SO we slowed down to a very law-abiding pace and when we passed them, Ryo went on and signaled us to come over!! O_o there goes our getaway plan… X-p apparently Ryo had told the cops they were waiting for their friend there, and they were only told to wait there… :-p bummer… Next time we’ll have to coordinate our protocol when it comes to cops… X-p
Anyway, the whole event upset us all and Cloud decided to skip his run and head back (luckily no one ended in the local pound X-p) So we started the journey home and that was the end for the night… Greater things were still to come… >:-)
Ryo had afterwards set up a meeting with Danni, a Touge enthusiast who drives a Toyota MR2… :-) We were to meet up at Sunday night and go for a cruise through the Ulu Yam Touge… X-) Sunday couldn’t have come any sooner…
When the time comes, Jr had something up so he couldn’t join us, so was Cloud, thus it was left only me and Ryo… We set out at 8.30 and reached Batu Cave at 9.30… Ryo was really tired so he had a nap… around 9.50, he went out for a leak and ordered some burgers as well… around 10.05 I saw a red MR2 pass by O_o SH****T!!! He’s here!!! and our burger’s not done yet… X-( So Danni had to wait for us till half pass 10 :-p man, we came so early to avoid such an embarrassing moment, and there we were, embarrassing ourselves… X-p standing there with our pants down... :-p
Anyway, Danni was a really cool guy :-) and his car was really beautiful X-) to think it is just one year younger than our FC was astonishing O.o the car looked like brand new, while our FC really showing its age… X-( after some brief introductions, off we went setting out for the Ulu Yam Touge :-) Danni took the first lead… And boy was he FAST!!! O_o (His favourite Touge ground is the notorious Fraser Hill O_o him and his gang would drive from Ulu Yam till Fraser Hill, punch through to Bentong, and ride back the highway… No wonder Ulu Yam touge is considered chicken feed... Considering his level of playing field...)
He was BLOODY FAST!!! And he actually wasn’t pushing it all out (he had his street tires on, so he didn’t want to ruin them… Apparently he has another set of tires reserved only for Touges… O.o) but still, trying to keep up with him was really shaking our boots… X-p Ryo was driving like mad trying to keep up :-p (I didn't drive that night as obviously because I have a bit more sense and not the balls to go THAT fast on my first run… X-p unlike Ryo, more ‘kamikaze’ly insane than I… :-p)
Ryo was going so fast through the corners, that more often than not, the car's traction was only holding on to the road by a thread... Ryo went in the corners so fast in his first run was only because he sees Danni doing it, and he inferred with the simple logic “if he could do it, why not me?” of course, Danni was suicidally fast, and Ryo was suicidally crazy... X-p
There were a number of traffic that night and we overtook them like crazy rude reckless street racers that we are :-p once Ryo went diving into a right-hand corner on the inside while overtaking a civilian when suddenly a car came from the opposite direction!!! O_o Ryo hit hard on the brakes and maneuver back into our lane... A really close call... We were that close to having a head-on collision… That was about the time my heart flew out and scampered under the seats X-p
After that incident, Ryo took it a little easy... :-) to my great relief (though the worst was not over yet.. X-P) because of Ryo's conservative overtaking maneuver, he was left back at one point, Danni broke off and left us trailing a rather long traffic chain... By the time Ryo cleared the traffics, Danni was gone, and Ryo took his sense of reason and sanity out the window as well O_o
Ryo floored the gas, and the FC went screaming through the Touge and at one point, at 180 KMH!!! O_o his average speed through the straights were around 160-180 (the straights were not long enough to accomodate any faster speeds.. THANK GOD!!!). He dived in the corners like there is no tomorrow X-( about that time, my balls jumped out of its pockets and out the window... X-p
By the time Ryo caught up with Danni, I was half-relieved X-p at least Ryo would only be suicidal, and not hell-bent crazy lunatic trying to jump over the moon... X-p however, the inducing heart-attack moments were not yet over X-( Ryo continued to try to match Danni's speed through the corners, and likewise, heart-stoppingly suicidal.. :-p
By the time the first run was over, I could hardly walk... X-p my knees had popped off.. I had to scrap my knee caps off the roof.. X-p I had to try to coax my heart to come out from under the seats.. X-p and my balls were long gone... X-p (I'm a wimp I know.. X-p)
BUT THE NIGHTMARE WAS NOT OVER :-O THERE WAS THE RETURN RUN!!!! X-( worst still, RYO WAS THE LEAD CAR!!! X-(
Some pointers for relief was the fact that the straights wouldn't be as scary (as the FC got more horses under the hood, Danni's NA engine MR2 simply couldn't keep up with the Turbo-tuned FC, so Ryo didn't push hard through the straights) and Ryo could control the rthym of the run as well as any reckless overtaking maneuvers... :-) But that's about it, everything else was 10X SCARRIER!!! X-(
Because Ryo was leading, and that we're not familiar with the course, we barely had any idea on the entry speed of the corners, Ryo just plough his way through, at the very fine edge of traction cohesion... More than once we almost went sideways... and more often than not, the back kept on twitching through every corner under the enormous grip demand Ryo was subjecting the tyres to...
As unexpected, though Danni loses some ground on the straights, he immediately gained it back (and more) through the corners... X-( We were simpy no match for such a skilled driver... :-p
I was relieved the whole ordeal ended with no serious consequences, and Danni gave us a lot of advice on improving the FC's performance and especially the suspension setting and tyre selection :-) he's a really great swell of a guy... ^^ Hope to be meeting up with him again and maybe we can learn a thing or two on improving our pathetic skills X-) (and probably how to keep our balls in its place as well… X-p never did find my balls after that.. X-p)
Uh Oh… I’ve been slacking off for a bit too long.. :-p gotta go to work ^^ Shigoto2… :-)
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