The Perfect Day with a RENAULT MEGANE RS

The perfect day... how would one define it? I have no immediate yardstick for it, but I know i've had a perfect day when I had one... :-p

Well, how would you look at a day where the morning start with a free flowing traffic to the office (instead of the usual dreadful hour long traffic deadlock), an always satisfying ride in a GTR afterwards (even IF you're only sitting in the back seats :-p) and round off the morning with a rather spirited testdrive of the latest hothatch to hit our local market? X-) surely, a morning like that would make anyone smile from ear to ear the whole day long :-p it surely did that to me X-p

Anyways, I am not here to talk about how perfect my morning started off, or how nice the day wound away... I am here specifically to talk about that new rave in town, the hot and sexy Renault Megane 250 RS cup (did I wrote the name right? :-p)

Yes, I had the very rare opportunity to sit in the back seat of a GTR into the renault showroom driveway to testdrive their latest introduction to our already crowded yet expensive local automotive market ^^ and how would I sum it up you say? I would say that the Megane RS is a world of contradiction :-p

Let me explain, the car is great, it is a whole bundle of fun, like an overenergetic puppy on steroids that would come yapping and jumping at you from a mile away, and yet, the yapping and jumping is so subdued and subtled, that you'd think the puppy was shot with a tranquilizer the moment it started yapping and jumping :-p not that it's bad, it's all in a positive sort of way... :-p it's like handling a thoroughbred yet tamed to be timid enough for children to play horsie with... X-p

Let me first explain the style of the Megane. I used to despise the Megane, its looks are so devastatingly ugly, that I would attribute it with a mutated fault in its dna genes caused by its ascendants being tainted with radioactive fallout of hiroshima :-p (but of course renault being french, wouldn't really be an unfortunate participant of that tragic yet triumphant page in history, depends on whose side of the fence you're looking from)


(See how everything was just ALL SO WRONG with the previous car X-()

But now, the mutated genes have all been rooted out, and I suppose following the wake of their success in F1 during the alonso years (the RS has been around Europe since 2008) they came out with such a beautiful exterior design, with all the right curves, dips and grooves (the insanely beautiful smooth curve of the front splitter was claimed to be inspired by F1 aerodynamics) that would match the beauty of any French nobility :-)


(see the family resemblance? X-p)

Honestly, i've never had much of a liking to hatchbacks, to me, they are like cars without a butt X-p but in recent years, hatchback designs have evolved to such an extent, that it causes me to rethink the way I look at them, and the latest Megane is the final nail on the coffin of that outdated thinking.

Nowadays, hatchbacks are cool stuff, from VW golf and scirocco to the Ford Focus RS and Fiesta, some of the designs are pretty much love it or hate it, but yet, its endearing and makes you think that THAT is a proper car and that you wouldn't miss the butt so much :-p unless you want to put a spoiler, then you'd start to have the ridiculous idea of strapping it on the rooftop X-p

To say how beautiful the Megane is, I'll let the pictures do the talking :-) because I certainly am not really adept in explaining beauty :-p but I am pretty much adept in describing how the car jumps and bark (or yap in the case of puppies X-p)


(that lower front splitter reminiscent of the low slung front nose of an F1 machine)


(that unique rear light clusters and exhaust is just insanely enchanting)


(the silhouette of the car and its side profile looks fast even when standing still, and those red scarlet brembos punch the point in the opposite direction :-p)

The interior is very much minimalist, with even the radio controls tucked away behind the steering wheel giving a very clean wheel :-p not cluttered by numerous buttons that one would not even bother to notice when taking a turn at high speeds :-p



The field of vision, the usual A-piller, as in any car, given the right circumstances is always a bother :-p the rear view, how should I say, requires a periscope X-p (not that you would bother what's at the back of ya :-p) but apart from that, the interior is almost perfect ^^ the recaro seats hug you like a supermodal in love :-p the wheel is full and satisfying to the touch and the pedals, with its studded rubber, is wholesome :-p (if that is the right word X-p)



The clutch is light, and being track-cum-race oriented, is pretty suprising :-p the brakes, as always for cars that care to employ the magic of brembos, are phenomenal. The feel of the brakes are just awe inspiring (as a matter of fact, the whole car is awe inspiring :-p), you feel you could out brake any car any day :-p given that it is not up against a GTR or any other supercars out of its class X-p Another thing worth mentioning of the cabin is the gearbox, the short shift gives it a very robust feel and it slots into each gear with a very convincing; pray for lack of any proper word; racy feel to it X-p

To put some justice to the car currently under limelight, allow me to define the perimeters and circumstances of which I am priviledged to experience. First of, the ever obliging sales man had set the car to “sports” setting, and from what I could see, it maps the engine throttle and response, torque curve and everything that has to do with those electronic wizardry I suppose, to a fairly aggressive yet linear set up, whereby the torque curve would rise rather fast but without much drama, and having a fair bit plateau of a powerband. The Megane has 5 settings, the first 2 for economical and leisure driving I suppose, the 3rd for a linear drive (as in the curve being linear), the 4th being for sports, and the 5th they called it extreme. Here the torque curve is pretty dramatic, with a much wider plane for the powerband.

Without given much liberty to try the rest of the settings, my thoughts will thus be on how the car handle under the “sport” setting only.

Secondly, as I have said before, having gone there on a GTR, I could not help but to compare the RS with the GTR, eventhough that would be grossly unjust. Nevertheless, having a fresh memory of how the GTR would burst out under acceleration doesn't really help in the impression of the RS. But the fact that I am comparing it with a GTR, and that it could hold its own, is pretty impressive in itself.

Thirdly, we were only priviledged enough to gun the car through the autobahn X-p there were not many curves and corners for us to truly appreciate the handling charateristics of the subliminal beauty of a car, but I suppose it'd do enough to give us a peek at its true performance :-) especially at high speeds ^^

Now, that put aside, we begin to slowly roll out of the showroom. Being a track-oriented car, it's pretty unforgiving :-p the clutch being a typical racing clutch, would catch the flywheel very early without slip, and without a proper input of throttle, the RS would leave you stranded there with a stalled engine :-p which to my embarassment as a self-styled passionate driver, is quite a slap to the face on my inadequacies X-p I would usually match the rev of the car with the clutch from the sound of the engine, but the RS being very subdued, audio-wise, would hardly allow you to hear the purr of the engine, and before I know it, the engine stalled, without even giving a hint of it apart from the sudden jerk and stop :-p

The very much obliging salesman do point it out to me that even the clutch point of the RS is adjustable per the settings as aforesaid above. Pretty impressive. Yet still, pretty embarassing to have stalled the engine X-p

After going through the dense traffic of PJ, I opened her up through the highway passing Sri Hartamas, took a right hander quite enthusiastically, and was instantly impressed X-) the acceleration may not be as dramatic and G-force inducing as the GTR, yet as I said before, it is quite raw, yet on the same breath, very subtle. You feel the jerk as the car zooms forward digging the road with all its 340 Nm of torque (YES, 340 NM OF TORQUE!!!), yet it comes at quite a gradual pace with little drama. It is like being slapped with a gentleman's glove by a gentleman X-p it is not painful, yet it hurts your dignity like a stab to the heart X-p this is all that, in the opposite direction that is :-p so satisfyingly fast, yet timid and controllable. The car is INSANELY fast, yet manageable and not scary. It gives confidence to any man that you feel you could control it, yet at the same time, the car dares you and instantly you know that you would need a whole level of skills to truly tame the beast.

When one hears that it spills out 340 Nm of torque through the front wheel, one would think that steering is pretty much non-existent X-p like how Jason Plato would describe it, think of the front wheel as 'men', hopeless in multi tasking X-p same goes with front wheel drive cars, the tyres could do only so much when traction is jostling with control and forward propulsion :-p lets just say that the traction circle would have to deal with a lot more tasks than simple braking and steering.

The car tempts you to go faster, with its stiff and rigid chassis, magnificent suspension, very talkative steering, phenomenal brakes, and when you are tempted so, the car dares you to try to reach its limits, whereby you'd notice a chasm where only the truly brave and great could leap with the god-like skills of a professional racer.

Yes, that is what I felt, in that split-second of turning the car into the corner at God-knows-what-speed, I was instantly tempted and dared, in the same breath, at the same instance, that I am both truly amazed and terrified (the passengers would probably be more in the latter category than the former :-p). The car is both forgiving, yet once you pass the threshold where only the greats would commit and touch the ceiling, the car turns into the unforgiving race car that it is. It is a TOTAL bundle of fun, terrifyingly fun, horrifyingly fun X-p

The tyres tell me they could handle more traction than I expected, and as I squeze the throttle even more, I felt the car losing some traction over some rough surface of the inner side of the corner, but the tyres instantly catch the car, and the LSD went to work. I felt the car, instead of understeering as expected of FF cars, rotates in the turns O.o IT IS THAT AMAZING. The feeling was EXTRAORDINARY!! X-D

The car is so talkative, you know instantly what is going on. The recaros hugging me like i'm Brad Pitt, doesn't falter in its task, and I hardly felt the side Gs through the turns (if not for my rather useless head being tossed to the side that is :-p) the steering, full and responsive, tells me the condition of the road and what the front tyres are going through, the chassis, rigid and firm, confidently relaying me messages from the suspension hub how the car is coping on its legs.

All these raw information, and yet subdued and civilized, is what the RS is all about. It truly inspires confidence, and truly makes you feel confident enough to even try to be the professional race car driver and make the jump :-p it reminds me of the GTR :-p only on a perhaps lesser extent (I am still truly in love with the steering feel of the GTR, which I suppose, save for the Lotus Evora, which I have yet to try :-p is perhaps one of the best, if not, the best, steering feel in any car i've driven ^^ which is not much i'm afraid :-p) .

But unlike the GTR, you can feel how mechanical the car actually is. It doesn't put in place a gazillion computers in keeping you from being silly and throwing the car over the kerb, but instead in its place are all these mechanical feel, that as if its just telling you what is going on, and leaving you the option of either being a silly bloke or a sensible one :-p that it makes you feel IF you would ever find yourself upside down over a kerb, that it is THAT which what you have chosen X-p the car is pretty much very persuasive I suppose :-p

If there is anything wanting in it is perhaps its rather lazy revving engine :-p being french, I suppose it couldn't be helped X-p still, perhaps this is in comparison to our rev happy rotary rocket ^^ or even Hanz's magnificently responsive Neo CPS, thus it won't be truly fair to compare it with the two. However, seeing that it is unfairly compared to the GTR, I suppose it won't do any harm to mention it anyway. But truly this is mere cheery picking, would that small inconvenience put me off the Megane RS? HELL NO!! X-p

For lack of a better word, I suppose the Megane RS is a gentleman of a car, yet, powerful enough to make you know that this is one gentleman you wouldn't want to mess with :-p I could go on and on about the car, how it drives, how it feels, but I suppose this post is already longer than is warranted, i'll leave with a note that the new Megane RS is all that a hothatch should be, it is agile, it is fast, it is brutally good in corners, yet it is subdued and subtle, that you could have a very disagreeable (to the local folks of the road) night drive through the local touge, and yet take your wife and kids for a leisure sunday drive through the city. To both the task it does very well, very well indeed that this car could be the best hothatch there is :-) its looks are just as great and cool as the scirocco, its performance could shame the Golf Gti and Ford Focus, and yet still agreeable with the wife and sleeping kids in the back seat :-p the Megane RS is truly a driver's car, it doesn't bother with paddle shifters, dsg gearboxes and all the electronic wizardry, it stays true to good old old school gear stick and mechanical drive ^^

Would I buy it? If I had 230 grand laying around, DEFINITELY YES!!

Would it best the rotary rocket? DEFINITELY NO!! X-p

The rotary has always been my first true love, and though its perhaps only a bit younger than myself, and though now even FF cars are faster than it in corners (yes, we have yet to have a rematch with Hanz X-p and restore what little left of my dignity) but would I substitute it with the Megane RS? HELL NO!! X-D

I would buy it as a practical everyday car and for the occasional burst of fun of perhaps annoyingly sticking around an EVO through the turns :-p but for a fun filled weekend car, nothing beats a rear wheel with a heart of a rotary :-p

To top it off, I would like to quote the 5th gear presenter Vicki Henderson:

“Is this the best hothatch money could buy?...... YES!” X-)

EPIC!!!

Yes, as you've guessed it... this sudden influx of post is due to my boredom :P

I suddenly found my self with internet access and not much to do... just passing my days waiting for my rotation to come back home^^

And during these times of boredom I stumbly upon a jewel among the millions of motorspot vids posted around the web^^

This vid is a must see for racing avids and enthusiast such as my self... the vid itself stirs the soul^^


Also this is an old vid, but nevertheless awe inspiring and make my blood boiling just itching to get behind the wheel and hit the road for an adrenaline filled adventure^^


I've also stumbled upon an old vid of a very peculiar Group B rally car, an RX-7!!! o.o
Those were the days of insane rally cars... the Group B, they were so fast that it was banned just 4 years after it was conceived... and now its legacy has become legends^^
But I'm surprised to find this RX-7 in Group B... but nevertheless the pure sound of rotary engine is enough to wake me up in the morning everyday^^

Seating positions

I guess the blog has become rather stale as of late... since I havent been home much to organise (organise? hehe I guess Cloud and Keisuke can differ to that :P) any touge activities among us RedSuns crew, thus the lack of update...

And since the last big crash way back in March has forced the Old Lady to be almost constantly in the workshop... until now we are still very cautious on handling here... and with her sensitive handling issue I guess it will be some time until we have her back for touge duties...

So now we go back to some of my main interest in cars... the techniques and tips on getting that little faster than your rival^^

These driving techniques post has been started by Keisuke and contains quite a massive amount of information and studies... I'll try to find some time to try organize the blog better probably to categorizes our entries for easy reference^^

Especially these driving tips, I always find my self reading them again and again... becoz for person like me driving has become somewhat of a luxury for me... my work does not permits me to drive often thus I may forget some of those basic points that makes driving all that more comfortable and much more fun^^

So the subject of this post is rather simple... but often overlooked, but it's one the most important aspects of driving... especially driving at the limit.

Seating positions whether we notice it or not affects our authority of control of the car and also our fatigues... sometimes one doesn't even notice that their driving position may not be correct...
Although driving position may be subjective and differ from one person to another, but there are some basic rule of thumb we can follow to ensure we are always in the correct driving position no matter what car we drive^^

There are 3 simple steps, firstly just after you sit in the car... ensure that you are properly seated, back resting flat against the seat and the buttocks firmly tucked in at the intersection of the back and bottom seat.
The underside of your legs should be in contact with the seat bottom... this is to ensure maximum contact patch between the driver and the car... as to feel the weight shift and grip limit of the car is through these mediums...

This is why even choosing your seat is as important as the next suspension upgrades... racing bucket seats allow these kind of seating position, with fairly little cushion on the bottom seat to enable the driver to have more 'raw' feel of the car... semi-bucket seats some of them offer these kind of seating position with some street comfort in mind... others are just imitation that are not worth the money... also the seat sizes is of utmost important, always before buying your next seat try the seats first and ensure they fit the necessary seating postion as mentioned above and if the seat have shoulder braces make sure you fit in those things ;)
As for our Old Lady we have a racing bucket seat with the size 'S' which makes it rather small but fits perfectly our small body frame... unless someone like Cloud or maybe even Hanz couldnt fit comfortably in the seat xD

Next is the hand position, after you've taken your seating position correctly fully extend the arms above the steering wheel and rest them at 12 o'clock of the steering wheel, ensure the wrist rest on the steering wheel.

This is to allow when we're driving our arm does not overextend... and overextended arms tend to tire quickly and once our arms tires we will lose sensitivity towards the steering feedback and not notice steering vibrations. With this steering position it allows for maximum authority in handling the car and using the 'shuffle-technique' much easier.
Although you may not notice how important the 'shuffle-technique' doing daily driving or town driving but once you get to much higher speed of driving at the touge or the tracks, steering techniques is essential ;)
Also just in case there is a crash... the hand being bend a little allows it to act like a shock absorber... unlike if you have straight arms streching to reach the steering wheel the force will directly be subjected to your shoulder pocket... which is not nice >.<

Lastly is the feet position, when seated fully depress the pedals with the ball of your foot... not your toe. The knee should be bend a little.

This is for the same reason as above, never to allow the legs to over extend and also to make it easier to perform the all-important heel-toe technique if you're driving a manual^^ but make sure the knee is clear of the underside of the dash board a few inches when driving... this is rather hard for certain cars as their factory default position may not cater our arms and leg lenght but just as I mentioned before, these are simply rules of thumb... seating position may be different from one person and another.
Well hopefully you'll find these entries interesting and makes your driving that little more comfortable and enjoyable ;)

*referenced : http://www.turnfast.com/tech_driving/driving

Wangan action

This is a rather late post since it happened almost a fortnight ago but heck... nothing been going on this blog that I think its turning rather dull :P

Besides, I suddenly have the rare occasion of having an internet access that I figure its high time I update some events that we had been doing ever since we got back the Old Lady ^^

Keisuke went for some track day action when I was not around (again >.<) and it seems although the Old Lady power has been bumped up to almost 100 horses more than before Keisuke is not going any faster...
It seems we still dont have enough skill to grasp so much hike in horsepower that we are actually going backwards... T.T

The tyres and suspension settings really need some major overhaul as he reports that he's getting only tire spins...

It seems I dont have much video about his track day but below are some pics to feast on some fine beast that turn up to one of those rare Sepang track days :D

So obviously the Old Lady is still not ready for any touge action until I can dig deeper into our wallets and see what we can do about her very sensitive handling.

But still that did not stop us from having some wangan fun!!!^^

Just before my next assignment I was able to have a couple of days off, which we put to good use when Keisuke was able to convince his bosses to have some outing with their wicked machines^^

We met up just before 6pm at the Seremban R&R, and with the Old Lady we were as usual late :P

KeKe went along with his DSLR :D so Keisuke had to sit directly on top of the drive shaft wihout any seat until we reach the R&R (and he was constantly complaining about the heat from the shaft xD)

When we met up, Hanz with his awesome Neo CPS was already there, so is En. Yus with his Golf GTI MkV and Zaid with his Evo 7^^... so we exchange our greetings and off we went with as agreed Hanz as the lead car...

But not even 5 minutes pass on the drive, Zaid with his Evo 7 Beast suddenly started a full throttle dash through the high way o.O

All the way until the Melaka exit we were going out meter... it was damn scary sitting in the Old Lady going at that speed for such extended period of time o.O

But the whole drive itself was extremely fun, and when we reach Melaka we stop by the mosque for a quick prayer and off the road again for our main objective.... ikan bakar!!! xD

Hahahaha yes we went all the way there like crazy maniacs just to enjoy the Ikan Bakar :P I had to say the food was very nice, albeit we were eating with such gluttony that we were rendered immobilize for quite some time :P

Then we hit the road again with Hanz bringing us to his college and had some drinks and some photo shoot before we call it a night...

We had some very peculiar incident just before we wanted to head back that made the FC visiting the workshop again the next day :P

Anyway, below is a compilation vid of our wangan adventure... enjoy and have a happy end of the year from us RedSuns crew ;)

Mazda new design language

Ok, since I've become a rotorhead... I'm quite inclined to being Mazda bias xD

With the extremely beautiful Mazda Furai... which embodies Mazda 'Nagare' design concept, which means 'Flow'... is already mindblowing-ly beautiful.... coupled with a 450hp 3-rotor engine, the Furai must be the most beautiful prototype race car ever built^^

Below is a short vid of the car's unveiling at Laguna Seca ^^

But now Mazda has unveiled a new design language... Kodo - Soul of motion^^

Introduced in the form of the Shinari... a four door coupe, it just shows the design direction that Mazda is pursuing... which in my own biased personal opinion is jaw-dropping-ly beautiful xD

Below is the vids of the concept cars advert and unveiling at Milan^^

I must say, if I am to buy a practical car anytime in the future... I guess I'll be visiting Mazda's showroom :P

I have no idea why I would be writing this kind of post in our 'FC cum Touge diary blog', I guess I'm just bored to the bones... considering I'm celebrating Hari Raya on foreign land, having to work in the festive morning and havent touched the Old Lady for almost a month already... I guess I'm suffering from A.L.A.R (Acute Lack of Adrenaline Rush) xD

Anyway... Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri to all my muslims friends and Maaf Zahir Batin to all my friends and anyone that might be reading this almost dead blog :P

p/s : Pictures courtesy of www.motortrend.com and www.netcarshow.com

Testing the Old Lady

wahahahha... I guess this is old news already :P

But the Old Lady is out of the hospital for a while when I had my short leave last month^^

So we had a couple of days to test her out and list out anything wrong with her for our mech Hau to mend, and it just coincide with my short days off so we had to try her out^^

First thing I notice about the Old Lady is her striking new look o.O

She's gone down the path of bling bling drug dealers wheels :P

With flat black paint that was supposed to be temporary it seems to fit her new personality quite good xD

And when I mean new personality, she is a totally different lady from the old humble lady we once flirted with :P

With her new heart implant and an extremely loud waste gate, it sounded like she have 2 different personality, with the waste gate screaming when the rev counter started playing around 5000 revs/min she screams like a banshee right out of hell!!! ^^

And not to mention her new found power... a short tap of full throttle send her rear end kick out like a Brahma Bull just suddenly burst into life^^

Obviously we have to start tinkering with precise throttle control after this ;)

So I was having the time of my life... I was waiting for this moment to drive the Old Lady for almost half a year^^ and I spent all my free time just doing that^^

I finished off almost RM140 of fuel those couple of days T.T

(We hooked up with Hanz, the man with the mutated arms with his cool new Neo CPS^^ to test out the FC at the streets of KL)

But she really came alive when the moon is up in the twilight... before my short leave is over I just have to test her at our old hunting ground... our home course Bangi Touge^^

So we met up with Bib and off we went in midnight to that tarmac heaven, waited for some time at the MINT corner for the traffic to clear up a bit and then I was off for my first run^^

As I was still acclimatizing myself with her new potential I barely pushed her for my first run... and also mainly out of fear o.O with so much power under the hood its just scary to press the throttle... I was driving like a sissy around the touge :P

But on my return run I was starting to get the hang of handling her, despite the fact that her speedometer was dead (the cable snap just after Keisuke picked her up from the workshop :P) which makes the power steering feels completely lifeless, nonetheless I was starting to barely get the grasp of the Art of dancing around the Touge ;)

But then at the MINT corner I just lost it :P went in with quite a lot of reservation, but on the way out I just spun xD

Everything happened so fast I didnt even notice I lost her before the spin >.< but probably thats mainly due to the problem with the power steering but after 6 months hiatus from the Touge I have gotten extremely rusty as well :P

Below is the vids that Keisuke was able to capture in my humiliating moment xD but what happens next frighten us, it seems since the engine is operating at higher temperature than before the normal radiator hose is just not cut out to handle the coolant... she was spitting coolant all over the place after the spin... and we had to wait for the engine to cool down before we can start addressing her cooling problem :P

In the end, our night ends at 3 o'clock with the Old Lady badly wounded and have to drag her back to the workshop :P

So now we have changed all the hoses using Spako Silicone hose, and she is still getting more bling bling treatment from Hau xD

I guess I'll have to prepare myself a new set of Touge specific wheels... 18" feels rather strange :P its bling bling but doesnt quite have the same feeling as our previous 16"... I guess the max for performance for the FC is just 17"... 18" just feels too big :P

Reminiscence

Yeah finally the Old Lady is resurrected, although there is still some more work to be done before she is 100% complete but at least she is out of the shed and into the moon light ^^

Somehow I feel that we have reached a crossroad here in her history, a new chapter is unfolding for her... so thus a preview back to the memories of the adventures and trials of our 3 years ownership of the Old Lady...

Another day in history

Yup, my fortunes just keeps getting better and better ^^ eventhough i keep digging deeper and deeper into poverty X-p haha...

a senior colleague of mine have been prowling the market for an Evo... he wants the latest evo he can find that is within his budget, 120k... and that'd be an evo 7...

He finally got it over the weekend, and brought it over to the office today :-) and i must say, it's quite a find ^^



The awe-inspiring Evo...


Pingu making a model fit to turn eyes sore... X-p


Everyone's all over the beast... :-p (the vinyl on the evo says: "Spirit of competition" ^^ lovely words indeed... what is evolution without competition? :-p)

The car is pretty completely modded, any further would probably require internal modifications that would be both extreme and costly... it's got aftermarket parts all over the place, hks intercooler, apexi fc commander ecu, rsm, brembo brakes, single-plate racing clutch, exhaust-God-knows-what and etc X-p

I jumped at the opportunity of taking the car out for a ride X-p and what a ride it was... the speedometer was still the stock 180kph, but with a car like that, that narrow band of speed limitation is just another number... X-p

My much respected senior colleague drove us into the Duke highway (our usual proving grounds :-p) and stopped by the roadside...

I was so eager to get started, that i didn't really adjust my seat properly :-p the clutch, being a single-plated clutch, is heavy and quick to grab the flywheel... the evo started off slow, and with a tap of the throttle, launches itself forward...

There's no dramatic sudden kick-in-the-butt turbo boost or anything like that, the ride's pretty smooth, and the rev just keeps on pulling until its 7k redline... and with pretty closed gear-ratios, and a really nice short shift, shifting through the gears up till top gear is a real breeze, and before you know it, your speedometer is already knocking the wall... :-p

the glare of the sun blocks the view of the RSM, so i never knew how fast i was going, but on a highway with decent sparsity of traffic, one can make an intelligent guess that over 200 kph is not unreasonable.. :-p

We had probably hit 250kph, and the car just seems to keep on going O.o but unlike Hanz's former superb neo (cruising at 200++ kph was a real breeze, and comfortable and quite enough to enjoy his In-car entertainment system) the evo just abused us with its wonderfully blaring exhaust note... X-p not that i'm complaining... :-p

The clutch being a racing clutch, catches the flywheel without any slip... so for noobs such as myself, it requires a certain finesse (that i have not attained :-p) to change gears without the car lurching...

The powerband of the evo is so wide, that the torque just keeps on coming from even quite a low rpm... perhaps as low as 3000 rpm, and it just keeps on going until the redline... :-p having a very wide powerband, it makes rev-matching quite difficult... X-(

Say for example i was running in 3rd at say 3000 rpm, and down-shifted into 2nd, I would need to rev-match the revs up to close to the redline to make sure the shifting is smooth... any lower than that, then the revs would be too low and the car would lurch forward, trying to force match the engine speed and the wheel speed...

Such a car would make machine-gun downshifting (as i would call it X-p) possible only under very hard braking, where speed is scrubbed off at a blistering speed, faster than the eyes could bulge out X-p

The brakes on that Evo is phenomenal O.O it employs aftermarket racing brembo brakes (noticeable from the screech of the pads when the car is stopping, bcoz the exhaust wouldn't bother in the background X-p) thus one can expect nothing less in stopping power...

The car is quite balanced :-) I could scrape off excess speed as fast as i could pile them on the speedometer X-p such characteristics would be pretty handy on the touge ('~,)

The only qualm i have on the car is the power-steering... if there is a weak link, that would be it... and what a weak link it is :-( with all the entry and exit speed that car is capable of, it's rendered useless by the disappointing steering...

The power-steering is not speed sensitive (i don't know whether stocks are like that or that was purposely made by the previous owner) thus it remains light and detached even when running at excess of 200++ kph O.O now that's a thought to really scare the bejeepers out of me.. X-p sadly i noticed that only when i was taking a turn while running in excess of 200++ kph X-p

While going straight, i noticed there's hardly any feedback from the steering, which i attributed to perhaps the stability of the car and the smoothness of the highway surface... but that trait rears its ugly head in a turn, and really caught me wetting my pants... X-p

It completely takes out the fun in the car.. :-( you don't know whether you're running at the limit of the car and its tyres or not... and before you know it, the tyres are squealing, and THERE'S NOTHING FROM THE STEERING TELLING ME THAT!!! O.O

I felt i could push on, but the tyres are telling me otherwise, while the car's computers were making algorithms that would shame even Einstein in trying to keep me from getting into a mess X-p and in all that, the steering tells me only nothing... it's so detached, the car suddenly feels like a luxurious beemer O.o (not that i've ever driven one before X-p) it feels sedated, it feels detached, it feels unnatural, it feels.... luxurious... X-p

That really took the wind out of the whole excitement of driving that wonderful piece of tuning history... :-( and a pity that is... i've pointed it out to my senpai, hopefully he'll see to it soon ^^

That kind of feedback with that kind of speed would definitely kill someone eventually... hopefully my thoughts are untrue, and the truth is far from it... God-forbid... apart from that, i can't wait to have the old lady back and join the crew X-)

the cast is ready, time for the show to begin X-) arr...
shiver me timbers... X-D

The beast is alive!!!

The engine swap is finally done ^^ so i went to our mechanic today to have a look at the old lady with a monstrous heart :-p here's the vid of her coming alive ^^



All that's left is to tune her up :-) we'll got a new exhaust system installed, with piping 3.8' O.O the injectors are 850cc for the 2 top injectors... the bottom 2 injectors are 550cc a piece... (whatever all that means X-p)

Our mechanic will take it for dyno testing next week, hopefully i can make it ^^

here's the pics of the new engine :-)





And here's the new side skirt for ryo's consideration :-p

It's basically a lot bigger than the original side skirt, and it fits in with the bumper...

A day marked in History

This day, the 7th of June, the year 2010, shall forever be marked in the pages of my life's history.... :-)

I came to work this morning for the sole purpose of focusing on getting a job done, i have a deadline coming up soon and i'm not sure i could make it... Come what may, i have to make it... :-p but today, it is not to be...

One of my bosses came in today, with a car much desired by many, a car that took the world by storm which TopGear had succinctly summarized as a car that creates a whole new yardstick... It is the world famous, porsche killer, NISSAN GTR X-D

The boss knows that i like cars :-) i love fast cars X-) and i definitely adore the GTR X-p the Skyline has always been my first love in the world of motorsports (thanks to Shuto Kousoku Trial max and its cool R33 for that :-p) and though i may never own a GTR (it's too expensive for the touge X-p) I simply simply drool over it X-p'

i've been telling him stories of my adventures, of how i trailed an M3 beemer through the touge, how i was beaten by a Neo twice on a downhill X-p (there's no two ways about that :-p), how i've often take fancies up the hills of Genting and etc ^^ and i've always told him that once the circus comes out of the woodwork, I'd take him on all our adventures, and how we're going to have a great time X-) bcoz my boss also like cars, loves fast cars, and fell in love at first sight to the GTR :-p

It was totally unexpected when he came in the office with the GTR... i spent a good 10 minutes just admiring it :-p then came the afternoon lunch time, he came looking for me and asked whether i'd join him for lunch and meet up a client... He asked me whether i'd want to drive the GTR, an offer i cannot refuse X-p I dropped everything, and went straight out X-p

At first i drove slowly through the streets of KL, not wanting to scrape this phenomenal piece of technical human engineering :-p whilst the gear in Auto mood, i cruise down the street, wary of the GTR's bulky size, dreading every motorcyclist that whizzed by, and couldn't help notice the sheer weight of the car... driving it in such a way really makes it feel like any other ordinary expensive luxury sedan, more towards a hi-tech beemer than a mechanical Merc though... :-p a true everyday supercar...

Once we had our lunch and meeting, i suggested to take a drive through the touge of Ampang Hill X-p just for a quick review of its cornering characteristics... i couldn't imagine how a 285 tyre on a 20' rim feels like... X-p

Along the way, the ride feels a bit rough, the suspension, being a sportscar, couldn't help but be on a bit firmer side of stuffs... even when it's not in racing mode... but it's something anyone can live with :-) it's a GTR for God's sake, not a plush rolls royce X-p

we filled up the gas, and headed for the touge X-) once we got there, i let her rip... The GTR tears through the touge like a hot knife through melting swiss chess X-p bcoz i was so eager, i forgot to turn the gears into manual mode (where those cool shifter paddles would definitely come in handy ^^) and literally ripped through the first leg of the uphill course in Auto X-p the torque was mind boggling O.O with a tap of the gas, the car just launches itself into space and, dare i say, time itself X-p suddenly you don't feel like you're driving a bulky, expensive, luxurious sedan, but a lightweight, super-torquey performance machine X-p the engine power was SO GREAT...

Once we reached the look out point, i got held up by some traffic... and took time to take stock of the car... i've placed the suspension into racing mood (i didn't turn off the traction control bcoz i wouldn't want to trash another car which costs half a million moolahs X-p) before tearing the touge apart, and though the car's ride is firm, it's still comfortable... The stiffness of the chassis is phenomenal... There is virtually no body roll... well, perhaps bcoz i was never even close to the limit of the monster yet :-p

This time, it's time to test the famous self-rev matching twin-clutch gearbox :-p i put the gears into manual, and open the throttle... The rev wasn't so aggressive at low revs, but i think once it enters into 3000 (or perhaps 4000) rpm range, the torque kicks in, and the car just launch like a giant rocket O.O Suddenly the corner comes in so fast, that i just kick the brakes in in sheer terror X-p

and the brakes, my God... the brakes on the GTR is SO sensitive, that every slight modulation of pressure or jaggedness of touch reverberates through the brakes... It made me notice how rough my left foot braking is, that i had to switch to braking with my usual right foot to smoothen the braking process... X-p such is a noob that i am...

And it's so powerful, that i've never actually pressed hard on the brake... a slight touch could shave off the speeds so fast, that i often ended up braking too early and going in the turn too slow X-p a noob at the wheel... i could just go fast on the straights, and cower through the turns.. X-p

The touge ends so fast when you have such a ultimate car to tear it apart with X-p i couldn't help but to say to my boss, with this kind of car, he can keep up with anybody on the touge :-p by just the sheer brute power of that beast called the GTR...

I turned the car, and make another run for it X-) i just love how the torque kicks in, launching the car as if somebody had just booted you at the back X-p it feels like being strapped into a rocket pack :-p

The body rigidity is so stiff, that there's hardly any weight shifting around, even when going downhill O.O the car feels very neutral through the turns and it's really a point-and-shoot affair :-p The only difference you feel going through the uphill and downhill is the brakes.. it takes a tad bit longer for the brakes to shave off those excess speeds going downhill, owing to the fact that the car is really a heavy car for the touge... i guess nothing beats simple physics :-p

But that was just a simple first impression, i actually hardly pushed the car, and was no where near the limit... i cannot imagine the speed i would have to go through if i were to test the car at its limits at the touge... it'd definitely be the scariest thing i'll ever experience i suppose X-p

One thing that disappoints me a bit is the auto rev-matching gearbox... the downshifting was not as smooth as i had hoped, as i could still feel the car jerk whenever i downshift at high RPMs... i was expecting a silky smooth downshift with the sweet accompanying roar of the engine to match the revs, but the jerk through the tranny is really heart sinking... I guess nothing matches the good old skills of a perfect heel-toe downshifting :-p (of course i never get that right either X-p)

But apart from that, the speed of the gear change is PHENOMENAL.. it feels as if you're playing those arcade games rather than driving an actual car X-p

The steering was perfect, it is weighted really nicely, that you can feel the firmness of the tyres on the road, but light enough to make turning the wheel a breeze rather than a chore, yet not too light as to make it feel disconnected from the wheels...

You can sense every bit of rock on the road, yet feel the information sent to you very gently and subtly, rather than giving a punch at the back of your kidneys :-p Those seats hugged me just nicely, while being comfortable to boot...

I can never run out of praises for the car :-p (and can never stop smiling silly the whole evening as well X-p) and words can never give justice to my wonderful experience with the GTR today... Truly i felt i am blessed to be given the opportunity to drive such a wonderful piece of human achievement ^^

As for my boss's first experience through the touge, he kept quite when i blasted up and down the touge (and just listen to my pathetic oohs and aahs admiring the car's tourque, brakes, handling etc X-p), so i thought he was fine... when we got to the office though, he said he was saying his prayers when i was lost in the frenzy X-p Well, even though i didn't really stepped on it (literally) but still the speed was really excessive X-p even first time at the wheels of a GTR, i felt as though i've gone faster than i ever will be in the FC :-p such is the vast difference of heaven and earth.. X-p

As for that, i cannot wait for the FC to come out of the woodwork, and then we'll be really having fun with a GTR in our midst X-)

As for the FC, here's a little update :-)

We've recently purchased (under sever influence X-p) another half-cut X-p haha... this one comes equipped with full aftermarket parts, and a HUGE turbo O.O one that scares the living daylights out of me by just looking at it X-p it comes with a Power FC Ecu unit and Cusco 2-way adjustable suspensions as well... If my ears were still working, i heard that the injectors are 850cc a piece O.O now that's going to be a real gas guzzler X-p the pictures ain't pretty though :-p

Heart cavity repainted...

Well, i've just came back from visiting the Old Lady in the hospital yesterday... She just had her engine bay repainted :-) a certain golden shade... sadly, it's the same colour as all the other cars at our house X-p



















And the fist-sized hole were patched up for free ^^


And the rest of the junk were stashed in the car for storage purposes X-p a major interior work gotta be done after this... :-p



And cloud has dreams that comes in two wheels... X-p



Well, even i'm losing sleep over something like this... X-p'

Circus updates^^

It seems Hanz Neo has taken its flight to orbit... its been written off as total lost and will never see the lights of day again, neither will we see its head lights in our rear view mirror as well :P

He had a few great options as his choices, and attempts as much as we did we could never sway him to see the light :P

Hanz being a complete nerdy petrol head as all of us, he decided to ditch the Alfa!!! o.O

He claims the Alfa didnt catch his heart, soul and passion... but a Neo does... o.O

Neo CPS to be exact... and its already under the knife for that extra kick.

It seems now that he have become one of our great rivals, it seems the stage is set for a great battle ahead.

Hanz never had the luxury to kick my pride in the dirt with his old Neo like he did to Kei, but now he's preparing just for that... even his talks sounds a little cocky now xD

But as the case is, now he has chosen a Neo CPS as his base car... and in his own words :

"Yeah.the chasis has been improve..I'm gettin a new neo.with a fiery heart too.n 10 k worth of mods already standing by.n yes I will still use a good ol campro!!!"

"Plus some of the good stuf from the old neo will be thrown in too"

"The neo cps has a revised chassis width n length to overcome..ehem the old problem"

"N I will still put more bars than pudu jail in it N make it faster than its predecessor"

"I'll be ready for ya"

Interesting how things will turn out, I'm really looking forward as how he will mod his new Soul Mate^^

As for the Old Lady, she's still in the operating room.... we just found a big gaping heart stopping fist size hole right under the drivers side underbody...

Guess 20 odd years has not been nice to her =.=

Will need to patch that up before going any further north.

As for the rest of her body stiching, it seems the doctor have a pair of steady hands^^

She now have more stiches on her than Frankenstein... all in the pursuit of youth... I mean chasis rigidity:P

Hopefully she'll regain her fiery young body she posesssed long ago that captured the hearts of million, and back to winning ways.

The mods we're doing on her is getting quite serious, she's turning into a street legal track car... and she is becoming more and more a carbon copy of our friendly mechanic Hau's Track oriented FC :P

These mods will certainly burn a huge hole in my wallet, and I still need to save up some more for some serious black wall... RE-01 is what I'm waking up to in the morning, but unless me being financially ready to take the plunge... I'll have to make way for more options >.<

From our timeline we're seing the Battle Gears being ready in probably one or two month time, hopefully when both our Gears are ready to the starting line, under the moonlight, Tekali will once again be abuse to the sound of horsepower!!!^^

Until then, what have we addrenaline addict RedSuns junkie have been up to... well we've gone to some outdoor adventures that is almost as dangerous as our twilight escapades... I think :p

Beating our self half dead climbing down under a bridge and have a dip so close to the dam that the water level can change in a matter of minutes...

Beating our self half dead by going Parkour without any real training :P

Cloud went to study the mysteries of Physics >.<

 And we went to some touge session with really crappy cars (Kembara, Kia Spectra, etc) that I almost slept in the car >.<

And also a hearty congratulations to our best friend Pimal for his wedding^^

May you be among those lucky ones to enjoy the blissful marriage life until death do their part ;)

 

And as I mentioned before, 'tis being a season of aplenty... we found another beautiful, original R34 GTR V-spec which have just had a visit with the friendly roadside kerbs... >.<

From what I heard... the initial quote to patch up this rare beauty would be around 30k... since it had a direct hit to the chasis main frame o.O

The whole engine and transmission is now aback by a few inches... the 6-speed GETRAG transmission is confirmed to be dead... just hope the RB26 DETT is still intact.... if not one of those babies could cost a whopping 15k!!! o.O

I just hope this beauty won't be scrape... its such a pity :(