Malaysian
Super Series Rnd 3 2003 - Old Bill gets faster!
by
Adian Yein Khalid
Yeah,
so as usual, the we arrived at SIC halfway through the drivers briefing,
and as usual Jeff Amin gave Khaidi and myself a small bollocking for it.
Irwan, a bit all over the place in his first race, didn't hear me call
him to run over to the briefing, and happily didn't turn up at all! But
he did eventually go, and luckily there were no repercussions.
One
thing you must understand is that this Round, $$$ was fricking tight for
all 3 drivers, and we were skimping like crazy on unnecessary expenditure.
Unfortunately for me that even included new tyres, so I had to run with
tyres from last round!! haha
Charlie got Ah-Sang Exhaust to make up the Long-Primary manifold that
I designed a year back, a nice stainless steel job, with 2.5" system
to the back. This made a huge difference, no joke: big power now started
at 5000rpm instead of 6000rpm, and went all the way to 8600rpm instead
of the previous 8000rpm. Mental. It also gave me the advantage I needed
on the exit of the uphill Turn 9, where the Civics always manage to pull
away.
Free Practice was a bit of a hoot. Went out for some exploratory laps,
going at about 7/10 and posted a 1m21.2 without fuss. I used to have to
push hard just to crack a low 1m21, so things were looking good. On top
of that we had detected a crack on the inlet manifold, which was also
costing me power. Irwan on the other hand used the time to get some practise.
Watching him, I noticed that he was taking Turn 9 too sharp, turning in
late and getting on the power for the run up the hill. It's the proper
racing line, but in these conditions with all the cars so similar in performance,
it's more down to energy management. Irwan did a 1m24.8
Qualifying was a breeze. On my good old used tyres, did some flying laps
and posted a 1m19.5. Halim has tweaked our suspension setup and it made
a big difference on turn-in. Good stuff, and it placed me 8th out of 20
cars. The qualifying was broken into 2 sessions when Pak Chiang got into
trouble at turn 1. More on that soon. Went out again and managed a best
of 1m19.6, so at least I'm consistent! Irwan again posted 1m24.8, to start
17th.
One thing about these FTZs is that they are very good in the first 2-3
laps that you go out, and then they fade as the temperatures go up. Let
them cool down and you get more performance, but push too hard and it
deteriorates.
At the front, Eddie and Eric set new records, breaking into the 1m17s
slot. Heck. Eddie actually did a 1m17.2, against Eric's 1m17.8. Incredible.
Just as I up my pace, it seems so did the rest of the world.
As
for what happened to Pak Chiang, I was right behind him and saw the whole
thing in front of my eyes! Exiting the pitlane for Qualifying, Pak Chiang
and I were nose to tail. I gave him a bit of room on the out lap, and
then we got to work. On lap 3, we chanced upon the yellow EK driven by
KC Chung, Ngah Motorsports driver. Yup, those fellas, they were back -
the cunts that butted me around and out big time in round 3 last year
when we were dicing. The yellow EK was very fast on the straights, but
the driver was hopeless. We followed him around for a lap, trying to get
by, but everytime that it seems he opened the door for us to pass he'd
suddenly take the normal racing line and cut right in front of us. This
joker had no awareness at all!
Something was bound to happen, and it did: Zooming down the pit straight,
Pak Chiang and I slipstreamed the yellow EK at full blast. Heading towards
the kink before turn 1, Pak Chiang went left to go outside as the yella-terra
seemingly stayed on the inside to let us past. Then suddenly the banana-power
EK happily moved towards the outside and Pak Chiang, and brake hard, pushing
Pak Chiang off at 220kmh. Pak Chiang's car spun to the left on the grass,
bounced hard over the gravel, and slammed sideways into the tyre wall.
Heck!! I mean, Pak Chiang may be one of my competitors, but I wasn't pleased
to watch him go off like that, it was down right dangerous.
In the meantime, Khaidi in the Saga was having no end of problems. Malady
after malady seems to impale the Saga, from fading brakes to the drive
shaft popping out. Yet when we go testing the cars goes fine, but everytime
we head for a race something goes wrong!
ON
race day, things certainly went haywire up big time.
On
the way to the circuit, my 5th gear gave up and sheared itself to bits,
so I had to continue to Sepang slowly without 4th. Of course with all
sorts of shite stirring within the gearbox, it wasn't long before it started
to sound real bad. So I pulled over on the highway and Irwan went ahead
first. Charlie came by 5 minutes later, had a look, and told me to just
head to the circuit slowly since there wasn't anything we could do about
it in the middle of nowhere.
At the pits, we stripped 5th to find that the gears were all shorn off.
And this is a standard-issue Proton 5th gear, whereas in the past we've
been utilising Charlie's developments, which seem to be stronger than
the standard stuff. Interesting.
In the meantime Irwan went out for Race 1. Got spooked by the lights,
and headed into turn 1 at the back of the pack. He overtook 3 cars in
the first 2 laps, then sat behind a Satria twin-cam for 3 laps. Once past,
he pullled away neatly. Reliability however ruled the day, with only 11
car finishing, Irwan getting a good result with 8th!
The
race itself was pure havoc. Nurhisham (of Proton GTI Championship fame
with Edar) in a MIVEC Proton GTI made a good start from 10th to end up
4th at the end of the 1st lap, with Ramesh chasing. Of course, with Ramesh
behind you, something is going to happen and it did, Ramesh leaning on
NurHisham's car heavily into turn 14, bad enough for the right hand driveshaft
to pop out! NurHisham pulled into the pits and was obviously infuriated.
Meanwhile, Eddie as expected had got to the front and was pulling away,
while Eric followed behind him helplessly. It wasn't to last, as Eric
stumbled on a backmarker halfway through and found himself in the gravel.
Eddie won by a comfortable margin from Lau Seng Kiat and Lai Wee Sing,
so that's Johor Boys in the top 3!
Khaidi went out to start Race 1 of the Supercars, only for the turbo hose
to come off halfway around the outlap. Frustrated, our friend drove back
into the pits on the warm up lap, and the crew got to sorting out the
problem.
For Race 2, Charlie and the boys managed to replace my 5th gear with something
that might work, and tried to flush the remaining bits of metal out of
the gearbox. It should do it. I did a test run down to Petronas and it
all worked fine.
Since I didn't even start the previous race, I started from the back of
the grid, with only 18 cars remaining, Kifli and NurHisham not returning
for battle, their steeds beyond repair. Irwan was in the thick of it,
8th on the grid!
Being right at the back, I knew I had to make a blinder of a start, but
I never expected to do as well as I did. With the redlights on, held the
revs at 3000rpm on the handbrake, and just as the car began to inch forwards
from the strain, I got green, dumped the clutch, and blasted down the
inside hugging the pitwall. 9000rpm, snatch 2nd, past Ramesh ahead of
me, then past a black Swift GTI. 3rd gear, pitlane exit road coming up,
past the black MIVEC driven by Karunai. Running out of road on the right
hand side, I see Irwan powering in front of the Satria TwinCam, and grab
4th. Right side wheels onto the grass, I'm past Irwan and head into Turn
1 and a sea of VTECs with their brake lights burning fierce red. Dive
down the inside on the grass again, rear snakes to the right but I'm already
at the corner so it helps me get around. Foot flat on the throttle in
2nd, I exit on the inside. Woah, I'm 7th already, from 18th on the grid!
Out of Turn 1, heading towards Turn 9 for the first time and FS Chong
powers past on the right. I check my mirrors, jink left, and brake a whole
2 cars length after FS Chong as we stream into Turn 9. At the apex, i
even past Pak Chiang et al and exit in 8th! Heck I'm good!!! haha...
But wtf? On lap 2, the yellow EK of Ngah Motorsports blew its guts and
caught fire at Turn 9, and the race was redflagged. There was a bit of
confusion as the SIC timing system seemingly couldn't handle this and
the drivers protested against the restart order that the machine spit
out. As all the drivers agreed to start from the position in which we
came into the pits, the issue was settled and once the scary-canary EK
was out of the way, we lined up for the restart. This time me in 9th,
and on the outside.
Again,
as usual, the start is fabulous and I make it up to 6th. But the VTECs
are all over the place, and forced into the middle of it all from my starting
position, I can't fully capitalise on the effort and exit Turn 1 7th.
Into Turn 9 from there I pull a late-braking manuveur out of my arse and
slot in behind Tony Teo, driving the Amoil ATTC Civic in 5th. Yeah!
Of
course it wasn't going to last. Down the front straight for the first
time, I hit 8300rpm in 4th and snatch 5th... whoops.. and snatch 5th..
what the fark?? 5th gear seemingly does not exist, allowing FS Chong and
Kimi to drive past (yeah, Kimi as usual also made a heck of a good start!).
But hey my car is 100kg lighter so no worries, braking for Turn 1, I get
past them before standing on the middle pedal.
Next lap is a good one, I maintain position. Now without 5th gear, at
the pitstraight I get monstered by FS Chong, but again I pull a Big One
and get him back on the braking into Turn 1. Again on the exit he powers
past, but again I dive down the inside and brake ridiculously late to
take the place back, which I hold all the way onto the front straight.
But this time he gets a better exit from Turn 14, and goes past. Without
5th gear, I have no answer. On the brakes I make it back side-by-side,
and get on the power early to set myself up for overtake down the inside,
again, at Turn 9. But, as it happens, things didn't go according to plan.
As I reached for 3rd, the stick refused to go in, effectively leaving
me with only 2nd and 4th gear. And there's still 9 laps to go!
Oh well, the plan is to try and come home with at least 1 point if possible,
for the good of my 4th place in the Championship. 2 laps later, Kimi goes
by, and the next lap, Rannald passes me on the straight. I overtake him
on the brakes but have no answer on the exit without my 3rd gear.
Amazingly I'm still lapping in the 1m24s, so Kimi and Rannald aren't getting
any further, and Irwan whom I can just barely make out in my mirrors isn't
getting any closer either! hah! The new exhaust really is making a difference!
With the 2 laps to go board displayed, I get into Turn 9 and suddenly
even 4th gear is getting dodgy. Not willing to risk it any further, and
being in 9th place wouldn't really mean shit to my Championship, I slowed
right down and pulled into the pits.
But the best part is, that wasn't the end of a ridiculous day:
The 4th gear was really farked, and there was no way we were going to
drive Old Bill back to MatSpeed, so I called a TowTruck. This chap, a
funny looking Indian guy with John Lennon glasses, turned up at 720pm
late as heck, in a bloody Land Rover tow vehicle (it's no truck!) not
the usual Daihatsu truck, and got to work getting the car towed. As he
manuvuered the Land Rover to get in position, he suddenly stop moving.
We were like, "WTF?!" Suddenly our freinds calls back, "Hello
Brudder, boleh tolong tak, steering saya pusing manyak ringan tapi tayar
tak gerak!" haha heck man, his steering rack had tercabut!!! haha
sad lah
Anyway I left 1st to get to a TV to catch my wife (Kahuna) reading the
8pm news, since she just got upgraded to Berita Perdana and last night
was the first night. I was at MatSpeed till 10pm and the towtruck still
hadn't arrived, the car finally arriving at 11pm!! What a day...