April 23, 2007
High Performance Challenge
Yesterday i had my first taste of track driving at SIC. HPC is an organized event where drivers are introduced to the high speed adrenaline pumping experience of track driving. Driving in the sense, that it’s not a race. we don’t compete with one another. We are there just to drive fast in a safe, controlled environment. Or so it seems.
I registered for a full day package which comes with 6 track sessions (25 minutes each) with instructor by my side, supervising. 6 sessions don’t seems like much, but the heat and the amount of energy spent controlling the car and paying attention to other drivers is really taxing to the body. by the 5th session i’ve to tall it quits and wasted the last session. anyway, back to the start, keegan, roy, keon and azim met up with me at Dengkil R&R at about 7.30am before making our way to SIC where registration opens at 8.30am.
9.00 am drivers briefing. there wasn’t much of a briefing other than introduction to the track, naming of the corners and flag identification. most of the learning takes place on the track itself with the instructor at the side. There are 3 groups which separates the drivers according to experience. since it was my first time on the track, i’m in group one, for noobs. overtaking only allowed on straights. i wasn’t really bothered at first since, it was my first time there and i was being very humble letting 280hp subaru impreza overtaking. afterall, there’s no way my 88hp neo could ever catch up with them. however, this humble-ness soon disappear as ego sets in and when i actually caught up with them at the bends. As those fast cars raced along their racing lines, i was actually power sliding inches off their back on my own racing line (which some instructors would disagree upon).
Racing lines are set for slow in fast out (SIFO) and this is possible by aiming for the apex where exiting (which requires a gradual increase in throttle) which prompts earlier acceleration. however there is this two consecutive high speed curves where this rule can be ignored with a smooth power slide. or just run over the apex like most F1 drivers do. since i do not intend to damage my suspensions, i slide while the subaru that over took me was navigating the corners. i could have over taken them there and then, but since group 1 has strict passing rule, i was forbid in doing so. hence the brewing frustration having to trail fast cars that are going slow.
speaking for fast cars, a Ferrari driven by a 19 year old graveled at the very last turn. picture tells it all.
hit the apex and spun around in the gravel
he dug himself in, real deep.
getting towed out by pick up truck with a rope tied on those expensive blings
