06 June 2009, By SIC

Flagged off by Dato’ Azman Yahya president of Motorsport Association Of Malaysia, the Sepang 1000km (S1K) race went off with 56 cars on the grid. Car 16 of Team Tung Chun Racing from Class 2 failed to reach the rolling start when it stalled right after rolling off from the starting grid.

The incident promoted car number 36 of team HPC Kegani to second spot and along with Team Type R Racing 21 dominated the first race 20 laps of the race which was completed 54:19.771.

Team R3 Proton Satria Neo competition number  12 stalled before turn of lap 15 almost a repeat of their last year’s attempt in Millennium Merdeka Endurance (MME) race.
The Sepang 1000km race is a spinoff from the successful MME race designed for particularly the teams in Class B and C of MME.

Full report here.

06 June 2009, By SIC

With an average time of 2:40.608, Class 1 Type R Racing team in the car number 21 will be starting the Sepang 1000km (S1K ) race at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) in pole position in.

According to KK Tek, between the three drivers, KK Soh, YC Wong and himself, there’s an accumulated  eight years of experience in entering the Merdeka Millennium Endurance (MME) race that’s helping them to get the pole potition.

“We are confident that we can keep ahead the rest of the teams in the race from what we have experienced in the past,” said Tek.

“We sorted the car’s suspension to suit the tyres very early so we had more time to concentrate on winning the race instead of solving nagging problems.

He added they are not slowing down from their qualifying lap times and going  to maintain an average time of 2:40 throughout the race.

Read full report here.

Thank god we got slightly lost. Never would have found that engaging 20km experience to Melaka town. Fourth gear almost full throttle, then 3rd gear and occasional 2nd gear downshifts. Wow. We were of course rewarded once getting into Melaka town as we gobbled down as many sticks of grub as we could at the satay place. Yums.

Anyways, I have to thank the Satria GTi Club for inviting Satria R3 owners to join them for their track day. Professionally organised, the early morning started with a briefing and registration (I was late, so missed out on most of it). About 20 SGTis and 4 SR3s were present. An enthusiastic bunch, I have to say. A few beginner drivers had experienced appointed instructors alongside to guide them through the course.

After reinstalling my racing harness which I removed last night to accomodate my colleagues in the rear, I got strapped in and started my much awaited track day. Car felt especially good after having it serviced the night before at Proton Edar 3S Mutiara Damansara. BTW, my experience with PESC Mutiara was exceptionally positive this time round. Will be writing a written commendation for the level of service and attentiveness shown. This is how the flagship centre should perform, all year round. Thumbs up!

Did some warm up laps just to get a feel of the track. Re-acquainted myself with Sepang, but braking later this time round, much thanks to the spanking new Goodridge steel-braided hoses + EBC fluid I recently got installed. Confidence-inspiring now doubt.

Here’s a little account of how I take Sepang in my SR3:
Powering to about 175km/h at the pit straight, I brake hard slightly beyond the 100m mark, downshift to 3rd then 2nd before turning in late at the ridiculously slow Turn 1. Brake slightly before turning in to Turn 2, then exit at full throttle for Turn 3. I catch fourth gear before having to brake hard at 140km/h at the sharp right Turn 4. Some take it in 3rd, but I personally drop to 2nd to have a little more exit torque for Turn 5. Turn 5 is a constant wide left, which can sometimes be off-camber. Have caught some off-guard as the weight of the car shifts to the right for Turn 6. The back can unexpectedly step out if weight transfer is not smooth. Tends to understeer too. I am usually in 3rd at this point, then catch 4th briefly before approaching my favourite Turn 7 and 8 double-apex.

Usually a balls-out affair as the double-apex is symmetrical. You can usually touch 100km/h to 110km/h here. The idea here is to be as smooth as possible, then exit quick for the very short straight before the dreaded Turn 9. Upshift to 4th as I usually manage to catch 140km/h or slightly more before having to brake really, really hard at 100m to heal-and-toe down to 3rd then 2nd, for the tricky Turn 9. With no LSD to help, car usually understeers and can cause some to veer off the course if entry speed is too high. This used to be my least favoured corner as I always found it too slow and too understeery, but have conquered it, or at least know how to handle it after a couple of track days. Does not pose any major problems any more!

The right hander Turn 10 is where you try to maximise exit speed before breaking slightly for Turn 11. This is actually quite a tricky corner when you turn in very late. If you angle is too shallow, you will end up being too wide past the apex, causing you to be less competitive for the next corners. I try to keep it smooth here as the car has tendency to oversteer as you brake and turn in.

Turn 11 is pretty straightforward. A left then approach the odd Turn 12. I keep wide and keep the steering straight as I brake, drop to 2nd and turn in. This is by far one of the trickiest corners. Have seen many cars spin in front of me or hit gravel here due to shift of weight. Lotus Elises are very prone to oversteer here. I managed to overtake one or two SGTis here due to their incorrect racing lines. Even an Elise on one occasion. The short back straight usually sees 145km/h on my speedo. This is also usually where the Elises and modded SGTis overtake me as we approach Turn 13. Stick on the wide right, brake slightly after 100m then heel-and-toe down to 2nd before turning in. It’s always a challenge to balance entry speed, turn-in and power out just as tires get full traction again.

Exit speed here is important to be competitive on the pit straight. Again, the faster SGTis and Elises would pull away (the Elises more so) as I upshift at 6500rpm to catch 4th.

An unexpected thing happened on my warm-up laps, maybe during the 9th or 10th lap. I approached Turn 7, dropped to 3rd then turned in. The rear stepped out unexpectedly. There was a slide. I applied throttle and some opposite lock. The Yokos complained as the car slid then fishtailed, with 2 SGTi tailing behind. The car veered off course then hit gravel. The moment it did I remember thinking in my head, “Don’t flip, don’t flip!”. Cars tend to flip here they happen to dig in to the gravel, as happened to a Kelisa some track days ago.

Car came to a halt. A marshall came over to check me out. Asked if I needed to be towed but I said I’d try to get the car out myself. Which I did incidently. The car did not sound good at all. Slowly made my way back to the pits where scrutinised it for damages. Some major scratches to the Advanti rims, and bodywork. Ouch. Not good. Had a nice time removing stones and gravel from the rims and tyres. Was worried that there was undercarriage damage, but in the end found nothing of that sort. Was also concerned that I damaged my expensive Yokohamas, but cleaning up at Revo later proved my concerns unfounded.

The price you pay for an error. I had to sit out most of it, but got at least 1/2 hour worth later, just to test out the car. No funny noises, squeaks or unwanted sounds. I did some more laps before the track closed at 12pm. Enjoyed the competitive racing with another SGTi which was either tailing or leading me. It has slightly better speed on the straights, but later spun at Turn 6.

The damages would be quite costly. But that’s the price you pay for thrills (and spills) Another SR3 was T-boned by an Elise at Turn 2. Even more painful.

An eventful day no doubt. Looking forward to the next track day!

Original posting on the v.blog

The black convoy on the way to the SIC.

We were greeted with another 2 SR3s there. Car No.19 arrived later (owned by a 15-year old girl!) but did not participate in the track session. Upon settling the RM150 entrance fee, we assembled at the pits where Faisal gave us a brief on the circuit. The circuit was decorated with Porsches and Elises with a few Evos to add some spice. The odd VTEC-wail of the Integra DC5 and Scooby burble broke the silence of the not-so-vocal Evos and Elises. An even more silent Nissan 350Z (which later experienced clutch problems) added some luxury too.

Listen up fellas, no driving in reverse gear ok?

We were did a circuit familiarisation lap with the pace car leading the pack. We took turns after each lap to tail the pace car.

Playing follow the leader

The excited flock of SR3s burning rubber on the pit straight

We were also treated to a tips session by the famous Tengku Djan Ley, talented racer and Head of Race Rally Research (R3) before we were given a free reign of the track. I later got a ride with Djan in the infamous drift machine – the R3 Lotus Elise. Funny how two big fellas fit in such a small car. If there was such a thing as ‘being one with the car’, it was clearly defined by Djan and the Elise. Impreccable control. The smoothness of his gear changes and slick steering control was a sight to behold. I got a first person view of the cornering lines. He braked late. Really late. And the Elise obeyed every single time, without fail. Excellent stuff.

Djan + the Elise at Turn 2.

It was an absolutely thrilling and educational experience to say the least. It was my first time at Sepang although no stranger to track days (I miss BT3!). My car just hit 5,000kms but was as eager as I was to burn some serious rubber.

There is nothing majorly wrong with the car, in fact it feels very at home on the circuit. It has pace and acceleration is commendable. Mid-range to top end power/torque is good as demonstrated with a pretty quick 165km/h on the pit straight before the tricky 2nd-gear Turn 1. The only quirk where engine performance is concerned is at the low-end, which lacks some punch. This is also influenced by the gearing which is awkward when downshifting from 3rd to 2nd. I found, perhaps to my inexperience of the track, that at 2nd gear corners, it the car was either suffering from too low an rpm at 3rd, or too high in 2nd gear. This was especially true at the dreaded Turn 9, which took me many laps before I could get it at least somewhat right. I believe car No.8 actually spun here after his self-admitted jerky heel-and-toe technique upset the balance of the car.

Throttle modulation is no doubt key in this sense, but I find the gearing here a weakness.

Handling-wise, the SR3 remained neutral throughout, with very little roll, which instills a lot of confidence on a tricky track like Sepang. Most of us fought understeer due to too much entry speed, not due to the geometry nor dynamics of the car. Over-enthusiasm on the approach certainly brought much headache trying to power out later. This was however rectified after a couple of laps with Djan in the Elise, which helped me sort out the proper gears, approach technique and cornering lines. The 2nd round of laps proved to be a big improvement, although hampered later by a rather slipping clutch after some laps.

A clutch upgrade is certainly something to look at here.

Steering feel was excellent throughout the session despite the bouts with understeer on some turns. Direct and honest, to put it in words.

If there was one thing the SR3 REALLY excelled in was the braking. WOW. With no apparent signs of fade AT ALL, we could all brake really late (which explains the understeer! hahaha) without worrying that we’d end up in the gravel. The braking system really, really did a splendid job of stopping the car where it mattered. Hats off here.

All in all, a fun-filled day. This is what the SR3 was made for, and for that matter, the principal reason why I bought the SR3 in the first place. I look forward to more track sessions to not only be a better driver, but ultimately to be ‘one with the car’.

The ride with ‘The Bitch’ (the development car – Car No. ’0′) was awesome too, with expert Faisal at the helm. No words to describe the smoothness of the delivery and the confidence at the corners. The SR3 seemed like it was born at the track, which is great to say the least. Very neutral handling and a confident drive. The chassis screams give me a bigger engine, but for now, sufficient to satisfy.

One thing I did notice while in the Elise + ‘The Bitch’ with Djan and Faisal respectively was the toe-and-toe technique. I always thought that I was cheating by doing that and recently switched to a heel-and-toe which is still dodgy to say the least. Now that it is ‘acceptable’ I’m gonna switch back. Much easier in actual fact, and smoother too.

By the way, much thanks to Djan and Faisal for the rides and the important pointers + advice. Cheers guys!

Pics courtesy of Amin of R3 Media.

More pics available here:
Satria R3 Owners Track Day
Satria R3 Owners Track Day 2

Original posting on the v.blog