Monday night touge with hatches.

It was 5p.m. and I was starting to clear things up and prepare to get off work when Patrick (patricksohai.blogspot.com) SMS'd telling me that there's touge that night as one of his friends wanted to test his new suspension setting. As usual, I never say no to a touge session :P

As I was leaving the office, it friekin' rained on us... And I mean pouring! Nonetheless, I rushed home and took a good rest. I thought the trip was cancelled, so I was numbing myself out with episodes of Samurai X when Patrick SMS'd that they'd be at the meeting point in 20mins.

I rushed to get a refreshing shower, slip on some decent clothes and rushed out. We all met and I was horrified to see hatches all round. All Satrias and all running 4G93s~!!! My car looked like an overgrown buffalo in the lot.

Anyway, we had a short chat and they decided to put me in the lead so I'd put out some precautions and limitations as there was a first timer present, then we headed up.

As expected, the road was super wet and due to my torquey engine, I could only maintain speed even after the apex. There was no acceleration to be had if your tires are pointing anywhere but straight! I tried pushing a bit, and the beginners seemed fine, so I pushed a little more.. and more... and more... I eventually lost them, but was scared that something could have happened... I waited until I saw headlamps before clearing the next corner.

Upon reaching the dam, Raj took me for a ride down the serpentine roads leading to the dam gates. Damn this fella is fucking fast! I was amazed at his control over his machine at the very limits of grip.

It was a very fun night and everyone gained a little more understanding of their machines. Especially in the wet! Cheers fellas. I hope to see you all again soon.

*Sorry no pics as everyone was too excited going at Teluk Bahang full of puddles and fallen shrubbery.*

Saturday night touge with BCM members.

It was the weekend again and as usual, my yum cha session and eventual touge was scheduled. This time around, by BC Machine members.

I came out for the TT session around 11p.m. and met up with Tan and Dennis of TKA along with Tommy of Tommax and Chris (my mech) for drinks and chit-chat while we waited for the roads to clear of traffic. Tan had informed me that more members were on their way, so we held our horses and waited a while.

Then Raj and Patrick (& Co.), called up and told me that they were going to meet up with us as well. Phew.. This TT was getting bigger. Then BCM Jay (Eterna TT) had shown up and decided to take a slow drive up first.

Once all were gathered and we were about to move, BCM Tan told me that BCM Ah Seow was on his way along with BCM Lao Heah and Bert. But due to their lateness and many friends were getting restless, we decided to gun the touge first.

Chris got a report from one of our friends already at the dam that the police were up there doing detailed checks and inspection on all present. So we gunned the touge and stopped a few hundred metres short of the dam gates.

After only a couple of cigs, a friend alerted us that the patrol car was on his way up to check for stragglers. We all ran to our steeds and headed back up the touge at lightning speed. *It was soooo Fast & Furious!*

We managed to escape the "operasi" unscathed (luckily) and literally "drove it like we stole it". We stopped halfway as raj got detained whilst Patrick had just slipped by and was en route to our location.

Left to Right : ScAv's Perdana SEi, Daniel's EK, Tan's Perdana V6 (M), Jay's Eterna TT, Chris' wira 63T, Dennis' Ranger, and Tommy's Wira SE hiding in the shadows :P

*This pic was taken at one of the hairpins while waiting for Patrick whom was en route.

We all dispersed and got home safely whilst Raj was released a little later after providing a little "favour" to the cops. Bah!

I got word yesterday that BC Machine Seow, Lao Heah, and Bert were also detained that night. It seems that they had gone up using the forward route and had planned to meet us at the dam gates. I assume that they're alright now.

What an eventful night! Phew...

Obake-Ya prison themed Jap restaurant

As I'd promised, I went to try out the prison themed restaurant down town and here's what I found :)

It's located close to Upper Penang Road and the entire row of restaurants are fashioned of colonial buildings.

As you enter, here's a view of the cashier.

And the cellar where customer bottles are kept.

This is a view of the bar.

A private table.
A few private rooms with crimes as their namesake.

A private dining hall.
Their menus were packed with lots of selections. I was spoilt for choice.

Drinks would be served in "attractive" containers.
I for one went for the authentic sake to go with my sukiyaki (my fav Jap dish) instead of these cocktails and liquors.

The way to the toilets was through a suspension bridge and lit by blacklights (UV).

See how the flowers light up :P

The service was great, and the food tastes alright. No judgement yet as I'd yet to try the sashimi. Presentation of course gets an "A" for their effort.

Thurs night, Dennis' farewell

A dear friend will be leaving today for air school (gonna be captain someday), so we'd decided to give him a last round touge before his departure.

I met up with Patrick and his friend after work at Pekaka Fried Rice King for dinner and bad luck reared its ugly head and Patrick could not engage gears. It was the first time any of us had to push one of our cars in a crowd!

Christopher arrived shortly and deduced that the firewall holding the clutch pedal was torn open.

We waited for the tow truck until 10+p.m. and Patrick's car was towed to Northern Garage for rework. Lookie what we found there....

Two of Jap's finest... Such beauties!

I arrived home at 11p.m. and thought I'd call it a night but I struggled to sleep. Then, Daniel SMS'd and told me they were at Island Plaza and going up to the TB Dam. I thought... Why not? So I touge'd up the course in reverse and met them at the dam gates for some chit-chat and to say my goodbye to Dennis.

On the way back, I followed a Charade that drove ala Initial D. It was a very fun drive :P

Pics will be uploaded as Patrick has yet to mail them to me.

Wed night, wet run

My main man (mech) Chris called me up at work yesterday, asking me to leave the Silver Banana with him as he wanted to do up the absorbers. As usual, I'll meet him for lunch and leave the car with him and I never know what he wants to do or how he does it. No matter, as long as the function suits me, I'm fine :P


Anxious as a kid a day before visiting Disneyland, I invited Daniel (Civic) and Ah Ti (Kenari) to join me for the touge and of course Chris came along to see the results of his tuning. Daniel for one never says no to a touge run.

We all met up at the Shell station at the base of the touge and sadly, Daniel was en route from a party and without his trusty steed so he rode with me while Chris and Ah Ti pursued in the Kenari. We took it relatively slow seeing that we just had torrential rain.

We went for a non-stop run from Jalan tun Sardon all the way till the Teluk Bahang dam gates where we stopped by for some photos and some chit-chat.

I have to say that Chris' damper settings were fantastic and body roll had been minimized greatly. The front bump and rebound was good for the way I drive. Although I felt that the rear rebound was a bit too harsh but it was in fact great for the twisties. Good job Chris!

Here are some slick photography by Ah Ti in amber lighting using his Nokia N80. Sweet!

touge.com.my/forum - A great bunch of guys and a team I'd back anyday. Miss you fellas! Will see you guys soon at TT or in the touge ;)
As Daniel was getting a lesson from Chris in the ways of the audiophile, Ah Ti and myself were puffing ourselves silly on Marlboro lights. It was getting VERY late and so we hurried down past Batu Feringghi and arrived safely home around 3.30a.m.

Tuesday night touge.

I was extremely distracted at work yesterday because I did not get my weekly touge fix as I had matters to attend to last weekend. I went to Tommax Stickers after work and met up with Daniel and we immediately made an appointment with the TB route. While we chatted, the heavens decided to pour on us but not enough to dampen our exhilaration.


It was eleven p.m. and Daniel and I met up at the Tun Sardon lookout point for a smoke whilse we wait for Patrick and Raj whom have also decided to join us for touge.


Everyone had arrived and warming up for the touge.
From left - right: Daniel (EK), ScAv (Perdana), Patrick (Satria), and Raj (Satria R3).



We had a fairly good run through the reverse course and we all stopped by the dam gates to cool off the drivers and their machines. I had some icy cool menthols to share around... Nice...



It was getting late and we all had things to be attended to early morning so we took leave shortly and most of us did the forward course below 10mins. Not bad on a damp course! We'll try to hit under 9.30mins next time :)


Cheers guys and thanks for the company!

p.s. Here's Patrick's blog : patricksohai.blogspot.com

T-Bowl Restaurant

I'd decided to try the new theme restaurant at Queensbay mall just for kicks. It's themed as a toilet and all seats were toilet bowls while the tables are sinks.

This is a view of the interior. Simpl setup but with a weirdly nice ambience.

The seats were all toilet bowls, and some such as this had nice murals on them.

Food presentation was of course... er.... "unique"?!?!?! But taste was.. Well... Tasteless... The drinks were served in old school goblets and I have to say that the drinks were great.


All in, it was a fairly interesting experience trying to eat on a seat you normally use to dump excrement... But the food was terrible although service was fair. The waitress kept speaking to me in some funny language even after I told her I did not understand multiple times! WTF???

I'm waiting to try out the Prison themed restaurant in town... I hope to do that soon, keep posted ;)

Dunlop Direzza

I was lazing around a pal's tire shop (Chuan Ghee Tires) when a shipment arrived. The lorry was full of Dunlop Direzza tires in HUGE sizes. I wish I could just hijack that load!!!

Almost a lorry full of Direzzas!

Lookit' those tires, just standing there... Yup, the one on the right had no support, the tire is actually balancing on it's own super wide contact patch.
How wide you ask? 275/30/19... Friekin' HUGE~!!!!

Kancil L2 full rebuild

I had been busy this past week. But here's what I managed to get on the short trips to lepak.





I was at a friend's workshop as he was doing a Kancil L2 rebuild. This guy was super professional by washing the entire engine totally clean and stripped of all deposits. I mean clean! The engine was scrubbed until its bare metal/aluminum (engine head).

The block had been painted a metallic blue.

Head was shiny clean.
Gaskets and seals had arrived and ready to install.

All the components were cleanly laid out and segragated.
Install complete.. Even the exhaust cover was painted a shiny bronze!

Touge videos

Here's some night time videos of the touge on the way back captured by my K618i handphone. Too bad there were a few stragglers along the way.

Here are the vids :

Teluk Bahang to Batu Feringghi


Batu Feringghi to Tanjung Bungah


Vale of Tempe (Chui Di Lor)


Enjoy the vids :)

Touge for Friendship (Part 2)

Upon arrival at the Teluk Bahang Dam, we saw that there are too many "spectators" around and we'd decided to park a little further up the way. As with most driving activities, a post mortem was in order once everyone got outta their cars and lit-up :P (Still no pics due to super bad lighting)

After a short chit-chat session and a couple of ciggies, Tougeking wanted me to navigate him through the Teluk Bahang to Balik Pulau part of the touge. So off we went for Round 2 in the thick pillared Satria Neo with Tougeking at the helm.
*Please refer to Tougeking.blogspot.com for the video*

We arrived back at the dam to find that most of the crowd had moved off so we'd shifted to a better lit area next to the guardpost.

Left - Right : TK's Neo, ScAv's Silver Banana, and Tan's V6.

Sorry not many pics as I was already called in for the 3rd round of touge.

Tougeking had so much fun through the super twisty touge that Ah Boy also wanted to get in on the action, I for one did not want to miss the workout so I took lead in my Silver Banana. Tougeking rode with Boy in his EG B16B and Raj and Patrick rode with me in my Silver Banana 4G63 SOHC (I'll just call it torque for now due to its charachteristics)

Round 3 touge : We had a little Torque vs VTEC battle up the touge! Boy and I were having a fun drive and we hit the touge super fast with Boy's EG giving chase with much effort put in but still trailing. I had to wait a bit, just to be sure nothing happened while Boy tried to catch up (I had home course advantage). I'd arrived a little ahead of Boy, so Patrick, Raj and I decided to come out for a ciggie whilst we wait. When Boy eventually arrived at the checkpoint, everyone talked as if we'd known each other for ages even though we had not chatted before. Touge for friendship!!!

My Silver Banana in front with the yellow spotlights with Ah Boy's Civic EG Type-R at the Balik Pulau checkpoint. Ah Boy's "Primo" example of a beaut EG.
Tougeking as usual being the drama queen that he is, did not want to see the arse of another car through the touge and decided to sit in on my drive back to the dam gates. No worries this round as Patrick (also a local) rode back with Boy. So we took the touge super fast this time and I scratched my front passenger side rim on a low curb as a consequence. Haiz... But thankfully, nothing went awry and check-ups were made upon arrival at the dam gates.

It was a super hard workout due to the fast driving, I was sweating profusely! We cooled down, chatted a bit and parted ways as it was already 4.30a.m.

I went home a happy man.. Delighted to see a stock Perdana could handle the touge averagely well on stock suspension and all the touge excitement had been vented outta me. Phew! What a night!!!

Sat night touge with Tougeking : Touge for friendship (Part 1)

I crawled into bed (my sofa rather) around 4a.m. Sat morning due to some tire testing earlier that morning. I was dreaming of gunning it (the touge) much faster and screech.... brrr-iiing~! My phone rang to abruptly woke me from my record breaking dream :P

It was Tougeking on the other side of the line at 8+ a.m.~!!! Friekin' hell... I had just got some shut eye. Anyhow, good news followed, Tougeking was coming up to Penang for the Teluk Bahang touge! I jumped outta bed and started to get my car prepped.

I went over and waited around 5 hrs at Chuan Ghee tire shop to get my balancing and alignment done. I removed the stupid HID units from my headlamps (by the road side) in the mean time. Stupid thing is bloody well glaring, but as bright as a dim bulb! I installed my original Koito halogen H4's and off to the Smart Tint (friend's accessory shop) to get some spotlights installed.

The spotlight install was stopped short to do the wheel balancing and alignment. With tremendous amounts of chit-chat and smokes in between, I had completed the spotlight install at 10.30p.m. As I wanted a quality install, I was willing to wait until I had undivided attention from the installer. Yesterday night proves that he did not dissapoint.

I rushed home for a bath and a quick nap then off to meet the entire gang at Tommax stickers in wait for Tougeking's arrival which he cordially did to the sound of a 5Zigen Pro-Racer! We sat down for some drinks at Fantasi Nasi Kandar and waited for Raj & Patrick's contingent to arrive. Then off we went to the Relau Shell station for fill-ups and air pressure check. Everyone regrouped and off we went at around 1.30a.m. We were joined by Ah Han (Tougeking's mech & buddy), Ah Boy in his EG B16B, BC Machine Tan and Lao San, MyviC fellows (super friendly bunch), Chean Exhaust group from Parit Buntar and Raj & Patrick along with their friends. We'd split the group up into 2 groups, one group will be driving "enthusiastically" whilst the other will cruise.

This pic of the huge TT was taken with MyviC outside having a puff and still missing Raj & Patricks group.

Dr. Goh meets Dr. Goh at Touge for Friendship (Pg Edition)
I'd led the "enthusiastic" group whilst Tommy of Tommax led the cruisers.

Our route was through Jalan Tun Sardon to Balik Pulau, then cruise through the township and head to Teluk Bahang past Titi Kerawang and eventually all arrived at the Teluk Bahang Dam with (thankfully) no occurences or mishaps.

*Not many pics as I was eager to drive. Hope I can steal a few pictures from Tougeking's or Patrick's blog :P *

Open Track Day price revised!

Hey all, good news. The open track day at the Dato' Sagor Track had been revised to RM100 due to the excellent response from participants.

Old price : RM150.00
Revised price : RM100.00

Open Track Day at Dato' Sagor Track

Hi guys, there will be an open track day at the Dato' Sagor Track in Kg. Gajah on the 18th of May 2008.

The date is set as such since Wesak is on Monday so we'll all be off from work. Not to mention that it'll provide ample time to prepare your cars for the track excursion. This date is of course tentative and subject to change, depending on the majority of participants needs.

The price so far had been set at RM150 for a full day of high-revving motoring fun. Of course there will be short breaks in between in respect for the nearby mosque as they'll be having their prayers. But more than ample track time to quench our insatiable appetite for RPMs.

The event will be themed as : "NO FRILLS, JUST THRILLS"

It'll be a free and easy event as long as safety is observed on and off the track. Hope to see you all there. Cheers!

Feel free to drop me a comment and let me know what you guys think.

Bananas!

I went up to the new Balik Pulau market yesterday morning with my parents for some marketing. The new market looks too clean and organized for that nostalgic Balik Pulau feel. However, it was an improvement as its much more hygienic and brighter than the old market.

Sad thing was that food stalls were also put in the new building and so well organized in fact that I'd lost all calibration of where the "good makan" were situated :(

My mom went on a shopping spree, stocking up on all the household foodstuffs. I was just trailing along when I sighted a cool bunch of bananas. These buggers looked really yummy and ripe, I just couldn't resist.

I had a great breakfast this morning, cereal, oats and sliced banana.. Slurp :P

Added a cuppa orange juice for some vit.C

Diarrhetic weekend

I'd missed blogging for a few days now due to diarrhoea and I'd been spending a lot of time at home just kicking back and enjoying the free time.

It was a terrible weekend being down with the watery excrement, but the good lord had blessed me with beautiful weather. It was cool and cloudy the entire time with some slight drizzling here and a little shower there.

In fact, its still raining this morning and thus the officec is still quiet even at the eleventh hour, pending the Monday morning rush!

Well, I'm back and stay tuned for more updates :)

New stickers!

It was after work and we were just too darn free yesterday evening, hanging out at Tommax Stickers, and some funny ideas of decals popped into my head and discussions went on and on and on about what to put on. Myvi club was there as well.

Finally, a decision was made that we would make a layout of Dato Sagor Track and put it on my Silver Banana. This is how it turned out!

Tommy of Tommax Stickers skillfully installing the decal while Isfendy of MyviC looks on, awed :P Decals successfully installed and Tommy-san was tearing off the transfer tape with much distress due to the sticker's thin design.
A track layout of the Dato' Sagor Track or Litar Dato' Sagor on my third quarter window. Sweet right?