Northern Touge... Central Chapter :P

Our Central (Malaysia) Chapter members (che wah!) called up and told us they were coming up to Northern Touge HQ (Pg la of course) so Daniel (Touge Monk) made a few short calls to the fellows and we had a TT organized in no time.
As we were going to meet up, The Monk called up and relayed to us that Shaz (Blue Imp) was running on a steel to rotor brake setup. So Fer and I went on over to Northern Garage to get a set of pads for him and we met up to install these.
Fer, being his usual helpful self, installing the brake pads onto those beeautiful Brembo calipers with Shaz and better half looking on. Awesome! I want my brakes to grow up like those :P

This dude is what you call a driver... He's ran the paint off those rims! Check out the discoloration!!!

A couple of drinks and a simple photo shoot was in order as it was getting late and it was a weekday. Great times! We should definitely do it again.

(L-R): ScAvEnGeR, Raj (Yup.. He's the Merc!), The Monk (Civic EK), Blue Imp (DC5) and Short Fart (L200)

Great to see you again Shaz and sorry I didn't get a pic of you, Dinesh. And to Shaz, I hope you brought Aliaa for her beloved Cendol, you know there ain't nothin' like it is in Penang!

Cheers!

Partners in Crime

Relieved from the day's worth of DIY session, and long chats, Soon offered to have a run with my. So I put that on KIV and we'd met up at Jamal for dinner and some drinks, when Soon and his bro showed up in a white Perdana. After years of touge in Silver, I'd finally had the chance to run with another Perdana for the first time, who was I to say no :P

Soon's friend had Soon drive up his white variable valved (I know, but more on that later) Perdana through the Batu Feringghi twisties. After a short intro, it turns out I'd met this delightful fellow quite a while back at Tommax one evening. We arrived at the dam in two Perdana's to the shock of our usual crowd (I'm usually the only buffoon rolling in an executive sedan) and awe of the locals (which have gotten so acquainted with us).

Opening up the noisily inducted, fire breathing buffalo, we found a 6A12 MIVEC residing in its bay.

Being the itchy twat that I was, I'd gone and showed off my DOHC to the dissapointment of the masses. Hahaha...

We chatted and loitered and were found thirsty. So we made our (fast-paced) way down to Lan Burger at the Gurney round-a-bout for some drinks before parting ways.

This car was anything but slow, and it was so exciting to have another Perdana up the Teluk Bahang touge, I hope I get to meet more fellows.

The wet one!

Last Friday, as seen in my previous post, was a super wet evening that lasted all the way through 'till well past midnight. But being the fervent touge enthusiast that we were, we went up anyway!

Mark brought along his very snappy Nikon DSLR and snapped a few.

The green monster await-eth (got this word a?) its prey.

The prey com-eth! VictorGR from touge.com.my had come to join in on the fun to be had on the slippery slopes. See how wet it is?!?!

The yollow terror is well fed and waiting to devour Teluk Bahang tarmac. I got a huge shock to see it re-painted again to a super shocking yellow baby...

Both cars filled and heading up to the usual attack route.We arrived at the dam shortly and whilst having our rest and usual puff, Mark was bitching about how the droplets would dew up his lens and cause molding on his DSLR. The cones are there for a purpose :P
The green monster lurks ever so near to its new prey..
MAzda RX-7 FC quite literally "under the spotlight".


www.touge.com.my - A group I'd gronw up with during our earlier years and I'm still proud to be a member of this super cool group of friends.

I eventually got to do some donuts with Victor's FC (with permission of course) without fear of busting a tire. See? I told you its fun when wet!

I'll upload the video soon once I get internet access to a host server. Stay tuned!

3 SMS's & a night out!

A pal'o'mine, Mark, called me up on Friday night and told me he'd wanted to go touge that night and he was already on his way over. So I had myself a quick shower and a fresh change of clothes, then rushed out to meet Mark at my carpark. In the lift, I sent out 3 SMS's to 3 separate friends to meet at a location in an hours' time.

On the way up, we met another group of friends that were having their weekly TT (teh tarik) session in town, so I popped on over for a quick cuppa. Soon, a friend in the local authorities called up to say all's well and clear uphill and it was time to proceed.

All of us proceeded to Caltex to meet up and there were more ppl there than you can poke a stick at! Some joined us for the touge run, some just came to meet up. Eventually after filling up, a bunch of us left for the touge and had one helluva run! I likess.... It was a little damp and oversteer was imminent. I just had to bloody do it!!!

Take on a hotter-than-usual entry speed, left foot brake slightly when entering (to get real good weightage on the fronts), then once the nose is nicely tucked into the corner... sharply lift off the throttle and SNAP! oversteer!!!

Who's rump are these?
Its the Type-R fellows whom were tagging along just to "look see look see"
I have no flash, and Akihito (Edison) was kind enough to make a U-Turn to "borrow" me his lights for a photo op. The line of cars extend further down, but light restricts me to only capture this lot.
The Type-R's (Martin and Johnson) were quite a spectacle and their super clean engine bays were nothing short of stunning.
It was getting super late and a group of us took leave for Farlim's Mc Donald's (somehow, we're attracted to Caltex's... weird) for a little supper and a good night's (morning more like it) rest.
Mark was worn out (being a passenger!) and was a real bitch! (you know you were!!!) But we still love you... Mark's green monster is coming out REALLY soon... Another serious touge freak coming soon!
The 3 remaining Northern Touge kakis for the night. Daniel's Civic (EK), Snappy's Silver Banana, and Soon's Wira Evo III (GSR).
Soon's shiny newly painted bumper. Sweet!
17's all the way! Woot woot!
The last 3 "bandits" of the night.
Daniel being just stupid and...
His royal botak-ness, the man once known as Ewe Jin!
It was an eventful night and I was just amazed at what 3 SMS's could do for a fun-filled evening!

Saturday night was more or less the same... Only difference being I was the one that received multiple SMS and calls... And there were more ppl, much MUCH more people!
Heck! We even had the pleasure of watching a drift demonstration by 2 friends in a KE70 and a Datto 120Y~!!!

The Northern Touge is always happening... And never dissapoints!
I love Penang..... Touge routes :P

Touge-less-ness!!! *wtf*

Hungry ghost festival is almost over now... *waiting in anticipation* And my vow of pausing touge action is almost at an end! My "touge-less-ness" is coming to an end... The cure is just a few days away!!!

For the fervent readers of my blog, you'll also know that I somewhat broke that vow in a Wira GSR 1st week into the month *blek* :P

I'm gonna be going day after day after day after... You get what I mean :P

So who's up for a run? Anyone?

6 Japs and 2 M'sians

I got a very interesting invitation from my pal Johnson (EP3) to go touge with the Type-R's of Penang... And who was I to refuse :P

I met up with Johnson (EP3), Timmy (DC5), Faidzal (DC5), Uncle Martin (DC5), NOSkill (Celica-almost-GT4), an-unknown-to-me dude (but really friendly - Gen.2 supercharged), and Victor (FC). We were waiting for another EP3 from Seberang (or BM as he prefers) but sadly, he could not make it due to logistics issues.

We proceeded to Tg. Tokong Caltex station to refuel and check our tire pressures, self-relieving rituals and etc. before making our way up to the TB Dam. It was requested of me to take the lead car as I'm more familiar with the route, so I humbly accepted *devillish grin*

We blasted through the Vale of Tempe (Chui Di Lor) and Batu Feringghi, all the way through Teluk Bahang till we arrived at the dam. Slowing down for traffic and populated areas, especially where there are junctions (we are pemandu "berhemat" ma :P)... Needless to say, peering eyes could not be avoided, with so many beaut machines (excluding mine) on the road.

We parked our cars and had a photo op... Chilling for a while, took in some nicotine and decided to take the Teluk Bahang to Balik Pulau route home. I was again asked to take lead through the tightest twisties in Penang... Fun!

Fighter's jet... Powah powaaaah!!!
Our dedicated photographers (Vic & Zechs) :*sorry for the terribly dark pics, taken with my HP*

I was just wreaking havoc on my Kumho Solus tires that night (my shoulder blocks are shiny clean now) and I'm sorry if I was a bad lead car. I'd like to apologize to the entire convoy that night. Please forgive me, I was just too exhilirated with the adrenaline... It's been a long time since I'd drove like that.

I'd like to thank the Integras and Type-R's for the night of fun and laughter, great drive and especially getting to know you guys.

Broken vow!

I'm so sorry dear readers, as I'd broken my vow to stop touge for this month. I was presented with a golden opportunity by a good friend of mine to test out a Wira GSR (1.8 turbo) at the Batu Feringghi touge... Seeing that it will be my virgin touge in a high RPM turbo vehicle, I just couldn't pass up the chance.

I'd have to say that the GSR engine is no slouch and boost comes in early in the lower gears and a little later in third which is just perfect for touge. At stock, it doesn't boost much and you don't get that sudden kick in the behind like VR4s do, another plus point. The piece de resistance is that this little firecracker of an engine revs all the way to 7500RPM!

So my friend Ah Soon and I met up in town to watch a "ge tai" (stage show performed during occasions), which incidentally my GFs sis was performing at, and to park my car at a safe location. We then boarded Soon's Wira GSR and off we went to Tg. Bunga Caltex to meet up with Akihito, Sanjev and Bigshow (Sim). We each had our fill of premium unleaded and off we went.

I took it slow initially into Chui Di Lor, and got a feel of the GSR's powerband and whatever grip I could muster from the 195/55/15 Duro tires. After the short touge, I came to find that even without an LSD, the GSR had a sweet spot where there's enough pull from the engine to engage maximum grip from the tires.

We then waited for the others (as they were blocked by traffic) for the Batu Feringghi touge run. I decided to take lead so that I could take the GSRs paces unhindered and what a pace it ran that night. Dang! I was amazed and honestly, shocked at how a FWD turbo performed at the twisties.
Although, be warned that driving a force inducted FWD on our local (Penang) touge requires quite a bit of concentration and precise throttle control as I was about to learn. I entered the first double apex too hot and I lifted to get the tail going, after which, I stomped on the throttle to catch the tail as I would an NA. Unfortunately, all I did was spin the fronts and understeered. Luckily, I still remember a few moves from my younger days and continued to feather the throttle while I reined the car in. Phew!

We descended from Teluk Bahang to meet up with Daniel and his friends for TT. It turned out that Daniel had visitors from from KL and the younger of the two was dying to find out how the Penang touge looks and feels like. So we went up AGAIN! I was blasting and popping the blow off valve like corn on a hot plate. Dang I love this engine.

Everyone parted with smiles, especially yours truly, of having the experience of a Wira GSR on the touge!

Much thanks to my good pal Ah Soon for the chance to try out this fantastic machine and I hope my feedback would help you along your maintenance/tuning journey.

Next, I've booked a VR4 to drive up the touge. We'll see how it performs once the owner is free for the trials :P

Rest assured, another fervent write up will be in store. Stay tuned :P

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 :)