Car : Integra Type R DC5
Parts : Fujitsubo RM01A exhaust, Ohlins DFV Coilover(No Camber)
Tyres : Falken RT615
Track : Sepang F1 Circuit (Malaysia)
Situation : I moved off with another LGT from Gelang Patah Petronas at around 10:30am in the morning, and reached Sepang at around 2pm after having a short lunch break at the Ayer Keroh rest area. Generally, the traffic was quite smooth and although the weather was cloudy but it felt hot and humid. Personally, I am begining to like this time slot, mainly because there was no harassment from the traffic authorities and also smoother flow of traffic. This includes clearing through both custom check points and also the North South Highway itself.
The track registration opened at around 3pm sharp. Immediately, I noticed a long line of queue at the registration area. I was told by a friend that the number of cars was estimated to be around 100. The 3 different batches of safety briefs more or less confirmed that number. I was eager to find out how the ohlins could help in terms of track time, so I decided to take up the transponder to have an official timing taken. The track opened at around 4pm and the orientation run organised for the newbies began.
Result : After the the orientation run, I headed out immediately to warm up my tyres and also at the same time functioned as a track taxi carrying a front passenger to experience the feeling between tracking and cruising the local expressway. My first 10 laps were delicated for this, with two different passengers, five laps each with a single pit stop in between.
Finally, it was time to attemp my time attack. It began with a lap of warming up and I was pushing like a mad dog after that. I think it was the idea that I was having a transponder and numbers (timing) playing tricks in my mind, which costed me to lost the rhythm totally. I had a bad beached at turn 7 on my first time attack attempt which resulted in 3 gravel pierces in my front right tyre. I had questions regarding the reliability of the tyre, so I decided to end my trackday prematurely and headed back home. I failed my target completely and I was back to "meditate" on my mistakes after watching my own video taken on the track. I'll try to attempt the target again on the next trackday with the same setup. I was really dissapointed but I did learn a few lessons on this trackday. I hope that this would more or less help me to grow in future.
Best Track Taxi Lap Of The Day:
If you prefer to watch it in YouTube, Click here
This video was taken during the track taxi lap. The lap time recorded on my DV Cam was 2:53:24 which translates to 2:53:960 on mili-seconds scale, using the formula (24*1000)/25 with a PAL DV recording at 25fps. This match nicely with the official transponded timing of 2:53:946 on the Sepang time sheet. This would be a good example of showing how accurate the timecode captured in DV if you knew how to make good use of it properly.
Bad Things Happen If You're Not Cool:
If you prefer to watch it in YouTube, Click here
This was what ended my track day prematurely. I was over speeding at turn 7 which caused the lost of traction. This was totally my fault and I was so sad that I only ended up with a 2:53:946 best lap time that day as a track taxi. I should be able to do better than that. I will be back soon with a clear mind hopefully after some "meditation" done.
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