This is for those times when I ask why should I be a nice guy and yet
bad luck is always on my side. Santa worked his magic on 8-10-07 10am, I was told I won a competition and the price is to have fun at Porsche World Road Show.
I can't believe my ears, I thought they were pulling my leg. Even when I reached the circuit, I didn't believe I've won (well, largely due to the fact that I reached on time (8am) and no one was there.) When I reached there, the toys were still in the garage.
When the time came, I went to the registration counter, signed some documents making them not liable if anything happens. Got my name tag, t-shirt, cap and a Porsche model range booklet (not that I would need it, no money lah). Had a nice breakfast. Heard a short introduction and briefing and we are off.
The whole day comprises of 6 sessions, the itinerary for my group (yellow group) is Handling, Off-Road, Slalom, Roadtour, Braking and Demo Laps.
Handling
We were taught how to negotiate a corner, choosing braking points and how to handle a car. We utilized the north circuit for this session.
Sebastian, our instructor had a demo lap with me as his passenger first. After that I had 3 rounds on the track with 3 different makes of Porsche on every run - 911 Carrera, 911 Carrera S and Cayman. Honestly, I feel that the Cayman is easier to handle, Terrance the lovely instructor who gave me guide lines during my drove confirmed my judgment saying that the Cayman has a mid engine compared to the two Carreras will handle better. The Carrera is faster but a bit unbalanced in negotiating corners. Sorry for not taking any picture, was too busy concentrating on the instructions and getting to know few of the team members.
Off-road
During the off road, we chose the Cayanne Turbo, fantastic 4x4 car. We made the car tilt 30 degrees side ways on a slope, went up and down a 70 degrees hill, went through pot hole which made the car went with 2 or 3 wheels on the ground only. Cayanne did everything perfectly. Sorry for no pictures again as we are always in the car while in the "wilds".
Slalom
This is an interesting event, the slalom is a time trail race. Cones are placed in the parking lot to form a circuit. Every driver has to avoid the cones and complete the race. Was too busy looking for mistakes of others to learn from and didn't took any pictures again, I even forgot which car I drove, my guess is it’s the 911 Turbo. I think (they told me so) I did the fastest lap but I did hit 2-3 cones, so its 2-3 seconds added to my time.
Roadtour
Me and another fellow winner - Azayn chose the Boxster S Convertible. It was a nice choice as it was full manual car. Before this, all the car I drove had Tiptronic, which made the car a semi-automatic and an automatic car in the same time. For the previous sessions, I was too busy with the skills that I should learn so I gave up learning the timing to change gear. I used the automatic gear all the way.
Azayn will drive first to Dengkil and I'll drive back from Dengkil to the circuit.
When we reached Dengkil, Ron decided to hop on the Boxster S and asked Azayn to drive his car. After Ron hopped on, Sebastian came. Sebastian unhook a lever and flipped a button. And the magic begins, the roof started to fold down with so much grace. I did something which I didn't approve of last time, drove a convertible at 2.30pm with the roof down.
Seriously, now I know why they can do that. I set the air-con to the maximum speed and lowest temperature, half way driving, I was too cold, I had to slow down the air-con, imagine that.
Before we left the petrol station, I stalled the engine *shame*. After it, the engine started back automatically. I think the engineers thought about dumb people like me, so they thrown in a fool-proof-auto-start-when-engine-stall-system. And we are off, on the road it’s exactly like what Sebastian said. He told us, a Porsche on the road will turn some heads, 2 Porsches on the road will be amazing, 7 Porsches on the road will make every living being stop whatever they are doing and look at the convoy especially the idiot in a yellow Porsche with his roof down (I added the last part).
Half way back, we reached a roundabout, there I stalled the car again *damn
shameful this time", half of the convoy exited the roundabout and half stuck behind me. This time the FPASWESS didn't kick in and I was nervous. I tried to start it but it won't start. Next is the conversation.
Instructor A: Off you car totally and start again.
Instructor B: Lead car is stopping by the side to wait for Boxter S, all car please wait.
Really don't know where to hide my face, then Ron told me, "You need to be rough when driving a Porsche. Don't sayang the car". After that, I drove like an Ah Beng, revving the engine hard when ever I slow down or accelerating from zero. Vrooom.... vroomm.... the sound is still in my head right now, music to my ears.
Braking
In this session, we learn how to brake very hard, I mean very very hard. There are two parts in this session, Brake & Handle and Brake & Drift. We used the The 911 Turbo for this. In the Brake and Handle part, we were asked to accelerate 0-100kph in 3.9s then brake like hell and wait for the signal to either turn left or right. The provided distance was meant for us to accelerate up until 85kph and brake within 20m then swerve left/right until a complete stop. I felt my eyes are popping out when doing that.
For the Brake & Drift part, we were asked to attack the Sepang's hairpin the release the accelerator suddenly. When you release the accelerator suddenly in a Porsche, the brakes will automatically apply 50% of the brake force, with 50% brake applied, the car goes into drift and traction control/ABS kicks in and maintain the drift until you press the paddles again. Yes, the computer did everything, but I still can say that I drifted in a Porsche and Toyota Corolla DX.
Demo Laps
This session is to really show you the potential of the Porsche, the instructor will bring 1 passenger at a time and drive his fastest possible around the track. Each person is only entitled to one ride. I chose the Red Carrera GT3.
The instructor (sorry for forgetting your name ya) off the traction control and drifted every single corner which we had enough speed. My first time in a car with a professional (mind you, the instructors are all racing champs) drifting it. After getting down the GT3, I used up my chance but Sebastian was driving the Cayanne, so I just hopped on and he approved it. Did I tell you that Sebastian is a rally driver? Imagine a 4x4 drifting. Sebastian was really the drift king among the instructors and drifting in a 4x4 is just so amazing.
After that, it was the rigged prize giving ceremony. Ron got the best driving style award where he too suggested that it was rigged to make the paid participants happy.
The trophy cost RM600 because the logo used is the real one from the car.
10-1-2007
Handling - I drove in Sepang F1 Circuit before.
Offroad - I did all sorts of off road stuff with the Cayanne Turbo.
Slalom - I made the tire screeched with every turn.
Roadtour - Drove under the hot sun with the roof down.
Braking - Drifting in a Porsche 911 Turbo in Sepang.
Demo laps - Rode with professional drivers drifting at the Sepang circuit in GT3 and Cayanne Turbo.
My favorite car? It must be the Cayman S, so easy to handle at high speed, elegant interior and the price tag is RM600K+. Now where’s the sugar mama’s number.
Thanks to Miranda and Lynn who accompanied us and took photo of us during the whole day and thanks to Get@Car for choosing me as the winner of this competition.
My Winning Slogan?
Porsche and I are meant for each other because we are sophisticated, suave and fast.
My Flickr Album
