初次體驗

My first taste of racing...

MegaLAP ClubSPRINT 2013 Round 1 happened on 2^nd Feb... This was the first race that I participated... Round 1 was held at Sepang International Circuit, 318km away from home...

We met at 5:30am and started our journey North... Being early in the morning, there wasn't much cars... The best thing was the police probably haven't woke up as well... We reached our destination at around 9:30am stopping in between for fuel, both for the cars and our stomachs...

It was so early and we were wondering if we came at the wrong day? There were lots of bikes around; some preparing for MotoGP while others preparing for their track day... No sign of anyone who was there for the MegaLAP at all!?! Luckily the room designated for our use is not locked and I was able to switch on the air conditioning... We rested and napped till 12pm...


Getting ready for the practice...

There was a briefing and we unloaded all our stuff to got ready for the practice session... The practice was pretty short, only half an hour... I managed to get 4 laps in and was quite surprised that I had the fastest lap times!!!


Gotta practice for these type of events right?


Being faster than the 2.0L cars was satisfying...

Many gathered around my car looking here and there trying to figure out what amazing stuff I have inside to get the fastest timing... A few were even surprised that my car was a 1.6L as I was competing under the 2.0L category... At this point in time, the guys back in Singapore already knew about this because some bystander posted on JFC's Facebook...


Waiting in the pits for the start...

After going out for 3 hot laps, I went in to the pits to cool my car... At this point in time, my brother told me that my timing was 3:07 but I was only 2^nd... Feeling the renewed energy that I have a chance for the champion, I was back on the track and went all out...


Dogfight...

I almost got into an accident when a blue Type R tried to overtake me at turn 5 from the outside... He cut in sharply like he was aiming for my car... I stepped on the brakes to avoid a collision and was super pissed about that... Seeing that there is still time, I pushed on for the next lap... Little did I know that I could not complete that lap properly as well... At the second last straight, I up shifted into 4^th and there wasn't any feedback!?! Letting go of the clutch feels like I'm in neutral even though the lever is clearly in the 4^th gear position!!! I knew my 4^th gear has been destroyed already and rolled back into the pits...


Taking 2^nd with a timing of 3:04.592...

Although I got second place, there is no way I could be happy with a busted gearbox... Luckily, only the 4^th gear was missing and I could get back to Singapore with the use of the rest of the other gears...

I tested the car again the next day and realised that all my gears were destroyed... The lever is stuck in the 2^nd position right now and couldn't be pulled out... I would think I was very lucky to be able to reach home safely before the gearbox finally gave up... I may not take care of my car superbly well, but there is no doubt of my love for it...