Car Porn Up North

I was drinking last Friday night and Steve asked if I want to head up to Sepang for a track day. I said "Sure, when?" and the bugger said "Tomorrow morning 730am"

With my usual lack of judgement, I found myself blasting through the North South Highway in his STI the next day at 220km/hr and climbing... It got too shakey to take anymore photos after that.


Some say inserting this CD into your car's stereo will add up to 10 bhp...


We stop over at ST Wangan at Sunway as his Scooby's rear undertray got a bit loose and need to be fixed up. Can't say I mind as there's always plenty of automotive porn on display in the area.


Displayed proudly upfront was this R34 GTR with Volks rims and carbonfibre aero side-mirrors. I don't think my picture did it justice as it was just plain awesome in real life!

P.S. The car belongs to Leonard over at The Clipping Point. Funnily enough, I seen his car in his blog so many times but don't recognize it when I see it in the flesh. As I said, pictures just don't do it justice!


Plenty of old school love as well. I believe this is a old Toyota coupe but I don't know the model Mazda RX3. Please help me out here?


In general, Malaysia's tuning scene has turned distinctly JDM and performance focused over the years, but apparently this ricer V35 Skyline with the horrendous widebody and GTR emblem is not getting on with the program.


When we hit Sepang, Steve and the rest of the drivers were listening to the safety briefing while I decide to wander the pits and saw these babies!

Oh my god, what great luck for me to chance upon the joint testing weekend for GT3 Asia and the GT4 Asia Cup 2010 season. Above are Team IMSS' trio of Ferrari F430s. Driver Andrew Luk claimed the fastest time on a damp track when he clocked 2:17.221. Pretty hairy stuff!


Team Craf brought along a Fiat Abarth 500 "just for fun", it wasn't part of the test session so I didn't get to find out how fast this thing could go around Sepang.


A "bunch" of 997 GT3 Cup S. One of them is driven by Singaporean Mok Weng Sun. The Team PCS Racing driver will be competing in both the GT3 Asia series and the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia. Mok set the second fastest time of the weekend, with an unofficial time of 2:07.812.


Team SPS Racing. made their appearance as the biggest group at the circuit with five Lamborghinis and their driver Choi drove the sensational new Lamborghini LP 560 GT3, setting the fastest time of the 2:07.400

It was great fun getting up close and personal with the GT racecars. Now if we can only get our street cars to this level of performance... :)

Photos: CarbonClad
GT3 & GT4 Asia Cup info: Asian Motorsports

Changi Motorsports Hub proposals roll in

Hugely interesting article on how the Changi track will pan out. Read. NOW.

Business Times - 08 Sep 2009

Changi Motorsports Hub proposals roll in

All three bidders have clearly different visions, despite putting in similar elements

By NISHA RAMCHANDANI

(SINGAPORE) Three visions of one dream were on display yesterday when parties vying to build and operate Changi Motorsports Hub (CMH) unveiled their proposals.

Guidelines issued by the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) for the 41 hectare site include a track of at least 3.5 km to be certified Grade 2 by the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and Grade 1 by the Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM).

All three bidders have incorporated elements such as retail, F&B, training academy, Go-Kart track and capacity for at least 30,000 spectators in their bids - but their visions clearly differ.

Singapore Agro Agricultural (SAA)'s 4.37km track will not only meet the FIA-2 and FIM-1 standards but has been designed so it could be extended for Formula One racing should the opportunity arise, SAA said.

The company, whose shareholder Tan Chee Beng is a director of Turf City Management, has also landed an agreement to bring in the hugely popular MotoGP, Formula Ford, Clio Cup and Asia GT races.

SAA reckons that cost of developing its Changi International Speedway at CMH will be around $250-$300 million, to be financed by a mix of debt and investment. It expects to recoup the investment over five years.

Haw Par Corp's wholly owned subsidiary Sports Services proposes to develop a 3,000-member motorsports country club to offset the hefty project cost of CMH - 'in excess of $200 million' - and operating costs. Details of club fees and subscription charges are still to be ironed out.

Sports Services also plans for a Customs-bonded zone with a 563-car garage, where enthusiasts can keep supercars without having to pay massive duty.

For instance, a duty free Ferrari 430F1 Spider has an OMV of $210,000 - plus roughly $255,000 in duty. However, the duty-free car would have to remain within the zone.

Sports Services' plan for a 4.2km track is expected to fulfil FIM-1 certification as well as FIA-1T, which means F1 cars could be tested.

So far, it has signed letters of intent with Australia's V8Supercars and Super GT out of Japan to bring those races here. Other potential events include Asian Superbike, Formula Drift and Race Masters Championship.

Meanwhile, SG Changi, a consortium that includes Kart World owner Thia Yoke Kian, has plans for a 3.7km track in line with FIA-2 requirements. But citing safety issues, it says that its track would not meet the FIM-1 grade at present.

Other SG Changi directors include former Japan GT driver Genji Hashimoto and Singaporean Eddie Koh.

SG Changi has secured letters of interest for international events such as FIA-GT, Super GT, Formula Nippon and Nippon Formula 3, as well as regional series such as Motorsports Asia.

Its $280 million vision for the CMH will be bankrolled largely by foreign investor Auto Trading Luft Japan. The plan includes an R&D facility, motorsports museum and a 120-room 3-4 star hotel.

The winning bidder, which will operate the track for 30 years, will be selected by the first quarter of next year.

Copyright © 2007 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. All rights reserved.

Radical Smash Nurburgring Lap Record

As posted a few days ago, the Gumpert Apollo Sport set a new lap record for a road-legal production car at the Nürburgring at 7m11.57s.



Yesterday (20/08/09), Radical not only set a faster time, it smashed the record with a 6 minutes 48 second laptime.

The car was driven both to and on the 'Ring with Dunlop track tyres mounted to the wheels. Radical did not change the tyres before the run, to emphasize yet another point. "We've proved that the SR8LM is not only the world's best trackday car, but it's also practical enough to drive to and from the circuit," said Radical co-founder Mick Hyde. "It is a genuine production sportscar, with genuine performance credentials, as we've shown today."

Job well done guys:

Gumpert Apollo Sport sets Nurburgring lap record

The Gumpert Apollo Sport has set a new lap record for a road-legal production car at the Nürburgring-Nordschleife track as timed and reported by German magazine Sport-Auto.

The Audi-powered Apollo Sport was piloted by 26 year-old driver Florian Gruber on August 13th as the record time of exactly 7m11.57s was set. According to Sport-Auto the record was previously held by Michael Düchting clocking in 7m14.89s on a Donkervoort D8 RS06 in November 2005. However, if our memory serves correctly, wasn't it the Radical SR8 in road legal trim that clocked 6m55s?

The 700 hp of the car is provided by a 4.2 liter, bi-turbo V8 engine supplied by Audi. It propels the Gumpert Apollo from 0 to 200 km/h in 8.9 seconds and gives the car a top speed of 360 km/h.

Roland Gumpert, a former VW executive, started Gumpert back in 2004 in order to create track-ready and track-worthy supercars that were also street legal.

Road tests for the Apollo Sport are scheduled for mid-September. A release date has not yet been announced.





Source: Worldcarfans

Cornering 101 for The Playstation Generation

Do you know how to take driving lines through corners? I have limited track experience but do have a general understanding of the techniques required to go through fast turns, hairpins etc.

Despite reading up on books such as the Skip Barber Racing School's official guidebook, I must admit somewhat ashamedly that this article is the easiest for me to wrap my head around.

Viper Duels 911

Dodge Viper GT3 hot on the tail of a Porsche 997 GT3. Late braking, overtaking bumper to bumper, at Nürburgring, in traffic.

Bring it.

Silvias at Pasir Gudang

A couple of friends driving S15s were at Johor Racing Circuit (commonly known as Pasir Gudang) today. Here's some photos:

Great picture composition! But....

S15 in Vertex widebody kit + Civic Type R blue = identity crisis? The owner's previous ride was a Civic FD2. Go figure...


Cooling off after a few hot laps.

Imagine my shock when I found out my friend is actually The Stig...

What a great way to spend the day!

Too bad I am stuck in the daily grind. Also, my car is at ST Power getting some minor mods and then a dyno tune this Saturday by Furugawa-san! More on that soon.

R35 GTR thrashes F430 Scuderia???

Much as I love the R35 GTR, watching something like this makes me feel strongly that the Best Motoring videos are staged in the name of nationalistic pride. On such a wide open course as Motegi, the AWD advantage wouldnt have been as strong as a tighter circuit.


Yet the R35 GTR thrashes the RWD machines, the GT2 AND the F430 Scuderia... The only other AWD in the race, the Gallardo LP560-4, whose power to weight is SIGNIFICANTLY better (2.5 kg per p.s for the Baby Bull versus 3.5 kg per p.s for the R35) than the GTR best the GTR by a mere 300 hundredths of a second.. How is that possible?