yesterday went to nick's race... so fun :P hahah! well, anyhow, i'll give you a summary! hahah! any the nice thing is though nick didn't get a podium finish (he came in 5th in his category) we got our own souveniers! heheh! i went with my brother so both of us got passes as competition crew... (the picture on the right... there!) cool name for the people that set up the canopy and sit in it throughout the day... hahah! ok technically i think the reason they did that is so that it would be easier to manage the people on the sidelines. anyhow, there wasn't that many non-"pit crew" people around that day. most of the spectators were sponsors or family of the racers.
we left at about 7.15am from Mont Kiara and arrived at Shah Alam Stadium around 7.45. we had a parking place "booked" for us by Nick's friend, Ken. on reaching, we basically began to unload. i started to arrange the ice and drinks, and the sandwiches i packed. the guys began unscrewing the spare tyre from the boot and hauling it to the front. after all the loose bits had been removed from nick's already nearly empty putra, we set up the canopy. that was quite fun with all the horsing around with the parts. once the canopy was up and ready, we had to think about what to use to anchor the damn thing down. the last time i went, our canopy flew over a fellow driver's car. luckily, no damage.
we settled on tying one end down to nick's very heavy tool box. the other end was anchored to the passenger seat that had been quickly removed. the last two legs were weighed down by the trusty old spare tyre. suffice to say, yesterday, our canopy was planted to the ground. with the canopy set up and three of us proud with our work, and my knotting skills (:P), we settled on scrutinizing anything else we could do. result? des sipped on chocolate milk as nick decided to go sign in for the race. me? i just sat there thinking of what a wonderful weather we were having...
sadly for me, the wonderful weather didn't last. i have sunburns on my poor face... so have des and nick! hahah! but they're guys!!!! (moans and groans a bit then glares angrily at nick) and the worst bit is that nick is the type that once he gets burns, he peels, then he's fair again!!! not freaking fair man!!! (no pun intended!) sigh! life is soooo not fair la! (no pun intended again!)
so anyhooooooo, we were parked just behind a 1.3 satria from ipoh. that car was
sponsored by fts... a rally spec car but, real good car. the guy won for his category lo... the fellas go for every round and they had camped overnight since they have to travel to get to the venues. not only that, they were fully prepared with mats and pillows and all the works! hahah! not only that, i think they were going to participate in the drift event too. i think la.. they had they're bluebird parked next to us ma... the dirver for the car was called johan i think. all very smiley smiley people... :D
the runs started at around 9.30 to 10.00am. starting with the practice run. nick's practice run was his smoothest run, but the time he scored was far from good. at least by the end of the day, the practice run timing looked poor in comparison. hahah! by the time it was around 11.30 am, Time Attack 1 (TA1) had begun. the car were lined up in the hot sun and the race was on. the course was a rather sandy one, so the track resembled that of a car park rally. cars were let out one at a time at 1 minute intervals as most of the cars took around 1 and a half minutes to get the track done.
nick managed to complete TA1 in 94 seconds but for missing a cone he got penalised 5 seconds, giving a final time of 99s. by right, the time should not have been counted as he would have "not completed" the track but i think the excessive dust cloud that the car kicked up blinded the official a little. another problem encountered in the first round was that the security box in the car had some how come loose and winded up near nick's feet which would be rather dangerous. getting back, he zip tied the box to the passenger side to prevent further problems.
by the end of TA1, we were tired and hungry. the heat was begining to get to us and i had resorted to sitting in the car to get away from the sun. my brother fell asleep in the driver's seat and nick nodded on and off as he rested whilst sitting on the cooler leaning back against his car. me, i slept like a pig... haha! yeah, i fell asleep hugging the cushion he mum gave us to sit on as i sat on the passenger side floor. the wind was rather cooling so sleep was very possible. halfway through lunch break, the canopy on the other side of the parking space flew. nick got up to catch it, i held on tight to ours. if you have never encountered a blown around canopy, it's not fun. or maybe it is, a little. luckily that the canopy was more or less weighed down, all i had to do was make sure it didn't shift too much.
just as TA2 started, nick's parents came along with their small chihuahua mix pommie and our food! hahah! nick was in the car and my brother was getting ready to start going photo crazy. me, i was the unofficial timekeeper. this time around, though nick claimed that it felt sluggish, the timing had imporved to around 92s. a drastic improvement i dare say!on the left you can see the beautiful car in its glory (covered in dust and hand prints from us touching and leaning on the car). this baby really did its thing on saturday. oh, and for those that just feel like it, the number is 427 and position on the championship grid for 3 dot 6 R3 Time Attack is 5th in the Hung category! :P
after TA2, we dug into the lunch nick's folks got us... Mc Ds!!! yum! hahah! i just loooooove Mc Dees. anyhoo, after a very estatic and excited nick kicked our drinks over when explaining his run to his dad, we were left with only one cup of icey coke. ah well... hahah! well, after the relaxing lunch, round 3 started.
TA3 was much more slippery in comparison to the first few rounds. basically, the sand had flown everywere thus making the track very much unpredictable... haha! anyhow, i filmed the last round, but i don't think i can post it here... it's some 128mb!!! anyhow, the results TA3? 90.57s!!!! it's a huge improvement lo... even so, nick came in at 5th, which isn't that bad... hahah! the results are here
by the end of the day, we were sooooo tired... actually, i'm still tired, and it's sunday afternoon... this post is too long... gah! and i'm not making up fpr my absence k! hahah! anyhoo, i'll jot some other things down when i get the chance to. tah for now! :)
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