The Black Mamba: A visit to Johor Circuit

I haven't gone back home for sometimes since I got the car. Since its a long holiday on early May, I decided to go back to JB with a moderately-planned track visit with couple of other friends..Heheh.

So on Saturday morning itself I went to get my alignment and cambers done (found out few glitches on the DC5 suspension/handling setting - will discuss about this in the next post), and headed straight to Johor Circuit, 30km away from JB town. Few friends like Ram and Siong from Tung Chun Racing tagged along to experience K20A rippin the track. Hahah. John, another DC5 owner was a bit reluctant to join, but made it there as well. Another track-hardcore kaki, Adlan who tested Sepang a day before, came with his stroked-up EP3. A very beautiful sight indeed.

Much to our suprise, the track was particularly empty when we arrived, with only a track Saga doing few runs at that time. We wasted no time to get our hands on the wheel and started off at 2.30pm. I started off a bit nervous on the first few laps. Kept on thinking of what Moorthy (another K20 friend, and an experienced racer) been saying. "Camber depan mesti mau -3.0 right side, -3.3 left side, kalau tak confirm ke dinding ko!" and all other yada-yada by people like "Track is very sempit, cannot overtake, scared if terlanggar side by side, etc etc." Creepy, but fuck it.

First 6-7 laps were done casually, with couple of wrong gear selection errors. Newbie mah? RS Sport sticked to the track like gum, and my Tein Flex was damn hard. The 25mm ARB also assisted the car during entering and exiting corners. Didn't feel the car was rolling at all. I went back to pit to cool down the engine and found out one of my hydraulic mount has broken. The oil splattered everywhere and I was a bit frustrated coz the mount was changed a week before that (Another DC5 glitch that will be posted soon). Since the car was not vibrating, so I decided to finish off what I intended to do - ripping the track apart. Hahah. Went back in with much more focus and enjoyed the DC5 stiffness for last few laps before calling it a day...

...there you go, a racer was born on a Labour Day. HAHAHAHA!

The track is quite technical and almost similar to the historical Batu-3 Speedway. Track surface is rougher than those in SIC, and the turns are much shorter and deceiving. After T1, the top speed can reach up to 200km/h followed by a long turn at 4th gear before popping 3rd into T3. There are couple of blind corners that need attention: namely before T5 and T9 (Try to remember this, or you'll end up hitting the wall). For those who ruled SIC, try this track once and you'll know what I'm saying. This 3km track ain't no kiddie playground. :-P

That's about it folks. Next round: more cambers will be done, harder front/rear shocks setup, unnecessary weight shaving, and all runs will be timed properly. Inshallah.