Next morning saw us eagerly getting ready at the parking lot because it’s the day that we’d have the Sepang F1 Circuit to ourselves for the whole afternoon (1-5pm). Although the circuit was only 45 minutes away and our Malaysian friends were there to lead us, we still managed to get ourselves lost! The convoy unintentionally split up into 2 groups and took 2 different routes, but eventually regrouped at a Petronas Gas Station just before the Circuit so that we could all enter the track together in style. On arrival the group of cars that had the morning session was just about to leave as we pulled into our designated Renn Drive pits. Track briefing was conducted by a racing instructor and racer, Mr. Irwan Ismall. A few of us with semi/pro racing experience (because we seem to dedicate more of our time to racing than our paying jobs), jumped in and helped share driving tips to less experienced drivers. Then we had a quick dip into lunch box because we were so eager to get onto the track.
First we split up into a few groups lead by Irwan to show our newbies the racing line while the experienced ones took passengers and showed them the lap. Then off we went wild on the circuit, taking short breaks in between to let things cool down. Later on I learned that Ron was in fact a multiple Malaysian Super Car Champion, a legend. So, several of us invited him to drive their cars through the racing line. Sepang F1 Circuit is just over 5 km in length so we didn’t really see each other on the track even with additional 7-8 cars from our Malaysia and Singapore Porsche friends. The last time I was racing here was too long ago but the feeling is still the same - enormous! Run off areas are huge and the track condition is still nice. The local car media took interest in our group of Porsches from Thailand. One could spot the likes of Interscope, Brumos, Martinis, just to name a few of the historic racing legends’ decal patterns. Also worthy of mention were the 5 RWB cars that stole the limelight. In all, our gathering seemed impossible mixture of both old and new cars, standard, and modified Porsches together. When mad people get together they become the norm, that’s how we like to think of it.
Four hours literally flew by and none of us felt it was anywhere near enough. Skidding and spinouts were common, but the safety nets of this world-class circuit kept all cars in one piece. In fact, spinouts let us know the limit of the car’s handling so that efforts could be adjusted in the consequent laps. Some cars had to have problems sorted out by our Service Team in between laps, which posed no real problem except for one with a failed air-condition unit. Surprisingly, this was in a newer watercooled specimen. On the other hand, much older machines ran like champs.
After the final laps we all left the driving seats better, more confident and happier drivers. More importantly, we all fell in love with our cars more than before. One final parade round the circuit for photos by a flying drone camera capped our afternoon nicely. The fun on the track was over, but we still had 2 more days of driving ahead of us.
End of Part II
End of Part II