JCKL
Club Guest
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2004
- Messages
- 757
- Points
- 0
My alarm clock was set for 5.30am the night before to ensure that I wouldn't miss this drive. Called alvin at about 6.05am to make sure that he's up too, after filling up the MCS with a full tank of VPower. From the tone of his voice their's no doubt that he was up & ready! Got a call from detonics later saying that he would join us at the Sri Damansara toll. I reached the toll just after 6.20am and waited by the road side after the toll. I was joined by Sham aka loneranger shortly after & then followed by alvin. Waited for about another 15min before detonics arrived with his sweetheart, he had problem with tyre pressure before reaching the toll. We headed towards Batu Caves, & arrived at the Petronas Station at about 6.55am. I was surprised seeing the number of MINIs parking infront of the station, meaning the turn out was better than expected. Quite a number were unfamiliar ones, and of course the Porsche GT3, our surprise guest, eric. Eric used to own a heavily modded MCS and he played a large part in influencing alvin & me to get the MCS! We parked & mingled around while some drivers were filling up their tanks. We set off at about 7.10am. The sky was still not bright enough hence we had to rely on the Xenon again to show the way. I was the leader, followed by alvin, detonics, chilipadi & knvs. Eric had very gracefully volunteered to be the sweeper & stayed at the back of the pack. The first part of the drive was from the dam to Ulu Yam town, the roads are twisty but wide, with double lanes for parts that were going uphill. Traffic unfortunately was already fairly heavy at that hour, so we had to do a fair bit overtaking blasting past slower traffic, which gave way quite willingly, must be overhelmed by the sight of the rocketing MINIs! I had to slow down in few occasions to wait the drivers behind after overtaking slower traffics as some took a bit longer to clear. We stopped just before the Ulu Yam town to regroup before heading towards Gohtong Jaya. The second part of the drive from Ulu Yam to Gohtong Jaya was even more fun, as traffic was lighter & the road twistier. I was pushed by alvin's significantly more powerful JCW troughout the whole journey up. The second part drive was only about 15 min, so most driver commented it's too short. "It was over just when you're having fun!" was the general sentiment. (wait for Fraser Hill drive, guys! ) The first 5 MINIs which reached Gohtong Jaya were myself, alvin, detonics, chilipadi & knvs. The rest joined us about 5-10 mins later. The MINIs were parked in a row, and what a sight that was! We had breakfast in one of the mamak & after some walking through the cars. Breakfast was simple, mainly nasi lemak & roti canai. The journey back started about 9.15am, with alvin leading this time, followed by myself, chilipadi, detonic & eric's GT3. I had the rare pleasure of seeing alvin's JCW losing composure on 2 occasions, one wriggling before a corner (late braking) & one running wide at a corner (too much speed, drifting!) The down hill drive was in a way more exciting as the cars carried much higher speed. We stopped at the layby at the side of the dam for some photo shoot before heading back to town. The drive ended in Centrepoint, BU for those that met there for a cuppa. It was a great drive, & I'm very glad that we made it without any incident/accident!
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