Over the past year ever since I attended my first track day at Sepang at one of their open track days which happens during the weekday, I got bitten by the dreaded track bug. Dreaded because it is addictive and all you crave is for that adrenaline heart pumping session each time you hit the tarmac.
In order to circumvent all those cravings, there are several track days organised by clubs, companies and events which does provide an avenue for enthusiast to hone their skills on the track. Anything which brings racing off the roads and onto the track is something I am rather interested in. Hence the series where I find various opportunities for track day junkies or for folks who have always had a dream to drive at Sepang. I know I was one of them.
Starting with the first of the series would be Renault Malaysia’s Track Days. Organised by TC Euro Cars Sdn Bhd, the sole franchise holder of Renault vehicles forMalaysia since May 2003, this track day offers Renault owners to bring their cars on the track, in a safe location and to have a playground to try out their toys. Namely the Megane RS250, RS265 and now the new Renault Clio RS.
The event is normally held over the weekend and lasts over 4 hours. It used to be 3 hours each session but recently some changes at Sepang International Circuit required companies to book the track for blocks of 4 hours. That meant more time for the drivers to have fun but at the same time it also meant that participants have to pay a little bit more.
Each session usually starts with registration of the participants to receive their drivers band. Only drivers with a band is allowed on the track and for this event, first timers on the track are required to take lessons from an instructor. TC Euro has made it a point that safety is very important hence the requirement. Not only do you have Renault cars on the track, because Sepang International Circuit is huge, there is also space for others to join in. That is why TC Euro also extend an invitation to the local car clubs (only by invite) to participate in their Renault Track Days. I have participated in these track days via the Volkswagen Club Malaysia as well as the BMW Club Malaysia.
General Manager Reza Mutalib giving his warm welcome to the participants Safety briefing by the instructors
After all participants have registered, everyone needs to attend the safety briefing. It doesn’t matter if you are an expert or a seasoned track driver, everyone has to attend because each club and each event will have their own set of rules. For example, for the Renault Track Days, no pure track cars are allowed, which means cars with a full roll cage and a full track setup are not allowed. What I do like about how this event is organised is that they provide instructors for new drivers. Of course participants have to pay extra for the instructors but if it is your first time, it definitely helps to have someone guide you through. I had to go through the hard way by just driving on the course and figuring out how to drive. In all honesty, I watched the video below a lot to learn about the lines, what gears to change and when to brake throughout Sepang.
Once the safety briefing has been completed, everyone gets really excited as they start their warm up laps to get their tyres heated up in the first few laps. In line with the whole safety theme, first time drivers as well as drivers who aren’t confident are given a bright green sticker to indicate that they are new so other drivers are aware of them while on the track. TC Euro is proud that after so many track day sessions, they have not had any accidents on the track during their track day events.
Prior to that, everyone will be busy sticking the necessary required stickers on their car indicating that this is a participating car as well as fitting the GPS transponder at the front of the car. This enables each driver to have their lap times recorded. I used to rely on those timings a lot but because of how long it takes for the entire process of the transponder logging the time to the person in charge printing out the time sheets and then pasting them on the wall, I decided to purchase my own iPhone app called Harry’s Lap Timer.
Now the GPS transponder (see those little red boxes below the number plates in the image above) fitted on our cars are way more accurate compared to my handphone’s GPS but the benefit I get is that after each lap I am able to gauge if I did a good lap or not or whether I made any mistakes throughout the various sectors of the track.
As temperatures start to soar on the track, cars aren’t driven the entire 4 hours. Most of the time we take our cars for about 6-8 laps and then bring our cars in to cool down. Some cars do get really hot while others like mine tend to keep at a cool 104 degrees after 8-9 laps.
Besides driving your own car, this event helps build friendship especially amongst car enthusiasts and car club members. TC Euro also has several cars available where trained drivers will bring participants around Sepang in the Megane RS. This is a brilliant marketing tool, after sitting in a Megane RS, it really shows how well the car is made and how suited it is for the track.
Sometimes if we are lucky, we get to see the Red Bull ladies around who go around handing out free international edition Red Bull drinks. In true honesty, it was at one of these events where I actually tried my first Red Bull and absolutely loved it. Now I do have that craving for them whenever I feel tired.
Even at these events you get a whole load of exotic and performance cars. At this particular session as well, the Lotus club was invited and you can see them driving extremely fast on the track.
The beauty of these track days is that you are not racing amongst each other in the normal typical fashion but you are racing against yourself by trying to set a better lap time. And isn’t it a great way to benchmark a car’s overall performance based on the track times? Because it isn’t only about pure power but also the handling and the weight of the car which plays a big role.
To me, these track days are a fun and safe way for me to drive and max out the performance of my car. I never truly appreciated how my car could handle and max out on the straights until I started driving on Sepang. If there is a way for me to encourage people to take racing out from the streets and onto the track, I hope that each of these track day series will make an impact.
