We’ve all had birthday parties before, but when was the last time you attended a birthday ‘drive’. A good friend and true petrolhead Dipak recently decided to celebrate his big ‘four-zero’ by inviting a bunch of like-minded car-crazy guys for a drive to Frasers Hill via the old roads. Needless to say, I just had to join.
The route would see the group, comprising a good mix of new, almost-new, old-skool and classic cars, head from the Sg.Buloh R&R to Bukit Beruntung, then using the back roads to Kuala Kubu Baru, but stopping at the dam for a photoshoot, then up to the Gap at Frasers Hill and back down the other way to Bentong, into Karak and back to KL.
In addition to meeting up with car-guys I’d not seen in a while, the drive was also a ‘shakedown’ for my 1977 BMW 635CSi, having just emerged from the workshop with a revised braking system. In retrospect, perhaps hurtling down a hill only to find out the brakes didn’t work wasn’t such a good idea, but I wasn’t going to miss this drive for anything. As back-up I’d loaned my trusty TX3 to a good friend Aswan Yap, who acted as ‘sweeper’ for the convoy.
While some stretches of the road were far from perfect, it was nonetheless a brilliant drive. Long sweeping corners coupled with tight bends followed by long straight stretches that were mercifully free of heavy traffic, allowed us to stretch the legs of the cars on this drive. I’m happy to report – also by virtue of the fact that I’m able to be here today writing this – that the old BMW handled the drive brilliantly.
Since beginning this restoration project early last year, I’d only driven this car out of town twice, and used it as a daily commuter for a grand total of about a week. As crazy as it sounds, the car needed this drive. I don’t expect you to understand this, it’s a weird sensation that only afflicts true petrolheads; sometimes you really do just have to shut-up and drive. Enjoy the pictures!
[Photo credits: CW, Aswan Yap, Joshua Thomas, Bobby Ang & Girish Ramachandran]
