Track Day

The group of 40 car owners and their guests flown into Malaysia on Friday afternoon, to take part in two full days of track driving. The organizers were grateful to have the assistance of its instructors team, which comprised of the top drivers from the Asia Supercar Challenge. In addition, we were honoured to have the presence of HK top racing drivers Charles Kwan and Darryl O’young, who were kind enough to lend support and give technical advice to the drivers on the circuit.

After an early breakfast on Saturday morning, the drivers group departed from the Kuala Lumper Pan Pacific Airport Hotel for a short 15 minute journey on the coach bus to the Sepang F1 Circuit. Most drivers have some trackday experience in Zhuhai, and several had also driven in Shanghaicircuit. However, for most people, this was the first time to visit Sepang 5.4kmcircuit.

The Sepang circuit is hidden in a valley amongst the small hills behind the KL Airport. Hence, this allowed the circuit to be designed around the slopes of the land, enabling good elevation changes in circuit design, making the circuit more challenging. There is a good mix of long straights with fast flowing bends

During the Drivers Briefing, the participants were first given a quick tutorial on the circuit layout, and how to attack the important turns at the circuit. Much importance was stressed on drivers to monitor their supercars conditions, and the tyre pressures in view of the hot sunny days. Then, the whole group drove three laps behind the safety cars to get familiar with the circuit, and this was followed by the most important event – a group photo at the main straight.

After all the formalities, the instructors team then took turns to ride in the cars of the rookie drivers, and helped to get familiar with the circuit. The tutorial sessions continued for the rest of the morning, which ensured that all drivers would be familiar with the track.

After lunch, the afternoon sessions were all open track, which meant that both novice and experienced were permitted unlimited runs and time on circuit. Nevertheless, drivers could still get assistance from the instructors team to correct any driving mistakes and push their supercars to the limit. The first day ended at 5pmin the evening.

On Sunday, the drivers were gathered for another Drivers Briefing to review the first day trackday driving. The purpose was to iron out any problems or difficulties on track. Then, the drivers eagerly took to the track to test their skills. However, it was obvious that Day Two would be a tough day, both on driver and machinery, because the heat was higher than Day One.

During lunch recess, there was a one hour session for Malaysian’s F1 race driver Alex Yoong to make some charity Taxi Drives for the benefit of some under-privileged children. It was good to see that the organizers could provide the opportunity to contribute to society.

In total, the Supercar Sepang Trackday consumed more than 3,000 litres of petrol, with most cars averaging 80 laps each. Most cars did not suffer any mechanical problems, and there was adequate support on track from our mechanics team in Malaysia. In addition, Ferrari HK agent Italian Motors Sales & Service will also send a mechanics team to support the Ferrari car fleet.

If you are interested to test drive your supercar to the limit in Asia’s best F1 circuit, the Organizers are planning another Supercar Trackday at Sepang Circuit in Dec 2007.

Kindly contact Supercar Club Hong Kong for details, and to reserve your space. Numbers are limited.

Supercar Club Hong Kong