A (would-be) date with Glory

Screeching tyres, fading brakes, scorching heat, tunnel vision, and a claustrophobic helmet.
Welcome to Time To Attack 2013... Welcome to Paradise.

I opened my hazy eyes to pitch black darkness, and only the whir of my air-conditioner to indicate that I wasn't still in dreamland.
"Where's my phone?"
"It's only 7.30am?!"

Crawling out of bed, I disregarded personal hygiene and headed out to the porch. There she sat - my 2011 RenaultSport Megane RS250. Staring at her, the butterflies in my stomach started to morph into monstrous Pterodactyls as I contemplated the day ahead of me...
Time To Attack Round 1...
A day for a date with Glory.

Earlier that week, we received news that the tuning houses Wing Hin and Exotic Mods would be sending souped up Golf R's in a quest to pry the EURO crown from the French Connection. The RS250 had an extremely strong showing in 2012's final round in December, claiming First and Third place convincingly. But this year, it looked like the competition had up'ed their game, coming out in full force and fully modded machines.

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Word on the street had it that Wing Hin was targeting a 2:32 in their Stage 3 Golf R. The R.S. Collectif (RenaultSport owners club) Facebook page and Whatsapp group chats were abuzz with the "David & Goliath"-ness of the situation. 2013 would prove to be a real chance to show the big-boys that us Privateers (with our limited funds) could give them a run for their money. And besides, it's always good box office when the little man beats the big man... Such was the story of the Williams F1 team (but that's a story for another day... or post).

I arrived at Sepang International Circuit half an hour before the scheduled drivers briefing at 11.15am and proceeded to the usual scrutineering before heading to Pit 13, the designated pit for Renault. The service team sent specially by Renault (in support of the participating drivers) was already on standby to help me with my wheel swap, trading my Kumho KU36 ladden stockies for some other ones with worn Federal FZ201's.

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Everything was going according to schedule until disaster struck. 2 of my lug-nuts had broken off during installation, and the broken bits were still stuck in the wheel hubs. The crew members scurried to extract the bolts (1 in the front hub, and 1 in the rear). They managed to get the one from the front out without any power tools, but the one in the rear proved to be a nightmare. With the clock ticking, and without any spare lug nuts, I had to remove one from the other rear wheel to replace the broken front piece, and headed out onto track at 1.10pm (10 minutes late) for Session 1 of the EURO class with only 4 lugnuts in both my rear wheels.

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With a fear of my wheels "flying" off on track based on a recent personal experience, I decided to play it safe, and only managed 4 slow laps, with a best time of 2:44.289 (a disappointing 8 seconds shy of my personal best).

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Heading back into the pits, I was heartbroken. Why did Lady Misfortune have to strike (on of all days) TODAY.
The day when I needed luck on my side.
The day when David was supposed to take down Goliath.

The service crew went back to extracting the leftover bolt in the rear wheel hub.
After 2 grueling hours, they finally managed (with nothing more than a screw driver and hammer) to remove it.

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At this point, it was almost time for Session 2, and I quickly loaned 2 lug nuts from a fellow Megane owner that had come to spectate and support, and prepared myself mentally for the "attack".

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But in the end, it was not meant to be. Managing only 6 laps in Session 2 fighting worn out FZ201's, scorching heat, and traffic, I only managed a 2:39.842, which turned out to be just 0.094 seconds shy of Shedden Ee in Third place.

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I failed. Letting myself and the French marque down.
I was disheartened, distraught, and in utter dismay.

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But as the haze of disappointment started to fade, 2nd place winner and fellow Megane owner Eric Yong came up to me and pat me on the back. With a smile he said "Don't worry about it, that's racing for you." And upon reviewing the score boards, Eric was even closer to glory, being a mere 0.010 seconds short of beating Wing Hin's Golf R time.

On the long drive home, I thought long and hard about today's experience. Sure we didn't retain the EURO title, and sure no one really remembers 2nd Place, but we certainly proved to ourselves (and hopefully the world) that privateers like myself and Eric, even without the huge financial backing, and enormous budgets for modifications or track rubber, can still keep up with the likes of the big-boys, nibbling on their behinds, and maybe soon enough, emerge victorious!

And that my friends, was my would-be date with Glory.

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Photo Credits: Jarrod Lin

Special Thanks: Chek Tan, Kenny Yeoh and the R.S. Collectif

Saw ur car man.
I like the CAI.
Nvm, at least you did well.

stupidcar said:

Saw ur car man.
I like the CAI.
Nvm, at least you did well.

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Thanks.

NukeeZoid said:

Thanks.

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Your time is better than my friend's friend in his Scuderia.
Feel proud man.:proud:

Good stuff, this story made my day.

Go privateers.

awesome effort. love the direct air intake mods. Gooo Privateers~

pandaB said:

awesome effort. love the direct air intake mods. Gooo Privateers~

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It's a custom DIY piece by a fellow Megane owner. Got it on loan for TTA. Awesome crafting indeed.

NukeeZoid said:

It's a custom DIY piece by a fellow Megane owner. Got it on loan for TTA. Awesome crafting indeed.

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It's carbon fibre right?

stupidcar said:

It's carbon fibre right?

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Nope, just regular fibre painted black.

Nuke, I saw the lug nut incident at the pit...then when you were checking your tire pressure....all the best bro...see you in round2.

Very respectable times already. Hope better luck in round 2!

TitanRev said:

Nuke, I saw the lug nut incident at the pit...then when you were checking your tire pressure....all the best bro...see you in round2.

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It was such a depressing moment hearing the lugnut snap. I was going bonkers worrying whether I would even be able to make it out onto the track.

6UE5t said:

Very respectable times already. Hope better luck in round 2!

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Thanks.

I've seen a real mental toughness racer on TTA. This guy who experienced rear brakes locked up before turn 1 at high speed about 200kmh. Lost control. Spun wildly. Then pit in and gone out to clocked 2:35, it was 1 second faster than his personal best. This guy never cracked under pressure.

And then, the comparison of VW Golf R(your so-called big boys) and Renault Megane (your ownself as privateers) are utterly unfair. It's totally different cars all together. If you are driving a VW then u may compare with them. Renault is a well built trackcar. As good as FD2R if not better in stock form.

Eric Yong had my utmost respect. Conquering from hybrid CRZ to Renault Megane. Two thumbs up !!

rc_ep3 said:

I've seen a real mental toughness racer on TTA. This guy who experienced rear brakes locked up before turn 1 at high speed about 200kmh. Lost control. Spun wildly. Then pit in and gone out to clocked 2:35, it was 1 second faster than his personal best. This guy never cracked under pressure.

And then, the comparison of VW Golf R(your so-called big boys) and Renault Megane (your ownself as privateers) are utterly unfair. It's totally different cars all together. If you are driving a VW then u may compare with them. Renault is a well built trackcar. As good as FD2R if not better in stock form.

Eric Yong had my utmost respect. Conquering from hybrid CRZ to Renault Megane. Two thumbs up !!

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Chris is an awesome driver with tons of experience. I have the utmost respect for him and the team at Pentagon. They're true pioneers that walk the talk.

However, I disagree with your statement on the Golf R. If I compared the Golf GTi to the Megane then it would most definitely be unfair. However, we're referring to the hardcore track version of the Golf in VWs stable, the R with 4wd (that can be permanantly enabled mind you, through mapping).

I wasn't trying to turn this into a VW versus Renault article. All I was trying to point out was that even without the funds for Stage 3 and 420bhp under the hood, even without fresh rubber and having to recycle worn tyres, even without professional drivers behind the wheel, privateers can still come out strong and give the big-boys a run for their money.

the service team sent by Renault needs some serious debriefing.

they should only use torque wrench to tighten bolts with correct torque rating.

What to carry away is, a good set of lug nuts is recommended, and please do invest on torque wrench.

My friend did run test on his special designed Titanium Lug nuts on nurburgring last summer, proved his design working.
you may look into it

It's quite obvious the article is all about VW vs Megane when you posted the both Golf Rs photos & your track ready Megane . You don't have to tell how worn out your tyres are, how much funds you are short of and how unlucky you are. Everyone has their problems. The fact is you are 3 good seconds behind the next Megane and almost another 2 good seconds slower than an Audi TTS with street tyres(not sure if worn out or not. Not sure got nuts problems or not. And not sure got any other problems or not). It's fair if u can mentioned this in your article if u wanna compare. Is the Audi a privateers or big boys?? I don't know

rc_ep3 said:

It's quite obvious the article is all about VW vs Megane when you posted the both Golf Rs photos & your track ready Megane . You don't have to tell how worn out your tyres are, how much funds you are short of and how unlucky you are. Everyone has their problems. The fact is you are 3 good seconds behind the next Megane and almost another 2 good seconds slower than an Audi TTS with street tyres(not sure if worn out or not. Not sure got nuts problems or not. And not sure got any other problems or not). It's fair if u can mentioned this in your article if u wanna compare. Is the Audi a privateers or big boys?? I don't know

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I really don't understand what you're trying to get at here. Again I want to clarify that the article was about MY experience at TTA, and not a VW versus Renault post.

Cornelius, the owner and driver of the Orange Audi TTS is an excellent driver and a privateer such as myself. He did a great job to clinch first place, and I tip my hat to him. But he was in a seperate category, and I'm not here to argue about the potentials of the cars.

Again, you can read the article however you like, and interpret it however you wish... but please show some respect and tact in your replies and not throw accusations or try to spark a manufacturer war in anyway because that was never my intention. As the article title clearly states... its "A (would be) date with Glory"... nothing more, nothing less.

I believe, this time attack is good to see progression for oneself, of cause the overall package isn't ready to win the class yet.

Consistency is much important for a driver, import consistency then pace.

Consistent is how u maintain your finding (of being quick of cause)
Pace needs whole lot of time and concentrate to exlore the extra 0.1s.

I would learn from telemetry if I got the chance. DATA is king, the most efficient way to improve.

Just a saying.....

Well said. Consistency is all you needed. If not consistent then the time may varies from 2 to 3 seconds of your personal best.

The Audi also did a lot of mistake. If not he would have did 2:36 on street tyres. Of yes. Street tyres. Different category. Not semi slicks who did slower than street tyres.

Data is King. Video is Queen. Show us your Queen and see what caused you a slower time.

Is there some sort of gain other than personal glory in TTA?

Why the high tension dudes? All these cars are awesome cars and even more awesome are the drivers. I have huge respect for all of these fellas on the track and their professional conduct on track, unlike some kiasu drivers I've seen on the smaller tracks like Datok Sagor and the now defunct MCM and Batu 3.

Hats off to that crazy air-intake! I wanna DIY one of my own now. LOL