Up close & personal

4th July

I'm nuts about cars. Especially fast and furious super cars.. That probably explains why I'm willing to spend my weekends under the hot sun shooting all kind of motorsports stuffs.

On this weekend, Mercedes held their Driving Experience event at the Sepang track. Originally I had wanted to give it a miss especially since I had covered it just a few months back. But my contact told me that a very special "guest" will be there and I shouldn't miss it..

That special "guest" turned out to be the new supercar from Mercedes Benz: The SLS AMG...
A V8, 6208cc, 572hp beauty capable of accelerating from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.8 seconds, and can reach an electronically limited top speed of 317 km/h. To own one, just pay RM1,999,999, without insurance.


The SLS AMG replaced the SLR Mclaren as it's flagship supercar and take it's design cues from the legendary 300SL Gullwing.


It retains the familiar wing doors that will swing open upwards on gas struts. The new car has a long bonnet, the passenger compartment is close to the rear axle and the rear of the car is short. An interesting fact about the doors: in case of a roll-over, the doors can be fully detached to allow the occupants to leave the vehicle.




With it's RM2 million price tag, you can be sure the interior will be top notch. Lucky owner will enjoy creature comforts like heated seat, 6 disc DVD changer, Bang & Olufsen sound system, 11 speakers, auto climate and all the other bells and whistles..


After the rain had stop, the car was driven out onto the main straight for some photo session. On the track, with the pit wall as backdrop, this car looked magnificent.






Once the photo session was over, the car was fired up. The growl of the V8 engine was stunning..


I didn't get to ride in it and I don't think I'm gonna be able to afford it anytime soon.. so the next best thing was to take a photo..

Super GT 2010: Race Day

20th June

Race Day!!!

I'm all pumped up!! This is the first time I'm going to shoot a GT race from track side. Sure beats the hell of shooting track day cars. It was still early when I reach the track so walked around the pit area.

Familiar sights at team garage; seems the hot weather really gets to them..


Bright morning sun; good for doing the laundry..


"When I grow up, I wanna be a race queen...."


"....like them"


Time for GT warm up session and I made my way to Turn 2. Decided not to venture too far out today as I have covered most of the key spots yesterday. 10.45am and the cars hit the track..




Just before Turn 2, the Lexus tends to spit fire during their downshifts..






The exhaust of the R-35 lights up but was nowhere as dramatics as the Lexus..


The pit safari was next and it was kinda amusing watching these tour buses tip-toeing along the track while the GT cars tried to navigate around them. At the same time, the people inside the buses are trying to take pictures of the cars. I wonder what kind of pictures you can get from inside a bus..


The next activity was the Pit Walkabout. This time the situation was chaotic; there were just too many people down there in the pit. Decided to hang out inside the Media Centre while observing what goes down below..




Decided to head over to the mall area instead and check out what's happening there. Here we have some Malaysian race queen..




Some cool cars on display..




But once the GT queens appears, everybody's attention was fixed on them..


After lunch, I headed back to the pit to wait for the GT grid formation. 1 hour before race and the team are busy with their preparation..




This fella was however busy working on his tan..


"Gotta look good out there. The girls are watching.."


Counting down to race. The pit crew hovers around the car..




This is it.. I can hear the growl of the GT cars and they started to make their way out for grid formation..


Once the cars were lined up on the grid, the mechanics, race queens and flag bearer made their way out on track and finally, the photographers were allowed on track. It was an amazing atmosphere with all the people and the cars..












not forgetting the girls..












Final countdown and everyone was ushered out from track as the cars prepare for warm up lap. I returned to Turn 2 hoping that there's gonna be some sort of incidents during the start. Sure enough right at the start, cars bumped into each other as they jostled for position going into Turn 1 and 2..








After a few laps, the cars were still bunched up together..


Too close..




The Weider HSV-010 did very well to came home 3rd despite the 1st lap incident..


The MOTUL AUTECH GT-R was leading much of the race until an accident towards the end dropped it down to 2nd..


The CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R took race victory for Round 4, benefiting from it's tangle with the Motul Autech GT-R..


For GT300 class, M7 MUTIARA MOTORS AMEMIYA SGC 7 took the race win, crossing the line 27 seconds ahead of field..

There's rumors that this is the last time the Super GT series will be staged in Malaysia. I sure hope that's not the case as their departure will be sorely missed by the Malaysian motorsport scene. If they really are not coming back, then at least I can be glad that I have lived through the Super GT experience..