Newbie here!

S

slowman

Well-Known Member
Hi all!

I'm new here. My BMW friend introduced me to this forum. So far, I like what I've read. Nice forum with many matured people participating and small avatar sizes.

I don't have a car right now. My new car will be delivered end of Feb. It is not a BMW but it will be fun!

Happy New Year!

-slowman
 
Re: Newbie here!

Slowman,

Welcome to the forums! Great to have you on board....what's your new ride going to be?

Cheers!
 
Re: Newbie here!

After that, you must change your nick to Fastman. Hehe..
Welcome bro
 
Re: Newbie here!

I don't drive fast on public roads. Not with my wife and kid in the car.
I'll probably put up a "baby on board" sign in my car. The new STI
is almost indistinguishable from a normal WRX or impreza with a
big giant wing. You have to look very hard to tell the difference.

I had my share of fun driving open wheel formula cars on a race track.
Too bad, there isn't any open wheel cars to drive in SG or MY.
I'm looking forward to trackdays with you guys in the STI!
 
Re: Newbie here!

Welcome!
What formula did you drive and if it was actual racing, what class was entered?
 
Re: Newbie here!

Not actual racing. The car is a formula dodge. I took a racing class at
Skip Barber racing school at Leguna Seca in Monterey, California (see http://www.skipbarber.com/racing_school/racing_school.aspx).
Those formula dodge cars are sweet. 1100 lbs. 0-60 in 4.5 seconds.
60-0 in 3 seconds. Lots of torque.

The STI is the closest I can get to that without spending an arm
and a leg.
 
Re: Newbie here!

Congrats you must have had fun. Yes Skip Barber is famous. A buddy of mine who races professionally, graduated top of his class there.

I think the closest you can get to the formula Dodges is a 125cc shifter kart. They are very similar. 0-160-0 km/h in 12 seconds, 0-100 km/h in little over 3 seconds, just under 3G lateral, roughly 20 shifts in 30 seconds on a typical medium size kart track. Fraction the price of any car.
 
Re: Newbie here!

I hear that shifter karts are awesome. Even normal karts pretty fast.
I haven't tried them before.
Any good place for karting in Singapore?
Anybody here into karting?
 
Re: Newbie here!

The SG track is too small. PJ in JB has a larger one but I think the best is probably the one at SIC.

Since you enjoyed the Formula Dodges I think you would like karts. Renting lesser karts is an option in the short term but as soon as you realize you're going to really get into it, you'll save money and aid driver education by buying and maintaining your own (stable baseline).

Earning average amounts you can easily afford to buy your own shifter kart and set it up right for yourself. They offer storage slots at PJ so all you need to do is drive up and then you can drive all day for a flat fee after membership, well worth it IMO. To get from PJ to SIC and back with the kart you could probably rent a van for very little.

The PJ track is still a little tight for shifters karts but still it should keep a driver sharp by forcing precision. Better still if you have a karting buddy or buddies ( I think you can find some on this as well as the alfa forum). Problem with karting is that there is no glamour, much lower barrier to entry and people can't really buy an advantage, and you have to set up and maintain your own kart if you want it done right, so many shy from it.
 
Re: Newbie here!

Wow! You know a lot about the karting scene here!
Are there local karting competitions?
At the club level, does glamour really matter?
It is probably the best bang for the buck.

Where's PJ and SIC? May be if I decide to take
up serious karting, I'll check them out. For now, the
big track is more appealing :)

Do you kart? Do you track?
 
Re: Newbie here!

Yes there are local karting competitions at PJ (Permas Jaya, JB). SIC is Sepang International Circuit near KL. The kart track there is a replica of the main F1 track.

Glamour should never matter, but almost always it is a focus whatever the level. We all want to drive badass cars that are massively powerful, tear the sky in half, shake the earth, look sleek, look fast, sound fast, are a status symbol. etc. Karts aren't like this. Relative to race car engines, 2 strokes karts sound buzzy, 4 strokes seem to fart their way around. Karts look silly.. full grown person sitting there, on a ridiculously small platform with donut tires. But put down in numbers and seeing how the longitudinal accel/decel matches some of the best supercars and how lateral accelerations far exceed everything from IMSA GTS/GTU, SCCA Can-Am / Trans-Am racecars and down and can match Formula Atlantics, you realize they're no joke. Yes they're bang for buck. If we were focused purely on driving we'd all be track driving relatively cheap 125cc 2 stroke shifter karts, or 250cc 2 stroke superkarts (aero).

You earlier stated you wish you could drive open wheel cars locally. Shifter karts are the closest you can get without spending big money to replicate the experience on a big track. Caterhams and Exiges won't even come close in terms of long. and lat. accel . Radicals or other D-sports prototypes are expensive and maintenance intensive.

I used to kart locally, now I shifter kart over here in the US. By track I assume you mean track drive cars. I used to track locally. Last track experience here was modified ZR-1 a year ago. Since then there's been no time or money to do track. Have other priorities for now but karting is a good substitute in the meantime.



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Re: Newbie here!

You and Ryan probably can organize one. It's been done before I believe.

Karting is fun at all levels, though as with any other activity, different people enjoy operating at different levels. The individual's preference is based on a multitude of factors and is subjective.
 
Re: Newbie here!

Shaun,

You come back....and i challenge you.

Heh
 
Re: Newbie here!

Cannot... I'm kiasu. I hear you've lost weight! :D

But seriously, you can bet on it - just a matter of when. Good times, good food.
 
Re: Newbie here!

hmmm.... time to change ur nick to... Fastman liao...

and if u 'mod' it up to 400bhp... u can change ur nick again k :)
 
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