One point twenty-one gigawatts.

Since the last post, the Chin Chin La has been reversed into, has visited the dyno, and played with it's long standing rival (Cue suspenseful music), the Caldina GT4!

Other than nothing much has happened... Oh wait! I bought a PS2!!! By far the best modification to my room! I can now accomplish 300km/h in my room on my bed and more! Yes people, and the puck doesn't stop there... I can also play dvds (Insert crowd cheering wildly - Someone chants "You are a bronze god" I yell back "I know, i will spare you from my smite!") While i know most of you will think that i am trapped in the early 2000s and i should have gotten with the times ages ago when the PS2 was launched - i say to thee... "Shame on ye for flaunting thy monies in front of my beautiful visage!"

On to more interesting parts of my blog.

Dyno

On February 11th, 2006 the Chin Chin La and i embarked on our first convoy trip to dyno shop. It was mighty nice of them fellars at the GTi club, they allowed me to tag along even though i was not a member of the club. Kudos to the boys at the GTi club. For RM60 a pop damn it was a damn good deal too.

Where shall i begin? Arriving early in the morning at 10:30 am sharp, i was greeted by a view of silver goodness that adorned the car park at Petronas Taman Tun (Punctuation help!) It was almost wall to wall GTi's and very few other cars that were not taking part of the event. The pinnacle and quintessential crowning piece of all the GTi's there, was an Evo 3 powered GTi. What can i say... There is just something magical in seeing a car that has a detonator for a gas pedal. Among other cars, was a pristine Mivec Frankensteined GTi and some other GTi's that had some minor mods, some with adjustable cam pulleys, and custom exhaust systems.

And.... It's off to the dyno we go, it's off to the dyno we go, Hi Ho the Merry O it's off to the dyno we go.

Everyone lined up in "formation" and i took the last spot in front of the pace car just 'cos i thought everyone was going to be real fast, or at least faster than me. When we reached there the fun began. Car after car took their turn with no real surprise, except for one.

It was a 2004/05 siemens GTi running a 4-1 header and full custom exhaust with a Mugen muffler. Or at least it said Mugen on the side of it. It pulled a 133 whp! Absolutely amazing. I was only hoping i would get close to those numbers! To say the least i was impressed that the setup worked out so well. After careful inspection of the dyno sheet it appeared that the peak horsepower was there but low-end was not as strong.

Back to the dyno. With the Evo 3 up everyone was expecting big results including the owner. 260 whp@6000 rpm!! Not even close to redlining! Apparently he was running real lean up top so, the operator decided not to push it. After witnessing quite possibly the fastest car i have seen in real life (Power to weight plays a part in my decision to say that), i quickly plucked up the courage to go over and ask the person for a spin.

He replied, "You wanna drive it?" "Shock and Awe" (Thank you Bush administration) took on a whole new meaning. "Me? D-d-d-drive your car? B-b-but but... I don't even know you dude!" He said "It's cool you got a GTi i got one, let's go." After careful re-adjustment of the seat and steering wheel, i was ready to hit the detonator and feel the explosive power of an Evo 3 engine do it's work on a car that only weighed 1130kg. Pushing in the clutch required more work than originally thought, for fear of stalling, i carefully made sure i didn't make an ass of myself and slowly pulled out of the parking spot. I was told not to exceed 6000 rpm and i tried my best not to (Keyword being tried)! I laid into hard in first and felt the roar of the turbo spooling and g-force pushing me back in to the seat! Boom 6000 rpm, 6500 rpm in a split second *SHIFT* lay in the throttle again and BOOM another rush of adrenaline accompanied by speed and acceleration that could get off a 70 year old clit-less lady! Amazing! I didn't dare do it in 3rd i just rounded the corner and complimented the owner on his rocket!

That was more than my nerves could handle! I got out of the car trembling but managed to walk over to the rest of them still talking about the brute in a bodice (GTi with Evo 3 engine).

I finaly got my turn to run the Chin Chin La on the dyno. Scared as ever of what the result would be, i "man'ed" up and put her on the rollers! I was expecting about 115 whp, or at least that's what i would have been satisfied with! I couldn't watch, it was so scary! I hoped that all the money i put into the car would pay off and that i would be a proud owner of a working GTi with mods!

At this point i would like to say that the dyno shop did things differently from other dyno shops. It's not a 3 run and best average. It was more like measuring air fuel and power at every interval of rpm. For example 65 whp @2500 rpm.

Slowly the operator did his work, i was so nervous i wasn't even paying attention to what rpm it was at just waiting for the time it reached 110 whp. 5000rpm did the trick i saw 111.9 whp and my hands went up! With number 1's in the air i was told that i till had 2000 rpm to go!! 5500 rpm, 122.3 whp, tears of joy began surfacing! 6000 rpm, 122.6 whp, choked back a bit on the tears and became worried, only 0.3 increase?? Could something be wrong?! 6500 rpm, 128 whp!! The hands went back - Elvis has left the building! All that money so well spent! It was amazing! There's a thrill in going to dyno your car, don't ever let anyone tell you that there isn't one!

The Mivec GTi was last to go. So, i guess the cliche about saving the best for last applies here, for NA i mean :D. The operator did his thing. 155 whp @7000 rpm, that definitely put a smile on lots of people's faces especially when they learned that the Frankenstein had low compression pistons not high compression! For the layman, THERE WAS STILL MORE TO BE HAD!

All in all a good day! Made some friends drove a rocket and had fun being geeks with notes and graphs! :D

Caldina GT4

A little background for all of you. I pick up my colleague for work most of the time. And in times past, we have often encountered this white Caldina GT4. Completely de-badged i assumed it was some riced up family wagon with no skills. At the time of the sighting i had a timing belt in shreds, a very unclean k&n filter, and timing too high that it was giving out less power.

For obvious reasons i got blown out of the water by what evidently was a turbo charged monster! 3s-gte engine ain't nothing to fuck with! I am sure the guy behind the wheel was singing that along to Wu-tang's "Wu-tang clan ain't nothing to fuck with" LOL. That was only round 1.

Round 2 had the GT4 and me at the light again. Turning left again. This time i punched it and tried to get the jump on him but to no avail. He schooled me and then commenced the bitch slapping of a life time!

But round 3 was going to be a whole different story! Fresh off dyno weekend, 128 whp was ready and waiting. Picking my colleague up from his place and rolling down towards the Penchala link i noticed a white wagon off in the distance at the light (Cue suspenseful music - preferably the theme from JAWS, thank you).

It was... It was the white knight waiting for his prey! I pulled up behind and like the donkey i am, i turned to my colleague, slapped him on the shoulder and said "DUDE IT'S HIM!!! YOU THINK HE WILL RECOGNISE ME?!?!" He said "No lah!" I waved anyways in hopes he would.

I was getting giddy, palms were sweaty, there was vomit on his shirt, mom's spaghet.... Wait... Never mind.

My palms were sweaty, and my foot was getting tappy. My mind was hoping for some good traffic to run in.

Massaging the steering wheel and stroking the dashboard, i coaxed all that the Chin Chin La could muster. Green! Vroooooom! Putt putt...

Umm right, there was a guy in front of him moving slowly. Heh! The GT4 made his move to the slow lane to pass the slow moving obstruction! I followed suit feathering my throttle in second gear, there was no way he was getting away from me this time! I heard the spooling, i hammered the throttle, 7000 rpm roared as i grabbed 3rd! This time he wasn't pulling away as fast! I kept up!!! "Shock and Awe!"

I cut to the fast lane and hammered the throttle again shifting into fourth, nearly neck and neck with him! He cut to the fast lane as i was moving to the middle lane making a cut of my own! I followed him into the fast lane nearly redlining 4th! Roaring away at 7000 rpm i grabbed 5th before we had to slow down for the toll! Bugger! I considered it a win. Why? Well 'cos my car has less power and still kept up. Score one for the little car that could!

All this good ole blogging goodness, ahhh!

That's all for now! G'night!

Nullified ......

What began as a great night ended in awe and amazement. Not too bad huh!?

I beat a newer celica which definately wasn't a GTS, but the boy had skills. He blocked the inside lane of a long 'C' curve left hander (I won't specifiy where for my own safety) to which i happily responded by keeping speed with him through the corner from the outside and proceed to out maneouver him in traffic at the top of 3rd gear going into 4th. Kill number 1. Score? Chin Chin La 1 - Ricer with superb suspension setup Celica 0. Abrupt start to the post but, who cares!?

On the way back from town, the incredible happened. I ran out of small change for the toll so i decided to take the long route through the non-toll side. Again i shan't specify where but i will say it is near Eastin hotel (So much for discretion - for those of you that are Malaysian). I came by a loud blue Putra. Seemed to be gunning it a bit to egg somebody on. Evidently me! Anyhow i gave him a good run for his money but was surprised to realise that he did accelerate faster than me. Cams? Full exhaust mod? I dunno what it was but he managed to pull on me. Fortunately through my keen eyes and observative skills i noticed that he was not running cams. Probably some other mod that i may have overlooked which made his car faster.

Anyways, so, we were stopped at a light when we both saw a white NSX with a GT wing (Kinda looked like the 1 from AJR for those Vancouver readers) roll by after the toll we both didn't take. Putra in front thought the same thing i did and gunned it shortly after the NSX passed us. With tires squealing we gave pursuit. Of course, me being the slower (Or less balls) followed as close as my balls would let me! Balls! The putra had caught up and i was only 2 car lengths behind (Could have made it closer but i just didn't trust the Putra driver in front or my balls). Without any hesitation the Putra put the moves on the NSX, which ultimately proved to be futile. The NSX roared back, overpowering the sound of the fart can on the Putra, and pulled away in the following right then left down high speed corner, instantly losing both me and the Putra. Not to be denied a shot at seeing 1 of my all time favorite cars i chased as only the Chin Chin La could.

The NSX with nothing left to prove let off the gas and it was left to me and the Putra once again. Having both passed the NSX we continued our battle through the remainder traffic (3 cars including the NSX). I turned off for home and waved goodbye at the NSX and to a lesser extent the Putra.

What a dream come true even though i didn't have the stuff to run the NSX, it was just awesome to see someone with the balls to run it fast! That driver, is a true driver and true car nut! I was glad to be toasted so royaly by royalty!