The start of the first day was, of course, rather early for the organizing team. The team was at the drive's first rendezvous point: Proton’s Centre of Excellence in Shah Alam right before sunrise.<b></b><b></b><b></b><b></b><b></b><b></b><b></b><b></b><b></b><b></b><b></b><b></b><b></b><b></b><b></b><b></b><b></b><b></b><b></b><b></b><b></b><b></b>
They were hastily trying to prepare the reception and welcoming paraphernalia for the eager participants who would be reaching soon.
Once the buntings were up, the organizing team concentrated on preparing the equipment for the upcoming convoy.
For those of you who haven’t been inside Proton’s Centre of Excellence, there are many exhibits on the showroom floor, but most would be particularly enthralled by the collection of Lotus cars; the Lotus Evora, Lotus Europa and Lotus Exige S.
The participants started trickling in at about 0800, and they were ushered towards the registration counter to complete the necessary documents.
The cars were parked along the upper foyer of COE, and it covered the entire driveway. The cumulative horsepower here should be in the five-figure range now.
Due to the amount of supercars at the rendezvous point, they were parked bumper to bumper to enable a cozy fit at the upper foyer.
Once the participants grouped, they were ushered towards the cafeteria for some light breakfast, Malaysia-style; nasi lemak, kopi-O and teh tarik.
Breakfast allowed many of the participants, especially those from the media and the illustrious Blue Jackets Society, to mingle and socialize.
After breakfast, the media team was brought down to the Lotus parking bay to meet their allocated sports cars. As you can imagine, the assortment of cars there is very enviable; from Lotus Europa’s to Lotus Evora’s, including the “Lotus Renault GP Edition”, to the adored Lotus Exige S.
As the excited media personnel got themselves comfortably in to their respective cars, the Lotus Cars technicians briefed them on basic operating instructions.
The media personnel then joined the other participants for the driver’s and safety briefing at the auditorium*once they got acquainted with their cars.
As some of the participants were not able to attend the preliminary briefing at G-Tower the day before, the organizing team also began pasting the sponsor and event stickers on their lovely machines.
Once the briefing was over, all of the guys got into their supercars and started lining up while the Royal Malaysian Police escorts began to stop traffic along Kesas Highway to allow them to whiz off.
Erwin Azizi, President of the Blue Jackets Society, was the person who flagged the entourage off.
The resounding roar and rumble of the supercars leaving COE was enough to jump-start any petrolhead’s heart as each car darted out of COE into the u-turn towards the Elite Highway interchange.
From there, the convoy had a smooth and relatively unrestricted drive towards the next regrouping point; the Air Keroh R&R stop. The stop was only a brief one, as the convoy is slated to head towards the official petrol filling point: Shell Station Perniagaan Zamn along Leboh Ayer Keroh.
However, the sheer size of the convoy necessitated another regroup right after the Ayer Keroh toll plaza. The resulting traffic congestion caused by curious onlookers was amazing.
As some of the supercars moved into the Shell station for a refill, the others were parked outside, safely covered by the police escorts.
After the supercars were filled up, the police escort provided the needed swiftness to get into Malacca Town, towards Hatten Square.
Getting into Malacca Town was still challenging, given the congested traffic situation inside town, and the narrow roads towards Hatten Square.
The police escorts cordoned off the U-turn area to give some breathing space for the supercars, but nevertheless piqued even more curiosity amongst the general public.
The entourage congregated at Movida for lunch, as the waiters began to ferry the freshly-prepared food to the hungry participants.
The supercars parked there were an instant crowd-puller, as official MC Roshan began engaging the public about The Drive To Protect.
The drivers, media personnel, and organizing team were in high spirits after lunch, and took their time lounging around and generally having fun.
The public was also enjoying themselves, taking photographs with the supercars parked outside Movida. As lunch concluded, the participants headed towards their respective cars for the next course of the drive; towards Gelang Patah R&R.
