It was a party of a different sort as the second round of the Saturday Night Fever (SNF) kicked off on 5 March with a larger turnout in every single aspect of the motorsport extravaganza that SNF has become in such a short span of time.<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><b></b><b></b><b></b><b></b><b></b><b></b><b></b>
Over 2,000 people cramped the grandstand and paddock as early as 8pm, turning up for the spectacle that SNF was about to put on, and boy did it not disappoint. There were hordes of cars ranging from your daily driven street warrior to fully stripped-out dedicated track machines as well as a sprinkling of exotica for the first time in SNF.
Still in its infancy though, the event didn't go off without a hitch, albeit a small one at that, as the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia testing deprived them of nine pits to house the participants, leaving some pits packed like Malaysians in a minibus with 12 cars in. Overall entry stood at a 130 cars, meaning that some of the cars had to make do with just parking up behind the filled-to-the-brim pits.
The Gab SuperCompact class saw local motorsports veteran K.Perajun take the win but not without a close fight from his peer, Logeswaran Kaliaperumal. Both of them were driving Perodua Kancils, understandably the weapon of choice for most of the entrants in this class, accounting for about 90 per cent of the cars entered here.
Next up was the Campro Chase class that was won by Michael Ayyavu in a Proton Satria Neo. There was plenty of drama during this segment as Heat 1 saw Muhd Hairis hurtle off the track at full speed following brake failure. His subsequent downshifting into second gear to slow the car down saw the engine and gearbox blow itself into smithereens.
Heat 2 showed that the incident in the first heat was just a teaser as Ridhuan Ramlee overcooked it on the exit at the last turn, foraying into the gravel trap sideways and tipping the car turtle onto its roof. Luckily, both incidents saw the drivers escape unharmed.
The Street 1.8 Open class saw some true beasts of machines. There was a Satria Neo GSR Turbo, a Nissan Sentra with a turbocharged SR lump, another Neo with a howling-VTEC B18C and the underdog turbocharged Toyota Vios. Other machines included a Mivec-powered Gen2 and a Corolla AE86.
Coming out ahead of the pack was the ProDrag EK9 Civic that benefitted from some feedback from the previous SNF rounds. Hot on its tail was the most unlikely of cars, the turboed Vios with Steven Lai behind the wheel and Shahrulnizam in the Sentra completing the podium.
As we mentioned earlier, the sprinkling of exotica consisted of a solitary R35 GT-R that gave the 4WD Battle class regulars a scare. Jon Teo in his fire-breathing Orange Evo 6 and Hsiao Tung Wei in his Scooby had their eyes on the rear view mirror more often but still held on for a 1-2 finish with Jon ahead. The GT-R, piloted by Khairul Anuar, took third.
Moving on to the RWD Pursuit class, there was some star-power in the form of Wong Kok Foo's Veilside-kitted Mazda RX-7. There were some whispers questioning if the car was all show and lacking go but once the flag dropped it was clear that the rotary's reign of terror had begun. Only Ken Tai's yellow Silvia S15 could stay ahead of the RX-7, with Chiew Rouh Peng taking the final podium spot in his BMW Z4 M.
The FF Festival class was won by Kesavamoorthy Ayyavu in his Honda Integra DC5, persevering with experience to keep Desmond Yee and his Civic FD2R in the bridesmaid position. All eyes were on the battle for third spot though as Megat Arizal and Ahmad Rizal threw everything but the kitchen sink at each other for third. In the end though, it was Ahmad Rizal that claimed third, narrowly edging out Arizal.
One of the highlights was the EuroCup class that saw the Germans line up against the French. In the end, the entire chasing pack of French Renault Meganes couldn't catch up with the Volkswagen Golf GTI of Shedden Ee that took the win.
Shedden's win was not without drama though as his disc brake shattered, leaving him in the pits for the second heat desperately trying to fit in replacement discs. They got it done in time but he had to start the third heat from the rear. Nonetheless, it wasn't a handicap as he had ripped the field apart to reach the front by the end of the very first lap. His blistering pace saw him catch up with the front-runners of the FF Festival class that was running simultaneously with the EuroCup class.
Last but certainly not least was the Racing Cars class that was won by Faizal Hassim in his Civic EK9, ahead of Faizal Izhar and Jeffrey Moo, both driving CRXs.
The next round of SNF will be held on April 23 and the racing pedigree is expected to rise further with stronger challenges in all classes. Don't miss out on it.
