Same formula, smaller portions, less liquids and a pinch of new ingredients just about sums up the latest Sunday morning drive by the Skyline Club as opposed to the one that was held a while back.<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>
As the opening line suggest, this time around it was the same route but with a smaller turn out and a more diverse mix of machines. Furthermore, it wasn't as wet as the last edition too although the roads were still a tad on the slippery side from an earlier downpour.
So the idea was mooted on the Skyline Club's thread for breakfast at Goh Tong Jaya, petrol-head style, by means of an early Sunday morning drive up Goh Tong Jaya through the twisty turns of Ulu Yam.
Though there were fewer cars this time around, it actually aided in building up camaraderie between the drivers as the smaller group could socialise amongst each other more.
There were a total of 10 cars, with five Skylines, a Mazda RX-8, a Nissan S15 Silvia, a Volkswagen Polo GTI, a matte blue E60 BMW M5 and a Honda Civic Type-R that was the unofficial media car for the drive. The Initial-D liveried Toyota AE86 and Nissan 180SX in the shots didn't join the drive but showed up a while later after we had reached the end, probably to deliver the morning's supply of tofu.
With heavy rain being a permanent fixture on the weather forecast the past few days, it was looking likely that a morning shower would greet the flag off but thankfully it didn't rain that morning. On the other hand, it had poured the day earlier which still left the roads damp enough to warrant the drivers easing off the throttle a little and exercising some unfamiliar slower-than-normal cruising.
Among the Skylines, they were split up quite diversely themselves with every one of the five cars being a different model. The Skyline part of the drive consisted of an R32 GT-R, an R32 GT-S sporting an Rb26DETT transplant, an R33 GT-R, an R34 GT-T and an R34 GT-R with a wicked single-lug conversion for the wheels.
After gathering at the meet up point, it was decided that the tiny but powerful Polo GTI would lead the drive up. Following closely behind was the R32 GT-R with the Civic Type-R hot on its heels.
The rest of the cars toed the line whilst maintaining a safe distance but still close enough to keep things interesting. The early section of the route consisted of fast, sweeping corners that saw all the machines carry plenty of speed though but things took a step back once we reached the middle and last sections of the route that had sharper bends, with quite a handful being the tightening apex types. As always, the best mode of attack for these corners was fast-in and slow-out.
Due to the roads not being as slippery as the last time, there were, luckily, no untoward incidents. All the cars made it to the top in pretty much the same condition as when they left the starting point save for the slightly redecorated front ends with the day's serving of crushed bugs.
Following breakfast, there was the mandatory inspection of all the cars present with particular attention to the matte M5 and its intimidating V10 growl through the Hartge exhaust system. The R32 GT-S had its RB26 engine massaged to the tune of around 600hp, proving to be quite a handful with the damp surfaces not aiding at all.
The RX-8 had an aftermarket exhaust and a rotary howl that could give its wilder RX-7 sibling a run for its money. Last but certainly not the least, metaphorically speaking of course, the little Polo GTI that lead the drive didn't have any trouble pulling away from the tailing cars. While a very nimble handler right out of the showroom with a raw feel to it, it had some extra grip in the form of larger Weds Sport wheels that gave it that fine balance in the Euro-with-JDM-inspired styling department, something many other cars have tried but failed to achieve.
After all was said and done, it was time to return home for the rest of the Sunday. A couple of the cars decided to take the Ulu Yam route back down with the rest of the group opting for a mini-wangan session by means of the quicker Karak highway option to salvage as much as they could of the Sunday.
From the looks of it, this Skyline Club and friends drive will become quite a regular Sunday morning activity so if you're interested to join the next one, do pop into the Skyline Club thread on the forum to look for the next drive. The Skyline guys are more than welcoming of other cars and they're quite the friendly bunch too, so don't shy shy.
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