BACKGROUND
Right ... so in my last blog I mentioned that we would switch to using Plentong until a Singapore solution became more of a reality.
Dad has been visiting the track over the last few weeks to monitor how the construction was coming along and last weekend, he had the opportunity to jump into a fun kart and take a spin on the new track. Based on his positive feedback, we decided to move the 4 karts (including a recently acquired 390cc spare) from our house in Johor over to the new track with the assistance of Louis Liew, the owner of the new track and the previous tenant of the land over which Permas Jaya track was built.
So whilst Julian and I were at work, Dad coordinated with Louis to have a vehicle pick-up the karts and on Friday evening, Dad called to update that we were good to go.
Julian couldnt make it so it was just Dad and myself heading to the track on Saturday morning. From my understanding there are a couple of ways to get to the track but Dad drove the route via Permas Jaya. As we crossed over the river, I could see molehills on the former Permas Jaya track where the tarmac had been dug out before they were moved to Plentong.
We took a route that Louis recommended to Dad in which we had to pass through an Indian worker settlement before entering the plantation. I can see how people label the route as a WRC course, the path is unpaved and a conventional vehicle needs to travel at a slow speed through the plantation. The morning sun was high in the sky and the path was dry and dusty. But it can get a bit muddy when it rains. Fortunately, Louis has planted enough signs around the plantation so that you know you are on the right path.
If you are headed there for the first time and are familiar with the Permas Jaya track location, here is a short guide to getting there. Kudos to badbadtzMaru of Karting Edge forum who posted the following directions.
"you first drive pass the old track along the main road (coming from the big permas bridge), keep going until you reach a major junction, then you take the slip road and turn left into Jln Permas Utara, you will see Jusco on your right..... keep to Jln Permas Utara and go straight for quite a while (you may see one or two permas kart track sign boards (in brown with white words) on the road side....
you will then go past (still going straight) underneath the Pasir Gudang Highway flyover, and come to a traffic light junction, turn right into Jln Masai Lama and watch out for Jln Bunga Seroja on the left (approx 5th side road off Jln Masai Lama), turn left into Jln Bunga Seroja and keep going....
when you reach a cross junction and see a chinese school at 10 o'clock, turn right into Jln Bunga Matahari which will bring you all the way to the new track (about 2km++ distance)... again watch out for the brown permas kart track signboards.... total distance from old kart track is about 10km+."
When we finally arrived in the late morning, there was already a bus of Singaporeans who came across the Causeway for karting. I was glad to see some facilities already up, i.e. such as the toilets, a wash area and seating area. I hear the canteen is on its way up and there was even an ice cream seller on his motorbike there. Sure there was cosmetic touch-ups to be done, but it was good enough for most visitors and members to make themselves comfortable.
We entered the main workshop premises which is slightly larger than the former unit at the Permas site, prepped the karts and went out on the track.
TRACK TIME
The circuit layout for the day was Layout B. The circuit run clockwise and is between 1km to 1.5km on this layout.
The Pit area is cordoned off from the track and is slightly larger in area than in Permas. Lenthwise, equivalent number of karts can be lined bumper to bumper. I liked the decision for the Pit exit to be placed into the middle of Corner 1 as karters on the circuit and those entering can see each other clearly.
On the first few rounds, one thing is obvious - (1) the tarmac has been layed evenly (2) the track is wide.
Layout B wasnt the entire course - there are 2 corners which arent added - a hairpin at the bottom of one of the straights. My Dad tried the layout the previous week and mentioned that it could catch a few fun karters by surprised due to the gradient incline and the fact that fun karts dont brake all that well. From the hairpin, its up a short slope and then going into a blind S corner (the pit wall blocks the view of the S corner). The other corner is another hairpin which I forgot to check out.
The track feels much faster than Permas and will suit the faster karts better. The wide corners allow for a lot of overtaking opportunity and is a great feature since enthusiats have the benefit of taking different driving lines around the outside of fun karters.
I would not want to end up running off the track as the ground is uneven and could potential damage drive controls. It looks like there were enough tire barriers and run off spots though I would like to have a look at the ditch on the 2nd right corner of the back straight. In the attached videos, you can see a 390cc that ditched itself in that corner.
If you came up from Permas track, you might have to look at re-doing some elements of your setup - Dad found himself revving past 12500 rpm on the back straights and decided to replace his 12T/81T sprockets and chain with a 12T/76T set. Im running 12T/83T for Permas and will probably do the same. Dad says he'll try reducing Ackerman as well next week just to see how it is.
I've taken a couple of camera shots of some of the corners just for everyone's guide but it doesnt beat getting out to Pelontong to try it for yourselves.
I've heard some discussions mentioning that the Plentong track isnt as challenging as Permas - on one hand I can understand (the Permas hillside incline provided for at least 4-5 corners with their own character and charm on which I have had many a spin or gone off-road) even for the 5hp fun karts, yet on the otherhand I embrace the new track given the overtaking opportunites and quick nature that many of the corners can be taken.
Apart from the 2 corners that I havent tried yet, I really liked the 2 right-hand corners leading from the back straight into a downhill hairpin. If you have enough balls to keep the throttle down, thats a spot to make up a lot of time. The second feature is the long Left which rises uphill and then goes downhill - all the while there isnt a specific apex - check out the 2 photos in the Photo Gallery as well as the videos. I really want to practise how fast I can drift from the inside entry to the outside of the exit apex!!
The trip was also my first opportunity to try on my new OMP/Sparco aparral and MyChron4 gear that I purchased. Unfortunately I think Im going to have to look through the MyChron manual again before the next trip so that I understand what functions are at my disposal. In addition to these, I also purchased a new sports cam from VIO Sports which I brought out for the first field testing.
DOWNLOADS
The still camera photos I took of the track can be found at http://marklange.typepad.com/photos/first_visit_to_plentong_t/index.html .
I hope the photos of the corners are helpful to other enthusiats.
I have listed 2 videos on YouTube in which I tested out the VIO video camera.
Please bear in mind that these are unedited Outtakes that for all purposes, is posted as a good laugh for myself. If you already kart as an enthusiat then you will know what I mean when you watch the videos. I think the VIO video camera works great, just that I need to mount it at a better angle, keep it within a waist pouch and activate the controls via remote and perhaps attach an external microphone. Just like the MyChron, its yet another tool to evaluate my mistakes and make improvements - already Im surprised to find how much Im moving my hands around the wheel from the videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ldsHBhB3so
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLk8ZsmN_9U&feature=related
Here were some opinions made by local forumites on the track ....
"I had a first look at the track this weekend (no drive unfortunately) and it looks pretty exciting. It is about 50m different altitude from top of the track to the bottom and with so many uphill exits out of tight corners, I imagine anyone who is even 10grams overweight will suffer out of corners. And hard downhill braking if overweight will be fun. It has a long way to go before it could be considered safe enough for hosting races. I am sure there is plenty of work planned and not yet done, but it seems to me that it will require quite a bit of work to make some of the VERY fast downhill sections safe, as the run-off area if you miss your braking into the hairpin is zilch and would see the kart leave the track and rejoin at another section about 20m away after clearing the top of the few tyres there. Early days and I am sure Louis will get it right. Hats off to his dedication to make it happen. When the storage and other areas are complete it will be quite slick. However, I could never see a bigger driver like myself ever being competitive there. Unless of course we change classes to DD2." - drewcrombie
"Have had two outings at the the new track wet & dry, my rotax is just pulling 13,000 rpm with a 78 rear spocket before the uphill right hander and the kart is a highspeed handfull for most of the corners, especially in the wet where you are physically pushed to the edge, but even on slicks you are still able to control your kart. The track is fantastic with many high speed corners to really show the limits of your kart. My favourite part of the track is the long downhill section which you can vertually hold full throttle all the way to the corner just before the pits. After feeling the adrenalin of flying down that hill, you are then almost immediantly you are thrown into the tight dog legs and then onto a short straight back into another corner and then comes another short straight before returning back onto the big long straight which you can pull some really high rpm's as I described in the begining. I highly recommend trying this track and i guarantee you will enjoy. To get to the track you have to ask the taxi driver to take you to plentong b. From the checkpoint it will cost about 25 ringets. On your way you will see little red signs with plentong kart track and the distance left on them. The final 4 and half kilometers is spent on a bumpy dirt road with a couple cows here and there." - monties928
