Oris Ladies Team 2009 Sequel, Sepang Dirt Track Rally Training

*Written By Rachel Ting*

2nd Training prior to 4×4 Larut Hill Challenge

This is the first time meeting Rico Chang (guy in the red), who is an all time enthusiast of 4x4WD rally. He was also the driver of the the following Vitara last year. He got into 4th placing last year out of 20++ other racers. This year he will be racing with a another Vitara, an 2.0l automatic. We had brief chat here on safety, what is SS (special stage), things that can occur if you are not careful and resulted in DNF (did not finish) etc.

The Sepang track is the closest track in KL for rallying. Steven brought Rico here to train me, showing me the real rally racing. It includes controlling, manoevering, trying out different lower gears and maintaining speed at the same time.

Moment after that, he took me for a spin. The track is quite muddy and there are alot of mud holes practically everywhere, so you can imagine how driving through all this in the speed of between 30-60 mph. We also pass through a track in the palm oil estate with the palm oil trees only a few centremeters away from the car. This experience was quite terrifying (being first time..)because they were times when I felt the car was really going to topple over.

After a few rounds, it was my turn to get behind the wheels…YEAH!! I drove at a moderate speed at the beginning (warming up) then slowly gaining momentum. Rico was beside me guiding me, but really have to shout though ’cause of the helmet.

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It was a hot day (unlike now), and imagine only leaving the windows opened with a gap of 1meter. Seriously feels like an oven in there, not to mention no air-con. Reason being, if you are driving across muddy track that are really wet, if window is wind down, you will definitely get to taste alot of the mud splashing across your face, not to mention mouth..eww!

Enclosed here are the how clean the cars were after alot of rounds of rallying. The Vitara in black is Rico’s car for this year.

Overall, they say I did alright but was quite slow at certain point..ARGHH..in my heart, I was yelling “I’ll SHOW YOU!!“..Anyways what Steven and Rico was trying to say was to maintain the speed at 30 mph all the time, don’t press too much of the breaks ESPECIALLY in muddy track and during turns. AND constantly they were stressing of driving safely, do not get too agressive as I am still not an experienced driver yet and worst come to worst, I will be regarded as DNF (Did Not Finish) if I had an accident or anything that can cause the car wrecked and cannot be driven.

Counting down everyday now…still got 3 more days to go…YAHOOO!! Stay tune for more..

*Written By Rachel Ting*

Wilson Ng