Driving at the actual Sepang International Circuit!

sic race track experience

Yes! I can strike another one off the bucket list! I’ve actually driven on the Sepang International Circuit – one of the official F1 race tracks around the world! w00t!

model

I was at the Volkswagen Das Auto event held to herald in the Volkswagen Scirocco R Cup 2011 at SIC and got to experience this once-in-a-lifetime chance. Heh!

vw

I was there pretty early – the event was very well organized – there’s even parking near the paddock and a shuttle to ferry you there so you don’t have to walk.

driving experience

After a quick registration, I signed up to test drive the Volkswagen Polo GTI.

polo gti

I got the 9:45 am slot so I grabbed a quick breakfast of hot noodle soup and coffee before testing out the car.

testing

This is a real world 7.7 km circuit around SIC comprising of various conditions you’ll expect in your daily commute.

I was quite impressed with the car – it handled the straights very well as you can see in the video above. The traffic was pretty light at that hour so the kind folks at Volkswagen let me drive through it twice. This isn’t the actual track (more about that later) – there was a lot of stuff to do that day.

racing sims

…like this driving simulator located throughout. It’s customized so you can see the new Volkswagen Polo in the simulator.

I also went for the Volkswagen Driving Experience – which is basically a safety course. Obstacle avoidance, emergency braking, stuff like that. It was a lot of fun though and I was so glad I got there early coz the spots were all quickly taken up till 4:30 pm.

polo models

The highlight of the event was the launch of the Volkswagen Polo GTI. The car is a beauty!

gti

All the meals were provided that day. I guess they don’t call it a VIP experience for nothing. Heh.

lunch

Catering was done from Pan Pacific so the food was pretty good.

scirocco r

There’s also a Volkswagen Scirocco R car inside – this is the actual car used in the Volkswagen Scirocco R Cup 2011.

scirocco r cup

Here’s another angle of the car. I don’t think this highly tuned and spec-ed up car is road legal but won’t it be a blast to drive it? 😀

girls

Anyway, the event that everyone has been hoping for with two fingers crossed came up after lunch – the lucky draw to drive an actual Volkswagen car ON the Sepang International Circuit! The names were announced and there was a mad rush to the monitors see if we were one of the lucky ones.

lucky draw

FUCKYEAH.JPG

I think I’m going to have a stroke. *pounds chest

twitter

My name was on it! I am going to drive on an actual F1 circuit. There are people who would kill for this. I know, you all hate me. 😉

on track

I suited up in safety gear and went into the car. There were Volkswagen Golf and Volkswagen Scirocco up for grabs and as I headed to mine, I suddenly thought – how am I going to film the experience?

safety gear

I mean, this is an experience of a lifetime, I’ve gotta get it on film! Thus, I randomly scanned the crowd of people who weren’t as lucky and picked one at random.

celine

Say hello to Celine! She’s from Penang and has agreed to be a passenger in return for filming the Sepang International Circuit drive.

race

I actually filmed the entire experience (or rather, Celine did) but I had the radio on at the beginning – it was Eminem feat. Dr Dre – I Need a Doctor and I forgot to turn it off so I couldn’t upload most of the drive around SIC.

I can tell you though, it was hair-raising. I pushed the Volkswagen to its limits, hitting 220km/h on the straights and doing corners at 180 km/h. I have to say, the latter is not to be attempted by anyone less than a professional.

sic track

I nearly skidded out of control three times and it’s a testament to Volkswagen’s ride and handling which corrected my amateur mistakes. I think I might have frightened Celine though, heck, I frightened myself at the power of the car and the experience of driving at high speeds on an actual racing track.

Thank you for the experience of a lifetime, Volkswagen. I’ll never forget it. 🙂

Good luck in the Volkswagen Scirocco R Cup 2011 season!

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32 thoughts on “Driving at the actual Sepang International Circuit!”

  1. damn you are so lucky! how was driving the scirocco like when you pushed it? what’s the fastest you clocked? i would give my right arm to drive on the sepang track. jealous maxxxxxxxx.

    Reply
    • Heh! Yeah, I was really lucky to be one of the winners picked in the lucky draw! 🙂

      It was an epic experience bro, the thrill is amazing, driving on the actual Sepang circuit. 😀

      I managed to hit 220 km/h on the straights, and I think I made a turn at close to 200 km/h too.

      Wow that was scary, it was a sharp one and I had to struggle to control the car. I slowed down a bit after that.

      Hey no worries, you might get a chance next time! Cheers Tommy!

      Reply
    • Hello Ken!

      Yeah man, it was quite a thrill, driving at high speeds on the Sepang circuit. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I would love to do it again.

      Yup, I’m sure you’ll get a chance to do it someday. All the best bro! 🙂

      Reply
  2. So that was you! 🙂
    I thought I saw you there but I wasn’t sure so I didn’t dare to say hello. I recognised your ink. LOL!
    My boyfriend won the lucky draw too. He was two cars in front of you.
    I wanted to get into the car too but I didn’t know it was allowed. 🙁
    Nice video Huai Bin, do you mind sending it to my email address?
    My boyfriend will be very happy to see it.
    Pretty please with sugar on top? 😉

    Thanks,
    Joanna

    Reply
    • Hello there Joanna!

      Oh, you should have come over and said hello. 🙂

      There’s not a lot of people with the same ink. Heh.

      Okay, so that was your bf. Yeah, you can take a passenger onboard, I asked coz I needed someone to film the experience.

      Hey, no problem, you want the full original video right? I don’t mind uploading it to mediafire.com or something and passing it to you but it’ll take some time coz it’s a very large file.

      Consider it done. Have a great week ahead Joanna! 😀

      Reply
    • Yeah it is eh? The dynamics of the car is slightly different with a passenger.

      I would love to do the Sepang circuit again, alone this time and with no cars around; 🙂

      Reply
    • Yeah, it was totally awesome bro! 🙂

      I wish I was one of the first cars though, then I’ll only have to be behind the lead/pacer car. More freedom and space for driving! 😀

      Reply
    • Nice! RM 6,000 for an hour eh?

      I’m glad I had the chance to experience driving on the actual Sepang track, thanks to Volkswagen.

      I can see the appeal of driving there, no wonder there are people offering the experience. 🙂

      Reply
    • Thanks Brian! 🙂

      Yeah, it was! I was a huge adrenaline rush, am glad I was lucky enough to be chosen during the lucky draw. 🙂

      Well, you can head over to dasautoshow.com.my for the full technical specs but my personal experience with both is that the Scirocco feels slightly faster – probably due to the 2.0 liter engine. 😀

      Reply
    • Yeah, but it is definitively not recommended. I nearly went off the track when I overcompensated and skidded. 😡

      …in fact I had to struggle to keep the car on the track at that speed and I only did it ONCE. It scared the hell out of me and it’s a testament to Volkswagen’s handling that I managed to bring it back under control. 🙂

      I did the corners at a more reasonable speed after that. 😀

      Reply
    • Thanks for watching bro!

      I actually sent the entire chunk of video to someone just now, if you want, I’ll send the mediafire.com download link to your email as well. 🙂

      Reply
  3. Walao eh ~~~

    Driving Polo GTI is already good enough , on a racing track is OMG.

    Just curious , is there a speed limit for you to go or did they tell you the Do’s and Don’ts before you drive ?

    Finally anyone crashed the car ?

    Why didn’t you pick a guy from the crowd =P

    Reply
    • Hello Ian!

      Yeah, it was an awesome experience, driving on the actual Sepang circuit! 🙂

      Amazing. Epic!

      Nope, there’s no speed limit but you can’t go faster than the first/pacer car. I’m the second last car so what I do is to go slow for a bit to drop behind the rest of the convoy and then speed up.

      That’s so I have enough empty track all to myself to drive faster than if you tail the convoy.

      Nope, I don’t think anyone crashed any cars that day. Heh! 🙂

      Well, if I picked a guy, they probably would have wanted to have a go as well. I needed a videographer, not someone to tell me how to drive. 😉

      Reply
        • Haha! No, that was not what I meant bro. 🙂

          I mean, the guy would probably want to try (the girl too, most likely) but based on experience, girls make better videographers while doing something they like compared to guys.

          …who would probably be watching the circuit and wishing he was the one driving. 😀

          Reply
    • Hello Eiling!

      Yeah, the VW was amazingly forgiving to my amateur circuit driving. 🙂

      Haha! We were supposed to wear the balaclavas under the helmets – safety procedure.

      Celine was a bit freaked out but to her credit, she didn’t ask me to slow down. It was a lot of fun! 😀

      Reply

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