Advanced Driving Clinic

Back in November, Spark Motorsports organised an advanced driving clinic. Upon hearing about the event, three of us at 9tro Magazine signed up to take part. This would be my first advanced driving clinic and my first time doing “stunts” such as handbrake turns and J-turns, and I was quite eager to get down to it.

In view of the event I changed back to the 15 inchers I got with Hagane and their old and tired rubber so that I wouldn’t have any scruples about pulling the handbrake and risking to leave bald patches on the tyres.

The workshops started at with low level manoeuvres such as slalom, ABS-tripping emergency braking and obstacle-dodging swerves. Nothing too fancy, but good enough for a warming up session.

Just before we got to the fun games involving handbrake turns, the skies opened and literally drowned our playground. That did not stop us though, and the wet asphalt was actually a blessing as it would be kinder on the tyres.

The handbrake turn was quite brainless, but initiating a turn and pulling on the lever like a maniac to send the car spinning is endless fun, and I would have liked to play a bit more, but we had to stop as it was time for long awaited J-turn.

I have to admit, my first one was not very successful, and the car just turned without losing grip. A quick tip from the instructor to do a full lock to get the car to spin solved the problem, and I was quickly having fun reversing at high speed and flipping the car before driving off. This manoeuvre had me wishing for a bucket seat as the stock ones are definitely not hugging and I had a tough time reaching for the gearstick when splattered on the side window.

The day ended with a mini gymkhana competition that brought together most if not all of the manoeuvres of the day in a small course. To bring the spirit of competition forward, we would all be timed, with a reward for the winners. The two rounds mini competition was flagged off, and all the cars quickly gave their best to tackle the course.

At the end of the first round, I was the second fastest with 30 seconds, one second slower than a Subaru Impreza. To be honest, I was quite impressed to be so close to a car with a one litre bigger displacement engine and four wheel drive, especially since my front tyres could not get grip and were spinning most of the time (note to self: work on my throttle control). That was not enough, though and as you can guess, I was aiming for first place.

I put in more concentration to the second run, anticipating the moves and trying to get less wheel spin, and managed to clock 28 seconds, with no other driver matching my time.

I was delighted to win, but most of all proud of my Hagane who keeps on impressing me and the people around. The problem is that I have now officially been bitten by the motorsports bug and I can’t wait to do some more spirited autocross. Until then, I’ll have to find places to train! Stay tuned!

By the way, my prize is a free dyno run, so I will soon upload the power curves of my stock little machine, as a baseline before more goodies go under the hood.










Photos by Sam, courtesy of 9tro Group Pte Ltd.

Project Hagane - Tacho & Spacers

It’s been a while since I updated Gordini's Pit Stop with Project Hagane, but I assure you, I have not been resting on it. Since October, the car has had a few more upgrades, and here they are now!

First off, as you may remember, I was complaining about not having any dials or gauges behind the wheel, which felt weird and was a bit annoying. Problem solved! I quickly acquired an Auto Gauge tachometer which I installed in that emptiness behind the wheel. This gauge came with a shift light, so that not only can I quickly see my RPM rate, but I also get warned when I reach the red line by the flashing red light, so that even if I concentrate on the road, I won’t over-rev the engine.
On top of that, I find it looks good, so I am wholly content.

Once I had something to look at behind the wheel, I turned my attention to the stance of Hagane. As I mentioned again and again, she was way too high, and my new rims looked lost in those wheel wells. I knew I wanted to lower her, but something else caught my eye – all the lowered Toyota Vios I see on the road have a ridiculous look with the wheels tucked deep inside the wheel arches, and I did not want my Hagane to look as such. My solution would be to get spacers.

Thanks to a friend’s recommendation, I headed down to a small shop lost somewhere in Toa Payoh to talk to the old man in charge. By the looks of it, he has been doing spacers and other CNC-built metal pieces before I was even born, and he clearly knew his trade. He made some quick measurements and set off to work. 

Four days later, I headed back to the shop to get my new spacers.

Their size is ridiculously thick, with 20mm for the front and 30mm for the rear, but that just shows how my car needed them to get a respectful stance. I rushed back to my office/garage and installed them right away.

Although still sitting high, my Hagane now looks a little bit meaner with a 40mm wider stance in the front and 60mm wider in the rear. Things are starting to look good!