A company trip to Genting Highlands - Part II

Part II of my story. You can back track to Part I over here : http://marvinchong.blogspot.com/2008/04/company-trip-to-genting-highlands-part.html

A double decker bus...!

Lunch time!

Anyway, we arrived at 11.30am, so by the time we made it in, it was already 12.00pm - time for lunch! A large number of our staff gathered in a shaded area beneath the staircase, and started to deploy the contents of their picnic basket. After having a filling meal, the people broke up into their respective groups and went their separate ways.

The pirate ride. One of the few rides to be open throughout the rain. Unfortunately, there are more decorations on the outside than inside. Waiting for something to happen, before you know it you're outside already.

Unfortunately for us, it started raining at nearly 1pm. It wasn't really that heavy, but at that altitude, it was enough to cause some mists to form. The outdoor rides were closed and it wasn't until ~3.00pm that they were open once again. By then, the outdoor park was quite empty, as anyone who wanted to come in would have to pay full price when more than half the day was gone already.

I did not go on many rides, because I've been to Genting before some 3-4 years ago. Not much has changed since then. I'm disappointed to find that some of the rides were temporarily closed, like the monorail and dragon ride (don't remember the actual name, though).

Deserted - where has everyone gone?

Due to the overcast sky, it was not an ideal scene to take good photos. Nonetheless, the photos are here : http://mcwk.multiply.com/photos/album/59/A_company_trip_to_Genting_Highlands

You will never convince me to get on this ride!

Well, at the end of the day, it was time to go back. We had told everyone earlier to gather at the bus at 7.30pm, so after a hasty dinner, I rushed back to the bus and we left for Vishay as scheduled. Ha, ha. The other bus, they made a pact to depart at 8.30pm, so by the time they reached Vishay, I was already prepared for bed at home!

We've learnt some valuable lessons from this experience - the first ever company trip. Hope that there will be another one next year, so we can improve on our organizational skills!

Getting to know some new friends

RON 92 on an FD2

Here's a brief background story:

In Malaysia, there are currently 2 grades of petrol being sold at the pumps - RON 92 and RON 97. Then there is Shell VPower, which is for all intents and purposes RON 97 as well, but with some "special additives" that is supposed to enhance the performance of your car (maybe this will be the subject of a future evaluation).

The prices for RON 92 and RON 97 are RM1.88 and RM1.92 per liter, respectively, while a liter of Shell VPower will set you back by RM2.15. Now, even though Malaysia is itself an oil-producing country, our petrol follows the global pricing, so the prices are a result of being subsidized by the government.

Link: http://paultan.org/archives/2008/04/07/government-proposes-subsidised-ron95-and-unsubsidised-ron99/
Link: http://www.motortrader.com.my/NUS/articles/article_1352/page_m.asp

There is some recent news that the government is proposing to change to RON 95 (subsidized) and RON 99 (unsubsidized). Reasoning behind this is that "normal" cars can make do with RON 95, while the high-performance cars of the rich can use RON 99 (which they should not have trouble paying for). The thing is, most advanced cars these days seem to be engineered for lower RON fuel, and using higher then necessary RON will not result in any performance gains.

A quick glance at the owners' manual of my FD2 revealed that the K20Z2 motor is designed to run on RON 91. Hmm, this will make a good evaluation, then....

So, driving around until no bars left, I pulled into my favourite BHP station (where they have RON 92 at the pump and filled up to max.

There was no one around, no attendant, no other customer nearby. Wonder what they will be thinking if they see my filling up with RON 92? Will they think I am a miser / kedekut / kiam siap?

Anyway, since the price of RON 92 is now RM1.88 per liter, versus RM1.92 per liter for RON 97, the total cost of refueling is RM78.25 for 41.62 liters of fuel. If I had used RON 97 instead, it would have cost RM79.91, which is RM1.66 more. So, for the time being, difference in price is not significant.

Interestingly, if I were using Shell Vpower, at RM2.15 per liter, it would cost RM89.48, which is RM9.57 dearer than RON97 (or RM11.24 if compared to RON92).

Well, I got back into my car, turned on the ignition and strained hard to listen for any difference. I paused for a few seconds, trying to feel also if there was any roughness in the idling....

Nope, nothing spectacular. I will try to stand on the outside later to see if somehow all that soundproofing has maybe dampened the sound. OK, so I slip into D and went easy on the throttle. As I pulled out back on to the open road, I gradually increased to cruising speed with a light foot on the throttle. Hmm, no difference can be felt while cruising lightly.

OK, driving through my *secret area* for moderate high-speed testing, I brought her up to fifth gear, 3Krpm (you guys should know what that equates to). Listening for signs of knocking, sputtering, etc.. And...? Still nothing.

Right, since by then I have already cleared that zone, and am now at some traffic lights, I just tested on moderate 0-100kph sprint up to 3.5Krpm only. Too many people around, so don't want to look like kiasu driver, especially when next to me at the lights was a lorry. Performance is OK, since it was in the hot afternoon at around 1.00pm.

Recently also, I managed to do some impromptu testing to redline and also some high speed burst. Everything felt alright, once you put the psychological matter aside, there was no tell-tale signs to betray the nature of my fuel octane rating.

Some personal thoughts. Given that our FD2 is engineered to run on RON 91 fuel, there doesn't seem to be any significant difference when we use higher octane fuel. That is, we may be running in "RON 91 mode" all the time. I was hoping that we'd have some adaptive, artificial intelligence ECU which can "make the best with what it's given". I think that the ECU will only kick in if the RON is below the rated figure. Since there is nothing available here below RON 92, I can only think of an example where the Type R ECU may be responding to the RON 97 fuel that it gets over here.

Further actions:-
1. Finish off the RON92 in my tank, and see what's the fuel consumption like.
2. Continue using RON92 for at least another 2 refueling runs, to collect more data on long term performance.
3. If results are positive, try out other brands of RON 92 fuel, to see if there is consistency between brands. There is some thought that for RON 92, the petrol companies do not put in the beneficial additives (except for Caltex). So, in that case, I should fill up with Caltex Techron Silver next.

I guess that if we can live with RON 92, we can live with anything they throw at us. If they decide to introduce RON 95, that actually won't have any impact on us, just psychologically maybe....

Just checked out the manuals and found that the Vios takes RON 91 minimum as well. For the Myvi, it can make do with RON 90. Only my father's C200K needs RON 95 minimum....

So, from my initial experience, RON 92 from BHP appears to be a viable fuel choice for normal day-to-day driving, though I have no idea yet what will happen during our Teh Tarik session driving style, though....

Generic photo sourced from Paultan.org

[Update] Sigh, so the Government actually went ahead and replaced RON 92 with RON 95 effective 1 Sept 2009. Essentially, for most of us, in the end will pay more for nothing. From time to time, there will be some random spark ideas calling for the return of RON 92, but by then, the majority of the cars on the road would be new and therefore possibly require RON 95 minimum anyway....

A company trip to Genting Highlands - Part I

Assembling at the car park, two buses in total

It was my turn to go along one of the three company trips to Genting Highlands, courtesy of our recreation club. Actually, I was supposed to go for all three trips, but due to my daughter's recent birth, I'm a little busy at the domestic end.

As per the plan, we were to gather at the company car park and leave at 7.00am. As per what usually happens with such plans, we ended up leaving at 7.30am instead. The arrival of passengers could basically be summarized as:-

98% arrived before 7.00am
1% arrived at 7.15am
1% arrived at 7.30am

All set and ready to go

And finally, we're off!

With the arrival of the last passenger, started off our journey and made good progress, stopping for a half-hour breakfast at the Seremban R&R area. Journey was smooth and uneventful - at that time, the roads were quite clear and traffic was scarce.

Now, upon registration, the staff basically grouped themselves among friends. The first bus that I was in was made up of more senior staff, a group of Nepalese workers and a group of Chinese guys, all of who were very quiet all the way to and fro. Our entertainment was in the form of the DVD movie played on the small TV above the driver's seat. Interestingly, the driver had a DVD packed with Thailand action movies, starring upcoming Thai martial arts expert Tony Jaa. Since they spoke in Thai language, it was a good thing that I was seated up front, so at least I could read the subtitles. The action actually quite good - on par with Jet Li and Jackie Chan.

It's only when we reached the bottom of the trail to Genting and started our ascent that things slowed down drastically. Now, I'm not very well-versed in buses, so I don't know what is considered fast and slow, but when you observe your bus being overtaken by a full-loaded sand-carrying lorry, you start to wonder if you are sitting in the Perodua Kancil of the bus world (no offense to owners of the Perodua Kancil). Well, we did arrive at the bus parking area of the First World Hotel at 11.30am, which, I'm told, was considered early compared to the first trip.

Alighting from the bus, and proceeding to the First World Hotel lobby

Just managed to take a quick group photo

Here's the First World Hotel

Entrance to the outdoor park lies at the bottom of the escalator, to the right....

We arrived around 11.30am, and made our way to the entrance of the outdoor theme park, via lobby of the First World Hotel. After each of us were tagged with a really robust tag on the wrist (which was impossible to tear, as I found out at the end of the day).

Well, after we entered the outdoor park, the entire entourage split up and went on their separate ways.

More about the Genting trip in Part II, coming soon....

Busy with paternal affairs....

Phew! Almost a month without any blog updates...!

The past couple of weeks has been really hectic. Whenever I get the chance, I whisk right over to my mother-in-law's place, where my wife and little baby Charmaine are staying during the confinement period. That's roughly 30-45 minutes drive away, depending on traffic conditions. Given that it takes me 15 minutes to get to work, that's more than twice the distance I need to travel in one direction. Just recently had the full moon celebration, a month after Charmaine was born. Traditionally, we also bought some full moon cakes and distributed to friends and colleagues. So for that day, I sent cakes to 4 factories and 1 house - all during lunch time!

Let's see. Anything happening on my favourite subjects?

Photography:
Nothing new here. I've got my Sigma 10-20mm super-wide angle lens just in time for some wild shots. Compared to the widest lens I had before - the Tamron 17-50mm, the perspective is really something. Don't mind some critics who say this lens is not sharp at the edges. I've never really needed to print anything out larger than 4R before.
Well, Charmaine is lucky that her dad is an avid shutter bug, I think that I have now more photos of my little girl than anyone else.
On the down side, my venerable Coolpix 5700 was sent for repair. Flash cannot fire. It's back already but I can only find the time to pick it up from Fotokem next Wednesday during the Melaka Historical City Day.

Cars:
Nope. Nothing much happening here either. I've got a couple of mods lined up at KL Auto, but that'll have to wait until I can find the time to go down to KL. Sometime last week or so, we did have a TT at the Asian Havana Cafe in Melaka Raya. Got to test drive Hanne's Civic, which was outfitted with the Camcon H to complement his Unichip Q. Found that from idle to 5Krpm, there was a significant LACK of power. Only above 5Krpm, did the tuned K20Z2 come to live and roar all the way to the 6800 rpm redline. Based on the performance characteristics, I'd say the loss at low end was probably due to the change in the exhaust system. So far, I've not yet seen any modification which significantly increases the torque at low end. So I guess the old addage holds - "there's no replacement for displacement". When I tested out his ride, I found that his suspension was firm and enabled me to turn on a dime at a particular U-turn. Brakes and tires were super-efficient at stopping the car in record-braking distance, minus the feeling of losing control as in my case (where my comfort-based 16" Yokohama tires are struggling to keep their grip on the tarmac).

Computing:
Well, finally got my company-issued Dell Lattitude D630 Laptop. Fortunately, I got one with an Intel T7800 2.6GHz processor, which is slightly slower than my 3.2GHz Desktop PC. At least it came with 4GB of RAM. The down side is that I'm now using Windows Vista, which is a little strange at first, but I'm getting used to it slowly. Worst thing about Vista (apart from the fact that not all 3rd party software works on it) is that it's always asking for adminstrator permission for every mundane task. Enable network adaptor? Need permission. Try to personalize here and there? Need permission. Someone obviously paranoid about security....

Upcoming events:-
Tomorrow (Saturday), going to Genting Highlands on a company trip, organized by our recreation club. So, gonna bring my camera along and snap some other photos for a change!