Asian Festival Of Speed

A heavily modded Nissan Skyline GTR

My mechanic friend offered me two free tickets to Asian Festival Of Speed (AFOS '08) at Sepang when I went service my car last evening. I grabbed it without hesitation as we've nothing planned for Sunday!

Honda NSX of the GT Super Series

We saw these two fancy cars at the entrance - the Nissan Skyline GTR and Honda NSX with super wide bodies. These cars will be featured in the coming GT Super Series in June!

GT Super Series!

We reached quite early, at about 9.00 am. The place was still barren. Walking to the grandstand seems like an eternity when there's so few people around!

Grandstand area

The moment we stepped onto the staircase leading to the grandstand area, the blaring engine sound began to roar down the main straight of the Sepang circuit. That signalled the formation laps for the first race of the day - the Asian Touring Car Series (ATCS).

This race is dominated by the super-duper loud Porches, Ferraris, and Lamborghinis. There was a lone Lotus Elise too!

Two Porches battling it out

A black Ferrari

Ferrari retiring into the pit

Another Ferrari

Yet another Ferrari!

My favourite car, the Lamborghini Murcielago

It's not as fast or as loud as the froggy Porches, but it sure spells S-U-P-E-R-C-A-R!

Look how fast the Lamborghini zoom past, taken with the Hi-Speed Shutter turned off

Our "Kleenex" earplugs

Next was the ACTS 1500Max category. This category has an engine restriction of 1,500cc for all participating cars. There are strict regulations of engine and body modifications, except the cars' front bumpers and rear spoilers. These cars are not as loud as the previous category, and thus not as fast!

A 6th generation Honda Civic (without high-speed shutter)

Same car, with high-speed shutter

Satria Neo from the Proton Axle Racing Team

The same Neo, with high-speed shutter on

Another Civic

Safety car - BMW 3-Series (likely a kitted 325 Sports model)

We stayed on for the next race, the Formula V6 Asia. These cars looked and sounded like the real deal F1 cars! Fast and furious...


By the end of the race, my camera's battery is starting to go into total exhaustion. I thought I'd charged up my spare battery, but it went dead the moment I slotted it in! Damn tu-lan! The next race was equally exciting, featuring modded BMWs, Honda DC5s, the latest Civics, and a few Puntos and Mitsu Colts!

Leading the pack from pole was this white & blue BMW, driven by newbie Jack Lemvard. The sound produced by his car was almost melodious - soft whirring rocket turbine would best decribe it. I'm guessing it's the supercharger! None of the cars in the field sounded like this car. The DC5s sounded the worst! Lemvard went on to win the race, overtaken by an Integra a few times, but in the end stretched it to a few seconds of lead! Fantastic driving!

We left around noon. By then the crowd had started to get larger, more people are strolling in. We were hungry, there wasn't any foodstall there. I think I might go for the Super GT Series in June, with charged battery pack that is!