Ducky's Second Childhood

OK. Just met up with Ducky a.k.a. Kelvin or better known as 'Ah Ngap' in Cantonese. Yeap, he loves roast duck so much that we've decided to name him Ducky. Got an sms from Adrian asking to meet up in Dallas's house in Taman Desa. They were meeting up for drinks. I could not recall how to get there, so I just waited at a Shell petrol station there. Got there, waited for like 10 mins, then all of a sudden a white Wira pulls up in front of me, gave a honk and the next thing I knew, Ducky and gang were inside.

Now, I didn't notice an intercooler in front and it sounded noisy and looked lowered. Ok, I thought, he must've picked up a standard Wira or something. So he pulls up and parks the car next to me and I looked in to the dash board. I asked him, what the heck are those meters for, to look nice? He revs the car, and it gives a suttle hiss from the blow off valve. OK, our dear Ducky got himself a Wira with a 1.8 GSR engine. The next thing that flashed by my mind was that he's gotten himself to relive his childhood.


I think I should explain this part a little further. Now, back then, I had a Wira with a 1.8 GSR. Chee Peng, had a Wira with a 2.0 VR4 engine. Our cars looked pretty much identical accept for the fact that his was gold and had as little bodykits as possible. Mine on the other hand was fitted with a huge wing and an Evo III replica bodykit. Adrian on the other hand had a Ford Telstar with a B8, which we nicknamed "black bitch". So the three of us had our share of highway terror/horror stories, while Ducky maintained that he did not need to buy a turbo car. Mind you, this was all 5 years ago.

So, there we were, joking about Ducky's newly bought car. What was his gf gonna say about it? He's pretty confident he'll get away with it. Good luck to you on that Ducky!

Lately, I have developed a habit of watching Top Gear, where Jeremy Clarkson tests a lot of supercars. He's had to struggle with a lot of oversteer to keep the car from running off the track. I said to Ducky yesterday, "Where Jeremy Clarkson struggles with oversteer, you my friend are going to suffer with a lot of understeer!" Yes, front wheel drive turbo cars are pretty fast on the straight line. Come to the corner, the car just refuses to turn!

Oh well, I guess Ducky's just reliving his childhood. For me, will I ever buy another front wheel drive turbo car? Hmmm, that's a tough one. They've been coming up with a lot of good ones lately. Take a look at the VW GTI Golf, the Astra turbo, the Megane turbo and the Ford Focus ST (which Clarkson calls the Sanitary Towel and reckons it should be named the Asbo). All European marques, all equipped with turbo and may I add, lots of torque plus understeer! Surprisingly, many motoring journalists have tested the VW, and they are amazed with how the car handles. These European marques have redefined the 'turbo hot-hatches'. I think it'll be a matter of time before the Japanese comes up with something to counter this. So far, they've come up with the new Mazda 6 turbo, that's coming out sometime late this year. However, that's a 4WD, which means it's in WRX/Evo territory.

Alright Ducky, have fun with your toy and don't get yourself killed.