It was a surprise invite from a friend.

The invite was like an early, a very early Christmas present. We were to have a chance to blast down the Sepang F1 Circuit in a BMW!! I did not have much information about the event. I did not know who are the organisers. I did not know what it is for. I do not know who are the other participants. But having a chance to drive the ultimate driving machine on an international race track is not something you turn down. So early Sunday morning, I got up much earlier than my other Sundays and headed down to YT’s house. YT is the friend who invited me along.

As it was many many moons since I dropped in at the pits, YT and I wondered along the roads of Sepang but finally found the entrance to the pits.

There was a generous number of ultimate driving machines made available to the participants. But most of them are the 3 series. There was a 5 series and an X1.

It was not a matter, driving along the tracks in a 3 series would be much more fun.

YT and I were assigned to one of these, the 320d Sports. It’s a turbo diesel. And no, i was actually  not disappointed at all. I have always wanted to try out of these mean turbo diesel machines after having a little taste of it’s immense torque earlier this year as a passenger.

After a short briefing on track etiquette as well as safety stuff like how to position yourself in the car, we directed to our cars. Each car is assigned two drivers.

And we have grid girls as well. hehe

This is YT after adjustment of driving position.

And we were off!! Since ALL of us, saved for a couple, had totally no experience whatsoever driving on the Sepang track, we were to ‘convoy’ around the track.

But make no mistake, it’s not a sight-seeing convoy.

We were going rather fast!!

Especially at the straight where we literally floored it.

The turbo diesel with it’s humongous 350nm of torque kicking in at just 1750 was of great help pushing the car out from corners. Making it possible for us to hit 180kmh before we had to hit the brakes. As we were all novice drivers, we had to give way to the faster cars who were also in the track as well. This meant we had to use the inside of outside line, which meant coming out of the corners at a low speed. The immense torque was useful in this situation. Pushing the car out into speed in a short time. I like!

The instructor whom we had to follow pushed a little harder after each lap. After a while, tyres were squealing and rubbers were burning! And the traction and stability controls were working extra hard to keep the cars driven by newbies in check.

but inside the BMW. It was just like your Sunday drive to the market.

Could not say much about the tryes tho. hehe.

It was definitely fun. It was definitedly informative. We now know how far we can push our BMWs when we buy one.

Thanks to YT for inviting me.

Thanks to Quill Automobile for organising the event.

Thanks to UOB for hosting us.

Last weekend was a very tiring weekend.

Jason and I were asked to cover Sunny and Patricia’s engagement last Saturday in Singapore. Since both Jason and I both do not know Singapore well, we decided to spend the night in Johor and then catch a cab into Singapore. Our initial plan was to head down south after work on Friday. Which was also why we decided again driving into Singapore, especially at night. Anyways, to cut the story short, it was a financial disaster. The next round, we will drive directly into Singapore.

Sunny and Patricia were great to work with. They had great friends who were also wonderful in front of the camera. I think it is important that subjects are comfortable in front of the camera. This paves the way to even greater photos. Of course a good photographer makes the subject feels comfortable, but only if you have the luxury of time. In our case, or rather in most actual day weddings or engagements, time is usually not a luxury that we have.

Here are some of the teaser photos taken during that Saturday. More will come later.

See.. friendly people. Very eager to be in front of the camera.

All photos were shot with the AF-S 50mm f1.4G lens wide open @ f1.4, except for the last one which was shot at f2.8.

After the registration, they headed off to a nice cruise in a yatch. Everything was completed by lunch time and the happy couple ensured that we had a full tummy before letting us off. How considerate of them.

Jason and I then wondered Singapore for a bit before deciding that we were a little too tired to wonder anymore and thus headed back to Johor in preparation of our long drive home. So that Saturday, I had my shower at 5am. The next shower I had was almost midnight. I was smelly, sticky and extremely tired. My nice comfortable bed never felt nicer.

The sky was blue, very blue. It was just too bad that last weekend’s sky is not as blue. The last photoshoot before this was the CLS workshop which would benefit a lot of from clear blue skies.

But it’s all good…

Just that the sun was hitting down on us a little too hard. And both model and photographer were under the mercy of the sun.

And many of us had a hard time reviewing our photos on the camera’s LCD.

But.. dem… the sky..

very blue isn’t it?

As always, i do not have much photos of the model as i was merely facilitating the photoshoot. So i shot from the behind the photographers. But here are a couple of the photos of models..

Peggy…

Winx..