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[mlange]

Permas Jaya's replacement track is ready for use.

This is an old image I had but you can view the new layout at the existing Permas Jaya track website.

[Mikko Nassi]

Any more detailed location info?

I'll drop by at the track next week Tuesday to have a look.

[edwynlow]

Any links to the website?

[mlange]

Any links to the website?

Hi edwynlow

I am not aware of a new website for the track, but the existing Permas Jaya website now includes a diagram of the new circuit.

Just click on http://www.permasgokart.com/main.htm and then click on the "Our Circuit" button.

[mlange]

Any more detailed location info?

I'll drop by at the track next week Tuesday to have a look.

Hi Mikko,

I havent contacted Loius (who runs the track) firsthand, but my dad and a few people from the KartingEdge forum visited the track over the weekend. Fun karts are available for rent. Transponder sensors will be installed within a month or two. My Dad reckoned there were a couple of spots which could use a bit more tire barriers.

He thought the track looked fun cause it flows uphill and then downhill. The track has good width (10m) too. I did see comments on the other forum about some karters thinking the track was a little boring but the perceptions could be because they were riding a fun kart and secondly, because they relatively alone on the track.

Getting to the track is still somewhat a hassle given the lack of a paved road to the location. You can travel by car there but expect to do a good clean down of mud from travelling the route there.

There is a guide to getting there. Kudos to badbadtzMaru who posted the following directions.

"you first drive pass the old track along the main road (coming from the big permas bridge), keep going until you reach a major junction, then you take the slip road and turn left into Jln Permas Utara, you will see Jusco on your right..... keep to Jln Permas Utara and go straight for quite a while (you may see one or two permas kart track sign boards (in brown with white words) on the road side....

you will then go past (still going straight) underneath the Pasir Gudang Highway flyover, and come to a traffic light junction, turn right into Jln Masai Lama and watch out for Jln Bunga Seroja on the left (approx 5th side road off Jln Masai Lama), turn left into Jln Bunga Seroja and keep going....

when you reach a cross junction and see a chinese school at 10 o'clock, turn right into Jln Bunga Matahari which will bring you all the way to the new track (about 2km++ distance)... again watch out for the brown permas kart track signboards.... total distance from old kart track is about 10km+."

[edwynlow]

watch out for Jln Bunga Seroja on the left (approx 5th side road off Jln Masai Lama), turn left into Jln Bunga Seroja and keep going....

Well, I checked wikimapia and the approx 5th side road.. look for a Plentong Food Court. Turn left there and it will bring you to the Chinese School.

[mlange]

I visited the track on Saturday.

I posted my thoughts about the site in my Blog http://marklange.typepad.com/blitzkrieg/2008/08/pelontong-track.html and took still photos of the corners as well as video footage.

The still camera photos I took of the track can be found at http://marklange.typepad.com/photos/first_visit_to_plentong_t/index.html . I hope the photos of the corners are helpful to other enthusiats.

I have listed 2 videos on YouTube in which I tested out the VIO video camera.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ldsHBhB3so

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLk8ZsmN_9U&feature=related

Please bear in mind that these are unedited Outtakes that for all purposes, is posted as a good laugh for myself. If you already kart as an enthusiat then you will know what I mean when you watch the videos. I think the VIO video camera works great, just that I need to mount it at a better angle, keep it within a waist pouch and activate the controls via remote and perhaps attach an external microphone. Just like the MyChron, its yet another tool to evaluate my mistakes and make improvements - already Im surprised to find how much Im moving my hands around the wheel from the videos.

I've posted some better quality 30-40MB clips on YouSendIt and these are available for a week ...

Part 1 (right click and open in New Window)
https://rcpt.yousendit.com/594501623/f0c4566c7785c%20a9b216c90132d219140

Part 2 (right click and open in New Window)
https://rcpt.yousendit.com/594502759/42e7e16c674d2%20e8d97da7171598e85b8

[monties928]

Have had two outings at the the new track wet & dry, my rotax is just pulling 13,000 rpm with a 78 rear spocket before the uphill right hander and the kart is a highspeed handfull for most of the corners, especially in the wet where you are physically pushed to the edge, but even on slicks you are still able to control your kart. The track is fantastic with many high speed corners to really show the limits of your kart. My favourite part of the track is the long downhill section which you can vertually hold full throttle all the way to the corner just before the pits. After feeling the adrenalin of flying down that hill, you are then almost immediantly you are thrown into the tight dog legs and then onto a short straight back into another corner and then comes another short straight before returning back onto the big long straight which you can pull some really high rpm's as I described in the begining. I highly recommend trying this track and i garentee you will enjoy. To get to the track you have to ask the taxi driver to take you to plentong b. From the checkpoint it will cost about 25 ringets. On your way you will see little red signs with plentong kart track and the distance left on them. The final 4 and half kilometers is spent on a bumpy dirt road with a couple cows here and there.


Enjoy from blake

[mlange]

I visited the Pelontong track today where we spent the good part of an entire day there.

Whilst heading through Permas Jaya to the track, I noticed that Louis has erected more signage along the main road to help simplify the route finding for visitors.

The biggest changes at the track were that:

(a) a single transponder magentic strip on the track has already been installed - hence going around I could already see a lap reading on my MyChron4.

(b) workers are in the process of constructing a building in which teams can rent for their member's use and for their karts to be stored. I have already heard rumours of certain teams which will house their teams from Singapore as well as KL over at the track.

Loius hasnt opened the circuit to Layout C, which is the slightly longer layout as he still has workers touching up curbing along the main track and this will also have to be done for the extended areas too.

Membership, storage and rental rates remain unchanged.

One of the significant things that I would like to mention is how competitive a 390cc 4 stroke can still be on the track - my Dad's spare kart is a 390cc which he used today. He was lapping in the high 50's (we didnt get a transponder but on my Rotax I was doing 58-59s or so - Dad was actually pulling away 0.5 sec to 1 sec on every lap). I could catch up on the long straight but the 390cc had so much torque that he was out-accelerating me on the slower corner exits.

So Im sure good drivers are going to be doing between 55 secs and 60 secs on a 390cc and the Rotax's up to a minimum of low to mid 50's.

James/Mikko, any plans to add Plentong to the RMC events? Just curious.

[James Leong]

Well, we can certainly look into adding Plentong track to the RMC PROVIDED that the track passes homologation with AAM. If the track is not homologated and approved, there is no way we can organise an event there.

To Louis, I would say get the homologation done. If you are unaware of how to go about it, let me know and I will assist you to get it done. I have all the necessary homologation forms with me. I would need a track plan to the size of 1:1000 showing the layout with all the infrastructures etc. I hope mlange will pss this on to Louis.

James Leong

[drewcrombie]

I had a first look at the track this weekend (no drive unfortunately) and it looks pretty exciting. It is about 50m different altitude from top of the track to the bottom and with so many uphill exits out of tight corners, I imagine anyone who is even 10grams overweight will suffer out of corners. And hard downhill braking if overweight will be fun.

It has a long way to go before it could be considered safe enough for hosting races. I am sure there is plenty of work planned and not yet done, but it seems to me that it will require quite a bit of work to make some of the VERY fast downhill sections safe, as the run-off area if you miss your braking into the hairpin is zilch and would see the kart leave the track and rejoin at another section about 20m away after clearing the top of the few tyres there.

Early days and I am sure Louis will get it right. Hats off to his dedication to make it happen. When the storage and other areas are complete it will be quite slick.

However, I could never see a bigger driver like myself ever being competitive there. Unless of course we change classes to DD2.

[Ryan104]

I watched my first go kart race at this track

The pic looks good though i havnt seen the links coz my net is a little slow.

how is the smoothness of the surface?

[mlange]

Hi James, sure I'll have this communicated to Louis.

Hi Drewcrombie, Correct & correct. I'm still trying to get a good line on the hairpin that leads back up the hill onto the long left. Too slow and a big person (like me) is punished with a bogged engine. I too think the run-off areas need work. All's good as long as you are on the track, once you get a wheel off or spin off, you and/or your kart are in big trouble.

Hi Ryan, to my feel, the surface is smooth and (relatively) flat with good grip. As long as you stay on the track, its all good! There are a bit of pebbles just off the racing line but not really a biggie.

Here is a photo which shows one of the corners and it looks nice and flat.



Here is a photo that is a series of quick shutter shots .... the surface looks a little sandy and with some gradient but feel-wise, its still quite ok.

http://marklange.typepad.com/photos/first_visit_to_plentong_t/overtaken.html


Update: 31 August

I see more privately owned karts have been added into Louis garage. I recognise some from the old Permas location. It would be nice to have more karting enthusiats racing again.

I brought my kart out last week and did 55.39. Didnt have a chance to improve this week as I crashed into a fun karter and broke rear axle after a couple of warm-up laps. Its a pity as I found the kart was faster given we did an allignment setup during the week.

So it was just Dad on the track for the most time and his fastest was 52.00 on his Rotax this week. We think there is more time to be gained - another 2-3 seconds. I wish there were more private karters as I would love to see the baseline fastest lap - and have something to aim for.