Need some advice.

Does winding road means less steep?

I had driven down from genting and Fraser hill before. I find that part of genting road is too straight and felt like going down too fast. I think my car was overweight with 3 to 4 pax behind plus driver and another pax in front. My car was vios. I used engine break, foot brake and hand brake to slow down. The engine was roaring. Half way down, the clutch gave up on me. My car had to change tow 3 times back to Singapore during Chinese year period.

This time, I am more prepared. http://www.letstalkdriving.co.uk/STEEP%20HILLS.htm.

On my Fraser hill trip, the road was winding and the road surface was rough. I have no problem going up and down.

My question is, how is tapan way compared to Fraser hill? Is it better to use tapan or simpang pulai if my aim is to slow down the descend.

I drive without share Tyre in the boot to speed up my car performance. If I have luggage, I would place it on the rear seat and never in the boot.

My 3rd question is, does putting the spare Tyre back in the boot help in braking while going downhill? Does removing of the spare Tyre affect weight distribution in the car, therefore affecting driving. I read that it is harder for heavy vehicle to stop. Does removing the spare Tyre helps while going downhill due to weight reduction.

I have booked century pine from 3 june to 4 june 21012. Anyone wants to form convoy with me? I would also be going to ipoh for 1 or 2 nights before ascend to Cameron highlands. Will be seeking out ipoh food too.


Thanks in advance.

Thanks stimix for your advice. Most website said Simpang Pulai is less windy and less steep and wider than Tapah. Thanks for saying Tapah is less steep. I have absolutely no problem with Fraser hill. If Tapah is like Fraser hill, i can drive with confidence but have to deal with more traffic at CH.

Definitely using Tapah for downhill even i have to return to Ipoh for 1 night stay, and then return to Singapore.

Cheers.

Thanks cute_boboi for saying Tapah is less steep and slower pace.

Cute_boboi, do you recommend uphill via tapah ?

My car is manual vios and will go for pre-trip inspection by AA. Their tests include driving, i think is for braking and handling.

>10 trips to genting, i think you drive better than me because our cars both 1.5L.

I am trying to improve my skill because i think that is the reason why my car broke down at Genting. At that time, people said i should not keep changing gear because it wear off the clutch, just use brake to slow down. I could not remember, maybe i depressed clutch and move for too long. Hope the clutch problem dont come back. Question 1, How to save on the clutch ? I dont know how much is the repair cost for brake problem and cannot remember my clutch repair cost. I am more willing to use foot and hand brake even if there is braking smell and stop the vehicle on a safe spot to rest the brake. Without clutch, my car cannot move at all ! despair.

i have to go now, to be continue.

I have been looking up the technical part. http://www.mrfizzix.com/autoracing/weighttransfer.htm
Braking actually shift more weight to the front making the rear brakes less effective. I will add my luggage or spare tyre in the boot to put add pressure on the rear. Braking is not desired. Down shift of gear and let to the engine roar in acceptable range and a bit of understeering is better than braking. in the this video http://www.trackpedia.com/wiki/Oversteer, it advise us to separate braking from turning to prevent oversteering.

This post has been edited by heng23: May 22 2012, 06:24 PM

Good advise on the speed, especially the rev at 3 - 6k rpm, important information to novice like me. The proper usage of clutch confirms my understanding too. I think i used gear 2 or gear 1 in Genting going downhill and spoilt the clutch.

Do people in this thread share photos since this is a travel and living thread ?

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Added on May 22, 2012, 9:43 pmThanks Fei tan for sharing. Your advice reconfirms what i have read in this forum and internet for the past few days. Your dad is so nice. People like me live in the city, miss out on terrain driving.

Remember to check back this forum, I will report on the hotels, food, shopping since i go on 2 june 2012.

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Added on May 22, 2012, 9:56 pmi shoot models too. But my dates are already fixed 2 june 2012 (ipoh), 3 to 4 (CH), 5 june (ipoh). Dont mind cost sharing for models.

This post has been edited by heng23: May 22 2012, 09:56 PM

CAMERON HIGHLANDS
We stayed at CP too. This stretch has less traffic going to tanah rata (turn left or turn right to CH resort).We went to nonya feng restaurant to have Chinese food dinner. The sweet and sour Thai sauce deep fried fish is good. It is value for money (Only rm20 plus). We tried in house massage at CP. Excellent service by masseur samario ani. The beds are warm. Aids in blood circulation. The best massage for me. Rm100 plus service charges plus voluntary rm10 tip. After dinner, we went to old smoke house to have dessert. Tried bombe alaska. It is sweet cream with alcohol on top of crust. Rm 59. Serve > 2 persons. Get your camera ready when it is served. It will be lit with flame for 1 second. Photo taking is allowed here. CP to this place is near and fast. We went to CH resort but dessert is limited. Another family went to the western restaurant but end up at the Japanese restaurant because of price. This family was driving in a Singapore registered Audi and stayed at CP too. CP staffs are friendly. We wanted to stay de la fern hotel because it is new hotel but was sold out. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7085/7185912135_42505fefe3.jpg

HOW TO STAY OUT OF TRAFFIC
We booked half day tours. We had the general tour rm25, sunrise tour rm65 and argo tour rm65. The roads in the tea plantation are single carriage for 2-way traffic and jammed most of the time. Better to enjoy the scenery and let the tour guide drive, and save trouble from car repair. The loop around Brinchang town is 2-lane but only 1 way. I parked at a hotel before this loop. I was coming from Tanah Rata direction. We did not visit the night market. We always leave hotel at 630am whether it is from ipoh hotel or Singapore or CH hotel for day tour or check out. The roads are always jam because of 2 weeks malaysia holiday. If you are driving a manual car, it will be difficult because the loop I mentioned is quite steep with vehicles park everywhere made worse by the night market. There is KFC and shell petrol station in this loop.


SIMPANG PULAI
I was driving a 1500 CC manual car with only 1 driver and 1 passenger and half tank of v power and half tank of 98. We drove up on Sunday morning and down on Tuesday morning. At no point did I use engine break. I tried to brake on straight road before bend, and let go brake during the bend. Some part of the road can be fast only because you step on the gas. These fast stretch are designated with very big arrow signs before the bends. I am glad to report that the drive was easy for me because of the conditions I have stated in the first and second sentences. One small incident happen to me. My wind screen fog too fast and the sun blind us. I was video taping the climb so I want to reduce noise by closing the windows and use the air con. A car and van e brake behind us because I stop immediately. I could not even see the left side of the road to stop my car. I washed the wind screen after I arrived at CP. During my descend, it fog up again. It is best to open windows at CH.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljWUj_eEtSg

ATTRACTIONS

STRAWBERRY FARM
We went to 2 strawberry farms. The first farm has little and small strawberries. Of course we did not walk far into the farm, myabe there are bigger strawberries inside. Our guide only gsve us 20 minutes. We took some photos and end up at the store selling strawberry drinks and strawberries etc. Our second farm was the biggest in CH. Self picking for 1kg of strawberry for rm50. You will get the freshest crop but the terrains are steep. I was carrying my camera bag and it was just too difficult to walk because the lanes were very narrow and time was limited again. There were workers inside who helped us pick the strawberries but I did not tip them as we were rushing. If you want to bring back to Singapore, pick and turn a few leaves upside down on top of the strawberries and choose greener strawberries if you can.


HYDROFARM
I bought ORGANIC salads and romaine, wrapped them in wet newspaper and brought them back to Singapore after another day and night at ipoh. The vegetable was still good when i got home. The condition of my red salad lettuce was the worst among the three, but it was still good. So buy less of the red. This hydrofarm is the biggest in CH. The strawberry tea was not bad and the dessert stores closed at 630pm. The vegetables cost rm2 each or 5rm for three (if you can bargain).


SUNRISE
Our tour guide did not bring us to the tower but to a farm to watch sunrise. I had video taped the sunrise too. The guide said that it is foggy at the tower, so never get to climb it. I was a bit disappointed, but we witnessed the whole sunrise. So, it is better ask that you ask the guide before booking the tour. Do not attempt to drive to the tower yourself in the dark unless you are pro. It is very narrow, dark and steep.


TEA PLANTATION
We went to sungai palas with our tour guide(part of the sunrise tour). when we were, there was an aeroplane dropping fertiliser on the tea plantation. We took some photos there and witnessed traffic jam with yellow bus and cars and "traffic Marshall". Every vehicle wait patiently for their turn. this tea plantation is near the summit(gurung brinchang). our tour guide prefer sungai palas tea plantation. the other bharat tea plantation is further away down the mountain at tanah rata side along the steep tanah route. we passed by bharat during agro tour. Bharat is more easily accessable by car on a 2 way carriage than sungai palas where there is only 1 lane for both directions traffic. maybe you will experience parking problem at bharat. for us, we parked at the hotel and took the tour.


ROSE GARDEN
Rose garden is huge. Many photographic opportunities here. I especially like the biege wall. The flowers are so delicate and colorful. So different from the light colour and rough stone wall. They are very matching for photo taking. There is a windy man made cave on the top. At this level, you can frame your photos to include blue mountain as the backdrop. There is a even higher summit with a hollywood style sign with the name rose garden. This place is like endless. We took many photos here.


4WD
Absolutely love them. They are everywhere here. When can i afford one in singapore?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyRGTrqGSZs

This post has been edited by heng23: Jun 17 2012, 10:07 PM

Thank you., stimix. I wanted to add more videos to write up. But YouTube rejects my big file. Bought a ram mount to help record road trips up and down simpang using iphone4s but the video files are really too big. Any free, 100% virus free software to compress and resize move format?