Two minutes forty seconds

To complete a full lap around Sepang within this timing has been a goal I've set for myself over the past year or so; I've gotten close to it, even matching it consistently, but never breaking it. It has been the equivalent of the psychological 4-minute mile barrier for me.

Certainly, professional drivers have easily gone below this mark in a relatively stock Evo. But I'm no professional driver, and my car is far from what's possible in terms of being "modified". And so the lure of adding more power to overcome my lack of driving ability grows more tempting by the day. Oh, what sweet temptation, to banish this specter of doubt, and to bask in the glory of having gone under 2'40".

So it's with great trepidation on Friday that I would be forced to deal with the possibility of not being able to beat it yet again. And the signs were not good. The early morning sky was dark with rain clouds, and a light drizzle was starting to develop. Sigh...

Oh well. Bearing in mind some things I wanted to try after reviewing videos of my previous failed attempts, I concentrated on making my lines smoother. One, two laps, and I'm done.

I pull over into the pits and go over everything. What's this? The Defi gauge is showing V_max of 224 km/h? I bring out the laptop and download the datalog, and it corroborates with the gauges, showing a top speed of 225 km/h. Whoa.

Rewind and review the video footage.

Never mind the greasy wet surface, worn tires and traffic.

The barrier, at last, has been broken.