Slightly over a decade ago, I bought my very first car, a used 1987 Honda Accord for US $1,700. That was equivalent to about 3 months worth of working part time for 20 hours per week on campus.
my faithful 1987 Honda Accord
I bought the car at  Wichita, Kansas while visiting a friend and drove it all the way to St. Cloud, Minnesota. A journey of about 1,100 km that took about 12 hours.
With the same car, I drove alone from Minnesota to Washington DC to celebrate the Millenium New Year with a couple of friends. This time it was over 2000 km and 2 days driving (including sleep, eat, pee, etc), each way.
It was the type of stunt crazy college students do, but also a testament of the endurance the car.
Honda Civic Type-R FD2 for Merdeka Millenium Race
The picture above is the Honda Civic Type-R FD2, a bit of a far cry from my old 1987 Honda Accord but with the same engineering philosophy and a healthy dose of racing spirit behind it. This is the car Honda Malaysia Racing Team (HMRT) use to compete in the famed Merdeka Millenium Endurance Race (MME), one of the toughest racing event in Asia.
This year, the grueling 12-hour endurance race will be held on 5-8th August at Sepang International Circuit. This competition is about strategy, speed, stamina, team work, and of course, durability of the machine. Honda captures the experience from events like this to continuously improve on their offerings.
HMRT came up with 2nd place in class A (production car with engine exceeding 2000 cc) last year.
So, you might ask. Yah, and what’s this gotta do with me, especially since most of us aren’t exactly race car drivers. Well, there is a challenge Honda Malaysia cooked up.
Again, with all contests, the most important thing is the prizes, so lets get that out of the way:
- Grand Prize – 2 x Apple Macbook per team
- 2nd Prize – 2x iPhone 3GS per team
- 3rd Prize – 2x iPod Touch per team
- Consolation Prize – 28 Alpinestar Racing merchandise
The mechanics of the contest is also actually very fun, especially if you’re into racing and  go-karting.
- To join, simply head to honda.com.my, register, answer 5 questions on the contest page and complete a slogan.
- Shortlisted participants get to choose a friend to form a team for Go-Kart Endurance Race on 7th August. 20 teams with most laps completed move to the final round
- Final race – 7th August 11pm to 8th August 12pm. The race will be revealed on MME Race Day, and winners announced on same day too.
It’s that simple, so are you up for the challenge? I think I’m gonna have to go do a few rounds of practice on the Go-Kart track.
Yeah, Go Karting is fun, except the people always tell me to go slower for safety. :S
haaaaa! I know at least one go-kart track that doesn’t mine you going crazy fast. 😀
i wanna race too…hahha…honda power….thats my civic there…hahaha.
Make it a type R 😛
bro…no $$$$$$ to upgrade to R…hahaha
ahahah just buy the stickers la 😛
I used to like that Accord model when it first came out in the US in 86. That model has pop up head lights which I thought was pretty cool. But in Malaysia, it was fitted with flush head lights. I drive a 95 Acura/Honda Integra which has 220K miles! It runs well with over $8000 USD worth of repairs 😉 It is a fun little car to drive due to the Vtech engine and 8100 RPM redline. I have taken road trips from Florida to North Carolina in about 8 days, driving over 2000 miles. My relatives in Malaysia are astounded when I told them I drove that many miles.
Yah, distance driving can be fun. I forgot that I also used the same car for another long trip – minnesota to new orleans, over 2000 miles too.
hye huaibin also post this 😀 and never know u also blog about other things than food X)
I do have lotsa other hobbies hehe
OMG KY YOU STUDIED IN THE STATES BEFORE!! WHY YOU NEVA TELL 😯
why, you never ask! lol
🙄 LOL NOW I KNOW. WHERE DID U GRADUATE FROM? 😎
St. Cloud State Uni. 😀
Must be very nice, driving 1000km interstate, I wish I could do that. Secretly I have a dream of driving all the way to Europe….
Malaysia has pretty good roads. They are as good as the US but you got to pay toll. I drove from KL to Penang. When my dad visited me, he was amazed that how wide and straight the roads in the US compared to Malaysia.
I drove in Germany on the Auto Bahn last year. Petrol is expensive, $1.40 Euro per litre ($8USD/gallon) 😯 I rented a Benz A class. It is a tiny and underpowered car. There are stretches of the road where you don’t have speed limit. I was going at 80MPH, yet some BMW, Audi or Porsche whizzed by me. I figured they were going at least 110MPH.
You got to be careful when you drive on passing lane. If not, some speed demon might ram into your back 👿
haha I think 80 MPH at Auto Bahn is considered very slow isn’t it dude? There are cars capable of over 160 to even 200 MPH there.
80 MPH is normal since there is a speed limit on most of the Auto Bahn. They allow no speed limit on certain sretches of the highway. I drove my rental up to 100 MPH but it became unstable. The A class is light and shaped like a mini van with high center of gravity. I slowed down immediately. I think the fastest car I saw was probably going at least 120 MPH. The margin for error is minimal when you drive in the speed of 3 digits. Any abrupt movement on wheel will cause the car to be out of control.
yeah, agreed. not to mention that the A class had a history of tipping over.
well you can also drive from Perlis to Johor, that’s over 800km man 😀
Toll is expensive 😡 I think the toll from KL to Penang was about $50RM and that was 5 years ago.
yeah KL to Penang is about RM 40+ excluding Penang bridge which is RM 7
How come first prize not a car? Sad.
one can only wish….