QUESTION - What is the distance and time to get from KL to Kuantan via the new highway??

ANSWER - Distance - approximately 250 km and time – approximately 3 hours or so!!

BUT, for the 7 Lotus Elise and 1 Exige, it took almost 2 days and 2,000 kms. Well, the Lotus Elise Car Club does not practise prudence and just cannot travel in straight line. If they did, they would not own a Lotus Elise and settle for more higher powered and exotic vehicles. You see the Lotus Elise works best or is at its peak on twisting and winding roads … the more curves the better.

Our drive started from the Genting Sempah R & R on 11 May 2006. After everyone had met up and had a short briefing, all 8 cars (fitted with a full set of Splitfire high performance spark plugs sponsored by Petronas Dagangan -thank you ….. as the increase in performance could be felt immediately) made their way to their first town – Bentong.

From Bentong, the cars had to maneuver their way along the narrow and twisty roads to Gua Musang. Although the traffic was quite busy along the way, this actually added to the fun involved in overtaking the traffic. The trunk roads are challenging to say the least. There is definitely no danger of anyone falling asleep. Anybody who has driven on theses trunk roads can tell you that it is practically an obstacle course unlike our fast and straight highways. Full focus and concentration by the drivers were needed to take on the heavy traffic especially the slow timber lorries You have to look our for the timber lorries, animals on the roads, “cowboys” who think the entire road is theirs, serious and tight corners and so forth. With a touch of the pedal the Lotus can overtake any vehicle with style and ease.

From Gua Musang, we decided to take the new highway to Ipoh for lunch via Cameron Highlands and Simpang Pulai. Ask anyone who has used that route and they will give you the thumbs up but for us it wasn’t that good compared to what was to come the next day for us.

So far we had been having lovely sun shine all the way and several drivers were enjoying getting a suntan with their tops down (car top …. pleeeease). Then it rained while we were descending down Cameron Highlands towards Simpang Pulai. When it rains, our mid-engine Lotus weighing about 700 kg which behaves brilliantly in the dry has to be driven with extra caution or else risk experiencing aquaplaning (skidding) in a major way. So thereafter the drive to Ipoh for lunch was dampered as we had to drive at a dismal speed.

At Ipoh, visibility was quite bad (less than 10 feet) which resulted in a few cars losing the main convoy in the heavy traffic. Luckily, with modern technology, the convoy regain formation and we made our way safely to the Ipoh stadium for lunch/tea.

From Ipoh, we traveled by highway to Kuala Kangsar and off to Banding Resort via Grik. We arrived at Banding Resort at around 6.00 pm for a very well deserved rest. While having dinner at Banding Resort’s restaurant (if you go there please try their Toman fish and chips as well as the omelet), one of the drivers commented that it was the longest 4 hour drive that he had been on.

Apparently he was told that the drive from KL to Banding will take only 4 hours but somebody forgot to elaborate that this applied in normal circumstances and our route leader, Mr. Oh Kah Beng, always tends to show off the prowess of the Lotus cars by taking the longer and windier route.

The next morning, we left Banding Resort at 8-30 am to head for Jeli but made a stop-over for photo shoot (and nasi lemak) at the peak. This is a must for all car clubs driving using this route as the view at around 9-00 am is absolutely breathtaking.

Oh… it may be fresh in your memory of the picture of the Mama and Baby elephant taking a stroll on it on the Grik Banding roads. Luckily for us there were no such incidences. A baby elephant would be able to do serious damage our small but extremely sexy Lotus Elise if sat on. As our OKB commented though, this was the best way for our cars to try practice avoidance skills between the legs of the elephants!

Form Jeli, we headed towards Jerantut and this stretch is a real nightmare route as the roads were not in good condition and to make things worse, there was one part where the whole part of our side of the road was covered by land slip which was fully overgrown with grass and lalang. The earth must have been left like that for at least 3 months and there was not even a single sign to warn the public. To make matters worse, about 100 meters later the tarmac road ended and we were met with laterite instead for about 500 meters. So, to all future road users on this route please take note and to the Relevant Autority …….. please do the necessary!!

Now, for us the roads from Jerantut to Maran were the ultimate dream come true. The initial part of the roads were just major roller coasters, literally. At the top of the road you could not see what came next. After that, there was this one stretch just before Maran for about 48 kms which was absolutely heavenly. Well, to put it in perspective, our Singaporean Lotus Exige owner told us that it was the best 48 km of drive that he has experienced in his life-time. This is coming from a Colombian where there are equally as good and twisty roads as ours. Our nifty Lotuses made it’s way round those roads as if they were on rails (can’t say that for the drivers who had to exercise both biceps and triceps to their fullest).

From Maran, we took the highway to Kuantan and then to a well and satisfying 2 nights stay at Swiss Garden Resort and Spa who were very accommodating as they agreed to block off a section of their parking area for our cars.

It was needed as that weekend was the Wesak weekend and the car park was full to its brim. We also needed this as some of the cars were on soft-tops and the security was adequate as we all had a very peaceful 2 days stay there. Look forward to spending more holidays at Swiss Garden Resort in future.

We would also like to thank the Cawangan Trafik Polis DiRaja Malaysia (Bukit Aman) for their kind assistance. Not forgetting also is Lotus Car Asia Pacific & Proton Edar, which without their constant support none of the lucky Lotus owners will experience such fun. Please keep up the fantastic job.

*The convoy maintained proper road ethics and sensible driving skills throughout the journey. When on the road, Please obey the rules as speed can be dangerous.

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