Malaysia has one key valuable natural resource that we just lack – can you guess what it is? And yes, whilst water is one such resource, we aren’t talking about that for the purposes of this article. We are in fact, referencing our northern neighbour’s luxury of land.
With this surplus of buildable square footage comes the ability to provision space for non-essential functions. The recent surge in Motorsport’s popularity, probably as a result of Netflix’s Drive to Survive series, has translated into a smattering of new kart tracks popping up in the recent few years.
Supported by our good friends at myCarriage, we decided to make the hop across the border, and drive some 350 kilometres to try out two of KL’s most hyped kart tracks!
The Chariot of Choice
myCarriage makes it incredibly easy for anyone looking to rent a short-term car. This can be for use locally, or for trips across the border. If you are looking for a more long-term arrangement, myCarriage has packages available for you too. And don’t think they only carry cars that Cycle & Carriage distributes officially; popular models from other marques are also in their rental fleet.
For this trip, we settled on the Ora Good Cat. We were impressed with its efficiency and comfort when we tested the car earlier in the year. It had an on-paper range that’d allow us to travel up to KL in a single charge, something that entry-level EVs of just a year or two ago would struggle to do.
Bags packed, we drove to Second Link, pointed the car in a Northernly direction, and set off. Malaysia already implemented the VEP requirements when we crossed the border, but this wasn’t an issue for us at all, as myCarriage dealt with all of the paperwork. With all that taken care of, we had no issues at all entering Malaysia.
The car would have made it to our final destination on a single charge. But strangely, despite said end point being a newly developed resort, it does not have an EV charger. We therefore had to make a quick stop at R&R Senawang, charging the Ora Good Cat back up to 80% before heading back on our way.
The Cat Meets the Monkey
The aforementioned final destination is the newly-opened Monkeys Canopy Resort. Located in Kajang, it is about 30 kilometres from KLCC. The property is vast, and despite it not being 100% completed, you’d already be able to sample a wide array of activities and attractions.
Before trying out what we drove 300+ kilometres for, we decided to spend the morning at Conquer Indoor Extreme Park, before then making the very short one-minute drive over to…
LYL International Karting Circuit
This is the longest kart track in Asia. 1.51 kilometres of tarmac has been laid amongst the serene natural landscape, creating a truly glorious motorsport experience with a stunning backdrop to boot. All of the facilities are still basically brand new, but this ‘new-ness’ also comes with one drawback – the crowds.
Thankfully the track width, pit buildings and timing infrastructure all appear to be well-equipped to cope with this demand. We decided to drive twice – once to get comfortable with the twists and turns of the track, and the second session to try and be quick.
Despite sharing the track with 20 other drivers, the sheer scale of the track meant that traffic and overtaking was never really an issue for us. The track was decently quick – you’ll spend a good duration of the lap at full pelt, starting from the penultimate corner and lasting all the way into T4.
There were wet patches on our first session, so we focused on just trying to find a line with some grip and build on it for pace. It was never going to be a full push on the first session, as we wanted to save some energy and focus for the second session.
However, the weather had other ideas. Whilst obviously slower than a dry track, grip levels were still fairly decent in the damp, greasy conditions we found ourselves in. If you knew where to look.
A Night in Klang
We left Monkeys Canopy for Klang. Impressively, the Ora Good Cat, despite only being charged to 80% the night prior, had plenty of range left to tackle the 60+ kilometre trek to Klang.
The 136 kilometre Senawang-Monkeys Canopy-Klang commute only consumed 39% of charge, meaning we reached our overnight stop with 41% to spare. Nothing an AC charger couldn’t take care of. With a full charge, we had the range we needed to check out RUD Gamuda Cove on the way back down to Singapore.
RUD Gamuda Cove
We’ve sampled a RUD track before – and that happens to be their Medini branch located just a stone’s throw away from Second Link. This is their Gamuda Cove facility, located some 40 odd kilometres from KLCC.
RUD Gamuda Cove is a completely different track to LYL. You can tell that it isn’t a purpose built facility, and the speeds, layout and karts on offer are all dramatically different to LYL too. The unique thing about the track is that half of it is indoors, and half of it is outdoors.
In rental karts, this variation seems to be more of a gimmick/novelty, as it doesn’t really pose a challenge on the driving front. The circuit itself is fairly low grip and low speed, with it rewarding drivers that prioritise a good entry into a lot of its hairpin turns.
It was still an enjoyable track, and despite the perceived tightness, there’s still actually room for passing. For motorsport afficionados, this isn’t a bad track by any means, though you’d most likely enjoy LYL more.
The Trek Back
Karting sessions over, we now had to head back to Singapore. The drive back was fairly uneventful, until after our lunch stop at Petronas Ayer Hitam. We reached the Gentari chargers here with just 10% battery to spare, with an indicated range of 44 kilometres.
Lunch over, and with the car’s SOC at a smidge over 80%, we made the remaining drive back home, via some sleepy Malaysian villages, with no issues at all.
myCarriage made the entire car hiring process really simple, with an intuitive and easy-to-use booking website. The car collection process was seamless too, and we managed to hit the road in no time at all. The same is also true of the return process; as long as the car sustained no damage during its time with you, the drop off procedure is literally the reverse of the pickup procedure.
And props to the Ora Good Cat too. It was incredibly efficient throughout the entire drive, averaging an unbelievable 7 km/kWh from the point we picked it up to the moment we returned the vehicle. This economy was achieved throughout our 900-kilometre round trip, mostly spent driving at the speed limit on the NSHW.
Long-distance comfort wasn’t an issue too. Range anxiety was kept at bay with its competitive 63 kWh battery pack, and our sore backs were kept comfortable thanks to the included massage seat functionality!
If you’d like to embark on a trip like this too, but sans the VEP woes that have plagued many other rental agencies, you may want to check out the myCarriage platform – link here. If you are impressed by the capability of the Ora Good Cat, you can find out more info about the car through our in-depth review, which you can access right here!
And we have a special discount code just for paddleshift.sg readers! Enter code PDSFT at check out to enjoy 8% off your booking – there are no minimum spend or booking date restrictions!
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