Keeping The Customers Happy – Renault Track Day at SIC
How do you keep your customers who have bought a bunch of 250 horsepower high performance cars from you happy? TC Eurocars, the distributors for Renault Cars in Malaysia, have a novel idea – organize track days at the Sepang International Circuit for them. The driving force behind this great idea is En. Reza Mutalib, General Manager of TC Eurocars, who believes that this is the way to stay in touch with this special breed of customers who are basically driving enthusiasts.
If you have a Kangoo, or a Renault Espace, you probably wouldn’t get invited, as these track sessions are high speed, no holds barred sessions for the powerful Megane RS cars – the Megane RS has 250 horses under the hood, come with race-tuned engines, manual six-speed gearboxes, and huge Brembo brakes – these are cars that are almost race-ready (just short of a roll-over cage and a fire extinguisher system). The Megane RS in standard trim in the hands of an accomplished driver can do the 5.5 kilometre run around SIC in approximately 2 minutes and 41 seconds.
Reza also uses these sessions to bring prospective buyers to the track, and using his own company demonstrator cars, offers ‘taxi rides’ around the circuit with professional drivers, and also high speed test drives for serious buyers.
Today was a typical Sunday morning on which TC Eurocars has booked the SIC from 0830 hours to 1200 hrs. Selected service and technical personnel come along with a Kangoo service vehicle to check customers’ cars and fix any minor problems on the spot. At around 0830 hours, the customers start to trickle in with their cars, and some bring their friends and families along – a swell way to spend a Sunday morning, if you like cars. At 0901 hours, after a safety briefing by Reza, the customers are unleashed, and basically it is free running until the time runs out at noon.
Customers have to pay a nominal fee of RM150 to join the track day activities, which includes the track rental. Of course the amount is subsidized by TC Eurocars.
I had a go with the Renault Megane RS, and although I had already driven it previously on the road, the track experience is a revelation in itself. With 250 horses of raw power, the Megane RS is a real joy to drive on the race track. It is not so wild that it is uncontrollable, but it has just enough power to allow some adrenalin to flow, and I really had a good time. Not having driven in anger for quite a while, it took me a few laps before I could get it all together, but even then, prudence dictated that I could not go all out- still, it was fun, and I learned a thing or two about some of the lines on some of the corners.
