Saturday..
*yawn* ah.. 11.30 AM eh? Baby can you make me some nice hot tea?? Thanks baby...
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*burp* oh!! it's 3.30 PM!! Nice!! *snore snore*
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Wife - "Wake up you ass!! We need to shop!! It's 7.30 PM!!"...
Me - "uh??!! What??" *wipes drool from face*
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8.30 PM, Me watching / listening thunder of 12 bullets rolling into my parking lot!!
PARTYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!
"knock, knock.. Hey I live a flat above you, can you keep the noise down?"
Me - "Facaf!!!"
SLAM!!!!!!!
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Mom once again proves why she is the best cook this side of the country!!
Excellent tandoori chicken, uber kewl jeera rice and chole masala, Naathaari sangam, OH ion!! Killer combination wonlee!!
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Sunday
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*yawn* It's 1 PM eh?? Time for lunch!!
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"Bob, lets watch a movie..."
BZZZZZZZZZTTT!!! BANG BOOM!!! PHHAAATTTT!!!! The transformer outside my building decided today was diwali!! Darn thing got its dates mixed up!!
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Sits in darkness watching rain fall..pitter..patter... DAMMIT!!
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Electricity finally returns at about 6 PM.
Too much rain to go out...
Funny weather.. Steaming hot potato bajjis.. Cuddled up into bed, devoured bajjis and watched a marathon run of the Fast and the Furious...
Aah!! Life is good!!!
Monday, October 29, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Random observations!!!!
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This was on a arterial road in Bangalore on a recent visit. Note the irony!! They dump it right below the board!!! It's not perfect in Chennai too!! The only thing is that there would have been a garbage can and the people would have already filled it within minutes leading to a similar scene!!
Sometimes I wonder why people refuse to have any kind of civic sense!! Disgusting to see and heartbreaking to render in a country that has the fastest growing economy on this planet!!
Yesterday was MAK a.k.a. Arun Kumar, a fellow rider at the Madras bulls' wedding!! It was at one of my favourite marriage halls!! Huge place, lots of places to roam, good friends!! I could only to go the reception where i chanced to notice this!!
Yes that was a ganesha in ICE!!! Too cool looking!!!
(Photo courtesy : david)
Please do not confuse the second foto with Ganesha!! Thats MAK!! Mak might look like Ganesha but he is married now and as we speak would be in Langkawi enjoying his honey moon!! Cheers to the couple!! One more added to the club of spineless, hen pecked lot!!
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Another year.. closer to nirvana??!!
Yup, I officially turned another year older on the 13th!! No great shakes you might say, but yeah... was fun!! Joined a new job, new office, new friends, working at day!! Feels weird after being in "the dark" (read night shift) for 4 bloomin years!! The party was simple and adequate!! Rounded up Datta, Ninja and Satya came down from Hyderabad. Me, wifey, mom and bro. Simple no? Usual round of drinks, laffing, cake smearing and so on!! Will post up the pics here in some time. Mom gave me a nice shirt. Wifey's ordered a Sony Vaio, bro's ordered racing boots!! None arrived on time, and as i type, still not arrived!! Anyways, no issues, i know they will!! Was on a 3 day weekend apparently because my office decided Monday was Vijaydasami!! Was deep in thought yesterday about me, life and wife!! Was contemplating about the change in job but decided that it was a good move considering most IT companies today require manages with IT experience!! So when i move from here, probably in about 3 years, I should bag a plum offer!! For people readin here and asking me the eternal question.. NO GOOD NEWS!! NO WE ARE NOT HAVING KIDS!! Not at least for another 3 years!! please!!! STOP!!! :D
Office is a dreamy 1 KM from home, so I mostly walk / ride it down!! HUUUUUGE saving on petrol bills!! Feeling overall happy like the Chennai weather!! Been awesome weather for the past 3 days!! Wish it continues this way for maybe another 3-4 months!! Nothing more to type, planning a b'lore visit in the near future... planning a ride to Pondy..... planning an RD meet of the Chennai Jets... planning to go for an OTR with the Jeep Thrills club... damn!! so much planning, so little time!! Wish a day had more hours!! Only in the evening that is!! :D
Office is a dreamy 1 KM from home, so I mostly walk / ride it down!! HUUUUUGE saving on petrol bills!! Feeling overall happy like the Chennai weather!! Been awesome weather for the past 3 days!! Wish it continues this way for maybe another 3-4 months!! Nothing more to type, planning a b'lore visit in the near future... planning a ride to Pondy..... planning an RD meet of the Chennai Jets... planning to go for an OTR with the Jeep Thrills club... damn!! so much planning, so little time!! Wish a day had more hours!! Only in the evening that is!! :D
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
The MRF Road racing challenge!!
I went for this a while back, ben lazy to post the write up!! Read on!! Here it is!!!
As you stand there waiting at the pit wall listening to the grumbling… waiting… All you can hear is a collective grumble of four stroke symphony. You wait... it seems like forever... You lean across the pit wall to get a better view... That’s when it happens!! All hell breaks loose!!! The lights come out in sequence and go off and all you can hear is bass induced thunder!! They streak past you in various hues of lightning, blue, red, silver and so on!! So fast that they are all gone at the C1 before you can catch your breath from your accelerated heart beat!!! You stand back and wonder, what the hell was that??
Welcome to The Kari Motor Speedway, Coimbatore, host to the MRF International Challenge 2007.
This annual event held every year at Coimbatore brings out the best in racers and their machines. The riders are willing to take man and machine to the extreme limit for the glory the ends this event!! Yes, there is prize money involved!! I had the immense pleasure of racing with good friends and catching up on old ones when I went there for the weekend
The event is FMSCI approved and is allotted by the MAI. Simply said, it was 3 days of unparalleled thrills, spills, reality checks and glory!! Friday was the free practice session which saw almost everyone vying for space on track to get a good feel of the track. First out were the Group C bikes who were undoubtedly a class apart when it came to track experience!! Everyone wanted to get some good times in and also learn the lines. It also was a time for all of us ‘newbies’ to sit back and watch the pros rip the tarmac apart!! All of the spectators were watching peacefully when there was the announcement, “All RD350 riders, please gear up as your pit lane opens in five minutes!!”
Words cannot describe what happened next!! Almost as if it was synced in every riders mind, the entire RD gang started their engines together!!! The feeling was electric, the sound, out of this world!! Imagine 8 bikes of varied decibel level warming up their engines!! No STOP!! Your imagination is out of league!! Think again!! 6 bikes had open core exhausts and were sounding like firecrackers going off!! George had a much muter tone with his bike while I was the quietest with stock pipes!! As the bikes entered the pit lane, the scene was something like a WWE wrestling ring!! Millions of flashlights everywhere!! People were jostling for space to get an up close and personal view of these ‘monsters’!! Then the green flag started waving…. One by one the 2 stroke demons rolled out to high pitched wailing straight out of the pit lane into C1!! I had complete satisfaction as I started last and enjoyed every accentuated stroke of all the bikes!!
The track was great as in such, smooth tarmac, clean marked corners and good chicanes. The start – finish straight was a whopping 800 meters!! The RD’s rode in sync with each one of us learning or teaching the other one whatever ‘lines’ we knew of the track!! After an exhaustive session, I chanced to see Adman standing by the sidelines watching us all. Unfortunately he seemed to have blown his chances with piston trouble. I towed him back to see the end of the practice session. Well I thought that was the end of it all, but no, I was wrong, the best was just coming!!!
The Indian Super 1400cc class with the souped up Esteem’s came onto track!!! These guys were professional racers with blazing lap times and equally blistering driving skills!! It was nice to see Amritraj and Vijaykumar outpace each other at every turn. Hot on their heel after their session came up the 1600cc cars with MRF sponsored Fiesta’s, Baleno’s and Cedia’s. Amrit proved he was the best of this lot too with immaculate lines and clear cut exits from corners. After all this cacophony of engines had completed, I was still wondering why there were some Sri Lankan registered EVO’s and Supra’s parked up in the pits!! As if they read my mind, they collectively rolled out and started into the pit lane!! This was getting fantastic!!! These cars were waaaaaay above our league of racers and I had a hard time getting them on the camera!! They were simply way too fast!! Straight line speeds in excess of 220 kmph made sure they completed the start – finish straight in less than 4 seconds!! The super bikes came out next and my long time friend and National Champion Dilip Rogers proved time and again why he deserved that title!!! Simply said, too fast for the competition even on the practice sessions!! We retired like excited little puppies back to our hotels in eager anticipation of what was in store for us on Saturday.
Saturday saw very bleak and damp weather and the track was not especially dry. This, coupled with my eternal fear of wet racing made me skeptical about getting on track for qualifying. I guess the almighty read this thought and I was promptly pulled up for scrutiny!! My boots were found to be too short and I was not allowed to qualify despite many pleas that my wife was getting my racing boots!! I had to be content watching from the sidelines. As I was dialing furiously to check if my wife had reached Coimbatore, the marshals decided they had enough and started qualifying!! I was almost heartbroken to watch each one of our folks give me thumbs up and get on track!! Qualifying for the RD’s saw Christy emerge on top with bro Adrian on his heels with a close second. Sanju was third with Harish on fourth. George, Manu and Ganesh finished 5th, 6th and 7th. I was entitled to a DNQ status. The race was at noon and I double checked with every possible marshal about the rules for racing if one did not qualify. They were cool as long as I started in last place. To add to the injury my wife and bro landed up with the wrong set of shoes!!
I was just short of a nervous breakdown as I had asked every single person I know for a spare set of boots and none had a spare!! God took some pity on me I guess. As Sherin of the Madbulls came to visit us, I looked at him with despair and chanced to look down, HE WAS WEARING BOOTS!!!! Hurriedly I gave him mine and swapped his boots just in time for the race!! God bless him!! Push started the bike into the pits and the marshal had one wry look on his face and let me go!!
The RD’s started out on track and I was in last place. The formation lap was uneventful as I just was looking at smoke through my visor and kept a healthy distance from the rest of the bikes. Eventually we all landed up at the starting grid. The next 5 minutes were the longest I had ever seen!! We were sitting there, bikes revving, heat between our legs and the race was not starting!! I waited... and waited… and waited... and finally the man with the finicky sign showed us the 30 seconds board!! Then disaster... my bike stalled... and Adrian’s... and vodka’s!!! I was petrified!! I had no clue how to jump start my bike!! Vodka sensing the emergency showed me how it was done and luckily I managed to get started just before the 5 second banner!! The lights went out and all I prayed for was I don’t run into anyone!! As I zoomed out I could see Vodka, George, Manu and Ganesh go behind me and I thought, hey!! This is good!!
At the 600 meter mark all I could hear was a zwooop and a high pitched wail!! I look up to see that familiar rear of Vodka and George in front of me!! How the hell did that happen!! To make matters worse they were pulling away!!! Caman the gear cutting and raise!! Bad idea, Manu goes in front too!! I look back to see Ganesh’s engine pack up and he pulls into the pits. Damn!! I’m back where I started!!! As I lean into C1 I again get on the inside of Vodka, Manu and George and hold on till C4, then a straight line comes!! Zwooop, wheeeeeeeee and vroooooooooooom!! They are all in front of me!! This repeats for the next 3 corners and I decide enough is enough!! I try a daring move at C7 and next thing I know I am off roading!!! I cling on to the bars and desperately cut gear to avoid losing control!! I get back on track and guess what…. Last place again!!! As I tried and tried, I realized something, this track was for a machine that can pull up a good straight line speed and I was simply puttering around!!
I still try to salvage the best of it and the next lap saw me close in on Manu. Chris and Ad’s were nowhere in sight!!! I leaned over at C1 again just in time to watch Sanju’s engine pack up and he pulled over to the tire barriers. Felt sorry for him as he was running a great lap!! The rest of the 4 laps saw me trying to hold the bike steady but the rear tire, coupled with my morbid fear of the wet saw me off roading most of the time!! Eventually I finished in 6th place (ok that was last place!!). We opened up Sanju’s engine and found the piston completely broken to bits!! Antony sat down immediately and started his magic on the engine!! The rest of the races were practically just a mere formality with Amrit demolishing the competition in both the Fiesta and the Esteem classes. Dilip exterminating the rest of the pack for the Super bike class and Rajani excelled in both the 160 cc class and the 250cc. Then the mean GT cars came out….
The Evo’s and WRX’s were clearly built for the track and behaved as if on familiar territory. Aravinda Premadasa gave a great fight but it was Reyaz Farooque who took the honors. The WRX was putting on a stunning display of agility and handling on the track when suddenly out of the blue the car seemed to slide off track on C1!! The Subaru simply flew away like a rag doll and hit the side barrier and somersaulted over it!! It avoided a ditch and landed on the right side after about 6-7 rolls. Thankfully the driver was unharmed and walked away from the accident scene. The car however was not so lucky. It was smashed inside out and the entire chassis had taken the impact. The driver’s side was intact and there was not any visible damage there!! Safety par excellence!!! With the memories of watching it live, I rolled back into bed with memories of my last place at the back of my head.
Sunday was a different scene at the track altogether!! There were camera crew, interviews, babes, more super bikes!! God knows where they all came from suddenly!! Chris and Adman were suddenly doing interviews!! I just sat back wondering, what the hell was going on??!! After some initial hiccups, the 2 stroke and the 4 stroke 160 and 250 class races happened as scheduled. Again Rajani made mincemeat of the competition and made sure that the cup was going no place else than his cupboard!! The RD class saw only 7 riders this time as we could not get Ganesh’s engine running. Antony did a fantastic job by getting Sanju’s engine up and running!!! The formation lap saw George have a false start and unfortunately he landed behind me as we lined up for the race start. Manu started well but fell behind the pack. I had no idea why. That’s when I saw it happen!! He went straight for the C1 kerb and hit it wheel first!! His tank flew off and he somersaulted through the air and landed on this hands. He seemed to get up immediately and walk. I felt relieved that he was ok and continued. At the outset of the race, I had made some minor changes to the carburetion of my engine and made sure I can pull out a few extra kmph for that straight line speed.
The start of the race was fantastic!! Everyone was revving hard and all of us seemed to move exactly at the same formation as we started!! That’s when the inevitable happened!! It was a straight line and all of us were gunning the engines to reach the corner first!! I decided to play safe and slowed down holding back George in the process. 2 corners later he took it in full flow on a straight line and whizzed past!! I was back where I was last race!! Last place!! But I didn’t give up this time!! Did some chamak racing and was hot on the heels of George and Vodka. Unfortunately Sanju’s engine packed up again and he pulled over at C3. I was pushing it for all the engine was worth when on lap 4 I decided to do a Valentino Rossi!! Late braking with inside line overtaking!! Unfortunately my friends ahead of me had other ideas and firmly shut the door!!! As I frantically braked, I knew I had to much speed for C3, so I braked and leaned… and leaned…. and leaned further, I could hear silencer scraping on tarmac, but still too fast!! Leaaaaaann….screeeech…..!!!! The next thing I know is I am parked up next to Sanju and he is watching me in bewilderment!!! I am sure he was thinking what a dumb move, but dude, if you are reading this, I really was desperate to get out in front!!! Ok yeah, it was a silly move!! Happy??!!!
I picked up the bike and realized the right had caved in entirely!! Bent the brake pedal by hand and restarted the race without much help from the marshals who refused to give me a push start!! Jump started the bike in frustration and realized at the next corner that my front brake lever was kaput!! Adrian and Christy were hot on my heels and I let them go straightaway!! I tried to keep up a sane speed as far as the rear brake limits would hold. Eventually when I reached the start finish straight I saw the chequered flag waving!! Although it was last place, I felt content that I had at least put my best effort in!! As I towed back Sanju to the pits, the boys came in and congratulated me and said it was pretty gutsy to get back on track after a fall and attempt to finish the race!! That gave me a completely satisfied feeling!! Manu was unfortunately not so lucky and he had broken both his hands on the fall!! We sent him to the hospital and eventually back to Chennai. Hope he gets well soon.
Back to the racing scene was pretty much a repeat of Saturday!! Dilip for the SBK’s, Reyaz for the GT cars and Amrit for the 1400 and 1600 class. The fire spitting, muffler crackling WRX was sorely missed although the driver took out another car on track. There was John Britto’s dancing team that put up a good performance on the track swaying to the latest numbers. Then out of the blue, there were super bikes on track pulling off wheelies, stoppies and doing burnouts!! It was a treat for the eyes and ears to see these bikes doing what they do best!! There was a guy on an R1 who pulled off wheelies for the entire 800 meters…. Both ways!!!
Eventually the event closed to the reverberating claps of the audience as the boys collected their trophies and cheques for the races. All in all, it was a great event that was to be experienced first hand rather than being read here or in any other magazine!! Truly fantastic and I am hoping to get my act together when this repeats back in December!!
As you stand there waiting at the pit wall listening to the grumbling… waiting… All you can hear is a collective grumble of four stroke symphony. You wait... it seems like forever... You lean across the pit wall to get a better view... That’s when it happens!! All hell breaks loose!!! The lights come out in sequence and go off and all you can hear is bass induced thunder!! They streak past you in various hues of lightning, blue, red, silver and so on!! So fast that they are all gone at the C1 before you can catch your breath from your accelerated heart beat!!! You stand back and wonder, what the hell was that??
Welcome to The Kari Motor Speedway, Coimbatore, host to the MRF International Challenge 2007.
This annual event held every year at Coimbatore brings out the best in racers and their machines. The riders are willing to take man and machine to the extreme limit for the glory the ends this event!! Yes, there is prize money involved!! I had the immense pleasure of racing with good friends and catching up on old ones when I went there for the weekend
The event is FMSCI approved and is allotted by the MAI. Simply said, it was 3 days of unparalleled thrills, spills, reality checks and glory!! Friday was the free practice session which saw almost everyone vying for space on track to get a good feel of the track. First out were the Group C bikes who were undoubtedly a class apart when it came to track experience!! Everyone wanted to get some good times in and also learn the lines. It also was a time for all of us ‘newbies’ to sit back and watch the pros rip the tarmac apart!! All of the spectators were watching peacefully when there was the announcement, “All RD350 riders, please gear up as your pit lane opens in five minutes!!”
Words cannot describe what happened next!! Almost as if it was synced in every riders mind, the entire RD gang started their engines together!!! The feeling was electric, the sound, out of this world!! Imagine 8 bikes of varied decibel level warming up their engines!! No STOP!! Your imagination is out of league!! Think again!! 6 bikes had open core exhausts and were sounding like firecrackers going off!! George had a much muter tone with his bike while I was the quietest with stock pipes!! As the bikes entered the pit lane, the scene was something like a WWE wrestling ring!! Millions of flashlights everywhere!! People were jostling for space to get an up close and personal view of these ‘monsters’!! Then the green flag started waving…. One by one the 2 stroke demons rolled out to high pitched wailing straight out of the pit lane into C1!! I had complete satisfaction as I started last and enjoyed every accentuated stroke of all the bikes!!
The track was great as in such, smooth tarmac, clean marked corners and good chicanes. The start – finish straight was a whopping 800 meters!! The RD’s rode in sync with each one of us learning or teaching the other one whatever ‘lines’ we knew of the track!! After an exhaustive session, I chanced to see Adman standing by the sidelines watching us all. Unfortunately he seemed to have blown his chances with piston trouble. I towed him back to see the end of the practice session. Well I thought that was the end of it all, but no, I was wrong, the best was just coming!!!
The Indian Super 1400cc class with the souped up Esteem’s came onto track!!! These guys were professional racers with blazing lap times and equally blistering driving skills!! It was nice to see Amritraj and Vijaykumar outpace each other at every turn. Hot on their heel after their session came up the 1600cc cars with MRF sponsored Fiesta’s, Baleno’s and Cedia’s. Amrit proved he was the best of this lot too with immaculate lines and clear cut exits from corners. After all this cacophony of engines had completed, I was still wondering why there were some Sri Lankan registered EVO’s and Supra’s parked up in the pits!! As if they read my mind, they collectively rolled out and started into the pit lane!! This was getting fantastic!!! These cars were waaaaaay above our league of racers and I had a hard time getting them on the camera!! They were simply way too fast!! Straight line speeds in excess of 220 kmph made sure they completed the start – finish straight in less than 4 seconds!! The super bikes came out next and my long time friend and National Champion Dilip Rogers proved time and again why he deserved that title!!! Simply said, too fast for the competition even on the practice sessions!! We retired like excited little puppies back to our hotels in eager anticipation of what was in store for us on Saturday.
Saturday saw very bleak and damp weather and the track was not especially dry. This, coupled with my eternal fear of wet racing made me skeptical about getting on track for qualifying. I guess the almighty read this thought and I was promptly pulled up for scrutiny!! My boots were found to be too short and I was not allowed to qualify despite many pleas that my wife was getting my racing boots!! I had to be content watching from the sidelines. As I was dialing furiously to check if my wife had reached Coimbatore, the marshals decided they had enough and started qualifying!! I was almost heartbroken to watch each one of our folks give me thumbs up and get on track!! Qualifying for the RD’s saw Christy emerge on top with bro Adrian on his heels with a close second. Sanju was third with Harish on fourth. George, Manu and Ganesh finished 5th, 6th and 7th. I was entitled to a DNQ status. The race was at noon and I double checked with every possible marshal about the rules for racing if one did not qualify. They were cool as long as I started in last place. To add to the injury my wife and bro landed up with the wrong set of shoes!!
I was just short of a nervous breakdown as I had asked every single person I know for a spare set of boots and none had a spare!! God took some pity on me I guess. As Sherin of the Madbulls came to visit us, I looked at him with despair and chanced to look down, HE WAS WEARING BOOTS!!!! Hurriedly I gave him mine and swapped his boots just in time for the race!! God bless him!! Push started the bike into the pits and the marshal had one wry look on his face and let me go!!
The RD’s started out on track and I was in last place. The formation lap was uneventful as I just was looking at smoke through my visor and kept a healthy distance from the rest of the bikes. Eventually we all landed up at the starting grid. The next 5 minutes were the longest I had ever seen!! We were sitting there, bikes revving, heat between our legs and the race was not starting!! I waited... and waited… and waited... and finally the man with the finicky sign showed us the 30 seconds board!! Then disaster... my bike stalled... and Adrian’s... and vodka’s!!! I was petrified!! I had no clue how to jump start my bike!! Vodka sensing the emergency showed me how it was done and luckily I managed to get started just before the 5 second banner!! The lights went out and all I prayed for was I don’t run into anyone!! As I zoomed out I could see Vodka, George, Manu and Ganesh go behind me and I thought, hey!! This is good!!
At the 600 meter mark all I could hear was a zwooop and a high pitched wail!! I look up to see that familiar rear of Vodka and George in front of me!! How the hell did that happen!! To make matters worse they were pulling away!!! Caman the gear cutting and raise!! Bad idea, Manu goes in front too!! I look back to see Ganesh’s engine pack up and he pulls into the pits. Damn!! I’m back where I started!!! As I lean into C1 I again get on the inside of Vodka, Manu and George and hold on till C4, then a straight line comes!! Zwooop, wheeeeeeeee and vroooooooooooom!! They are all in front of me!! This repeats for the next 3 corners and I decide enough is enough!! I try a daring move at C7 and next thing I know I am off roading!!! I cling on to the bars and desperately cut gear to avoid losing control!! I get back on track and guess what…. Last place again!!! As I tried and tried, I realized something, this track was for a machine that can pull up a good straight line speed and I was simply puttering around!!
I still try to salvage the best of it and the next lap saw me close in on Manu. Chris and Ad’s were nowhere in sight!!! I leaned over at C1 again just in time to watch Sanju’s engine pack up and he pulled over to the tire barriers. Felt sorry for him as he was running a great lap!! The rest of the 4 laps saw me trying to hold the bike steady but the rear tire, coupled with my morbid fear of the wet saw me off roading most of the time!! Eventually I finished in 6th place (ok that was last place!!). We opened up Sanju’s engine and found the piston completely broken to bits!! Antony sat down immediately and started his magic on the engine!! The rest of the races were practically just a mere formality with Amrit demolishing the competition in both the Fiesta and the Esteem classes. Dilip exterminating the rest of the pack for the Super bike class and Rajani excelled in both the 160 cc class and the 250cc. Then the mean GT cars came out….
The Evo’s and WRX’s were clearly built for the track and behaved as if on familiar territory. Aravinda Premadasa gave a great fight but it was Reyaz Farooque who took the honors. The WRX was putting on a stunning display of agility and handling on the track when suddenly out of the blue the car seemed to slide off track on C1!! The Subaru simply flew away like a rag doll and hit the side barrier and somersaulted over it!! It avoided a ditch and landed on the right side after about 6-7 rolls. Thankfully the driver was unharmed and walked away from the accident scene. The car however was not so lucky. It was smashed inside out and the entire chassis had taken the impact. The driver’s side was intact and there was not any visible damage there!! Safety par excellence!!! With the memories of watching it live, I rolled back into bed with memories of my last place at the back of my head.
Sunday was a different scene at the track altogether!! There were camera crew, interviews, babes, more super bikes!! God knows where they all came from suddenly!! Chris and Adman were suddenly doing interviews!! I just sat back wondering, what the hell was going on??!! After some initial hiccups, the 2 stroke and the 4 stroke 160 and 250 class races happened as scheduled. Again Rajani made mincemeat of the competition and made sure that the cup was going no place else than his cupboard!! The RD class saw only 7 riders this time as we could not get Ganesh’s engine running. Antony did a fantastic job by getting Sanju’s engine up and running!!! The formation lap saw George have a false start and unfortunately he landed behind me as we lined up for the race start. Manu started well but fell behind the pack. I had no idea why. That’s when I saw it happen!! He went straight for the C1 kerb and hit it wheel first!! His tank flew off and he somersaulted through the air and landed on this hands. He seemed to get up immediately and walk. I felt relieved that he was ok and continued. At the outset of the race, I had made some minor changes to the carburetion of my engine and made sure I can pull out a few extra kmph for that straight line speed.
The start of the race was fantastic!! Everyone was revving hard and all of us seemed to move exactly at the same formation as we started!! That’s when the inevitable happened!! It was a straight line and all of us were gunning the engines to reach the corner first!! I decided to play safe and slowed down holding back George in the process. 2 corners later he took it in full flow on a straight line and whizzed past!! I was back where I was last race!! Last place!! But I didn’t give up this time!! Did some chamak racing and was hot on the heels of George and Vodka. Unfortunately Sanju’s engine packed up again and he pulled over at C3. I was pushing it for all the engine was worth when on lap 4 I decided to do a Valentino Rossi!! Late braking with inside line overtaking!! Unfortunately my friends ahead of me had other ideas and firmly shut the door!!! As I frantically braked, I knew I had to much speed for C3, so I braked and leaned… and leaned…. and leaned further, I could hear silencer scraping on tarmac, but still too fast!! Leaaaaaann….screeeech…..!!!! The next thing I know is I am parked up next to Sanju and he is watching me in bewilderment!!! I am sure he was thinking what a dumb move, but dude, if you are reading this, I really was desperate to get out in front!!! Ok yeah, it was a silly move!! Happy??!!!
I picked up the bike and realized the right had caved in entirely!! Bent the brake pedal by hand and restarted the race without much help from the marshals who refused to give me a push start!! Jump started the bike in frustration and realized at the next corner that my front brake lever was kaput!! Adrian and Christy were hot on my heels and I let them go straightaway!! I tried to keep up a sane speed as far as the rear brake limits would hold. Eventually when I reached the start finish straight I saw the chequered flag waving!! Although it was last place, I felt content that I had at least put my best effort in!! As I towed back Sanju to the pits, the boys came in and congratulated me and said it was pretty gutsy to get back on track after a fall and attempt to finish the race!! That gave me a completely satisfied feeling!! Manu was unfortunately not so lucky and he had broken both his hands on the fall!! We sent him to the hospital and eventually back to Chennai. Hope he gets well soon.
Back to the racing scene was pretty much a repeat of Saturday!! Dilip for the SBK’s, Reyaz for the GT cars and Amrit for the 1400 and 1600 class. The fire spitting, muffler crackling WRX was sorely missed although the driver took out another car on track. There was John Britto’s dancing team that put up a good performance on the track swaying to the latest numbers. Then out of the blue, there were super bikes on track pulling off wheelies, stoppies and doing burnouts!! It was a treat for the eyes and ears to see these bikes doing what they do best!! There was a guy on an R1 who pulled off wheelies for the entire 800 meters…. Both ways!!!
Eventually the event closed to the reverberating claps of the audience as the boys collected their trophies and cheques for the races. All in all, it was a great event that was to be experienced first hand rather than being read here or in any other magazine!! Truly fantastic and I am hoping to get my act together when this repeats back in December!!
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