Behind the wheels of a RACING CAR on Indian Tracks - An experience of a life time!

[mclaren1885]

There is something about fast cars that always fascinates me. 6yrs since, I am still on the quest of finding out what it is that makes driving good, fast cars so addictive.

• Is it the sheer acceleration that pins you to the back of the seat?
• Or is it the G-Forces your body experiences when you are cornering at some insane speeds?
• Or is it the rush of blood when you know the car is on the limit every single second?
• Or is it knowing the fact that you have your hands on a mad raging bull that wants to get out of control at the first given opportunity and its upto you to control it.
• Or is it that sound of the screaming exhaust that to my ears sounds better than any music or little nothings your lady whispers into your ears?

Maybe, its a bit of all of the above! And more......A lot more that I have never been able to pen down in words..

I have had the chance to lay my hands on some very fast SBKs and road cars. The most special ones being a Ducati 749S and a track prepped 400+ bhp Nissan Silvia.

Bikes are pretty scary to ride on a track, trying to get your knee down and all that jazz. One tiny mistake and you are *history*. And unfortunately, I have been a witness to quite a few bike accidents on tracks and have seen a few of my friends walk away from some serious crashes without a scratch while some had ended up with rods inside their feet. And given that bikes and me have a long, not so good history, I did not want to be one of them who would end up with a few rods in my body! For I love traveling and food equally as well

So I stuck to getting my thrills out of puny FWD cars on track. And yet I knew deep down, I was missing something.

• The thrill of going sideways into a corner.
• The thrill of sitting really low down with my posterior inches off the tarmac.
• The thrill of being pushed back into the seat of a 4 wheeler and yet have that wind in my face feeling.
• The thrill of being able to squeeze into a tiny cockpit and being able to look at how my suspension is working while I steer.
• The thrill of driving a car with the engine behind you, pushing you forward and not the other way around.
• The thrill of oversteer!
• The thrill of knowing that one dab on the throttle too hard or quick mid corner and you will be facing the direction you just came by.

And I was fortunate to experience all this. And how!

[targa]

6yrs since, I am still on the quest of finding out what it is that makes driving good, fast cars so addictive.

Never ending quest dude .... enjoy provoking your sense of discovering things along the fast lane

And I was fortunate to experience all this. And how!

I reckon an open wheel single seater in the offing here .... spill the beans MC ....

[Godfather]

another EMI thread

[mclaren1885]

4th February 2006 - Here I am standing at the MMST looking at this beautiful looking kar(t) assigned to me for that session. Its called a FISSME and runs a M800 carb'd engine. At first, the very sound of a 800cc engine doesn't sound impressive but, all that will change once you get strapped into that 5 point race harness and take off.

I was tensed with a million questions running in my mind...

What if I crash the FISSME and damage it beyond repair?
Should I take it slow or go for my usual floor the pedal to the metal style?
How fast will this thing be? It just has some 40 odd bhp.
How will it handle?

We were given 8 laps to familiarize ourselves with the car. And our instructor was none other than the Indian F1 driver Karun Chandok.

Karun gives us some clear instructions that went like this........

1. Get used to the cars before pushing them. They are RWD so behave differently in corners unlike FWDs.
2. Stay away from the kerbs as far as possible. Unless you want to get it UP THE A#S..
3. Stick to gear shifts at 5000 rpm.
4. Stay off the grass and gravel, if you do so, come in for a preliminary check because the grass entering the side pods can overheat the engine.

All set, go!

I recollect my previous 4 laps in the FISSME at the previous track day.

The outlap was pretty uneventful. I pushed as hard as I thought I could on the 1st lap out of the pits. And I thought I was decently fast. On the 2nd lap, I spun off at C2. Carried way too much speed and locked the rear tyres as I tried to downshift into 2nd and before I knew, I had spun a couple of times and was slowly rolling backwards.

I look to my right to see which side of the track I was supposed head towards. I shift into first, look to my left before I throttle the rear wheels out of the grass and suddenly the engine slowly dies on me.

And to my *horror* I see JD & KD Madan, the dynamic son-dad duo battling each other out in the Mitsubishi Evo VI and BWM M3 hurtling straight at me unaware

The FISSME barely comes to the bonnet height of these two monsters and if you are too busy watching your mirrors trying to out do the other, you could easily miss it.

Is this the way I am destined to die? I ask myself! Which one of them will kill me? Will it be the Evo or the M3? Will my death be painful? Will I see flying car parts? Where will my folks cremate me? How many friends will attend my funeral? Will my college declare a holiday in my memory? Was it destined that I'd die a virgin? Will there be fast cars in hell? The questions that pop in your head when you are staring at death I tell you

All those horrific crashes in F1 flash right in front of my eyes! But then, here I was with 2 wheels on the tarmac and 2 wheels on the grass staring at 2 cars coming straight at me doing some insane speeds and completely unaware that there was a FISSME that had spun out and wasn't starting back up. I did not want to survive a crash and spend the rest of my life with disability. I sing a silent quick prayer, kill me or make sure they miss me.

Maybe the Madan's realized I was just 20 yrs old and had a lot left to see in life. Maybe they took pity on me and did all they could to avoid a huge thud followed by a lot of blood spill.

I somehow manage to get the FISSME started back up and slowly drive to the pits..

And v1p3r walks up to me and says in a very disappointed tone "You were 16 seconds slower than the lap record on Lap 1. Didn't time your 2nd lap because I figured you had spun out. Why were you driving so slow?".

I go "16 seconds slower that what? I nearly died if you must know"!

I go looking for the Madan's to thank them for missing crashing into me.

And this would have been the last picture taken of me, strapped in a single seater wearing a blue helmet

[Godfather]

Was it destined that I'd die a virgin?

ROTFL the best line ever on Gear Heads

[mclaren1885]

My first stint in the FISSME was some experience. So at the next track day, I decided to give it another try and fight my fears. Isn't that what life is all about?

I carefully listen to what Karun Chandok had to say and sped out of the pits this time knowing very well that there would be no sedans on track with us.



After my incident we had put in a request with the organizers not to allow other cars along with the single seaters and our requests were listened to.

Oh no! Life is never that simple when it involves me..

The FISSME that I sped out in, was the 2nd one for the day. The one I had climbed into earlier would most definitely have gotten me killed if it wasn't for some watchful eyes.

It just so happened that someone noticed that the brake oil was leaking from the FISSME I was sitting in and informed me as I was pulling out of the pits. Thank GOD! Can you imagine going into C1 flat out at around 140kmph, trying to brake into C2 and finding out that you have no brakes? That was a disaster waiting to happen.

The mechanics try to fix the issue, but I refuse to drive the same car. So I get alloted another FISSME.

The first 3 laps were spent in trying to get used to the way the car handled. On the 4th lap, I was following one of the RAC boys who lost control and spun his car right in front of me with me approaching him at some 120kmph. With no place on track that I could steer to, I decided to head straight to the grass and over the kerbs..

I hit the first kerb and that is when I realized why Karun had said stay away from the kerbs. The bloody floor of the FISSME sits so low that the kerbs will ensure you get hurt in places you would never dream of. And believe me when I say, its bloody painful. Get back onto the track and drive slow for a while just to ensure that there is no grass stuck in the side pods.

As I come into the pits for a safety check, Karun walks up to me and the conversation goes like this..

KC: You are over-revving the engine.
Mc: No, I am pretty sure I am not.
KC: I think everyone were told to shift at 5000 rpm?
Mc: 5000 rpm is too low for me.
KC: What rpm are you shifting at?
Mc: 6500 rpm.. Actually, I am not sure, I shift when I start to lose power. Don't watch the tacho.
KC: *thinks*... Actually, you are driving pretty fast, lets time you and see how fast you actually are.
Mc: But... But... I'v just done just 9 laps in a single seater all my life.
KC: Really? But you seem to be lapping most of the guys here.
*KC calls the manager and asks him to get a transponder fitted to my car*
Mc: I am not sure about the line to take through a couple of corners, can you just guide me through it?
*KC teaches me the line I should take and asks me to drive as fast as I can*

Come lap 5, I put all fears to rest and decide to go flat out and see what comes out of it. Last time I was 16 seconds away from the lap record, this time my goal was to do a lap time that was 10 seconds off the lap record. If I had managed to achieve that I'd be really happy.

Lap 7 was fast by my standards. Lap 8 was even faster. I enter the last corner too hot, the rear stepped out, I tried to control the slide with some opposite lock, but it was too late.

I hit another set of kerbs and ouch! It hurts I tell you. The car comes to a halt with a cloud of dust everywhere. I fear that I will be ushered into the pits and asked to retire. I did not want that to happen. I see the track marshals running towards the car.

No, I still have a few more laps left, I say to myself and quickly turn the car around and take off before the marshal's reach me

The next 2 laps were pretty disappointing because I got stuck in traffic and couldn't manage a hot lap.

I come into the pits, park the car and KC ushers me over.

KC: How fast did you say you were the last time around?
Mc: 16 seconds off the lap record.
KC: And what do you think you have clocked this time around?
Mc: Not sure, but I'd be overjoyed if I have managed to shave 6 seconds of my previous attempt.
KC: You did a 1:17:38.
Mc: What? *In utter disbelief*. Are you sure?
KC: Yes, here is the timing! That is 4.7 seconds off the lap record. And you say this is just the 11th lap in a single seater for you?
Mc: Yes! 11th lap.
KC: Not bad! If you practice for a day, you should be in the 1:14s. Have you thought about racing professionally?
Mc: I can't afford racing professionally.

And that was the plain truth! Racing is an expensive sport!

But that night I went to bed overjoyed when my friends who were standing next to KC told me that he was monitoring every lap and praised the way my lap times were become faster and faster with every lap.

The next morning, we got back to destroying our puny FWD cars.







Those 10 laps in the FISSME will always be cherished and I thought I'd never get a chance to re-live such moments again! Until.........

[shishirbn]

just a noob question. No laughing ok..

What is kerbs??? ... You told you went over kerbs

[Godfather]

What is kerbs

this shishirbn

[mclaren1885]

What is kerbs??? ... You told you went over kerbs

Kerbs or chicanes on a race track are to reduce the speeds.

The red and white thing in the picture below is a chicane/kerb.



Going over them can be pretty rough on cars with a very low floor.

[hrag]

The red and white thing in the picture below is a chicane/kerb.

A chicane is an introduced turn or set of turns. A kerb is the raised surface that 'helps' prevent the car from going off the track.

The red and white thing is the kerb. The chicane is the turn or set of opposite turns in the road surface or track.

Will my college declare a holiday in my memory?

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha