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| View Poll Results: Do you want a Pay and Practice session every month ? | |||
| YEs, I want a Pay and Practise session every month |    | 6 | 33.33% |
| No, I want a pay and practise session every 3 months |    | 12 | 66.67% |
| Youre nuts to be talking Pay and Practise - We'll just watch! |    | 0 | 0% |
| Voters: 18. You may not vote on this poll | |||
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| Search this Thread |  30,774 views |
27th July 2009, 22:27
| #91 | |
| Senior - BHPian  | Quote:
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27th July 2009, 22:38
| #92 |
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27th July 2009, 22:55
| #93 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Madras
Posts: 234
Thanked: 60 Times
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28th July 2009, 00:01
| #94 | |
| BHPian  | Quote:
Thank you all, for the participation. Next time, I get spare tyres, you guys will have a run for your money  | |
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28th July 2009, 03:14
| #95 |
| BHPian  | It all started as a light hearted comment from Headers & to my pleasant surprise the track day did happen. Thank you so much for kindling the fire Vikram & thanks Neo for keeping me informed. Loved every minute of being on the track. We were the first ones to reach the track, followed by neo and then the rest of gang came in. Quick round of "hi's" & "hello's" later we were set. My friend (Bobby) took the car for a couple of laps & immediately it was apparent that it will be fun with these tires. It had no grip whatsoever. We didn't time the first few laps, 'cause we were taking it easy & getting used to the track. After about 5 laps each, we were back to business. The car was quick, stable around the corners, the tires were squealing as usual. The car ate up laps comfortably only the temperature needle was hovering between half and three fourth mark. It would take only about 2 minutes for it cool down to optimal temp. Initially I found that I was fumbling with the lines & managing to clock only around 2:37 - 2:38! I consciously made an effort to remember the lines & after a couple of laps, I was able to shave off around 5 seconds easily. The best time I was able to manage was around 2:31 (Ofcourse, its just a rough timing). I more or less knew how the car was handling or so I thought and wanted to push the car bit. I was doing around 120 on the main straight & decided to take the corner without braking. A BIG mistake. I was happy that the car was holding the line well, but about 80% into the corner the rear stepped out & the car fishtailed violently. It swerved to right, I tried to correct it slightly & all hell broke loose. I had an opposite lock, did a 180 spin & I am starring at the SX4 driven by headers... heading onto me. Looks he had spotted me early enough & passed through me. Petrol_Head who was just entering the track from the pit lane also saw this a started to honk & warn the car behind me. LOL. There you go my first 180 on the track & a valuable lesson learnt. The next three laps was fun... SX4, Petrol_Head & Me on the track. The SX4 was driven wonderfully by Headers, the IKON was taking the turns effortlessly (so it seemed) & my was accelerating well and I was able to keep up with both these guys. Bumper to Bumper racing! Petrol_Head beautifully overtook the SX4 by taking the inside lane on one of the corners (c8). I was just the SX4 and me now... I tried to overtake by taking the outside line, but the tires just didn't have the grip. But I finally managed to get on the inside just before the C10 and overtook it. I am very sure that Headers wasn't pushing the car to its limits, else it would've been more difficult to get ahead of me. At the end of the day, the car had done about 35 laps. 35 laps of pure adrenalin filled fun. All the guys on the track displayed great discipline, there were no undue risks taken. We always ensured that the faster car was allowed to go ahead, by stepping out of the racing line. Headers also went around the group before the event started just to remind everyone that its more important be safe and stay within the limits of the car (Nice gesture there buddy). If there was anybody that I wanted to beat... it was always my own timing and technique. I guess trackdays like these will only help you be more responsible and be well equipped to handle situations that are thrown at you when you are driving on the roads. A pic of tires (after):  A few observations about my car & its ability. I am penning this down with ONLY (read negligible) experience of about 60 laps in the MMSC track. +ves: Amazing acceleration, the car feels really quick till it hits about 100 - 110 Brakes are adequate for 'normal' i.e., non-competitive style of driving. Brakes did not fade too much even after 30 laps of aggresive driving Holds the line if you are not pushing it too much on the curves Very little body roll The car is well poised & balanced The car is a lot of fun to drive around the track (does anything else matter? )-ves: The tires are BAD. Lacks grip & squeals away to glory at every corner... The biggest inhibiting factor. Not a great handler, requires a quite a bit of steering input during cornering. Beyond 120, the acceleration drops quite a bit. The maximum speed I was able to achieve was about 135 (Speedo indicated). Interestingly enough, I was easily able to cross 140 the last time around. Drivers competence I guess I have a long way to go even before I can think of aiming sub 2:25.My aim for the next track day would to increase the top speed. A good filter, throttle body cleanup, engine decarb & injector cleaning should be sufficient to take me beyond 140 in the long stretch. Better oils is also something that I have in mind, but let see. A few photos before I signoff... Neo's SX4:  Petrol_Head and Slipstream:  My Car:   A couple of race cars being tested: Zen:  Esteem (This car was super quick):  A few pics of the track (Clicked by my BIL):      Group pics:    Thanks for reading a long boring post, my idea was just to share my wonderful experience at the track. Comments / Critique / Suggestions welcome. Cheers! Goutham |
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28th July 2009, 09:29
| #96 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: May 2006 Location: Greater Chennai
Posts: 4,667
Thanked: 559 Times
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28th July 2009, 11:01
| #97 |
| BHPian Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Madras
Posts: 234
Thanked: 60 Times
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28th July 2009, 12:01
| #98 |
| BHPian Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Madras
Posts: 234
Thanked: 60 Times
| Snapshots Enroute  Uncorking the Bottle at the entry to C1  Venom rider spitting some...  No clue if it was me or my bro  Slipstream - head down and hunt  Me at the far end of the Straight - posing I presume  Through C1  Bottle - Uncorked by now and fizzing  Slipstream at C1  At the far end again  |
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28th July 2009, 12:23
| #99 |
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28th July 2009, 12:29
| #100 | |
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28th July 2009, 12:33
| #101 | |
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28th July 2009, 12:37
| #102 |
| BHPian Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Madras
Posts: 234
Thanked: 60 Times
| part 2 Slipstream and his new beast  Madan ... and Junior Jeeper Brother Arka Deep  Bottle - back in to re-cork  The rides in attendance minus 2 palios (bottle and rahul)  From left - Nitrous's Mistress - Venom Rider's Esteem, Fiery Enzyme' s Baleno - Hot Rod's Lightning Rod - Petrol_Head's Ikon 1.6 - Neo's SX4 - Slipstream's spanking new Swift DDIS    Vikram, 'Jack you know what' and my bro  |
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28th July 2009, 14:07
| #103 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Coimbatore
Posts: 2,589
Thanked: 6,090 Times
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28th July 2009, 18:24
| #104 | |
| BHPian  Join Date: May 2006 Location: Mumbai
Posts: 149
Thanked: 18 Times
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28th July 2009, 19:01
| #105 | |
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