First Trip to Pondi- Contee Vs Scorpios

[c10]

hi all, it was my first trip in my Contee (Diesel'96) to Pondichery..
finished exams at 5pm on 23rd, came home at 6pm, packed clothes and
left home at 6:30pm..had to pick 3 friends on the way as per plans
and reached Bommanahalli at 10:30pm..Bangalore's traffic is jus terific
you know..i had 1 friend as a substitute for driving as this was my first
trip and i dint want to strain myself driving to and fro..it was clear i would
drive thru the nite and the day driving was for my friend..Stopped a little
further after Hosur for fuel as fuel is lil cheaper in Tamilnadu(28.46 or so)
than in Karnataka(30.80) and even more cheaper in Pondichery(26.09)
next stop was for dinner at Krishnagiri at 12am and no more
stopovers for the next 300kms i thot..

165 kms drive and i stopped for chai (1:30am)at a place 6kms before Thiruvanavelli..
met a kannadiga so comming from that direction and he said the Highway was
closed at Thriruvanavelli coz of the nite being "PURNIMAE" and there
were thousands of devotees visiting a temple which is on the highway
itself...NO BY PASS ROADS but thru a village we could cross the temple
place i was told..the village road(single road) was also blocked with
busses comming from both the ways..now again we met a Kannadiga
in a Qualis, who visited Pondi often n he suggested we drive thru Trichur or Thrichi i dont
remember the name as all that was on my mind REACH PONDI BEFORE SUNRISE..
we decided to follow the Qualis and jus 5 kms drive we reached another highway..
All were happy that we did a smart thing following this Qualis
and lo we were stuck in a the heart of the same town..Busses, Trucks, cars and
not to forget the YELLO FREAKS- Tamil Nadu Autos, they are Maniacs!!
they would sqeez anywhere if they found a lil space..TERRIBLE..2:30am,
115 kms more to go, and we were stuck. we were hardly 1000meters
away from the road which would deviate to Pondi and this feeling
made us frustrated...4:30am, traffic eases..two hours we were in the
car sitting idle. 4:45am, we manage to squeez n reached the road to pondi..
sipped chai n started the drive..

the roads for the next 25 or 30 kms were best suited for the
Govt. Busses and trucks...NOT FOR LMV's. all this way i drove at max
speed of 25Kms/Per hr. i was pretty scared where i would have my tyres
going flat, good they dint all thru the journey.
reached pondi at 7:45am.. 5hr journey was now 8 1/2 hrs i thot.

got in to a hotel had bath freshened up and left for site-seeing..
now my substitute n my other friend shared driving at Pondi..

Filled fuel in Pondi though there was enough fuel and went searching
for Beach and other places...had breakfast at the beach where the Ghandhi
statue is placed..and next to Auroville-Mantrimandir...8kms from the
town...nice place to visit...next we went to beach, it was scrotching heat n we
changed our plans to start earlier rather than leavin at 10pm as we
could'nt bear the heat out there.

searching for good food was another problem..alas we did find SALEM SPL. BIRYANI.
After lunch we did some shopping and started babk to home..
4:30pm and i was driving...felt drousy after that superb salem biryani,
so i offered my friend to drive..had a solid sleep n woke up at 5:30..stopped for chai
6:15pm we decided our next stop was at Bangalore..cleaned the windshield as they had
enough dust and stsrted our journey.. Contee is really soft n luxurious on highways..she was
doing amazing at steep curves at 75kms speed...all the way found nobody to chase or
was i chased by others..reached the unforgetable town THIRUVANAVELLI n there is a railway
crossing. there was a M800 who chassed me neck to neck and i was
shocked at his driving..me at 75-80kms on contee and i am sure he would have been
pushing hard at around 100 or so..this guy chassed me all the way till Hosur right behind
me...

as we reached Krishnagiri two more Scorpios joined i and they were
chassing eachother badly..it was obvious wen 2 cars of the same makers meet on highways..
i too joined in n fun for me now..the scorpios were initially good but in the streatch i took the place.
believe me the 800 was still tailing me with the scorpios..no idea what speed he was pushing...

had a game time with these scorpios!!!

reached bangalore at 10pm...

on an average the FE was 18+ (Diesel Contee, for luxury and FE!!!)

[amitoj]

searching for good food was another problem..

There are a few very good places to eat jus when the road to Auroville starts. Had nice greek food there when i had gone there...

Nice writeup by the way... though on indian highways, to quote a flop hindi movie's punchline, "FUN can be dangerous".

[c10]

hi amitoj, thanks for the reply...this was my first writeup on this forum and you were the first to reply....

well, after refueling in pondi, i checked air pressure on the tryes as a routine and it was inflated from 28 to 32 in the front tryes and 30 to 46 in the rear tyres...

can anybody answer me scientifically as to why this happened...may be it's GK, but forgive me coz i'm not aware of it...also are there any chances of the tyres getting blown due to this high pressure while driving???

Regards,

c10.

[abhi182]

Hehe, it has to be a faulty /badly calibrated pressure meter....

One bugger with a faulty pressure meter filled 38 instead of the recommended 29 in my Corsa and what a bumpy ride we had....

The atmospherc pressure difference between Bangalore and Pondy would cause a minimal change,
32 instead of 28 won't cause a tyre blowout for sure (the ridewould be bumpy though)
46 in place of 30 would not cause a tyre blow by itself but coupled with heated tyres (over long journeys) , a sharp stone chip could cause a blowout.....

[amitoj]

actually its coz of the tyres heating up. Gases expand on heating, remember? There is this huge thread on this forum on tyre pressures... check it out.

[Deeps]

The reason for the increase in pressure is that when you drive and the tyres heat up, the air inside expands causing an increase in pressure. Nice write-up. Very interesting to read. Maybe you could have elaborated a bit more on the race with the scorpios and 800.

[c10]

abhi, i suppose amitoj and deep are scientifically right... and also as for wht abhi said, one must check the presure personally while inflating the tyres as the same may lead to a bad bumpy drive and effect on FE....guess im not wrong...

Regards,

c10.

[RX135]

Originally Posted by c10

well, after refueling in pondi, i checked air pressure on the tryes as a routine and it was inflated from 28 to 32 in the front tryes and 30 to 46 in the rear tyres...

Wouldn't it blow up at 46? I thought, maximum permissible pressure on most tyres is around 44. May be different tyres have different max. pressures.

[c10]

have no idea at wht pressure tyres burst...my contee runs on 175 80/13 Bridgestone....Good God, guess i checked em on time...surely will add all this in checklist on my next long drive...

[Deeps]

C10, one thing to keep in mind is to inflate the tyres only when they are cold i.e. the car has not been driven around much. I guess there could have been an issue with the lack of precision on the petrol pump.

[nitinbhag]

Originally Posted by Deeps

C10, one thing to keep in mind is to inflate the tyres only when they are cold i.e. the car has not been driven around much. I guess there could have been an issue with the lack of precision on the petrol pump.

Buy a good pressure gauge. I got a Michelin one at 300 Rs.. Keep checking your gauge against the one at a petrol station.. Of course, teh pump's gauge could be wrong, but atleast you know when the difference in reading changes.

When you are going out on the highway with a full load in the car, increase tyre pressure by 2psi over the the recommended. This will prevent overheating of the tyre.

[c10]

[quote=nitinbhag] I got a Michelin one at 300 Rs..

hi Nitin..where in bangalore can i find the Michelin air presure pump....??

Regards,

c10

[nitinbhag]

Originally Posted by c10

[
hi Nitin..where in bangalore can i find the Michelin air presure pump....??
c10

thats was a presssure gauge (not pump).. got it from an accessory shop in the lane nextto Tata Indicom in Koramangala off Hosur Road..