Went to Grips on Mysore Road yesterday, my first karting experience in Bangalore. Tried out the 10bhp karts. There was a long-ish waiting period, so in that time checked out the lines that some decent drivers were taking. When my turn finally came to go out on the track, the throttle didnt seem to be responding properly, there was some kind of mis-firing. I had gone there with two friends and we'd decided to race each other. So after the mis-firing on my kart the two of them pulled away. About 15 seconds into my first lap, things suddenly fell into place on the kart, and it started to accelerate properly. Mid-way into the lap I spotted my friends up ahead, both had managed to crash into the tyres. As a result of pushing too much I guess! Gleefully overtook them both, only to instantly hear the revs dropping and the engine sputtering out. Cursing my luck, I started to wave frantically to the marshalls. Those who were nearby were untangling my friends from the tyres and getting them on their way. After what seemed like an eternity and getting done with them, they finally attended to me, and after about 5-6 attempts managed to get the engine started. The other two guys had a lead of a good half a lap by this time. Cursing in my helmet and banging on the steering wheel, I started pushing - really really hard. Could actually feel the kart bouncing over some of the fast corners, and also managed to just kiss the tyre walls a number of times exitting some of the quicker corners. There were a couple of slower drivers on the 10 bhp karts who had also begun with us - managed to overtake them by lap 2 itself. Was pushing as well as learning the track and discovering better lines into the umpteen hairpin bends, and encouraging myself to brake deeper going into every turn. Must say that the brakes were very good compared to some of the karts I had driven elsewhere. By lap 3 I could see my friends battling it out with each other.
I discovered that its true when the say during F1 or MotoGp that when you see someone in driving in front of you, you start pushing just that little bit more and get drawn into them. That happened here too, and very soon I was right on their tails. The first guy, I overtook easily as he ran just a bit wide on one turn and I just spotted the opportunity and dived into the turn and got out quicker.
For those of you who visited Grips, isnt Turn 1 simply awesome?! One goes flat out after the second last turn, flat out through the last turn, and I tried to be very very brave (or foolhardy - with friend no 1 about 6 inches in front!) and floor it all the way through Turn 1 till Turn 2. As luck would have it, the kart gripped, I didnt slide off, and I had more speed than friend no 1 while passing the 'grand stands'! Overtook him, completed lap 5 and 6 and then finally pitted. Got out and discovered that I actually had built about a 10 second lead in just the next 2 laps.
I didn't know that karting could make one pant so much and make your fore-arms pain! Guess it was all the extra effort and literally fighting with the kart!
All in all, it was great fun. Good karts, if only a bit far from the city. |