Well here goes my tale from the time I get to the track:
Day one:
Session One(Cars):
I am still trying to finish the paperwork since we reached just at the briefing time, hence I do not have a chance to get on track.
Session Two(Cars):
Vasu wants to start the run on the Conti, and I am offered the Seina's keys by Mohnish. Start off driving behind Ajmat with McLaren this is my first time on track with a car and a unfamiliar one, thought that I would take a couple of laps with McLaren pointing out the racing lines to learn the ropes.
Started off with an Average lap keeping the car within its limits and behind Ajmat, everyting seemed fine till we hit the loop and thats when I realise the VTEC is sliding in and I will have to do so too, on entering the curve I was quite confident till the length of the loop had the rear squealing and then all went quiet and I remark the wheel just lifted, McLaren is suddenly staring all around. get the car back on all wheels and make a mental note not to come in so fast. See Ajmat sliding in on the slow lef and brake hard to slow down and not slide (Did I mention I hate loosing control of cars especially if they drift out of control... well more on this at the end of this post), get on to the bridge and back to the staright. I am not impressed, why? well I really thought it would be harder. The rest of the session goes with me trying to keep all wheels planted firmly on the ground, allow McLaren get the gear knob back on every time it came off and managing the figure 8 steering on the car. Four laps in I see the conti on the grass (continue on trying to figure out what could have gone wrong). At the end of the session we pull into the pit lane and realise on round one Conti is having prob's with weight transfer (thanks to my sister deciding to fly in on the 4 o'clock flight, didnt even get a chance to package the 15 inchers in), and also ends up running out of gas. Should have filled it up before we got the track. Decide to retire the poor old car. (Well did I say I found the track too easy...)
Session 3(Cars):
Having decided to try out the track esteems I head out with Ayub who is the current national champion on the wheel of his esteem with me riding shotgun to learn the ropes. He shows me each line braking point and I suddenly realise whoa I need to learn a lot more, three laps in I have literally mugged all the instructions given. Ayub then hands me the wheel and he rides shotgun, he is pointing out errors as I move through the track and keeps ging me tips on what to expect and how to react. The next ten laps putting each word into practice and trying to get better, I fall in love with the suspension and tell Ayub so and he immediately replies you ought to try the race esteems with the fully blown suspension, We get into the pits and I am still trying to remember every word he said on the track, we go to Sideways I debrief him on what happened, Ayub felt I was a bit agressive, so another mental note to calm down. (Still think I can manage to drive the race esteems easy) Request Sideways for a fully blown car for the next day and wait for the FISSME.
Session 4(Cars):
Still waiting to get onto the track with the FISSME, and didnt want ot sit out of this session, ask Viper if I can drive his car and he hands me the keys. Mohnish and me get in with me on the wheel. Take the car in and find it loosing grip over each lap, however it means I have to drive on the racing line without loosing grip and find my timing across the track improving. On the sixth lap as I am coming out of the corner, the rear right tyre clips the kerb and it slide the opposite side to what I was expecting, to avoid the car from flipping I steer into the slide and the car slide imm to the other way, recorrect and roll off the track, check for traffic and get back to the track go around another not feeling comfortable and keeping the car in the third gear and get back into the pits. Kick myself for letting it happen and promise myself not to over do the lines.
Session 5 (FISSME):
Try getting into the cart and I cannot fit, feel bad get out and request Sideways if I can take the race esteem out for 3 sessions instead of the one I had planned on and drop out of the FISSME sessions, he agrees. Get back post the sessions and crash out at the hotel.
Day 2:
I am booked in to drive the race esteems for three sessions (1, 3, 4) thought the break would allow me some time to rethink my driving style.
Session 1:
I am given JD's Esteem to drive and JD requests his Dad and his mentor (KD) to take me out for a few laps. As we are belting in he asks me if I am familiar with the track and reply saying that I have done about 40 laps the previous day. As we pull out of the pit lane I tell Mr. KD the problems I am facing on the track, he then throws a literal bomb on me saying by the way do you know that this car does not have a brake booster, I am stunned. He says you will have to literally have to stand on the brake to slow it down( I am on loss of words) as we pull on to the track. He then continues on to show me the ropes and I realise that this car is behaving differently, his moves are like tai-chi and I am having problems remebering them, before I realise it his 3 laps are over and it is my turn to drive, I am confused as I head out to the track as I reach C2 the car slides and I know I am in trouble ( Hmm didnt I say it was easy) spend the next 8 laps trying to understand the car, realise each steering input sends the car sliding like a go-cart. I also face some problems shifting gears so i decide to complete the entire session on the thrid gear to keep a check on speed and try and get the lines correctly. Get back into the pits ( with my confidence in the pits too) hand it over to the mechs to check the gear issues, and hobble over to JD to recite my tale of woe.
Session 2 :
I sit out and explain my problem to Sideways and JD and JD asks me to go out with Arun for the third session.
Session 3:
I quietly get into the car and tell Arun I have tried over 10 laps with the car and I not able to get it, so he decides to show me the ropes again, I sit and watch each move. When my turn comes I realise in my confusion on how to drive the car I am actually driving like a clumsy fool, come back into the pits early and beg JD to come along and help, he slithers out of the press meet he has to help me out for the next session.
Session 4:
JD climbs into the car, and listens to me again and asks me to get onto the track and drive the lap at 80% of my best on this car, we do 2 laps, he asks me to push it to 90% we fininsh one more lap with me sliding on C2 and JD giving me a split second training session on how to use the throttle to get it back in control, car is back in control and I now am slightly out of my fear of going into an uncontrollable spin.
We reach the straight gunning it, here JD asks me to stop midway on the right of the track and spends 5 minutes telling me where I went wrong and where I need to improve, I byheart each word and confirm that i have got him right.
I get back on to the track following each instruction to the dot, start pushing my limits on the car ( please note I really felt that I was not driving the car it was more like I was prodding it to respond and hope it would), I realise it did handle the way JD explained and it did behave itself if driven right at a certain speed, use the rest of the laps to keep pusing it faster and faster ( mainly because JD was not ready to let me ease off and he kept screaming his head off on me till he was satisfied) thank god he did that
We get back into the pits with me being a satisfied guy and I debrief myself to JD who again gives me a couple of more tips to further improve myself on the track(more to remember till next track day). I thank each one of them profusely for showing me how to drive...
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Well I get back to Bangalore and realise I am so far off from having learnt how to drive, it is like me being glad I learnt the letters and then realising there are words too...
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I guess the learning to drive the esteem is going to be a long and enjoyable experience, and I hope to cherish it till I am ready for the next car on the track, hopefully the learning will be a little easier the next time around(well no harm in keeping my fingers crossed)
Thank you one and all who showed me the way how to and to those who will show me the way in the time to come, I am really thankful that such an event can be used by people like us to learn that driving cars is so much more than just the gears, steering accelerator, brakes etc...