[humyum]

Not able to upload pictures, don't know why, its throwing up some error. Team can you please check?

None the less, I went to Matheran last Sunday and the roads were amazing all the way. Of-course the hill-station is closed, so went till the top, stopping at many places on the ghats to soak in the awesome weather and views.

The ghats are good and get quite treacherous the last few kilometres, some of them are strictly 1st gear climbs even though it might look at the start that 2nd gear will make it.

My dad clicked a video a few minutes after we had started our climb down. Look how the Swift diesel is howling in 1st gear as I kept her in that for maximum engine braking and even without touching the accelerator she was going around the 4000 rpm mark. If I had shifted to 2nd gear, I would have to constantly brake and that would have fried the brakes considering how steep the decent was.

Some people turned around and were looking as to why this car is making so much noise

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVwzTuuJF3Y&t=25s

[vharihar]

Originally Posted by humyum

Not able to upload pictures, don't know why, its throwing up some error. Team can you please check?

This is a bad way to drive I feel. It's a car, not a truck. And the gradients hardly look steep for a car. There was no need to do engine braking I feel. You'll end up ruining your engine.

[lancia_fanboy]

Hey Guys

Is there any nice place to Visit near Chandigarh. The weekend is right upon us and Vixen(My Black Himalayan) is begging for a ride more than the sector visit it's doing right now.
Anyone willing to ride along (with proper social distancing measures taken) is also welcome.

Thanks In Advance

[cataclysm]

Originally Posted by lancia_fanboy

Hey Guys

Is there any nice place to Visit near Chandigarh. The weekend is right upon us and Vixen(My Black Himalayan) is begging for a ride more than the sector visit it's doing right now.
Anyone willing to ride along (with proper social distancing measures taken) is also welcome.

Thanks In Advance

I usually ride to Morni hills. But now since the border with HP is open, you can ride to Kasauli/Dagshai or even farther ahead.

Even I ride a black Himalayan.

[lancia_fanboy]

Originally Posted by cataclysm

I usually ride to Morni hills. But now since the border with HP is open, you can ride to Kasauli/Dagshai or even farther ahead.

Even I ride a black Himalayan.

Thanks for the inputs man. Although technically Himachal is open, but is it the same situation on the ground?

But yeah, I guess I'll start with Morni First and then progressively move forward.

Once again Thanks a lot

[Shanksta]

Finally went on a quick 200km round trip till Marakkanam and back on Sunday 13th Sep. It was perfect, left home at about 8:00AM and it was drizzling, with cloudy skies, cool weather. Drove at a steady pace enjoying the curves that ECR throws at you and came back home after 4 hours all charged up.

[ash22]

Post lock down, We went on a 510km round trip on Saturday 19th Sep to Mayiladuthurai (TN) and back on the same day.

Weather was so pleasant and perfect for the drive. Me and my wife started around 5:30AM from Chennai and Reached Mayiladuthurai by 11 AM. Since we do not want to take risk of having food outside, Wife packed breakfast,lunch,hot water,tea and few home made snacks. We spent some quality time in our temple and started from there by 3:00 PM and back to Chennai by 10:00PM.



Usually we will take the ECR route to reach pondycherry but this time, We went through the GST-Dhindivanam-Pondy route.

[RijuC]

Originally Posted by Shanksta

Finally went on a quick 200km round trip till Marakkanam and back on Sunday 13th Sep. It was perfect, left home at about 8:00AM and it was drizzling, with cloudy skies, cool weather. Drove at a steady pace enjoying the curves that ECR throws at you and came back home after 4 hours all charged up.

Attachment 2056505

Going through these lockdown trips and photos of ECR reminds me the journey we had exactly 19 years back. After our induction and orientation program at mumbai we headed to respective posting sites. 40 young officers arrived at Chennai Central, some officials picked us up and within half an hour we were in ECR. Coming from various corners of the country, we had never seen such a beautiful road like ECR. It was late evening, and the ECR road welcomed us like a dipawali show, well marked with new reflectors, flashing road stud indicators, roaring sound of sea, and the happiness of first job..all together it was mesmerizing. We would never forget that 2 hours journey through ECR road. Later, it was part of our weekend life, either going to chennai, or a comfy trip to Pondy, partying in Mamallapuram, movie night outs at Mayajal. Couple of times post midnight we returned from Mayajal sitting on the bus stair steps!!! That was kind of fun and adventure for us!

[Shanksta]

Originally Posted by RijuC

Going through these lockdown trips and photos of ECR reminds me the journey we had exactly 19 years back. After our induction and orientation program at mumbai we headed to respective posting sites. .......... Couple of times post midnight we returned from Mayajal sitting on the bus stair steps!!! That was kind of fun and adventure for us!

Good to know it brought back some fond memories. I assume then you were stationed at Kalpakkam. It is such a beautiful road.

Originally Posted by ash22

Post lock down, We went on a 510km round trip on Saturday 19th Sep to Mayiladuthurai (TN) and back on the same day.

Usually we will take the ECR route to reach pondycherry but this time, We went through the GST-Dhindivanam-Pondy route.

Did the TN cops not stop you for e-pass while re-entering TN or is it a free entry for Puducherry alone ?

[ash22]

Originally Posted by Shanksta

Did the TN cops not stop you for e-pass while re-entering TN or is it a free entry for Puducherry alone ?

No Cops stopped us in the whole journey. It is a free entry anywhere in TN and since Pondycherry is a connecting point to some districts to TN, They have a free entry too.

[chandan.goa]

Post lockdown went on 300km round trip from Vasco, Goa to Belgaum. Took the Anmod Ghat road, took the Bhimgad wildlife sanctuary road which joins khanapur.
Just the usual checking happened on the Anmod checkpost. Cops were stopping non-KA for I suppose documents checking, but by luck they missed to see us .
Goa to Anmod checkpost roads were good. The Bhimgad sanctuary road is a mix of good and really bad patches. Khanapur to Belgaum road had lot of diversions with concrete roads been constructed. But the conditions of the road were good.
Traffic was less since heavy traffic is not allowed through the Bhimgad route.

Thanks
Chandan

[vvivek85]

My second long drive post lockdown, first one was to Kumbakonam on a medical emergency, so didn’t take any photos. Today, my wife and I went to Sundara Kamakshi Amman temple which is in Sirukarumbur near Kanchipuram.

As a saying goes, “If you don’t look back at your car after you park it, you’ve bought the wrong car”

[BoneCollector]

A daytime trip to Patna, just to take out my kid for a longer drive.

The bridge in background is the J P Setu (Loknayak Jai Prakash Setu : Bridging the gap (Digha-Sonepur Bridge)) . (Click on the snap for a higher resolution picture).

[CapnCook]

Originally Posted by humyum

The ghats are good and get quite treacherous the last few kilometres, some of them are strictly 1st gear climbs even though it might look at the start that 2nd gear will make it.

Not sure if this is the best way to drive. I am from Himachal and the general rule here among the folks is that you drive down in the gear in which you would otherwise be climbing up. I can't think of any road where you would need to constantly on the brakes.

[humyum]

Originally Posted by CapnCook

Not sure if this is the best way to drive. I am from Himachal and the general rule here among the folks is that you drive down in the gear in which you would otherwise be climbing up. I can't think of any road where you would need to constantly on the brakes.

I agree, I went up on these slopes in first gear too, in 2nd the car just did not have the torque to climb them. The hair pin bends you see are treacherous if you run out of breath on them while in the turn. The last few kilometers to Matheran really did remind me of Zozila if you ask me, just that the altitude here was not that much as Zozila and the car did not run out of breath in 1st like it did when I was climbing Zozila in my Swift D.

When I tried in 2nd while climbing down before we started the video, the car reached 4000 rpm there too but with me on the brakes so as to control the speed, constantly keeping the brakes pressed can overheat the brakes right, hence the 1st gear with very light tapping of brakes when near a turn.