Two nights ago, as i was heading back from town to the suburbs for a good night's sleep, i encountered what was to be the longest race in my history. How does a race culminating at Worli seaface and ending at Andheri sound to you? Read on blokes, its a one on "two" explosive account of an underdog who finally beat the wickers out of two rather "undefeatable" opponents.
I was cruising back around 10:30 that night. I had a bitta temperature running through my nerves and really wasn't in the mood to do some insane driving. So as i completed my cruise round Worli Seaface and onto Prabhadevi, my eyes caught sight of a blue car with its centre LED brakelight shining bright. I initially thought, in the realm of darkness, that i had caught a Porsche 911 convertible, but a few seconds and the haze completely done with, i realised it was a souped up Mitsu lancer, complete with a sports exhaust, body skirts, lower bumpers et all. A flick of the steering and shifting from 4th to 3rd, and Revvmaster was in business.
Out on the stretch to Prabhadevi from the seaface, he got the indication that a race was on. So he started flooring. I did the same and at the turn heading left at Crompton Greaves i took him on the inside, dodged a BEST and was ahead. But it wasn't long before he took me again at the signal. Now, my own lil' fever wasn't gonna play spoilsport. Or rather it egged me on to perform better. I took my position and stuck right behind him. A few flashes and some slotting later, i caught on and overtook him at Siddhivinayak. From there on i stayed right ahead. Or so i presumed. Until i cleared Mahim and was onto Bandra when i saw the car again. This time ahead of me! I was totally flummoxed. I presumed that i overtook him, but probably he took a shortcut that even I wasn't aware of. Smart move.
So i caught on again and while we took the turn from Bandra, onto the flyover and onto Western Express Highway, a new challenger emerged. A black, old gen, Honda City 1.5 with Tardeo RTO registration plates. And lovely multispoke alloys. Nope, he wasn't going to escape me either. Downshifting, i took the straight lane, while he took the extreme left lane across the bridge that runs over the railway tracks at Bandra. Gunning the car at maniac speeds of 90-110 in traffic and dodging slow moving cars, bikes and rickshaws, the trio of us stayed within tow car-lengths of each other. Shifting from the left lane to the extreme right was the forte of this City driver. But not me. I stuck to the middle lane with the occassional lane change and managed to not only stick, but outgun the City in a straight line.The poor lancer fellow tried to keep me behind. He did a good job of blocking, but alas wasn't a great driver and i easily overtook him at Santacruz.
Right outside Santacruz airport, the trio stuck to each other at the signal. As the signal turned green, i managed to shove a rickshaw aside with my devellish head-lamp blinking + horn move. I took the extreme left lane and started racing once again with the City who did ditto. In this straight line drag though, i managed to cock a snook at him. He wasn't aware that he was dealing with a regular WE bahnstormer. I stuck to the leftmost lane, clicked to the right at the Vile Parle Signal and then took the left just before the flyover to go under and win the race, while the poor bloke tried to get rid of a Qualis in front of him.
Moral of the story. It doesn't take a really fast car to stay up with the competition. All you need to be is a smart driver with good knowledge of your roads, anticipate any changes in advance and play it safe throughout the race by not endangering either yours, or your rivals or bystanders lives.
Another moral of the story. If you do see a Silver Zen blinking its headlamps at you on the Western Express highway, you just know whom you met. And yes, please bother to step aside as well.
Revv
P.S. Drive safely