[mclaren1885]

Originally Posted by akroy

When in a group, one should always be with the group/convoy. Only then all can enjoy the most.

Driving on Hosur-Krishnagiri Road in a convoy is sacrilege, besides not having clean, fresh, cold air flowing to your radiators could only cause engine trouble. Besides, Abhi the only reason why people drive to such far off destinations for lunch/coffee is to let go and drive fast which cannot be done with say family on board?

I think at the next Yelagiri meet you should hitch a ride with one of the Elantra uncles . You will witness a totally different kind of enjoyment, one that will make you feel like you are 18 again.

Anyways, we are OT here. Put up the rest of the pics will ya guys? Want to see what I missed.

[sudev]

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

....besides not having clean, fresh, cold air flowing to your radiators could only cause engine trouble.....

Huh? Driving in convoy does no such thing. Unless you are talking of F1 type of tailing situation and speeds for miles and mile. Plus there is a "pull" fan inside engine compartment. So even if you are stationary or in stop go traffic the car - at least nicely engineered ones - do not overheat.

Nice thread.

[mclaren1885]

Originally Posted by sudev

Huh? Driving in convoy does no such thing. Unless you are talking of F1 type of tailing situation and speeds for miles and mile. Plus there is a "pull" fan inside engine compartment. So even if you are stationary or in stop go traffic the car - at least nicely engineered ones - do not overheat.

Nice thread.

Formula 1 or not all forms of vehicles run on the same principles. Radiators need air flowing on them. Your "pull" fans are enough to only cool during slow speeds, mostly at idle stops only because the heat produces if far less unlike when you are belting your car on a highway. Sudev, I am sure you would have noticed that when you drive in a ghat section (10-15kms) behind trucks at around 15kmph, soon you will start to hear detonation/knocking.

Though, this topic is for another thread all together. I think we should stop taking it OT here.

Shah Nawaz, some really beautiful pics there. Which camera?

[Torqy]

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

Driving on Hosur-Krishnagiri Road in a convoy is sacrilege, besides not having clean, fresh, cold air flowing to your radiators could only cause engine trouble.

McLaren, i sincerely wish you were joking when you said this, but apparently you were not. Driving in a convoy doesn't mean sticking one's nose into the other's behind. All of them may not have had their track-days, but they do know the distance to keep between cars at GQ speeds.

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

Besides, Abhi the only reason why people drive to such far off destinations for lunch/coffee is to let go and drive fast which cannot be done with say family on board?

Well, it depends on how old / young you are. Not everybody out there is doing it for the smell of rubber. Driving fast isn't everything.

@khan_sultan, the last picture is lovely.

[mclaren1885]

Originally Posted by Torqy

Well, it depends on how old / young you are. Not everybody out there is doing it for the smell of rubber. Driving fast isn't everything.

Don't know about you, but maybe you should come and attend some of these drives in person and do a poll on who would like to drive fast/slow. You would be surprised that the fastest drivers on these drives are all 30+ who are married and have kids too. So, its not about the age after all. Since I have been around long enough to know the regular members who keep awaiting such drives, let me just tell you that the only reason places like Yelagiri, Nandi Hills are chosen is for the beautiful roads. If not, you would find us organizing drives (to enjoy the scenery) to places like Savandurga etc. Its only since the influx of these family meets that most members are actually venturing out to "see" places than just drive. But then, you don't find most of the regulars who would give out an arm/leg maybe more to come to Yelagiri do give it a pass on such drives.

As for me? I hardly ever get my car out these days. Mostly I hitch a ride with someone. I think you must get out of that stereotype funda of yours that youngsters drive fast/rash while old people drive sane. All you have to do is to come to the meets to be proved wrong.

[Torqy]

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

You would be surprised that the fastest drivers on these drives are all 30+ who are married and have kids too. So, its not about the age after all. Since I have been around long enough to know the regular members who keep awaiting such drives, let me just tell you that the only reason places like Yelagiri, Nandi Hills are chosen is for the beautiful roads.

I think you must get out of that stereotype funda of yours that youngsters drive fast/rash while old people drive sane. All you have to do is to come to the meets to be proved wrong.

Hmm..(luckily) i didn't say youngsters are rash and old are sane.
I'm also very young (if 38 is) and love driving fast and i've had my go-karting days. All i said was speed isn't everything. It's more than that. I would enjoy a beautiful road even driving slow.

[redrage]

Intresting thread. Convoy driving would require a lot of patience on GQ roads/ Krishnagiri route and other high speed streches, but you could definetly let loose once in a while, or could make 2 groups who maintain 140-160+ and another who maintain below 120.

[dadu]

Convoy driving cause no such thing/ harm. There is enough air around for all and the temp controller along with the fan ensures that the required temp is maintained which is the optimal for engine operations , the ECU adjust the fuel mix based on the air around.

If we go by the same theory, all engines in a longish traffic jam will fail (no air, supposedly), but it doesnt happen.

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

Sudev, I am sure you would have noticed that when you drive in a ghat section (10-15kms) behind trucks at around 15kmph, soon you will start to hear detonation/knocking.

10-15 kms in ghat section means you reach high altitudes. Which means the air is thinner. I'd guess that to be a more probable reason for engine knocking.

[Torqy]

Originally Posted by dadu

If we go by the same theory, all engines in a longish traffic jam will fail (no air, supposedly), but it doesnt happen.

..and Army trucks will not last long either.

[hemanthisgreat]

When driving in a convoy, what is the distance maintained between the vehicles.

[Path_Finder]

Cone on folks! There is lot more fresh air on the long highways and the ghats compared to cities with bumper to bumper traffic – even in convoy driving on long stenches will give lot LOT more times cleaner air to the radiators and engine than typical city drives. I would think the point raised in this thread as no concern at all.

[mclaren1885]

Originally Posted by dadu

If we go by the same theory, all engines in a longish traffic jam will fail (no air, supposedly), but it doesnt happen.

Thats when the fan comes in. Besides, engines love highway drives (constant cruising) compared to city traffic. If you compare two cars of the same model, one run mostly on highways and the other in city, you will find the one that does highways feels smoother, better and thus is more efficient too.

@ Amitoj: Yes, density of air does play a major role. But try doing the same drive to Nandi Hills at full pelt. You won't hear a knock. Next time try doing the same climb behind two trucks at slow speed and you will see the difference.

Then there are other dis-advantages of convoy driving. If the lead car makes a mistake, so does everyone.What if the lead car doesn't see a stone/pothole and suddenly swerves at the last minute the cars behind will have to follow the same course of action, at the same time having less reaction time than the car in front. Then you have the possibility of each one braking differently, worse case leading to a pile up. If one car runs over a small stone, it could hurl itself at your windshield cracking it. Its happened to me and a couple of others on such drives.

Actually this thread is turning from being one that was supposed to educate members that its necessary to/not do convoy driving during the meet drives (to enjoy more of the meet) to focussing mainly on engine troubles.

I don't think that in my tenure as an organizer of such meets that any member has gotten lost to a point where they decided to head back home. We always had meeting points, where we would wait for the rest to arrive.

[tadukuttan]

Convoy driving is a nuisance for the rest of the road users, especially, cars which want to overtake the whole convoy. I want to move down those marriage and what not convoys every time I get into one.

They all drive so close to each other, leaving very little space to slot in when I try to overtake. And to top it, the power of crowds come into play, and a lot of the drivers in the convoy try to prevent cars from overtaking. Emboldened by the size of the group, of course.

And there is a convoy moving up a ghat road, sometimes led by the slowest car in the group, and you want to overtake, god help! It is better to take a break, and start driving again after 20 minutes.

[Torqy]

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

Then there are other dis-advantages of convoy driving. If the lead car makes a mistake, so does everyone.What if the lead car doesn't see a stone/pothole and suddenly swerves at the last minute the cars behind will have to follow the same course of action, at the same time having less reaction time than the car in front. Then you have the possibility of each one braking differently, worse case leading to a pile up. If one car runs over a small stone, it could hurl itself at your windshield cracking it. Its happened to me and a couple of others on such drives.

Mclaren, you're again assuming that convoy driving is always bumper to bumper driving. It all depends on the speed. Most of our office drives are convoy drives, aren't they? We only don't know the other drivers. The inter-car distance SHOULD increase with speed. I'm sure a SANE / SENSIBLE driver will know it and WILL keep it.

And for the windshield cracking thing, if you stick to the other one's bumper it won't happen. Think about it.