I know my car is not an Alto but...

Samurai · 1st August 2005, 00:32

my wife said Let's GO!

Today we got out of the house at 12PM and we didn't know where we wanted to go. First stop was at a beauty parlour where my wife vanished for 15 minutes. Meanwhile I was parked in the street making some meaningless talk with my son, thinking about where to eat out. Then a thought came to me. When the wife came back, I said we'll eat at Indra Dhanush. And she said Let's GO. What if we don't have an Alto, we have Alto's big Brother!

If you are little confused at this point, let me clarify that Indra Dhanush is a restaurant on Bangalore-Mysore road, about 80Kms from my house.

So we went towards Mysore road and were on the way. Checked the tyre pressure on the way, that was the only preparation I did for the trip, which means I didn't even have a camera for the occasion.

Today, there was hardly any traffic on the highway which means the drive was really great. This was different from the Krishnagiri road since this highway is still under construction. Every 2-3 Kms it used to turn into 2 lane road, then again 4 lane road, and then again 4 lane road where traffic goes both ways on both sides. Confusing? you bet. But, quite often we used to get this deserted stretch of about one KM visibility where I could rip. Was able to show the wife what we do on Team-BHP drives. I red-lined on 2nd gear, but couldn't do so in 3rd gear since I couldn't get long enough clear stretch to do it safely. But did hit above 5000 rom quite routinely throughout the trip.

We reached Indra Dhanush by 2PM and had lunch, it was pretty good, both taste wise and in ambience. Meanwhile my wife came up with another idea, how about Rangantittu (a natural bird sanctuary on Cauvery river) which is further 50 Kms away towards Mysore. This time I said let's Go, after some reservations though. I hate driving Highways in the night, I wanted to be back before dusk. We reached Rangantittu by 4PM and took the boat ride in the croc-infested river, because of the recent rains the river was filled and all the crocodiles were under water. SO we only got to see the birds. We started back at 4:50PM and after 130 Kms ride we were back home at 7:30PM.

To talk about some fellow drivers on the way, I had some mixed experiences. First it was an Omni driver who got into competition spirit after I passed him. He started racing me with his all powerful 0.8 litre engine. Now, I have this strict policy about not racing in the street or highways. So, I let him go forward again. However when I was behind him, he wasn't satisfed, he started ripping to distance himself from me. Now, I was not interested in racing him, but I decided to keep up just to see how long can he keep this up. However, every time he had to slow down due to humps or traffic, he hardly used to have much torque to break away. So I used to get ahead using Baleno's powerful torque and then again he used to come after me. He was doing this quite dangerously on stock tyres. After sometime I decided to stop this game and once I got a clear stretch, I pulled away so fast I never saw him later, I guess he too gave up once he saw how I could pull away.

Coming back, I came across this brick coloured Swift Vxi which was driven very well. He was driving very fast but safely, my kind of a guy. He was ahead of me and I decided to tag along. As I said before, I don't race on the highways. However I have the habit of tagging along somebody who drives in a similar pace. On Indian roads, if you have to drive fast passing all the vehicles on the way, you have to look at the road with full concentration for unmarked speedhumps, villagers crossing, animals crossing, oncoming traffic in your lane, etc. This can get really tiring after sometime. I solve this problem by picking some car which is driving at a speed I like to drive and then follow it about 100ft behind. I fondly call them my pilot car. The pilot car deals with all the traffic, slows down for humps, crossings, etc. I just have to keep pace with the pilot car, which easier than keeping track of so many things. In addition, the pilot car driver usually thinks I am trying to race him just because I am keeping pace. Therefore, if I want to go faster, I speed up and automatically the pilot car driver speeds up, all very convenient really. Ok, there goes my secret...

So I kept up with this Swift for a long time and it was fun, I reached 150Kms at some stages. He was driving very well, without taking any risks, so it was all very nice. In the middle of that I suddenly noticed one Zen tail gating me at about 120+, and honking at me to pass. I let him go, this driver was almost crazy, he had stock tyres and went so fast, even the Swift driver let him go almost immediately. After all that urgency, I saw the Zen quitely turning to Cafe Coffee Day near Channapatna. So, what was his hurry?

After sometime the Swift driver must have realized that I was not trying to pass him at all, I was only keeping pace. After that he too appeared relaxed.

Then suddenly one Santro Xing (with L board) cut me off near a bridge and nearly caused me to crash into his rear. I gave him a big honk. Later while passing him I looked at him and made an eye contact with blank expression, no smile, no gestures. Somehow it turned him mad, he started chasing me, flashing lights to pass me even when he was 100mts behind me. When I let that maniac go ahead, he started speeding very fast to pull away. I decided to tag along, then my wife cautioned not to do it with a bad driver, that too when he was driving in rage. So I gave him space, but after sometime I saw him crossing a speedbump slowly, I passed him and pull away fast, never saw him again. Then I got back with my pilot car. Then a Scorpio CRDe got in between me and my pilot. This Scorpio driver had some bad attitude, he refused to go beyond 70 but decided no one should pass him. For almost 10 minutes he didn't let me pass, finally I passed him when he had to stop behind a bus. However, I lost my pilot car due to this nitwit.

By now I had reached Bidadi, and ran into Bangalore traffic. Rest was mundane, what happens everytime after one returns to Bangalore from a long drive, traffic, traffic and more traffic.

It rained few times on the drive, but each time it didn't last more than couple of minutes. We saw a beautiful rainbow, one of the biggest and brightest we have ever seen. Using my camera phone, my wife took this photo.

RX135 · 1st August 2005, 01:01

Great report, Samurai! You sure are having a ball with your car. Good report and very prudent of you, not to loose your cool on highway races. Made me think of going out on long drive at this odd night hours

adya33 · 1st August 2005, 01:31

nice report samurai,
great report, at that Zen must be some collage guy with his gf or might have been late to meet his gf.

@RX135 : so where are we meeting now to go for a drive

Buffetfan · 1st August 2005, 01:40

Hey...good stuff.
BTW...my Baleno has now crossed 1600 kms and while the engine has freed up quite a bit...I realise that the ride has improved...this is odd..(I checked the AIR at two stations...it is 30 psi...so not to do with that)...does suspension / tyres also require a run in??..never heard that?? I have 185/65 R 14 Goodyear Eagle NCT 5 on my car from day 2 of ownership....

varun_patra · 1st August 2005, 03:28

hey samurai gr8 report! and nice pik !!! lol

v1p3r · 1st August 2005, 03:33

Ah, the magic of a good car. Every day turns into an Alto ad! Samurai, thou art blessed. Not blessed is my hapless father, who must foot my petrol bills. Hmmm...anyone has a Byk for sale?

Steeroid · 1st August 2005, 08:23

Nice report, Samurai. As a family we end up doing pretty much the same - one of our trips to Calicut ended up in a Chikmaglur coffee estate (Bababudangiri) and became the talk of the family after that one day trip took a week...

Puffdamgcdragon · 1st August 2005, 08:56

Samurai, U'r my kinda guy!

Enjoyed reading Ur report. Makes me wonder how I can never get across to the heathens everywhere about the pleasures of having a good car and a good road and just driving. A lot of guys I know own Balenos and one has a Corolla. All of them have chauffers! One of them has never driven his own car since the day he bought it. He claims that it's the work of his driver.. Makes me feel really sad and misunderstood- lonely. Untill I come across a report like Yours!

U made my day, buddy!

Surprise · 1st August 2005, 10:51

Samurai, I enjoyed reading your experience. It was a great write up & I was feeling as if I was driving the car in the highways.

rahulv · 1st August 2005, 11:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steeroid

Nice report, Samurai. As a family we end up doing pretty much the same - one of our trips to Calicut ended up in a Chikmaglur coffee estate (Bababudangiri) and became the talk of the family after that one day trip took a week...

i love this. we have also done similar things. though not on the same scale (1 day to 7 day).

we went to kalpetta (waynad) for weekend. while we were having lunch, my wife said something about the beach. we both decided in 10 minutes and were out of the hotel in half an hour. after that we went to calicut(passed thru) , thalessary, kannur, baikal fort and came back via kannur-virajpet road (must do if you have not done that ghat section). back to bangalore on wednesday. this was on a bike.

cheatingdeath · 1st August 2005, 12:13

nice 1 i usually get bored reading such posts ... but u kept me tagged to you as if u were my pilot car

Samurai · 2nd August 2005, 15:07

Quote:

We reached Rangantittu by 4PM and took the boat ride in the croc-infested river, because of the recent rains the river was filled and all the crocodiles were under water. SO we only got to see the birds.

I just read in today's Times of India that Rangantittu bird sanctuary may get runover by excess river water that is being released by nearby K.R.S Dam. The boat guy was talking about how all the birds nests and their young ones were swept away during an excess water release in 1991. Didn't realise it would happen so soon after that conversation, that too this the peak nesting season.

speedsatya · 2nd August 2005, 15:21

Quote:

So we went towards Mysore road and were on the way. Checked the tyre pressure on the way, that was the only preparation I did for the trip, which means I didn't even have a camera for the occasion.

samurai,

try doing this when your tires are cold.

Steeroid · 2nd August 2005, 15:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by rahulv

this was on a bike.

Woo Hoo !!! We're not the only nuts!

aseem · 2nd August 2005, 15:37

Moral of the story is, buy a brick colored Swift and leave the Baleno in your exhaust

1st August 2005, 00:32	#1
Samurai Team-BHP Support Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Bangalore/Udupi Posts: 25,828 Thanked: 45,531 Times View My Garage	I know my car is not an Alto but... my wife said Let's GO! Today we got out of the house at 12PM and we didn't know where we wanted to go. First stop was at a beauty parlour where my wife vanished for 15 minutes. Meanwhile I was parked in the street making some meaningless talk with my son, thinking about where to eat out. Then a thought came to me. When the wife came back, I said we'll eat at Indra Dhanush. And she said Let's GO. What if we don't have an Alto, we have Alto's big Brother! If you are little confused at this point, let me clarify that Indra Dhanush is a restaurant on Bangalore-Mysore road, about 80Kms from my house. So we went towards Mysore road and were on the way. Checked the tyre pressure on the way, that was the only preparation I did for the trip, which means I didn't even have a camera for the occasion. Today, there was hardly any traffic on the highway which means the drive was really great. This was different from the Krishnagiri road since this highway is still under construction. Every 2-3 Kms it used to turn into 2 lane road, then again 4 lane road, and then again 4 lane road where traffic goes both ways on both sides. Confusing? you bet. But, quite often we used to get this deserted stretch of about one KM visibility where I could rip. Was able to show the wife what we do on Team-BHP drives. I red-lined on 2nd gear, but couldn't do so in 3rd gear since I couldn't get long enough clear stretch to do it safely. But did hit above 5000 rom quite routinely throughout the trip. We reached Indra Dhanush by 2PM and had lunch, it was pretty good, both taste wise and in ambience. Meanwhile my wife came up with another idea, how about Rangantittu (a natural bird sanctuary on Cauvery river) which is further 50 Kms away towards Mysore. This time I said let's Go, after some reservations though. I hate driving Highways in the night, I wanted to be back before dusk. We reached Rangantittu by 4PM and took the boat ride in the croc-infested river, because of the recent rains the river was filled and all the crocodiles were under water. SO we only got to see the birds. We started back at 4:50PM and after 130 Kms ride we were back home at 7:30PM. To talk about some fellow drivers on the way, I had some mixed experiences. First it was an Omni driver who got into competition spirit after I passed him. He started racing me with his all powerful 0.8 litre engine. Now, I have this strict policy about not racing in the street or highways. So, I let him go forward again. However when I was behind him, he wasn't satisfed, he started ripping to distance himself from me. Now, I was not interested in racing him, but I decided to keep up just to see how long can he keep this up. However, every time he had to slow down due to humps or traffic, he hardly used to have much torque to break away. So I used to get ahead using Baleno's powerful torque and then again he used to come after me. He was doing this quite dangerously on stock tyres. After sometime I decided to stop this game and once I got a clear stretch, I pulled away so fast I never saw him later, I guess he too gave up once he saw how I could pull away. Coming back, I came across this brick coloured Swift Vxi which was driven very well. He was driving very fast but safely, my kind of a guy. He was ahead of me and I decided to tag along. As I said before, I don't race on the highways. However I have the habit of tagging along somebody who drives in a similar pace. On Indian roads, if you have to drive fast passing all the vehicles on the way, you have to look at the road with full concentration for unmarked speedhumps, villagers crossing, animals crossing, oncoming traffic in your lane, etc. This can get really tiring after sometime. I solve this problem by picking some car which is driving at a speed I like to drive and then follow it about 100ft behind. I fondly call them my pilot car. The pilot car deals with all the traffic, slows down for humps, crossings, etc. I just have to keep pace with the pilot car, which easier than keeping track of so many things. In addition, the pilot car driver usually thinks I am trying to race him just because I am keeping pace. Therefore, if I want to go faster, I speed up and automatically the pilot car driver speeds up, all very convenient really. Ok, there goes my secret... So I kept up with this Swift for a long time and it was fun, I reached 150Kms at some stages. He was driving very well, without taking any risks, so it was all very nice. In the middle of that I suddenly noticed one Zen tail gating me at about 120+, and honking at me to pass. I let him go, this driver was almost crazy, he had stock tyres and went so fast, even the Swift driver let him go almost immediately. After all that urgency, I saw the Zen quitely turning to Cafe Coffee Day near Channapatna. So, what was his hurry? After sometime the Swift driver must have realized that I was not trying to pass him at all, I was only keeping pace. After that he too appeared relaxed. Then suddenly one Santro Xing (with L board) cut me off near a bridge and nearly caused me to crash into his rear. I gave him a big honk. Later while passing him I looked at him and made an eye contact with blank expression, no smile, no gestures. Somehow it turned him mad, he started chasing me, flashing lights to pass me even when he was 100mts behind me. When I let that maniac go ahead, he started speeding very fast to pull away. I decided to tag along, then my wife cautioned not to do it with a bad driver, that too when he was driving in rage. So I gave him space, but after sometime I saw him crossing a speedbump slowly, I passed him and pull away fast, never saw him again. Then I got back with my pilot car. Then a Scorpio CRDe got in between me and my pilot. This Scorpio driver had some bad attitude, he refused to go beyond 70 but decided no one should pass him. For almost 10 minutes he didn't let me pass, finally I passed him when he had to stop behind a bus. However, I lost my pilot car due to this nitwit. By now I had reached Bidadi, and ran into Bangalore traffic. Rest was mundane, what happens everytime after one returns to Bangalore from a long drive, traffic, traffic and more traffic. It rained few times on the drive, but each time it didn't last more than couple of minutes. We saw a beautiful rainbow, one of the biggest and brightest we have ever seen. Using my camera phone, my wife took this photo.
	(3) Thanks

1st August 2005, 01:01	#2
RX135 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: pune Posts: 2,106 Thanked: 75 Times	Great report, Samurai! You sure are having a ball with your car. Good report and very prudent of you, not to loose your cool on highway races. Made me think of going out on long drive at this odd night hours
	() Thanks

1st August 2005, 01:31	#3
adya33 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Pune Posts: 1,839 Thanked: 183 Times	nice report samurai, great report, at that Zen must be some collage guy with his gf or might have been late to meet his gf. @RX135 : so where are we meeting now to go for a drive
	() Thanks

1st August 2005, 01:40	#4
Buffetfan Senior - BHPian Join Date: May 2005 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 1,128 Thanked: 195 Times	Hey...good stuff. BTW...my Baleno has now crossed 1600 kms and while the engine has freed up quite a bit...I realise that the ride has improved...this is odd..(I checked the AIR at two stations...it is 30 psi...so not to do with that)...does suspension / tyres also require a run in??..never heard that?? I have 185/65 R 14 Goodyear Eagle NCT 5 on my car from day 2 of ownership....
	() Thanks

1st August 2005, 03:28	#5
varun_patra BHPian Join Date: May 2004 Location: mumbai Posts: 469 Thanked: 5 Times	hey samurai gr8 report! and nice pik !!! lol
	() Thanks

1st August 2005, 03:33	#6
v1p3r Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: BLR / DXB / LON Posts: 5,334 Thanked: 6,896 Times View My Garage	Ah, the magic of a good car. Every day turns into an Alto ad! Samurai, thou art blessed. Not blessed is my hapless father, who must foot my petrol bills. Hmmm...anyone has a Byk for sale?
	() Thanks

1st August 2005, 08:23	#7
Steeroid Senior - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: N.A Posts: 7,046 Thanked: 2,751 Times	Nice report, Samurai. As a family we end up doing pretty much the same - one of our trips to Calicut ended up in a Chikmaglur coffee estate (Bababudangiri) and became the talk of the family after that one day trip took a week...
	() Thanks

1st August 2005, 08:56	#8
Puffdamgcdragon BHPian Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Gangtok, Sikkim Posts: 301 Thanked: 261 Times	Samurai, U'r my kinda guy! Enjoyed reading Ur report. Makes me wonder how I can never get across to the heathens everywhere about the pleasures of having a good car and a good road and just driving. A lot of guys I know own Balenos and one has a Corolla. All of them have chauffers! One of them has never driven his own car since the day he bought it. He claims that it's the work of his driver.. Makes me feel really sad and misunderstood- lonely. Untill I come across a report like Yours! U made my day, buddy!
	() Thanks

1st August 2005, 10:51	#9
Surprise Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Chennai Posts: 2,523 Thanked: 454 Times	Samurai, I enjoyed reading your experience. It was a great write up & I was feeling as if I was driving the car in the highways.
	() Thanks

1st August 2005, 12:13	#11
cheatingdeath BHPian Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Mumbai Posts: 275 Thanked: 10 Times	nice 1 i usually get bored reading such posts ... but u kept me tagged to you as if u were my pilot car
	(1) Thanks

2nd August 2005, 15:37	#15
aseem Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Delhi Posts: 1,730 Thanked: 441 Times	Moral of the story is, buy a brick colored Swift and leave the Baleno in your exhaust
	() Thanks