[Gypsy-Boy]

Had been a long time since we had been on a family trip, and when my in-laws talked about attending a wedding in Goa, we made our plans accordingly. Since I have a 15 month old daughter, my wife and I decided that it would be a better option to go to Goa by train but having installed a Race Dynamics selectable tuning box in my Swift DDIS, I was quite keen on trying it out on the highway. We finally decided that my wife and daughter would travel in the relative comfort of a train and I would drive down. The return route was planned with a stopover at Mangalore, which would be used to visit relatives.

Vehicle specs –
Swift DDIS VDI
Tyres – Maxxis 205/50R16
Tyre pressure – 30/28 (F/R)
Vehicle age – 2.5 yrs / ~20,000 kms
Recently installed Race dynamics selectable tuning box, which is selectable between Economy, Stock, Power1 and Power 2.
Had installed it about 400 kms ago and in city I was getting a mileage of 16.8 while trying out the different modes.
My mileage before the box was 15kmpl.

Day 1
Got up, got ready, started putting the luggage in the car – my wife had packed a small bag which would be enough for 2 days and taken it with her while the rest of the stuff was in my car. Left my house at 6:45 and got to a Kamat by 8:15 for breakfast, during that interim period, I was cursing the self centered bus drivers (mostly KSRTC drivers who consider themselves above the law) who would jump and bully their way into the que to pay the toll and also who believe that it is their right to stop in the middle of the road irrelevant of how many vehicles are stuck because of them. In the same breath, I must also appreciate the Nelamangala toll road. Now we just have to wait for the metro work to finish in order to enjoy a smooth drive from IISc …
The first ~350 kms was smooth and fast, despite a self imposed speed limit of 120KMPH (made a promise to my wife). I remember this road from the last time I drove down to Goa about 7-8 years ago, sadly the efficiency of our construction was not upto my expectations. There was (and still is) a railway crossing which I think should have been a priority but the bridge work is still in progress. Continued on and while the roads were good, really wanted the 4 laning to be completed, to enjoy a hassle free drive not involving any diversions. As I approached Hubli, turned off towards Karwar as I remember the roads being less crowded and also that it was a more scenic route.
Landed up in Margao for lunch by 2:30 and after some sandwiches went on to Vasco where I was staying with some relatives overnight, which I reached by 3:10.
My odo reading was 677.8 km and wanting to know my mileage, decided to fill up at Vasco. Full tank (with shaking and filling) was 34.9 ltrs. Giving me a mileage of 19.4 KMPL!!!

Day 1 stats
Distance covered – 678 Kms
Time taken – 8.5 hours (6:45 – 3:10)
Stoppage time – 1 hour (Breakfast, Lunch, toll plaza’s and level crossings)
Driving time – 7.5 hours
Average speed – 90 KMPH
Mileage – 19.4 KMPL

[Gypsy-Boy]

Day 2
Woke up to a call from my wife saying that they have reached and that they were taking a taxi to the hotel close to where the wedding was taking place. Got ready and after breakfast with my uncle, said my goodbyes and left for Ponda. Missed a turning and ended up taking a long route to Ponda via Margao. My vehicle has dark tints (not allowed in Goa) and not wanting to attract any police attention, drove at a sedate 80 kmph. Reached the venue (a popular temple) the rest of the day was full of getting lots of hugs and kisses from my daughter who had missed me for 2 days and attending the wedding. In the evening, my Father-in-law who had a time share but hadn’t used it arranged for our stay at the Royal Goan Beach Club at royal palms, which was close to Colva beach. We checked in by the evening and ended up at the beach which was my daughter’s favorite place – consider this lots of sand and water and mom and dad not objecting to her playing in either!! Dinner was at a beach front hotel and as my in-laws were leaving the next day and were staying at the hotel with their friends we said our good byes and we went back to our respective hotels.

Day 3
The morning started by a visit to the beach followed by a sumptuous breakfast. My daughter’s tryst with water followed with a session in the pool, and finally ended up going to Martin’s corner for lunch. The heavy and spectacular lunch full of Goan culinary delights was followed by an afternoon siesta. In the evening we had an invite to visit our relatives (with whom I had stayed on day 1) who wanted to meet my daughter and play with her. We also ended up taking my aunt shopping as my wife wanted to buy some Goan spices. A lazy day culminated on our return to the hotel by about 10:30.

Day 4
Once again my princess wanted to welcome the morning at the beach followed by a session at the pool.

Wanting to show my wife the funky parts of Goa, we left for the Calangute-Baga-Anjuna belt after a hearty breakfast. After a quick visit to Calangute beach – for the benefit of the princess, we went on to Tito’s for lunch and after some rasta shopping close by went on to the Anjuna flea market. The flea market though has grown since the last time I was there, does not have the same kind of things (or prices). I was disappointed by the “Mela” look and feel of most of the products there. Finally left Anjuna by about 7:00 and stopped at a small restaurant on the way for Dinner. The restaurant “Delhi Chilli” was a surprise for us as they had some tasty momo’s there and also a range of Kulfi’s.

[blueraven316]

Martin's corner food sounds really great, mouth started watering reading that.
We were supposed to go there this time we went to Goa, could not make time.

Sounds good that the RD box worked for you.

I too had driven a car with the same RD box running 205 55 R15 tyres, in mileage mode it did indeed work, though power in mileage mode was lesser than stock, but very very linear.

In P2 mode it was flying compared to stock, one thing I like about RD boxes is their linear power delivery, but yet packs a punch.

[Gypsy-Boy]

A few pics from the trip
Not in any particular order as my wife had the camera with her and has taken most of the photos.
The temple
My Princess checking out my car



At the beach



Some pics of the temple




And now some random pics taken on the road during the trip






I do not have any pics of the first day as my wife had the camera with her.

[Gypsy-Boy]

Few more pics

My little Princess at the pool



And now some more random pics from the trip - Day 3 and Day 4

[Gypsy-Boy]

Day 5
As usual, we started our day at the beach, followed by breakfast and some time in the pool. We checked out of the hotel by 10:30 and headed for Mangalore. Our first stop was at Margao as I wanted to leave with a full tank of diesel. We had covered 302 Kms and my top up was 13.92 ltrs (again shake and fill) giving me a mileage of 21.7 KMPL!! The departure timing was selected in order to coincide with my baby’s sleep timings. During this journey, my speeds were restricted to a maximum of 100kmph. We got to Karwar by about 12:15 for lunch and spent a little more than an hour there. We used this time to not only eat but also play with my daughter so that she was tired enough to sleep during the onward journey. The journey from Karwar onwards was quite uneventful and with the road being in very good condition upto Kundapur, we covered this distance in about 3 hours. Kundapur onwards there was some 4 laning work being done and this slowed us down tremendously. For the most part during this drive I was in 4th gear and using the switching between economy and power2 for overtaking. My wife actually commented during this drive that I am not changing gears much. We ended up in Mangalore by about 6:00 PM.
I remember visiting my grand parents during the summer holidays and we would end up at Ideals nearly every day. This time around , once again, our visit to Mangalore was considered complete after a visit to Ideals cream parlour by 8:00 for an ice-cream.


Some random pics




My dad remembers this road which has the ocean on one side and a river on the other. In earlier days, the level of the road was much lower and during the rainy season the road would be closed as the road was literally underwater.




Day 6
Not too much to write about as the entire day was spent visiting relatives and eating snacks and coffee / tea at each place.
Once again we were at Ideals by 8:00.

Day 5&6 stats
Distance covered – 407 Kms – (Highway driving + Mangalore city travels)
Time taken – 7.5 hours (10:30 – 6:00)
Stoppage time – ~2 hour (Lunch and coffee breaks)
Driving time – ~5.5 hours
Average speed – 70 KMPH
Mileage – 20.25 KMPL


Day 7
Once again keeping my princess’s sleep schedule in mind, we left Mangalore by 9:30 and our next planned halt was at Sakleshpur for lunch. Since everyone had already warned me that the road in the Shiradi ghats was in appaling condition, I had expected to reach Sakleshpur by ~12:30. As we were approaching the ghats, we saw lots of road repairs and road re-laying happening. Our hopes and prayers were answered as a lot of the ghat roads were repaired, but I still couldn’t keep any kind of speed here as the repairs were sporadic and there was work pending between repairs too. We made it to Sakleshpur by 12:00. Here we caught up with one of our friends and after a leisurely lunch and after seeing pics of the Munzerabad Arvind offbeat drive, we finally left by 3:30. The route that I had decided to take was through Magadi, as I would avoid the Peenya stretch where the metro work was happening. Once again we had decent roads all the way, except in Magadi town, which was a stretch of about 3 ~ 4 kms. My daughter was up as we approached Magadi, therefore we decided to stop over at my in-laws at Vijayanagar and get back to Indiranagar later. We did get a fair amount of traffic from Magadi but it was all fast moving and we ended up at Vijayanagar by 6:30.

Day 7 stats
Distance covered – 378 Kms
Time taken – 9 hours (9:30 – 6:30)
Stoppage time – 3 hours (Lunch)
Driving time – 6 hours
Average speed – 63 KMPH
Mileage – 20.66 KMPL


Finally a pic at Munzerabad club

[VW2010]

Great write up and a cute little princess. Your average speed is definitely high for my standards. Even for my trips to banglore from chennai where the roads are fantastic i am able to do around 80 while you covered close to 670 kms in a 7-8 hours. I say thats fantastic yet gives me a feeling you are pushing some stretches a little hard

Do drive safe and steady and enjoy the little beast of a car.

[Gypsy-Boy]

Originally Posted by VW2010

Great write up and a cute little princess. Your average speed is definitely high for my standards. Even for my trips to banglore from chennai where the roads are fantastic i am able to do around 80 while you covered close to 670 kms in a 7-8 hours. I say thats fantastic yet gives me a feeling you are pushing some stretches a little hard

Do drive safe and steady and enjoy the little beast of a car.

Thanks
I tend to hold my speed and am generally faster compared to others around turns (not my words - others have told me this) the top speed I had done in the entire stretch was ~125kmph - and this was on a slope. It was just a case of not wanting to tell my wife half truths. But I did hold this speed for quite a length of time.

Originally Posted by blueraven316

Martin's corner food sounds really great, mouth started watering reading that.
We were supposed to go there this time we went to Goa, could not make time.

Sounds good that the RD box worked for you.

I too had driven a car with the same RD box running 205 55 R15 tyres, in mileage mode it did indeed work, though power in mileage mode was lesser than stock, but very very linear.

In P2 mode it was flying compared to stock, one thing I like about RD boxes is their linear power delivery, but yet packs a punch.

Martin's corner has been a favourite for quite some time now - and they do let you tell them if you like your food spicy or not.

About the RD box - I have been using the economy mode in city and I find that thanks to the linear power delivery, I actually get to go faster without any grumbles/complaints from my wife.

[abhinav.s]

Nice pics and good T-Log. And your princess is a real cutie

678 kms in 8.5 hours !!!

[powertrain]

Do you have a cute kid or what !!!!!!!

[Gypsy-Boy]

Originally Posted by powertrain

Do you have a cute kid or what !!!!!!!

Originally Posted by abhinav.s

Nice pics and good T-Log. And your princess is a real cutie

678 kms in 8.5 hours !!!

Thanks (on behalf of my princess)


Atually Abhinav the 678 with a driving time of ~7.5 hrs was not too difficult. After breakfast, my average speed for the next 2+ hours (till about 360 kms on my odo) was 100kmph, I ended up as part of a convoy with 2 other vehicles - one red swift (Vdi) and a white dzire(Zdi). At the railway crossing, the white guy went ahead by overtaking other vehicles and cutting in line while I was a way back - did not see him after that. The red guy was with me upto Hubli. We were comfortable with each others driving speeds / styles and were not trying to overtake or anything.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by Gypsy-Boy

Day 5

Attachment 509323

Nice and crisp report!Where did you stay in Goa?The sea and river on each side is the Marvanthe Beach,amazing place indeed

[ms001]

Originally Posted by Gypsy-Boy

Thanks (on behalf of my princess)


Atually Abhinav the 678 with a driving time of ~7.5 hrs was not too difficult. After breakfast, my average speed for the next 2+ hours (till about 360 kms on my odo) was 100kmph, I ended up as part of a convoy with 2 other vehicles - one red swift (Vdi) and a white dzire(Zdi). At the railway crossing, the white guy went ahead by overtaking other vehicles and cutting in line while I was a way back - did not see him after that. The red guy was with me upto Hubli. We were comfortable with each others driving speeds and were not trying to overtake or anything.

wow i think you have set up a team-bhp record for fastest drive to Goa from bangalore.

Nice pics cute daughter

[Gypsy-Boy]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Nice and crisp report!Where did you stay in Goa?The sea and river on each side is the Marvanthe Beach,amazing place indeed

Thanks
We stayed at the Royal Goan beach club at Royal palms. and yes Marvanthe beach has lotsa memories for me too. When I was studying at Manipal we used to stop at Marvanthe at night (enroute to Goa). Especially during full moon nights that place is Awesome!!!

Originally Posted by ms001

wow i think you have set up a team-bhp record for fastest drive to Goa from bangalore.

Nice pics cute daughter

No I definitely dont hold the record.

I was overtaken by a few cars during the drive there - they must have been doing atleast 150 - 160 - compare this to my sedate 120.

[dwaraka]

Ajay,

Good travelogue and record keeping. Congrats. Cute child there.