Race weekend... part 2

i shall keep this very short.

mainly because the story of what happened is actually very short. the second race was started in the order of the finishers of the first race. so naturally i was to start from third place, while all the others who crashed out in the beginning would start from the end. "a good position to be in" i thought to myself, as the horribly hot chennai summer ate through my brain.

the formation lap started, and some idiot didn't know that you aren't allowed to overtake during a formation lap (i call him an idiot because i was going slowly to get myself back in the "groove" and he overtook me) however he did allow me to overtake him halfway through the lap after i waved some hand gestures at him. i don't remember who he is but i dont think he finished the race. or on the podium anytime during the season.

GOOD

so... revving upto 4500 rpm as the lights came on, i had some kind of an awesome start as soon as they went off, and within the first straight i had overtaken ajit narasimhan (he finished 2nd in the overall championship i think) flat out into the corner.. i managed to stay ahead of him. he managed to outbrake me into c2 and got ahead of me soon after and i followed him close when he went slightly off track spraying some of chennai's racing mud on my face, and that's when the photo you see in the magazine was taken. (the dust is also visible). so i followed ajay and ajit hard for the first lap and there was no one behind us. apparently my first lap, starting from 0 kmph was faster than any of the laps i had done in practice.. i know the timing because it was my best lap of this race.

best and only complete lap.
yup.. i spun out of c2 at some large speed while struggling with the gears and missing my braking point completely. a slight lack of concentration that cost me a possible third place.

now let me tell you a few of the worst feelings in the world... things you often see on tv but never realize

1 loss of a loved one
2 losing a world cup final because of a missed penalty
3 carrying your helmet and walking back to the pitstop while everyone else is enjoying their race around you. (i've seen kimi do it a million times but never actually realized what it felt like)

even the sight of another car stranded in the middle of the gravel was little relief for me as i saw the owner frantically trying to get some of the marshals to push his car back on track. his race was over as well.
at least i had company to walk me back to the losers hall of shame. his reason was two slower cars going sideways in front of him when he was flat out through c1 and his braking threw him off the track while those two managed to finish the race..

i know the two slower guys he was talking about. they were actually very slow.

so back to the paddocks.
race over. dream over. trophy presentation etc etc. boog

i'll do it again sometime. so misha has to keep some extra money in her bank in case i come asking... :) and i've print screened the comment you wrote on my previous blog so you can't go back on your word.

Race weekend part 1

all right. so all this happened in april. so why am i writing about it now? and why haven't i bothered to use capital letters? because i'm a lazy shit.but since i'm already in the process of typing, i might as well show off about my weekend antics in chennai. it started of with a general entry into some random helmet design competition on overdrive magazine and i somehow managed to win a first place (thanks to some not so good stuff being sent in by the competition) so there i was, pretty happy with my first chance to get into the pro racing circuit (pun intended) in india. what would it be like? would i win and destroy all the opposition and be noticed by some rich guy who sends me to some international racing series where i get noticed by some f1 rich guy who agrees to put me into his team where i win some races and get into many richer teams and win 7 world championships by the time i was thirty four?

not likely (despite the fact that i can type really long sentences, i'm not really controlled when i drive and have crashed my car numerous times in the past)
ah who am i kidding.
i actually thought i would blow everyone away. just because i managed to beat a couple of people while go karting. but i kept that modest expression and told everyone "i just hope i dont come last" pffft.

so there i was, getting ready for the biggest weekend of my life. and i get a message from mr 180 dtsi binodh. who was sitting in a hospital after a wipeout at 120 claimed his bravery, the friendship of the person dumb enough to be sitting behind him, and of course, his beloved 180 dtsi.. which was later described to me by witnesses as disintegrating in mid air, throwing pieces all around while somersaulting. (all three characters in this incident are now fine, but two of these characters are going to be working late hours to repay hospital and repair bills to their parents.

would the accident freak me out? would i chicken out in the race? naah.. i wasn't bothered.
friday: after reaching the mmsc race track at chennai after an absolutely incidentless flight which scared the shit out of me because of my ipod - which randomly chose to play these songs - knocking on heavens door - highway to hell - earth angel (buddy holly died in a plane crash) - freebird (lynyrd skynyrd ppls died in a plane crash) and lastly - before i switched it off and didnt look at it again till i unpacked in bangalore 1 day later - eiffel 65 - blue (it's not scary, but it was annoying anyway)

so.. i'm at the race track and i meet karun, who's pretty cool actually. i got introduced to my car. and i forced my mum to take some pictures of me sitting inside it. (how i wish i had taken my beautiful helmet). i had to wear some weird shit blue helmet which was loose and didnt close properly. karun gave me and all the other newbies a tour of the track, which was really cool since we'd all have ended up rolling in the mud after C1(corner 1) otherwise.

practice started, and i managed to put in a couple of slow beginner laps in before i started picking up some speed.
Therefore, i spun out at c2 and fried the valves in the engine, something about going backwards when the accelerator was pressed down and the car should have been moving forward. i walked back to the pits... after almost being run over by a bunch of formula maruti's and a couple of esteems that looked like they were being driven by people who had been born in them.

that was it for friday, the session was closed before they put the engine back on and i was off.
saturday. mesa got some new racing shoes.. mesa been given a nice racing suit. mesa wishing me had me own helmet..

saturday practice was good, i met lots of cool people on saturday who hadnt bothered to come on friday because they had all raced before.

and then.. again. starting problems with my car. new batteries, new connectors, new everything. it just wont start.
no more practice for me..
qualifying. get out there and do your best man! all righty then. i did a 1:18 lap, which is not good compared to the front runners, who were putting in 1:14 and 1:15 laps. but considering the amount of practice i had, i was sufficiently pleased. and even more "sufficiently pleased" when they announced that i had qualified in 11th place, one position behind alisha. the only girl on track. (before any strange ideas pop into your head. she is the daughter of one of india's most established bike racers and is actually quite good in bike's herself.) and i don't think it's that bad to be beaten by a girl. (8^)

before the race had started, another racing dude - sunny (amitrajit ghosh 2005 fissme champion) had told me and another bong chap who was racing that everyone takes C1 too fast in the first lap and there's always a spin and a crash there.
the tense of the following paragraphs have been changed to make them sound exciting!!!

the lights come on and all of us are revving at 4500 rpm. lights out. boom, i get smashed back into my seat and there's hot air blowing into my face at 130 k's within a few moments. i see the other bong chap has taken sunny's advice and is slowing down. i use this as a good moment to overtake him. 10th place.
what's this ahead? a crash? yup. alisha's slowing down to avoida guy sliding off the track. i overtake her and the outside crash guy. 8th place. slowed down C3 because there's some guy going slowing down in front of me, alisha overtakes me and see's two guys parked in the middle of the road, facing the wrong side. all i see are her tyres smoking as she flies of the track in front of me. i brake for all my car is worth, putting in some strange corrections and luckily manage to avoid getting hit or spinning off. did i mention overtaking the guy who was slowing me down?
5th place. of course i don't know that yet.

another uneventful lap as i manage to cut down the lead to one of the guys who was ahead of me.
going flat out through C1( i was told that takes a lot of balls, or stupidity in the case of beginners) i manage to outbrake him into C2. position 4 is mine.

a few laps later. i do the same thing to the third place guy. and as far as i know, there's no one else on the track because the guys ahead of me are nearly 10 seconds ahead. and lapping faster than me. the guy i overtook reminds me of his presence and i nearly take both of us off the track while oversteering into c6, luckily he's a better driver than some of the others and managed to avoid this.

so...
i managed to hold on to my place and finished in third position. the same position in which i had to start the second race. this would be easier.. or so i thought.

more.. when i have the patience( the next blog will be relatively short)