3/13/2009

Our first track day!

Finally giving some meaning to the name of our gang! We (Vicky and myself) hit the MMSC race track on Sunday .This track day was organized by Xbhp Chennai gang. Thanks to Varun for organizing the event in first place. Vicky was devoid of a bike as he was expecting the delivery of his 220. So he tagged along with us. I had borrowed riding gears from my friend Praveen. The thing of hitting the tracks had made me excited as well as scared as it was going to be my first track experience. My friend Guru and I have been in discussion for the past one week regarding the safety features before hitting the track. We reached the track by 7:30 am and Varun collected the entry fee for each rider and thats it! It was now my turn to kit up and start my track day! Myself and Guru( Unicorn) kept slow and cautious during the initial few laps. After few laps I started to understand the track. For me C2 was very tricky, I was doing only 30-40kmph during C2. Rest of the corners were comfortable for me. As i kept lapping more laps my aggression has been on a rise and it made me do faster laps. I was completely enjoying the corners and flat out straights. Was doing full throttle on c1 .Still couldn manage to master c2 but what the .... its my first track day after all! As I was on my 9th lap at C8 I saw Eshwar crash on his P200. Informing this to Ananth near the pits for a back up I was doing my next lap. Here tragedy struck! The exact corner where I saw Eshwar crash I crashed!!!! Yes It was a tricky right hander and I think I overcooked the corner and bang!! All I knew was that I had hit the tarmac and I closed my eyes and rolled over the track until i stopped rolling on the dry grass banking the tracks. I knew my bike had taken a toll. When I opened my eyes fellow bikers were there near me and asked whether I was alright. I knew I was perfectly fine, but my concern was my bike! Saw the bike with scratched silencer and a bent right clip on and a deformed fairing ! I rode down to the pits and checked myself for any injuries. Thanks to the riding gears I was left without even a single bruise. But my bike was not in a condition to be ridden on the track as it had a bent handle. I took rest until I regained my composure. Meanwhile Vicky borrowed Madhu's FZ 16 and took for a few spins on the track. After a while Guru offered his Unicorn for me to ride. I accepted his offer in a humble manner and off I was again on the track! Oh man! the unicorn was handling so perfectly! It was dancing to my tunes! I just loved the handling the the Unicorn. Now I knew why Pulsars were not meant on the track. At the end of the day it was an amazing experience for Vicky and me. Few pictures to sum up our experience.


The MMSC track


Me taking C1


Vicky


Vicky


Me on Guru's Unicorn


Guru


Guru


Vimal - Gutzy Roadies mod


Praful

Pic Courtesy - Sri Keerthi



Varun - Thanks for Organizing the event!

Pic Courtesy - Sri Keerthi

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