It all started off one day when I decided that I wanted to build a café racer kit on the Thunderbird. I had planned on the direction I would be taking with this project and finalized (at least in my mind) as to how the bike would finally look. This project took a step towards reality when over a session of beer and mindless doodling on Scottish Pub’s tissue paper; Prashanth told me that he had a café racer tank with him. Continue reading The fabrication of a café racer – ThunderDUCK!
All posts by MCin
Royal Enfield Thunderbird Specifications (350cc)
All data that you see below is from the Royal Enfield site as of 08 Feb, 2005. Don’t worry, nothing much has changed in terms of the Thunderbird specifications over the last few years (and this data is pretty much upto date, till this model went out of production many years later.) Continue reading Royal Enfield Thunderbird Specifications (350cc)
Rider Mania 2005
Rider Mania (RM) has always been an event that has held a kind of weird fascination for me. This is because I had, a couple of years ago, gone to send off a few friends when they were on their way to the first RM. Whether I would be able to attend RM 05 at all was in limbo till the last minute due to issues at the office. Another factor that didn’t make me all that enthusiastic was the fact that RM would be held this year at a place called Panvel about 60kms from Mumbai. Argh! Why not Goa! Continue reading Rider Mania 2005
In the mountains
This story is especially for those of you who had written in after reading the Himalayan Ride story of the RD boys from Bangalore and loved it. Some of you had expressed the desire to read more such stories direct from the riders mout..I mean pen… I mean keyboard. Go on and read about the ride in the Himalayas by a few of the Bangalore riders. They all are a part of the Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Club (RTMC) and the write up is by Prashanth, a prolific tourer on his 1969 Royal Enfield Bullet 350. (Aarrgh! Where is that bullet I’ve been promising myself for so long!! Sigh!) Continue reading In the mountains
Kari Motor Speedway, Coimbatore
Kari Motor Speedway named after the late race driver S. Karivardhan, is Coimbatore’s first and the India’s second race track. It was Inagurated by G.K. Sundaram, Chairman, The Lakshmi Mills Limited by unveiling the plaque of his late son. Motor sports and flying were Kari’s passions and the race track is built on what was Kari’s micro light aircraft factory. The Speedway is built over 49 acres.
The Speedway is run by LG Sports, which is promoted by B. Vijayakumar, Managing Director, LGB Group, with former racer Akbar Ebrahim as its Chief Executive.
Track specifications
- Length Full track: 2.1 kms (9 turns)
- Go-kart tracks: 1.1 kms and 800 mts
- Width: Not Available
- Direction: Clockwise
- First race: 2003
- Cars upto F 3 and all bikes allowed.
Directions
Getting to the Coimbatore race track can be a bit of an ordeal and frustrating for the people who are new to Coimbatore. That said, ask for the Podanur (Pothanur) Chettipalyam road. There are many approaches to get to this road and I will not detail them out because it will get more confusing. Once you get onto it, just ask for the race track. The track is about 25kms out of the city of Coimbatore.