Killer and myself on my bike reached Irungattukottai for the 6th round – 2005 National Championship, on Saturday by 10. A good 4 1/2 hr ride. Parked the bike loaded with the Cramsters close to the pits as we didn’t want to lug it around and went around the pits. We looked into the Tectrac Racing pits, but Vivek nowhere to be seen. Asked around and got the info that he’d been tied up with another bike or something. Sat on the view towers 3rd floor to avoid the sun and watched people practicing and qualifying etc. CHENNAI IS FRIGGIN HOT.

Didn’t go to take any timings/ speeds. Most people were putting in short stints; coming in – going out etc. Made no sense to be out in the HOT SUN. Infact we did see a hare sprinting along the lenght of the pit lane crossing the track and running away into the trees! Some guys tried to catch it with hopes of a rabbit meal , but it got away. We found that funny. Slept for a while right there on the floor, this was when Killer dreamed that he was riding a bullet.

Had lunch etc and later spoke to Sanath and the track manager and requested for permission to be out on the track after the day’s schedule was done. Went out on track on the Thunderbird (Luggage and all) with Killa behind with a video cam. You guys can see this video to get an idea of the short track (2.2kms) that is used for the races.
The Group C bikes are the only ones that run the full track at 3.7kms.

Got some pics of the qualifying results and left the track.
Some qualifying times that I can remember.

• Group C 2 stroke: Full lap: 2:06 secs
• Group D 2 stroke: Short lap: 1:18.444 secs
• Group D 4 stroke(110-160cc) : Short lap: 1:19.191 secs

Headed straight to Chennai and took killer to the Madbulls meet to meet friends there. (Madbulls=Madras Bulls, the Madras Bullets club). Killer fidgety seeing about 30-35 bullets parked 😀 . Some people return a knowing not so appreciative cold stare to Killer as I introduced him. I’m sure they’ve read his bull bashing on RDD. Anyways, he survived and we went and partied with them for a while and dinner later.

Dosai from the Madbulls was kind enough to put us both up for the night and we crashed out at about 0030.

Next morning after great breakfast (courtesy Dosai’s mom), we left to the track. We roamed the pits and again looked for Vivek, but no luck. Poncho joined us by then on the 1000RR. So, we dumped our stuff in one of the empty pits and wandered around the track. Basically all that happend after that was a bit of a blur because we were moving around taking pics, videos and speeds on the speed gun.

We finally settled in under the big tyre arch at the end of the main straight as it was cooler to take speed readings. The speeds at the end of the shorter main straight were approximately the same as the speeds at Coimbatore for almost all the classes other than Group C 2 stroke, because they weren’t max-ed out. Something like:

• Group D 2stroke : 110+
• Fieros : 110
• Victors : 90
• TVS 50s : 90
• Group C 2 stroke : 125+

Later after the first round of races got over, we decided to move out and I got to meet Poncho’s bike builder Ameen and many more people.

We then went out to a spot near the full circuit where we thought the Group C bikes would be maxed out and it would be best to take the videos. On the way to the longer loop where we wanted to take the videos and timings from , I was offered a drop till half the way in the Esteem pace car. Because the front two seats were occupied, Sharath told me squeeze in between the bars of the rollcage and get in behind. No seats and I had to sit on the metal floor and hang on using my hands to the cage. I think at this moment in time, Sharath forgot that I was there and started ripping around the track , throwing it into the corners and let me assure you, this is something I wouldnt want to do again. I got thrown around and battered. And the best part is that he forgot that I was there and started heading towards the start again. Thats when I had to ask him to stop and jumped off and walked the rest of the way. That was some crazy driving, good fun.While Killer handled the Speedgun, I managed the digital camera so that we could get a few decent videos. The only thing was that the tower that I climbed to take the video had no flooring and I had to balance on crossbeams about 15 ft above the ground. The whole ordeal was worth it and I managed to film them in the longer track all the way around. We did get a crash video too. Rajani of Team TVS high sided the bike coming out of turn 3 and the bike went cartwheeling off the track. The rider was luckily fine. Killer took the speeds on the gun which were doing 140+ kmph. On the way back, I again got picked up by the same car, but this time I was more prepared!

Back in the pits, thanks to Ameen and co. we had great Biryani waiting for us. Hogged royally and later decided to ride back to Bangalore. Poncho decided to ride at our pace back to Bangalore. (Which he did at a 100kmph all the way back.)

Just after hitting the highway, I was falling asleep on the bike. But then this time I asked Killer who was pillion to ride the Thunderbird. (For those who know, I can see the expression on your faces, :lol:) He rode it but then it was of no use as I couldn’t sit too. Must have been the beer and the Chennai heat. Oops, did I mention beer! So, I had to stop and I got a good half hour of sleep at a temple yard on the highway. That really helped and after that it was only a couple of stops and we rode through Chittoor-Mulbagal-Kolar and to Roadtrip in Indranagar. Had an excellent dinner and after dropping Unni off, was home by about 0100.

Couple of videos from the track:

You would need DivX codec to watch the videos. If you do not have it download it from www.DivX.com
To save the videos onto your machines, right click on the link and choose “Save target as” or “Save link as” on your browser.

• Rajani of TVS racing highsiding the Group C 2 stroke
• A lap around the track on the Thunderbird, with Killer sitting pillion and holding the camera.