Quick One Day Testing Session
Everything happened so fast this time, i had backed out earlier in the week when we found out that the track was only available on thursday, so Poncho and a few others went down just for the day. On friday Poncho mentioned the track would be free on Sunday as well and that they were planning to go down, i asked if i could come but Mazhars merc was full so again i lost the chance to go. Saturday evening i was with Joel fixing a leak in the bike when Poncho called and said one of the guys had backed out and there was room for me. We quickly finished putting the bike together, it looked like it was running well. I rushed to Ponchos place and found the truck already loaded up and waiting for me, with the loading done just in time it was time to catch some sleep. In the morning Poncho, myself, Vikram and Mazhar left at 7am in Mazhars C200 Kompressor. We had intended to leave by 6am and i was skeptical about making it to the track in time but the C200 effectively made the track 150km closer to bangalore, we reached at 10am with a 30min stop for breakfast, what a mind blowing ride, the super comfy car touched 210+kph effortlessly and everything else seemed to be going in reverse. Big respect to mercedes, what a car.
At the track we found some of the chennai chaps already practicing along with smaller bikes too. I saw a few of my competitors in the 150cc class practicing as well. I wasnt sure how much i could get done in a single day of riding but considering i had very little time on the chennai track i was willing to take anything i got. We got on the track in quick time and i went on with my own thing trying to build a rythm on the short loop while the big boys went on with the long loop. Normally it would have been pretty risky riding both loops at once but there were just a handful of bikes and i timed myself so i didnt collide with them.
For the first few laps i was just taking it easy and soon fell into a rythm, i came back in to see if anyone would time me. I ran into trooper who had made it to the track and i had him time me for the 2nd session, after about 5laps i was doing 1:23's. I took a break and spoke with TVS's Rajini for a while, he gave me some tips on what gears to use where etc, i was already pretty familiar with the lines. He tested my bike and gave me feedback on my suspension settings (which was too soft to him), he felt the jetting was off too which wasnt suprising as i was running on bangalore jetting which was pretty lean in chennai. I couldn't do anything about the suspension but i thought about fixing the jetting, i had carried the right jets with me, after contemplating for a bit though i decided to go out and sort out the riding first considering i had limited time, the jetting could be done another day. Rajini's advise proved invaluable and in the next session i was into the 1:22's. In the meanwhile the superbike guys were having a good time, Captain Praveen and some of the chennai oldies were very fast and it was clear to see that the level of riding had been upped considerably.
During the lunch break i worked out each corner in my head keeping in mind Rajini's advise of working on one corner at a time, nailing it and then moving to the next one. I chuckled to myself, it wasnt as if i didnt know that, i gave that advice to other people but hearing it again from a top rider made me realize just how important it was. I made sure i kept myself hydrated in the sweltering chennai heat and after downing a few samosa's and sandwitches it was time to go out again. Poncho was taking a break so i took out his 600RRSP for a few laps and had a ball, what a lovely machine. I came back in and had to wait for a while coz the short loop was closed till 3pm while the big boys had some fun on the long loop. Once the track was opened out again i jumped on the apache and went back out again, the time in the pits had given me some ideas to try out. I ran into some traffic this time coz all the smaller bikes went out in one go after the superbikes came in. I came into the pits after a few laps to check with poncho who was manning the stopwatch and i was now into the 1:21's. That was enough to charge me up again so without taking a break i went out and finished a few more laps to end the day with a best time of 1:20.
It was getting pretty late so it was time to wrap up, we loaded up the bikes and left by around 5pm. As usual the ride back was good fun discussing each others experience through the day and giving each other feedback. We took it easy this time as everyone was tired and after stopping for a scrumptuous dinner at Ambur, we were back in Bangy by 10pm. I for one am pretty happy to have finally got in some proper practice at Chennai, there is now a clear plan of action with specific improvements to be made and the times are looking pretty promising for next year, as always cant wait to get back to track again