First published on Facebook on 11th September 2011, re-posted unedited
All those who love to drive cars and particularly those who are self declared greats would agree that we take “PANGA” with total strangers for no apparent reason. Some of the conditions are; to dismiss someone with an inferior machine. To deliberately “ungli” someone with better wheels. To impress someone occupying the co-driver seat or to simply prove that irrespective of what car I drive, I am the best!
Whatever it is, truth is we do it and although this is not a safe thing to do we do it again and again. Please note that I am not advocating such type of driving. Just sharing a moment filled with passion and adrenaline! Just the other day I did something like this, read on…
I was driving along with Omkar in his Hyundai Santro from Goa to Ratnagiri. It was raining consistently and although the section of NH17 in Goa is good the rain kept our speed low. The moment we crossed over in Maharashtra the roads turned utterly horrible, particularly the section around Sawantwadi was bad. For approximately half the distance till Kankavli (about 110kms) it took us almost four hours.
We took lunch at a highway restaurant and resumed our journey. Omkar predicted that it would take another four hours to reach home; my estimate (challenge) was three for the remaining 120kms. It was not raining anymore and we knew that the road ahead was better if not best. We started pushing the pace and then it all started.
We were near Rajapur and were crossing a small village square. The road was bad and I had slowed down due to traffic. I was following a Mahindra Maxx and the other side was having a constant stream of vehicles. Passing the Maxx was difficult, it was killing my time challenge and on top of that “he honked” from behind. That was the trigger…
It was a red color Skoda Fabia, and I assume it was diesel. I looked into the ORVM and cursed, “salya horn kay wajawto? Me kai zhopayla aloy rastyamadhe?” The curse didn’t reach him as the windows were rolled up and anyway my sound was audible only to Omkar. He again tried to pass me, but in vain due to the traffic on the right side. That was it, I pumped myself and said, “ata ye re tu, dum asel tar pass kar!”
I shifted to 2nd gear and pushed the ‘chamcha’, the Santro’s peppy petrol 1.1 eRLX engine responded well and I took off in a flash. The Fabia was much slow in response and that’s why I assume it was a diesel 1.2TDI. I was in top gear in no time and was doing around 80kmph. The winding single lane NH17 doesn’t allow you to do speeds in excess of 100kmph consistently. The needle was touching 90 and dropping down. The Fabia was now gathering speed and coming closer. My attention was switching from front to the ORVM like watching a tennis match from side.
I takes a lot of practice to tame the tall boy Santro. The high CG contributes to a lot of roll and bending the car on curvy roads is a task. The Fabia in turn was sweeping nicely with the distance coming down sharply. Any slow moving vehicle ahead was my opportunity. Passing a truck was easy for me as the Santro gives you just enough pep to move on with confidence. The Fabia was poor here, whenever it shifted down, it begged for torque and I could sense it trailing behind. It happened almost 4 or 5 times. I would pass a Laal Daba with ease and zoom ahead while my competition struggled. I was using 5 to 3 and 3 to 5 shift pattern as taught by Arun Kaka and it helped me to maneuver the numerous hairpins on NH17.
The chase was far from over, the Fabia’s straight line top speed capability is impressive, and my competitor driver was impressive too. No matter how much he trailed during the bends, he would catch up in no time appearing relentlessly in my ORVM. Sarang describes this as “doing the Rossi!” There came a point where the red Fabia was hardly a few feet behind and the road ahead was a clear straight patch. I pushed hard and my needle was showing clear past 110kmph. It lasted maybe a few seconds but it was fun. I managed to keep him behind and the climbing curves came to my rescue.
That was in my comfort zone, I knew the Fabia was struggling there and I pushed through to establish a considerable gap. This went on for another 5 min and then suddenly the Fabia pulled aside. It was a mix emotion, excited that I kept him behind and sad that it ended so suddenly. I almost had put my hand out in thumbs up. He was driving well indeed and pushed me to use all my skills to stay ahead. I think all this lasted for about 20-25 minutes.
Uufff, it was risky and tiring but fun indeed.
We had reached Pali and it was just another 30odd kilometers to go. I touched Ratnagiri in a respectable time of 3 hours 15 min. Omkar’s mom greeted us with a much needed cup of tea and I sipped at it silently patting my back.
Note: I once again would like to point out that driving at high speeds on highways is not the safest thing to do. No matter how skilled you are, your safety also depends on other vehicles, road conditions, people and cattle crossing the road, etc…
Remember two things;
- There is a difference between driving fast and driving rash. Fast driving invigorates you, rash driving kills you!
- Understand the machine you are using and always wear your seat belt.
OK BYE BYE TATA, PHIR MILENGE.
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