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Cheers
Av

..and I go offroading ..in a JEEP

 Yet again it was travel time.these days,I have so many meetings with various vendors and factories who are in different cities.long story short, it was rental car time. 

 I'd taken a lot of expensive cars off late and I thought it best to stick to cheaper cars coz I did not want anybody in my office to pop their eyes.
 Last week I could've taken a SAAB 9-3 but took a Nissan Versa (hatchback) instead.
This time around, I reserved a 2011 Camry but when I got there, parked next to the Camry was a Jeep Wrangler !!
Now this time, I could not take my eyes off it and uttered the words.." I want the jeep" ..the manager ,a good friend of mine laughed away and said " I knew it AV, you cannot resist a Jeep"

 ..and that's how I got me a Jeep for a day. 

     

      

      

I had 150 miles to drive and 50 miles of these are in the country side.
As soon as I hit the country road, I could not resist pulling into what I thought was a path leading to a trail. ended up being gated private property.
Hey, the Jeep proudly says its 'Trail rated'. 

and then, while driving back, I realized I was kinda early for my meeting..so, I pulled over for yet another photo shoot. 

and then, I had to leave..time for meeting you see...

all along on my way to the plant I was looking for spots where I could possibly take the Jeep off road..some property which did not seem to be private property..spotted a few and noted landmarks to reach that place..
went to office for my meeting all along with my mind set on the excitement that was to be later that evening..

driving fast and powerful cars is fun but driving slow offroad is a totally different kinda fun..I'm just a wannabe offroader. The 4X4 fraternity has got me very interested in the thrills of offroading..

anyway, let me cut all the gibberish..

i left the office 1/2 hr earlier coz I wanted to be out there in daylight..remember it gets dark pretty soon in this side of the world..

reached the spot that I had planned to get off the road at..
it was a steep incline but nothing 2H couldn't handle.chugged on..did not see any gate and presumed it was no mans land..but somehow there was a path. I drove along the path slowly..the Jeep was showing a bit of resistance..figured I should be in 4H...now is the tricky bit..how to shift to 4H? put the auto box in P and tried..flop...put it in D and tried..flop...dang ..i had to be in N for that..did just that..slotted into 4H and chugged along for a good ten minutes before the scare sunk into me..I was in a possible pvt property and in red neck territory-Alabama. these guys buy guns and ammunition like grocery and if they have to replenish the ammunition, they must be using it too..I remembered my Manager Rodney (famous from this thread A taste of southern Hospitality) tell me that if anybody trespassed his property, he wouldn't mind shooting with his guns before speaking and the cops don't question..I didn't want to be at the receiver's end..no way..turned around and returned...now that was a challenge in itself..
1. I couldn't afford to damage that car..its a rental and enterprise will hunt me down till the last dollar of the damage..
2. I was an amateur in offroading.
3. it's an automatic..not as good as manual and in these conditions, Manual gives better control.
4. I had no spotter.
5. the path was pretty rugged with ditches all over..due to erosion.

I made careful moves and did manage part of the maneuver and then..oops..i put a wheel in a ditch...before I panicked, I did realize that 4L would probly do the magic...slotted the transfer box to 4L and gradually released brake..the torque was tremendous and it pulled out of there easily...I sighed in relief coz if I was still in 4H, I had to get out of the ditch with velocity and in the bargain, give the Jeep scratches..I wasn't gonna do that..damn..that was real close..for sure.got close to the point where I got into this trail..

and then I noticed ..there was a gate..of sorts..notice that wire hanging loose..this was private property and I was definitely in danger if I had driven further..phew..

I then turned into another path which went along a hill and next to the said property...

This time again, I slotted in 4L and drove on the continuous flow of torque..with all this , I could probly uproot trees.

Gradually went uphill on the path which later ended...

I kept going all along that hill and then went down hill crossed a small river(ROFL) and climbed another hill to reach here...

The path I took is visible in the above pic..basically it was all along the hill next to the trees...

after this, I drove back straight to Enterprise..picked my car up and went home...end of journey

more pix below - 

..and I meet the FASTEST INDIAN in the world -Narain karthikeyan

  one fine day, when I was browsing through the nascar website, something struck my mind...wait a minute..I'm sure I know somebody from India drives a NASCAR (apart from me .. lol ) ..that is who we all know as the fastest indian in the world -Narain Karthikeyan !!
   NK started his NASCAR venture with the team Starbeast motorsports driving a Chevy truck in the NASCAR Truck series. more on this later.
now while browsing through NK's site I realized he lives in Charlotte, NC. I then quickly found 'contact' link on his website and quickly emailed his manager..but I never heard back.
   I forgot about it all..
then, for whatever reason I can't remember, I looked up the truck series schedule and was pleasantly surprised to see a race coming up at Talladega Super speedway..it's a 2 hr drive away for me. Back to 'contact' link on NK's site..found NK's manager's (in India) number and quickly called him..guess what, the request to meet him at the racetrack was treated positively and he said he'll work on it..
   I did not hear from him for quite a few days and then comes the surprise ..an email from Megan Nagle ,PR and Media Rep. of Starbeast Motorsports. It was about the 'meeting' ..then on, we got onto discuss about this 'meet NK' event. That's it...I was set to meet the man who has made India famous in the motorsports field.
   I respect him for all the achievements he's had by far..stuff we all dream of doing but end up nowhere close..
  ..and then Megan called me on friday and gave me Narain's Schedule. He had a drivers meeting at 11.00 and he would be free by 12 ish..wasn't a problem at all for me coz I had absolutely nothing planned for the saturday..Atlanta to Talladega Speedway is a 2 hr drive and so I planned to leave at around 9.30am so I'd reach by 11.30 with 1/2hr to spare considering the traffic around the track area..sounds like a plan right? what can go wrong ? no ?

   ..and then the worst did happen...friday night was Halloween party time and yupp..I had my fair share of 'flavoured' water...ok ok I had a lot of it..totally forgot the next day's drive. reached home by 4 am and passed out..see..now you can almost guess what happened eh...ya ya ya..woke up at 9.15 am and quickly did my morning duties and drove off at 9.45am..now this was getting very close to disastrous but nothing was lost..
   drove faster than I should have ,which is quite normal around Atlanta. Now remember all that 'flavoured' water always has to trouble you the next day..the trouble called Hangover..I'm no superhuman and it hit me too..quite bad and an hr into my drive I even regretted my decision and thought of driving back but then, I kept going anyway..once I got into Alabama the speed limit dropped down from 70 (in Georgia) to 55 mph.
    not everybody knows that..the 25 harley group did not. they ripped past by at 90's..i did not want to get ticketed and my throbbing headache ensured I drove within the speed limits..the time? well, I was going to reach bang at 12.00..didn't get too worried..
   I guess I spoke too soon..remember the bikers, well, guess what, one of them crashed out big time with parts of his bike strewn all around the median...he was alive..don't know the extent of injury though...this created a mess of the traffic..3 mile pile up..howz that..now I was screwed..messaged Megan about this so she'd know. cleared my way and got back on track with a 15 minute delay. Luckily there was no traffic and I reached at 12.15pm..
 and parked up..I did not expect this big a crowd considering it was truck series and not the chase series.

   I was late and did get things out of schedule..did that affect my meeting ?
    ...now late I was..reached at 12.15 for a 12.00 appointment. quickly called Megan and apologized for being late but she said " all is ok..don't worry..Narain is just 10 minutes into his drivers meeting..it'll take a while..let me know where I can spot you and call me from there "...I hung up and then started to wonder..his meeting was at 11.00..did the meeting time get postponed? did he get pissed off that I was not on time? what to do next?

   that's when I realized this stupid thing called time zone..Georgia is in Eastern time zone (GMT -5 hours) and Alabama is in central time zone (GMT -6 hours)..meaning my 12.15pm was actually 11.15 am..dang ..so I was actually early..blame this on hangover (hey..somebody has to be blamed eh) So now, I had all of 45mins to spend before my meeting at north tunnel.

earlier during my conversation during planning, I asked Megan to help me with a Pitpass so I could go and watch the race with the team. that would be fun. But it wasn't to be..apparently the teams have to provide all details of their pitpass entries 10 days in advance..NK's manager who I was interacting with communicated with her rather late and therefore all hopes died..so plan was to just meet NK and drive back home..
while I was busy roaming around all the stalls, Megan called me and told me that she was trying some back road approach to get me pitpass..her plan was that she'd come out and take me along with her so I could hang out with NK back at the pits..that'd be awesome right? but luck had other plans and it did not look like a possibility. She did try a lot but things did not work out..in the meanwhile, I waited along at the north tunnel entrance ...


and bang at 12.00 pm local time, I get a call from Megan.."we are waiting around at the main entrance..we can't drive up to the north tunnel ..you'll have to walk over the bridge which has the banner 'this is talladega' and when you get down, you'll find a blue miller lite flag..we are near that in a white Taurus " .."aye aye..I'm on my way"..I told her that..but back in my mind, I was only imagining ..what am I going to look ahead for ? did she find a way to sneak me inside ? did she get me a pass ? what's happening ? in the meanwhile I reached the spot ...and there was the White Taurus..

I reached up and asked her " whats the scene? whats happening next ? that's when NK gets out of the car.." seriously this was the moment of pride..I swear it..a man representing my country was in a typical american sport ..he is one who has driven across a wide array of track cars ranging from Formula 1 to A1 gp to Lemans to Nascar..not too many have in the motorsports field have done this..

after our brief conversation, he autographed this ...

2010 Camaro RS : I drove eet.

Yupp. i got to drive one !!


My manager here had a major accident and totalled his new GMC Yukon SUV.He was driving at 60mph on a highway when a tree decided to fall in front of him. he drove straight into it.He had to go and get a new car, another SUV. His cousin brother runs the GM dealership in this area. I was going to the gym and he asked if I could drop him off to the dealership on my way. I did drop him off but then, my eyes got locked up on this sight.


started to inquire about this car and got all details and then i asked if I could see the interiors. Bruce, my manager's cousin eagerly started the car from his cabin and that with that the AC was on full blow even before I reached the car. yupp. you can remote start the car.


The interiors are really good. I loved the 'in your face' speedo binacle. the temperature, battery and tell tale analogue (another retro cool touch) are away from direct view. they are neatly nestled in the center console. To be frank and honest, I did not care about the ergonomics coz I really did not bother to check for all that. It did come with a 10 speaker Boston Music system. who cared. I just switched it off.

I liked the short and stubby gear knob. I tried to shift gears but nothing worked. I thought I'd broken something. thats when Bruce steps into the car and said " this is what you need". he then slotted the key in and voila, all other electronics started working. well, the remote start will only start the engine and run the A/C. good move esp in places like the south where it gets awfully hot. like right now.
The front seats are fantastic. they hold you in the right way. the way a sports car should be.
I then adjusted the seat to my liking with fore and aft setting as well as height setting. set the rather large dia steering which is adjustable for reach as all as rake. and got comfy.
Bruce then tells me that the version I was sitting in was the Camaro SS which came with a 6.2 L V8 which pumped out 426bhp. astonishing power.
This was a step below the top end which is the RS. well, by model it was a step down, but this SS came with the RS package. what is the RS package? well, the add on's are Xenon Halo headlamps, 20: wheels, sunroof, different tail lamps etc. none of those mattered much to me.
Just as I got comfy and it was time to get out, Bruce pops the question, " do you want to drive?" he may have asked it for formality but I shamelessly said "yes" and shifted to R and drove out of the parking slot and then out of the showroom.
there started the drive of a car I always salivated at on the road. That day, I was actually driving one of the cars I've always wanted to drive.

..and then I carefully pulled the car out of the dealership and onto the highway. I had to be careful coz I just realized that my low setting of the seat made sure I could not see how far ahead the hood extended to. this is a real long car and it takes a while to judge the length. once on the highway, I slammed the throttle and whooop..i was pushed hard into the back of my seat. I loved it. but then, there is only that much one can do before rapidly reaching the speed limit of 65 mph.well 10 mph + is fine though but still. the quest for more power cannot be satiated. that's when I recollected that the Chevy Malibu I had driven earlier came with a paddle shift manual mode. how can the camaro not have one? well, it did. i grinned and immediately pushed it into manual mode and downshifted. aah.there it was..the rev just rose high but it was shortlived. there was a big ass semi in front which was slow and I could not go past him.
when I did get a chance, I downshifted again and slammed the throttle ..got greedy and thought I could shift down one more cog and guess what, the ECU kicks in and spits on my face " shift denied". although this was in manual mode, it had the ECU overseeing what we do just so one does not get to blow up the motor. I guess that's how GM wants to maintain warranty.
after cruising for a while, Bruce says,"if you want to stretch it, you may want to go to a lonely road where we do some testing..make a right ahead" and there we were. its a small 1/4th mile stretch which runs parallel to the highway. no speed guns or cops. its kinda hidden this road.
there I was. made myself an imaginary start line and pushed the tranny to Auto mode. Did not want the motor to blow up in my hands. I'd have to buy that car then.
start was a simple affair.mash the pedal as far as you can. which I did. the roar of the V8 is F***** awesome ..I quickly saw smoke from the rear..guess what, I had the tyres smoking on my take off !! awesome..the whole adrenaline push is bloody awesome..
426 bhp pushing the car as fast as possible ahead while pushing me as far back into the seat as possible. this was the most fun I've had with cars after the NASCAR drive the stretch was done in seconds..i did not want to get greedy and ruin the tyres. I then turned into the highway and drove back to the dealership ..this time just cruising.

this was one hell of a drive. one that I'll remember for a very long time.

Mudtrack Racing..been there...seen that...

I was living in Eufaula a quaint small town in Alabama. lotsa people know about Eufaula..coz it is on the way to Panama City Beach. its like Sira or Hiriyur when you are going from Bangalore to Goa. One Saturday, I just decide the hit the road south..4 hrs later, I reached Panama City Beach..I was chilling out at Panama City beach all day and on my return drive, which was kinda boring I suddenly saw a signboard. it said

" MUDTRACK RACING -TONIGHT ---> "


..That got me curious and quite immediately I took this turn into a single lane village road.It was totally lonely and scary at dusk with all the run down houses which make a perfect setting for a horror movie. I saw no more sign boards and even thought for a while that the sign was a figment of my imagination. not a soul in sight to check with. and then, finally i find 2 blokes hammering away on a piece of junk and they gave me the directions in a very southern accent which went like this " drive south on this road and you'll find 2 house to your left, go in between them and you'll reach the venue behind a log chipping unit". Only then I reassured myself that the event did really exist .


I only understood the 'go south" bit and drove around..i saw a direction sign and turned into that road.miles and miles and no sight or sound of V8's anywhere. I then returned to the spot where I saw the 2nd sign and looked around..aah..i see floodlights..but how do I go there? it was a road fit for OTR's. I had to make my own way. seriously. I'm surprised my camry got through albeit slipping and sliding. still driving only on instincts I finally saw people in Hi Visibility shirts. I has finally found the spot !! mine was the only sedan there !!
 
 

 
 

so, what was really happening out there? well, this is a Typical Redneck area and rednecks do what they can with the agricultural stuff they have. what do they have in abundance? trucks.. and what they don't have in abundance is money to buy themselves a sportscar. so what do they do? they quench their thirst for speed by modding their trucks and then racing them in mud tracks.


what kinda track race is this ? well, it's a 1/8th mile drag race on a muddy slushy track. thats it. no more non sense. no rules on engine mods, no rules on weight, no rules on fuel. just pure speed however you can get out of your trucks. and this is what happens there.




 

you have to see the video to know how fast these trucks really were.













Unfortunately I did not stay there till it finished I left from there before them rednecks got drunk and decided to Lynch an Indian. why? coz they've never lynched an Indian ..

allure of the automobile

a taste of Southern Hospitality

Southern hospitality is a phrase used in American English to describe the generalization that residents of the Southern United States are particularly warm and welcoming to visitors to their homes, or to the South in general....and last weekend, i had a taste of that and bucket loads of that !!

Rodney Jacobs, my Manager where I work lives in a 25 acre property which is actually in the middle of nowhere. yupp. its woods everywhere and plonk in the center is the house.

He had been talking about his fishing trips and all the hunting and generally about the things he keeps doing. I just mentioned that I need to see his house. and guess what, there came up the plan to meet at his place for dinner. he asked if i was ok with that plan..hell ya...what better job do i even have on a saturday in a lazy town. 

So I picked up a bottle of white wine and drove down to his place which is 18 miles away from where I live. pulled into the mudpath which is his driveway only to get jolted by a speeding go kart.WTF. It was Rodney with his characteristic smile who just did his levels best to scare me. Then he sped along and took me to his home. 

now his house is something everybody will like. a complete resort of sorts. calm, silent,serene, no noisy neighbours, no traffic noise. cool climes. swimming pool to dip in, pool table, gym etc.

phew..when i'm still soaking all this , Rodney suggests we tour his property. I thought we'd be walking in the thick woods but no..hes got other plans. go kart !! 

this machine (made by Maxxam)  is monstrous I tell you. very very torquey. those tyres will grab anything like a leech. awesome grip. that roll cage ensures no branches come and hit you in the face. We then blasted across the woods. and then, after the tour is over with, its time to see more of the go karts capabilities. we go across the highway to a mud road and thats where it shows different colors. Rodney goes drifting in it and powersliding et all. it was just awesome and I could not have gotten enough of it. 

after all  this adrenaline rush, we went back to his home and picked up his truck with his boat tagging along and went to a creek where we would get the boat into the creek and then into the river.The flint river. The river looked rather dirty but i was told it is muddy coz of the rains.

The boat was a Grumman fishing boat with a 50hp Mercury marine engine. Now, down here, they take fishing very seriously. after a car and a truck , boat is the next valid important investment of these southerners. Various types of boats are available depending on the purpose of usage. this was a fishing boat whose purpose is to just cruise around the river/lake and get perched up in some corner from where one would fish. does that mean this is slow? no way..this is quite fast too.fast enough to be lethal. lethal coz this boat cannot handle the big waves that get generated as 'wake' caused by other boats. 

the other types of commonly bought boats are the water skiing boats which are rather fast and have wider hulls to handle wake and cut thru them coz skiing needs speed. 

yet another type is called pontoons. these are not hull based design. they have two huge air filled  long tube on which a flat body is attached. this is made for a relaxing cruise around the lake/river. it usually has a big sofa and a bed for sun bathing too. its a lounge mobile of sorts. seen people make a barbeque while on a pontoon. 
The ways of having fun. 
enough of digressing. by now, we had got our boat into the creek (which is more like a cross road) which leads into the river. I was taken aback by the vast number of people who drive up in their RV (campers) along with boats, park alongside the river on timeshare properties and just lounge around. its their fave activity. we then reach the river. interestingly, these guys don't use the river haphazardly. they use all their road manners on rivers too. LHD. yupp. they ride along on the right side of the river with oncoming boats to the left. I like that kinda sense and sensibility. River is where all the action is. this is where i see all kinds of people water skiing, jet skiing or lounging around on pontoons. some people even dock on the side and go swimming and diving. all this in a river which has alligators. wow. the 2nd last creation of GOD that I'd like to avoid at all costs. snakes take the 1st place. 

this river feeds into a lake called lake Blackshear  and we rode the boat till the lake and turned around at the marina. the marina is like a big parking lot of sorts for boats. there is a small man made beach of sorts out there, a club a resort etc to hang around. We then turned around to get back to the creek where we started out from. passed by many such creeks. now this creeks also serve for stopovers for people to buy stuff for fishing and stuff for fishermen..mostly beer and fuel. Returned to home base and in time to start cooking.Rodney made fish fry and french fries and coleslaw. after a sumptuous dinner with wine,we went around and toured his touring bus.it is  a fantastic ride to have. it is perfect to go holidaying in with place for 6 people.its got a refridgerator, microwave, 2 Audio video setups (for the front and rear lounges), dining tables,shower , toilets and a place for six people to sleep and closets,

  Rodney pops a surprise. takes me to the truck we've been riding in and opens to rear door. HOLY QUAKERMOLY !! there were a dozen guns in the back !! all types of them. pistols to rifles to shot guns...

phew. that sight was something else. but then, thats not the whole deal. we went target shooting !! He lives in the woods and has no neighbours to worry about. Him and I started shooting at a Target. I got to fire from all the guns he had and boy was it fun. It is really not that bad to focus on a target. i did not hit the bulls eye but i got close. all that from a novice. the best of them all was the 12 gauge shot gun. the target board would not serve the purpose. he had a spare plastic hood of a lawnmower. set that up and he fired once. half the hood gone. then it was my turn. to my surprise, i blew it to pieces. man..i could not believe it. guess what, i think i'm hooked onto it. I may go back for more shooting soon. I'll have to buy ammunition though. 
after it got dark, went back home for desserts and then after chatting around for a lil while longer, ended my day.got back home.phew what a day.

see picture slideshow below