..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

Formula Drift 2010 @ Road Atlanta

 was always curious about Drifting and had seen enough and more videos but when i got a chance to see it, there was no way in hell that I'd miss it. 

Drifting refers to a driving technique and to a motorsport where the driver intentionally oversteers, causing loss of traction in the rear wheels through turns, while maintaining vehicle control and a high exit speed. A car is said to be drifting when the rear slip angle is greater than the front slip angle prior to the corner apex, and the front wheels are pointing in the opposite direction to the turn (e.g. car is turning left, wheels are pointed right or vice versa), and the driver is controlling these factors. 

the above is obviously not the stuff that i can type out. pulled it out from Wikipedia. 

Formula Drift is a championship which is held nationwide and features some top notch teams and privateers. its very much like INRC that we have. privateers who impress the sponsors get sponsorship deals. Need For Speed did sponsor one such privateer. 

enough of digressing. This event that i went to was held at  Road Atlanta which is a motorsports park. 

they have a calendar of events covering all types of track races. This is known to be one of the best racetracks too (they claim). The days events actually started in the noon with free practice for all participants starting at 2pm. I planned my travel such that I'd reach there by 1pm just so i could get to see these cars up close. I parked up and walked towards the Paddock/Pits area.passed by some nice cars on my way...

went ahead to the Paddock area where all the participating cars were being worked upon. I wanted to get a close up look at these cars coz there has to be something magically different in these cars to make them go sideways.Just as i entered, my attention went towards to the far corner of the area where i saw tyre smoke and rumbling V8's. it was the dodge stall !!

and those V8's rumbling were Challengers and Chargers in SRT 8 HEMI's. they were drifting in a track made specially by Dodge. this had nothing to do with the actual competition. stood and watched it for a while and then i saw this..a board which said FREE THRILL RIDES .
  
oh yes. thats when i realized that the passenger seat was part of the thrill ride on these drifting 425HP V8's. left the rest of my paddock visit to air and got in line for this ride of a lifetime.this is where my eyes where stuck on all through the wait for my turn. 

and when my turn did come, what a ride it turned out to be..watch this video and esp the 2nd half which is just phenomenal. must watch

guess what , i got greedy and went again  :) while i was waiting for my 2nd turn, this is what this guy with the charger did...he did this super awesome burnout...!!

after all this adrenaline rush, i went to the track coz the knockout session had already begun.i walked up to the viewing area and marked up my space. it was gonna be at the spot where i could get as close to the cars as possible at a turning. no zoom zoom on my camera (busted). 

and then it happened..the 350Z ,which was fitted with a V8, that was on the track cracked its gearbox and went
around spewing oil all over the track.

so now come the cleaning squad. its a long process with a truck dragging along a bag of ash and some other stuff that absorbs oil. then a tractor comes with a huge blower which blows off all the dust and all the debris. after this brief disruption came the action !! ..this is an event worth visiting and guess what,it only gets better after you know the rules. i understood that well enough to know whats going on.

the race eventually resumed.

phew.the knockout session was incredible. watch my video coverage of the race.

a video of the line up and launch



Don't forget to watch the picture slideshow below  

discussions @
http://gearheads.in/track-racing-track-days/formula-drift-road-atlanta-t1897.html
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/intl-motorsport/81138-formula-drift-drifting-championship-i-there.html

exotic car festival 2010,celebration,FL....been there

Florida has beautiful weather, sunny and warm ..so say the Americans..well, coming from India, I've seen enough of sun and warmth and did not really look fwd for that weather..but..wait a minute..good weather means everybody will want to live in Florida..meaning rich guys too..meaning  exotic cars too...aah..see, now you know where I'm headed..all this while, I was trying to see why I should be going to Florida and here I just found the reason..and just then with a weird stroke of luck, i saw some post about a certain car show happening in a town called Celebration in Florida. the show is called Exotic car festival 

saw some videos on youtube and i knew it.I had to go. this place is a cool 5 hrs drive away from where i stay. 

Now since I had no intention to go anywhere else in Florida, I decided that the most sensible thing to do will be to drive out early in the morning like 4 am and reach destination by 9.30 am. show was to start by 10.00am.

 As planned , i did leave at 4 am. multiple stops for fuel, breakfast, coffee, energy drink etc later, i finally reached Celebration,FL. as soon s i took the exit towards Celebration i realized there was something different about this place. the whole town looks different. a lil magical if i can say. it looks like a movie set. the entire town has this luxury and richness feel to it. very unlike any town/city I've ever seen in US. on reading, I understand that this town is developed by The Walt Disney company. So that explains the magical fairyland touch to the town. 
I drove all around town and found myself a parking spot and walked to the venue. most of the cars passing by are exotics of one kind or the other. Custom Range Rovers, AMG mercs,  BMW M's  are dime a dozen. matter of fact even the current gen muscle cars stay away from this place coz the competition is an all out european assualt so to say.  i was flabbergasted at the sight that i saw. long lines of ferrari's. the kind we'd go gaga over when we spot it on indian roads. why even in US its a rarity. this event is only a congregation of these rare cars. 

i reckon there could've easily been around 200 ferrari's in and around that event. now all these cars belong to either owners, dealers or auction houses and sadly, these cars spend most of their times idle. on shows like these or in their temperature controlled garages. the miles that these cars ever put on are the ones while driving into or out of a trailer. 

the Bugatti Veyrons were a sight to behold. they are some of the rarest examples ever made. the chrome and blue variant is the pur sang bleu version and was bought for 2.9mn $ !! yupp..thats what its worth.  and guess what,both the bugattis in the pic are owned by the same guy.wow. there was another Veyron in another part of the show and that was owned by yet another super billionaire. 

Now, ferrari had arranged a drive for all Ferrari challenge series cars at a racetrack called Sebring Speedway. those cars were displayed too. interesting to see was a ferrari 360 challenge with Force India Decals !! on close look it was an Indian who owned and raced it. the name India is flying high eh.
Also of particular interest was the 2004 Ferrari F1 car which belonged to one of the super rich collectors.
after seeing the entire line up, drove out of there by around 3 pm to reach home 6 hrs later. 


mindblowing show this one and I for once , did not mind the long drive. 

the pix in the below slideshow are a must watch.

discussions @
http://gearheads.in/super-cars-section/exotic-car-festival-celebration-t1676.html
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/international-automotive-scene/79849-exotic-car-festival-2010-celebration-fl.html

Incline Railways,Chattanooga,TN

The Lookout Mountain Incline Railway is an inclined plane railway located along the side of Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in the United States. Passengers are transported from St. Elmo's Station at the base, to Point Park at the mountain summit, which overlooks the city and the Tennessee River. The railway is approximately one mile in length. it is single track except for a short two-track stretch at the midway point, allowing operation of two cars at one time, and has a maximum grade of 72.7%. It is billed as the world's steepest passenger railway.



watch the photo slideshow below

Ruby Falls,Chattanooga,TN

Ruby Falls is a 145-foot high underground waterfall located within Lookout Mountain, near Rock City and Chattanooga, Tennessee in the United States.
 Ruby Falls Cave features many of the more well-known types of cave formations including stalactites and stalagmites, columns, drapery, and flowstone The Falls are located at the end of the main passage of Ruby Falls Cave, in a large vertical shaft. The stream, 1120 feet underground, is fed both by rainwater and natural springs. It collects in a pool in the cave floor and then continues through the mountain until finally joining the Tennessee River at the base of Lookout Mountain.
wikipedia told me all of the above.I did not know this at all LOL

 

pics @

SeaQuarium, Miami,FL

had a whale of a time and I mean it literally. where else can you see a whale dance to the tune .














pix @

The Mysterious Coral Castle,Miami,FL

About 30 miles south of Miami, Florida, in a town called Homestead, lies an unusual—some would say impossible—structure, composed of coral rock. Called the Coral Castle, it has a colorful past.  It was the life's work of a reclusive Latvian immigrant named Edward Leedskalnin, who built the complex after being jilted by his sixteen-year-old sweetheart on their wedding day.

source: livescience

Universal Studios,Orlando,FL

This theme park is mind blowing.







pix @