2023 TVS Young Media Racer Program Round 1: Learning To Carve Corners At Kari

The TVS Young Media Racer Program is the Hosur-based bikemaker’s initiative to not only hone the skills of us journalists but also a test of our mettle of becoming the fastest amongst the automotive media fraternity. The training and selection round of the program helped me grasp the basics of track riding, and was quite a revelation in itself. Fast forward to two months later, we found ourselves thrown in at the deep end of the numerous technical corners that Kari Motor Speedway racetrack in Coimbatore has to offer. It was an excellent learning experience as I was able to apply the feedback given and came out a slightly faster rider than before. 

Day 1: These corners seem never-ending!

We were greeted by ever-so-slightly overcast skies on day one. Consequently, it wasn’t as sultry and humid as it was at MMRT in Chennai. We came in fresh, and our adrenaline shot up even higher as the day was jam-packed with several other National Championships, One Make and support races (practice and qualifying rounds, to be precise). The track was reverberating with the thunderous exhaust note of bikes ranging from TVS Apache GP165R to race-prepped TVS Apache RR 310, KTM RC390 and even the Yamaha R3. As usual, our weapon was the track-prepped TVS Apache RTR 200 4V.

We kitted up, had a small briefing session and headed to the track. Unlike last time, we were on our own. After the first lap, I was drawing parallels to my (virtual) experience of driving around on Japan’s famed Ebisu circuit in Need For Speed Shift 2: Unleashed. The game had me racing a 1970 Dodge Charger on a tight track meant for drifting and karting. Only difference was, in Kari, my skill level was the Charger. 

The first corner was scary at first, but having witnessed how the pros did it on their R3s and RR 310s, I was able to brake slightly late lap after lap. The last two corners, on the other hand, were tricky as hell. I was trying to find different racing lines to navigate through that turn. I learnt the hard way that was a risky, irresponsible move as I’d blocked off a faster rider as I was coming in from wide to the inside line. This caused the rider to hit my rear wheel and crash. Thankfully, there were no serious injuries to the rider, and I was lucky enough to not crash either. My time was horrendous at 1:46:674, whereas the fastest rider, Deepak Vishnu AKA Clutchless managed a best lap time of 1:32:150. 

Learn, Apply And Reflect:

We had enough time to rest up after the practice session, and that allowed me to discuss how to take on the corners with several of my peers. Both my colleague and ex-colleague Jehan and Dhruv Paliwal (now at AutoX) respectively, said I gotta brake after the 100m mark before C1 (first corner, after the long straight), and I was striving for the same. 

I was able to apply most of the feedback on my qualifying run, but was too reluctant to go all out as I had to keep glancing back before entering corners to make sure I wasn’t in anyone’s way, especially the first corner. I realised C1 is a lot easier than it looks if you’re certain that nobody else is careening through the inside line. Lap after lap, I definitely felt faster, and it showed on the result sheet as well. I shaved off 5.32 seconds, with a best lap of 1:41:345. I really wanted to be under the 1:40 mark, though. At the end of the session instructor Harry Sylvester did a track-walk session with us, showing us the right lines, and the right gear to stay in while taking the corners. In hindsight, it would’ve been much better if we’d gotten those nuggets of knowledge before or at least after the practice session.

Day 2: Steadiness And Consistency

I channelled my nervousness on the race day by having three achievable goals in my mind: not to crash or overshoot the corners, try for a sub 1:40 timing, and beat my contemporary, Ritesh Patil, from Turbocharged as we were pretty close in terms of our lap times in both practice and qualifying rounds. The 30-10-5-second countdown board went up in no time, and the race was on! Soon after the first lap, Ritesh was hot on my heels. We were overtaking each other one corner after another, and finally on the last corner, I was really close to him. I managed to take a faster line, so I exited the corner much faster than him. This allowed me to slipstream right behind him and I swerved on the left and overtook him on the final straight. I couldn’t find him in the later laps. Turns out, he’d overshot one of the corners, and lost his pace. 

But there was another challenge waiting for me towards the last few laps of the race. Abhinav from Top Gear overtook me out of nowhere on C6. He stayed just ahead of me throughout the next couple of laps, and that was pretty frustrating. Backing down was absolutely not an option. Mounting pressure, I stayed on his tail all along until he low-sided somewhere around C10. Luckily, I kept it rubber side down, and finished the race successfully. 

There were a couple of other crashes, so I finished 11th out of 12 riders, with four other riders not finishing the race. My best lap was 1.18 seconds quicker than my qualifying time. I could’ve done a little bit better with a more appropriate body posture, so that’s a lesson I’ll have to implement at the next round, at MMRT, Chennai. 

Summing up, racing at Kari was an eye-opening experience, and it taught me how to stay calm under pressure, and also not to get target-fixated at riders crashing right in front of me. I’ve been privileged to have more experienced colleagues, hence there is a lot of scope to improve so that I can face round 2 better prepared. As Jay-Z says, on to the next one!