Rear Wheel Should Thrive - From The Archive

What’s not to like about cars these days? Safety and finish have improved by motorway miles; we’re finally feeling some oomph in the engines and seeing technology drive the gaadi engineers. It’s a good sign because the Indian consumer has become more informed and manufacturers have to think twice about skimping on the essentials like power windows and music systems.

I’m glad to say it may be time the 0-96 km/h time of a car should become a standard measurement like how it is most of elsewhere. After all, cars these days are able hit centuries without taking a tail-light year to do so. Maybe the 0-60 km/h measurements could be restricted to our economy-focused motorcycles. Too bad our driving hasn’t improved as well, but that’s a whole other story. It still has to be said though that we still have a long way to go because we still don’t have an affordable rear-wheel drive sports car that can drift around a race track corner to comfort the crying enthusiast baby.

Somehow being seen trying to power slide your fifth generation Amby or Fiat around a corner just seems a teeny bit wrong. Do it when no one’s looking. But seriously, try it with a current affordable car and all you’ll get is understeer which is a little, ahem, boring because they’re all front-wheel-drive. Ah, rear-wheel-drive. I like the oversteer. I like the prop-shaft tunnel inside the car. I like to be pushed rather than pulled.

Image source: www.favcars.com

 

I’m waiting for the day we see more ads like the Honda one that used to air on T.V. during F1 season some years ago, the one with the Honda S2000 powersliding in the dirt in slow motion with the driver correcting the drift. Man, that kind of stuff gives us enthusiasts goose bumps and sends a cool shiver down the rear scaffolding. It’s rubbish that some people dislike ‘stunt-heavy’ advertisements? Is one supposed to dislike a trapeze artist just because what he does is dangerous? It converts people into actively involving themselves and taking pride in their driving. I’m not saying try drifting on public roads between traffic, I’m saying try it on blocked-off roads late night. Getting the government to allow such fun seems as improbable as getting it to legalize late night drags on cordoned-off roads. But that’s another whole story. Maybe I’m not too good at sticking to one story…

But it would really be nice to see experts from overseas oversee oversteer competitions when power and rear-wheel-drive become an affordable cocktail. While I puff away at my cancer stick, think about this. While we wait for the sports car for the masses let’s start organizing more car shows and similar events. I know, there goes my business idea. Not just the annual classic car shows and drags, but events for modified and customized cars as well. After all, the car artist is a neglected individual with no social skills as yet.

Talking about social skills, I recently went up to a guy in Bangalore who had a decent mod job for his Swift and said, “Nice car you got there.” He lifted his chin, looked down at me and muttered something. It certainly wasn’t a nice “Thanks dude”. He must be a shitty driver.

 

Igno Ramus

Ignorant drivers in the mountains are often entrusted with ferrying around excitable passengers. Slow trucks crawling up characteristically narrow ghat roads at single-digit speeds invite risky passes by even initially patient drivers. Blind curves are usually met with a lead foot instead of a light boot.

Those behind the wheel might do well to curb this over enthusiasm, since traffic around bends is visible only at the last instant. It is truly miraculous how bikers especially manage to retain control and skin texture during forced forays into the gravel. Also, riders need to make it a point to have their helmets strapped on, or be prepared to have them bounce off in the event of an unexpected impact. Close shaves and near misses are shockingly habitual to these unprotected road users.

Image source: www.trekkerboy.com

We might do well now to not just pry over spilt brains, but ponder seriously over this blatant disregard for common road sense. Thick-skinned attitude towards safety is now an even bigger epidemic. Accidents in the hills are adding more and more to the ever-escalating and ever-disgracing 150,000-odd annual road accidents-related death toll.

Driving schools are meant to school, not fool.

Nil Spill Hill Thrill

A young friend of mine, Ghosh, from Bangalore visited me up in Kodaikanal recently. I was pleased he wanted to learn how to drive in the hills despite being a newbie, because once you get accustomed to the hills, other driving becomes easier. So what we did was take turns driving amidst Kodai town in our family four-speed Maruti 800, with me talking through my driving and pointing out his mistakes.

Kodai roads are narrow and with steep inclines for the most part, so many times there isn’t room for trucks or buses to go two abreast. This often necessitates stopping and starting from an incline. I found that Ghosh would continually roll back and was in danger of getting the Maruti Service Centre’s finance manager rubbing his hands in glee.  “Use the handbrake so you won’t roll and release it only as you feel the engine power kicking in through the clutch,” I told him. “It’s a blessing we have handbrakes now." A far cry from the nostalgic Fiats and Ambassadors that required a hand stand to get them to work.

While driving around, unfortunately missing out on the pretty girls, Ghosh’s gear changing was obviously not suited to hill driving. He would shift up the gears too quickly into top gear just like changing in flat terrain, and I cringed because the car was struggling. I told him to downshift to a lower gear, third, because it was a moderate straight uphill gradient. He argued that the car would ‘drink’ more fuel, which is true to an extent, but I explained that a little more fuel consumed is much better than the long-term damage on the engine. After all, changing two gears, even three, uses far more fuel in reality, instead of choosing the right one initially.

After traversing a bit in town, we picked up some dinner and a couple of Kingfishers for the night. I drove the way back. Going home, mainly a slight downhill slope, required going down to third gear, not fourth (or fifth gear like some unknowingly persist doing). He asked why and I explained that it was to save the brakes, since rolling down a hill in a high gear using the brakes to constantly slow down allows dangerous brake fade. He was also a little bewildered to know why I was being so ‘nice’ and giving room to climbing vehicles at the narrow sections. "Uphill traffic always gets right of way." That night though, he showed me who was boss on the racetrack, on the world's greatest driving simulator, Gran Tourismo. Maybe it was the beer that caught me off guard. Ahem.

Image source: Unknown

 

The next day, I thought it would be nice to do what’s called the ‘ten-mile round’ in these parts for more driving practice for Ghosh. The road here winds through some lovely scenery and popular sightseeing halts. He was at the wheel and leaned on the horn when we got stuck behind a tourist bus. However, an experienced hill driver will tell you that you only need to toot to let the driver know you’re behind in a faster vehicle, and a thank-you-toot when he gives you room to pass. But Ghosh insisted on overtaking. “You can’t see more than a few feet ahead of you since the road is winding, dude, so don’t," I thought.  Needless to say, suddenly two cars appeared from the opposite direction and we narrowly avoided a metallic spill.

I took over the wheel, and we carried on down the road. Ghosh wanted to go a little faster, but before I did, I told him that this is when you have to be extra careful, especially during the day, since there are no headlights to warn you of an approaching vehicle, especially if the driver doesn’t toot his horn.

 

As part of the gear changing lesson, I accelerated a bit, and since most of the turns were pretty sharp, I told him you should always go down to second gear for sharp turns (as is true for most moderately powered cars), the first reason being the extra torque which helps the car grip the road better and prevent it from running dangerously wide towards oncoming traffic. Most accidents in the hills happen because inexperienced drivers are in racetrack mode and cut neat across their lane. The other reason for a gear change is so that you don’t lose power during the turn and hold up traffic behind you while you wait for the car to gather momentum again.

Later that day Ghosh left, after bargaining for three tons of homemade (or should I say home -mad) chocolate and eucalyptus oil, and caught the bus to Bangalore after an evening dosa. I hope he returned home a better driver.