My Formula Blog.

[chinoy]

Every woke up in the morning and had the feeling youve woken from a long dream. The feeling where you not sure if the past few days where a dream or real.

Its almost like having an acid flash back.
Except the past day did happen for real.


I think most Racers are on a constant high. Which is composed of 90% adrilin, 5% caffeine and 5% shear sleep deprivation.

Started my day yesterday by reviewing the feedback and action points reported to us about the car from round two. They pertain to an issue with 4th and 5th gear on a few cars. And to the clutch. Come up with a plan of action to address these two issues.
Then start striping all the gear boxes and looking to see how they lasted thru the races from the 2nd round. Everything looks good. After sorting out the various issues and plan of action started looking for all the missing parts canablised off the spare car. Managed to piece something together. To get it running.

Wheels off some car, wings off another, put together a gear linkage.
Had the car setup.

Got in a few laps trying to keep pace with NKs team car and their test driver.

The car is so cramped the unknowing fools like me get in with no padding your sure to get bruised and cut up in short order.

Its almost like a getting strapped into the cockpit of a fighter plane. Space is at a premium. And your more lying prone. One disadvantage as a test driver right now for me is I dont have my own seat. So have to make do with no seat or some broken pices of foam. Mental note to get a seat made to match my body.

Got in a few laps behind the the other car.
And you can pretty much see how critical setup is. If you push the car in an effort to keep up. The rear would keep steeping out. Depending on how and when it steps out you have two options. Get harder on the gas. Or let go of the stearing and let her auto correct. The car gives you an amazing amount of feedback and warning.

The most fun turns are C1 followed by the S near the tower.
The worst is the double apex tight turn and then your onto the final long right left to the straight.

Will not kid my self and say im physically fit 100%. lets just say you need a very different level of fitness.
If your not fit. By the end of 15 laps your not going to have the energy to climb out of the car.
Ive found that the first day after a long brake is the hardest. The second day gets easier. And by the third your body is used to it. The act of driving basically becomes your work out.

This is very unlike racing bikes. Where you are constantly moving your body around on the seat. So the G forces are then basically acting thru your body to your backside and onto the seat. In the car at best you can cock your head to one side.

Anyway came in to try and sort out the setup when the Minta arrived. Put the roof down and had a few laps arround the track in the minta.

One sweet car. Its a two seater, very low seats. Amazing brakes. Coming down the straights the brakes are only touched at the 50 Mtr marker.

Thru the turns you can hear the tyres complaining really loudlly they are screaching and burning rubber.
Then hoped into the Zen for a ride to the air port.
Took a shortcut somewhere thru the wilderness. The radiator cap of the Zen blew. So here we where stoping for watter in the middle of no where.

Found an small hut where an army Jawan and his wife stay. Took turns driving thru the dark wilderness hit the airport. Lucky for me the flight was delayed so got to get spend time with Boss. At the airport.

Fly into Bangalore. Its pouring rain. Long queuse for Taxis and Autos.
Reach home 11 pm.

Midnight a bunch of drunk family friends land up. My wifes Gym class buddies. All the guys have flown in from all over the place dog tired so get together and drink till your piss drunk. Listen to some loud music shake a leg and fall flat on the bed. Two of the guys are busy setting up a new airline and one is flying around the place every week not sure what he does.
We all landed up in Bangalore together from different cities and decided to have a party.

Today is Sunday rest up and get ready for a fresh week starting Monday. Have one CDI kit to finish and a shit load of RD engines. Have tanked up the TZR and plan to run it in by using it for all my commuting. Spent a few hour organizing and planing my work.

Had the time of my life flying down the straight anticiapate the rev limiter and whack it into 5th.
Hold off braking till your past the 100 Mtr marker.
Down shift and hit the brakes hard.

The gear box is like butter. Words cant describe the feeling of going thru the gears on this box. Now wonder people spend 10,000$ on a race gear box. Its worth every cent.

Ps: If you would like to experience what it feels like to drive one of these cars the price is only 1.75 Lakhs per car per year.

DOnt know if they will trust you with a Formula Rolon straight off the bat. So start by getting some laps in on the school cars.
They have school cars you can rent for the whole day and you can put in as many laps as you want.

[chinoy]

Got timed for the first time.
1:14
This is on the Guine pig car.
So engine is weak.

Other drivers who have 20-30 year experience under their belt.
Did a 1:9 and a 1:10 so that puts me 4-5 seconds off the pace.
The run was done mainly using only 2 gears. 4th and 5th
Something along the lines we do with the bikes i.e. untill you master the lines stick to one gear.


Dont know if thats good or bad.
Anyway total time and experience in this car under 45 minutes.
Hope to put in some practice to see if practice helps.
If not will just conclude Im too old and too slow.

If I can shave 4 seconds off my lap time Im considered good enoughf to hit the grid and not get lapped.

On the plus side.
Its a good solid workout.
You loose a lot of weight really fast.

[chinoy]

The body is an amazing thing.
First day after 15 laps your arms start to burn.
You can see them turn red.
At the end of Pratice you can barelly pull your self out of the car.

Day two.
The arms feel sore.
But the burning is not there.
Your able to push 20-30 laps with no problem.
Start to use more gears.
As the accelerations gets more violent the number of times you start to loose the car in turns out of turns start to go up.
Raining today running slicks.
So no chance to push the car. In a few turns.

I guess its very tempting to push the car beyond your own limits. And loose it.
Which is either a spin out. Or a run out.
A spin out is not so bad. But a run out means a lot of damage to the car.

So the tricky bit is to keep pushing but within your saftey envelope.
I see the total stupidity of pushing it to a point of crashing now more clearlly than ever.

So how do you go faster.
You go faster by learning to study and know both your limits and those of the car.
Like any relationship. It takes times and practice to build.
There is no such thing as natruall talent I feel.

Like most things in life its 90% hard work.
5% Talent and 5% setup.

Day two and the bruises and bumps and lumps start to show on the legs and arms.

Proper sleep a sharp mind. Are prerequisites.
The level you need to focus too is also quite amazing.
You can not be distracted for even a second.
Flying down the straight maxed out in top gear then to drop from 5th to 2nd or 3rd is hard.
The trick is to put off braking till you past the 100 MTR mark. If you can hit the brakes at the 50 or 75 MTR marker you stand a chance of being on pace.

Slowly inching towards my 60 Minutes in the car time.

[chinoy]

Ever driven a Formula car in the Rain on slick in the moonlight
Been there done that

Day 3 and the body seems well adjusted.
Am able to keep going with no issues.

Now that the body has adjusted. The mind has too.
Am getting to realize the clarity of thought and sharpness required.
I do know if its possible for a tuner to race.
Your mind is allways analysing the car more than focusing on the driving.
Maybe one needs to disipline the mind.
Maybe one just needs a lot of pratice.
Nothing beats actuall pratice.

Also you will find that as you get better on the track your street driving will also improve.
If you can learn to hold the throtell pined to the floor till the 50 MTR marker.
You can improve your street skills and reflexes.

The pratice bit is required so that you can the car become one.
My conclusion is that racing is all in the head.

And if your serious and passionate about driving then doing any kind of driving on the street is a pure waste of time.
We where keen on drag racing cause it was the only sport we had access to.

Track racing is way more fun.
Simplly because you get to enjoy the veichel so much more.
Its not just about launch.
Its about launch, lines, strategy, brake points, gear selection.

I cant believe with a country with this many people.
We don't have a more active racing and automotive scene.

People will blow a few lakhs on stupid things for their car but ask them to spend a few K on track time and everybody has an excuse.

[chinoy]

Got to drive a Formula Rolon in the national championship.
My best time on the chenai Track was around 2min4 sec.
The Race Winers are in the 1:48 second time per lap.
We drove the long loop.

It was a funny feeling to drive on a new track where you have never driven.
The idea was to get in as many laps as possible. And that was achieved.

JD madan joined in on the action which is a good thing and something I was after him to do.
We will need to setup the car to his height.
The races where followed by a Drag Even where we put up a Formula Rolon against a Mivac. It won that Drag.
We then raced the Formula Rolon against the fastest car at the drag event and it won that too.
So after this I dont want to hear another word about how solw the Rolons are.

[mclaren1885]

So JD raced already? Or will be in future? I would love to see that chap get into the Rolon's.

So how do you compare the MMST to the KMS?

[Kaushik]

Aweseome drive Ron!!!
You did a great job out there on the track I could see you braking late into C1 and C2 and all......damn cool man.

Just get the guinea-pig car sorted out man, you are more than capable of shaving 8-10 seconds off your current times. Will be there again at the next round to cheer you up man!!.........keep it going!

[chinoy]

MMST is new to me I have Zero Experience on the track. Dont even know where to turn left or right. Much less setting up braking markers or knowing the lines.
KMS is more like home you have setup all your breaking markers and turn in points. Also the KMS track has more well defined marks on the road where people have been hitting the brakes.
Where as MMST has just been freshly laid track. So while its very fast there are no guidance markers. You have to form your own. And you better well know the track.
The formula Rolons are the wrong cars to start driving. The learning curve is very very steep. But I have to work on these cars and therefore must learn to push them.
This is what Guruji says.
I was able to shave 5-6 seconds off my time just by following a few other cars around. And seeing where they braked and what lines they took.
But to get into one of the fastest cars in India on a unknown track and expect to be competitive with drivers with 10-20 years experience is foolish. And pushing the car will only result in a crash. Like somebody told me nothing is more embarsing than being slow and totaling the car. I only used 2 gears 4th and 5th. And untill I know the track better dont plan to use more gears.
Yes JD is in he is driving. First time out in the car and he was on par with the regulars. Doing a 1:50 and even a 1:49 change. He knows the track like the back of his hand and only has to get accustomed to the car. I think he should be able to do that in around 50 laps. I will need to put in arround 150 laps before I get to grips with the car and the track.
Lastly you need to be really really fit to drive these cars. You cant go in without sleeping for 3 days. Unfit and expect to drive them. Im learning the hard way. If Gurji insists on me driving I just may have to figure out how to quit smoking and get into serious shape.
My car which is the spare car / guinea pig car may never be sorted.
If there is a bent stearing box or upright or rim. Or if a part goes duff like 40 minutes before race 2 number car numbers 3 injectors started acting up. We take the good part off my car and it goes to the other car. And that cars part comes to me. Which is why I only got to put in 3 laps in race two with 3 cylinders misfiring.
I dont really mind as Im not in a position to be competitive right now. And its more important that I just get in as many laps as possible. This is also another brilliant move by Guruji. By seeing which parts get pinched off my car. I can plan our stock requirements and what spares to carry so that my car keeps running.

What made my day though was watching the Formula cars drag with some of the fastest cars in the land and win.
Anand from team Meco drove the FRC and you only get an idea of how fast the car is when it goes up against another car. While the other cars where still changing into 3rd our FRC had gone thru all 5 gears. Shifting like Butter. Anybody who says our cars have any kind of Gear Box issue should see the video of the car at the drag going thru the gears simply mind blowing.

Normally Id say when your knocking on 40 its the wrong time to start something like this. But Gurji and a few other are 10-15 years older than me and still doing a bang up job. So lets see how it goes. Personally I feel its just to much hard work. In fact running around the track may be less tiring than trying to drive around it.
Anybody know a good Gym around my place

Ps: Hopefully JD will continue to race in the series. He is only 1 or 2 seconds off the fastest guys and thats pretty impressive for somebody who has never driven this car before. His entering the champioship is something Ive been working on now that he is in watch the craze catch on.

[chinoy]

Fast is very relative term.
Questions like what is fast, what is speed are things that I have long pondered.

Something happened recently that gave me a better understanding on the subject.

Still remember going into Anands corner. Just before the bridge your flat out struggling to keep the car on the track. The car is slipping and sliding.
You feel like your at the limits of traction. And then you see this car in your rear mirror bearing down on you at an insane speed.
At best you try and hold your line or tighten up on the line. Wondering where the other car will go.
He takes you on the outside. Still accelerating. Its a fast left hander. As he goes past you notice something the front wheel is in full opposite lock i.e. he has locked the front wheels pointing them right and it looks like the car is just silding past you.
When you drive with guys like this you realize the concept of what fast is.

I now see the wisdom in starting out small and then climbing up the power ladder.
The more the power the faster the turns the more the skils required. And the steeper the learning curve.
Hats off to the guys who place in the top 3 esp in the super bike and Rolon class. They know how to drive really well.

I also noticed another intresting point. The fast guys will go arround the track the fastest and come with their tyres looking un-used.
While the others would have chewed up their rubbers.

Its not a setup issue. No matter what setup you give them their tyres allways look good.

My honest view is that the best way to learn and lear really fast is to drive with the fast boys.