I love driving my car. It's a clean and smooth running machine, refined to its top level of performance. All thanks to my dad. He's loved cars since I don't know when. He takes real good care of them. And I think I'm gonna be following suit. A well maintained car is triple the fun.
I've had several experiences on the Mumbai - Pune expressway to date. Today I added another to the tally. It was by far the best I've had in a while.
The most intriguing part of the whole expressway thing is the ... well... yes of course.. the cars. All sorts of cars. The boxed in Sumos, the dinky 800's and Altos struggling to keep pace with the likes of the luxury segment and the occassional BMW 7 Series leaving Swifters like me drooling in its exhaust. I'm a sucker for BMWs. (hint hint) .Move over Mercs.
Today the runway was clear in the wee hours of the morning. Sky was clear. A little overcast once I crossed the toll. And the fun began. This perky purple Verna shot past from the left side. I was cruising at 100 then. I picked up pace. I like tailing people, keeping in mind the speed constraint though. Great mind games. He was a quick chap, darting all across the lanes like nobody's business. I never understand such drivers. Lane cutting is the last thing you need on an expressway. Forget using indicators. Anyway, back to the game.
Purple wasn't going that fast. He was.. but not steadily. He slowly disappeared over the bend and I lost him for a while. Then after about 10min I spotted him in the slow lane trying to cut past a lorry. Smart. I for one, dont like spurts. I'm content with a steady speed of 110 or so. If there's a climb I touch down on the pedal a little harder. Keeps up the momentum you see. Curves and bends are tricky at high speeds no doubt. So I had to slow down when one came by. Purple got cut back somehow. My eyes weren't on him but it was quite evident from his crazy antics that he'd get pushed behind. I raced past his sorry state. It was at this point onward where I was sure that Purple had got ticked off for some reason. Don't ask me why. I had this strong notion that it was indeed so. I glanced at my rear view. Purple was now a speck on the glass. I smiled.
A dozen odd overtakes later, I noticed a dark smear on the rear view. It was Purple. He was back with a vengeance. Haha.. yea right. But he was definitely pulling up much faster this time. Call it luck, but to his dismay the odd orientation of cars in and around our zone of contention was too much to gamble with. He had to stay back for a bit. But he was tailing me fine. Just to add fuel to the fire, I'd accelerate a tad bit every time he gained a little on me. I'll say it again though - everything was in check with my speed limit : 140kmph. Anything above that and I'd let him pass. No chance of me playing dangerous.
This game went on for a bit. Purple never got ahead of me throughout the run. We did keep seeing a lot of each other now and again but only for a short while in close quarters. A couple of times he was threating to get ahead but luck was on my half. He'd always get caught in awkward situations with other cars. But he had super speed on his side. The Swift I admit, has no real 'power' to speak of. It has a very fine tuned engine that runs well on long runs. One of the steady gunners.
When we reached the toll naka it really felt like a pit stop. Exciting stuff. Anxiously waiting for the bar to be raised for my clearance, I looked to my right. Purple was still busy with the attendant. I got back to the gearshift and upped it with the extra torque. This is one area where I was severely handicapped. Maruti models are known for anything but their power band. I wondered if he'd spotted the golden chance.
From the right side, Purple gained real fast. On lower gears, he was way ahead of my start. I could sense his power throttling louder and harder. He zipped past my vehicle in the last stretch.
I've had several experiences on the Mumbai - Pune expressway to date. Today I added another to the tally. It was by far the best I've had in a while.
The most intriguing part of the whole expressway thing is the ... well... yes of course.. the cars. All sorts of cars. The boxed in Sumos, the dinky 800's and Altos struggling to keep pace with the likes of the luxury segment and the occassional BMW 7 Series leaving Swifters like me drooling in its exhaust. I'm a sucker for BMWs. (hint hint) .Move over Mercs.
Today the runway was clear in the wee hours of the morning. Sky was clear. A little overcast once I crossed the toll. And the fun began. This perky purple Verna shot past from the left side. I was cruising at 100 then. I picked up pace. I like tailing people, keeping in mind the speed constraint though. Great mind games. He was a quick chap, darting all across the lanes like nobody's business. I never understand such drivers. Lane cutting is the last thing you need on an expressway. Forget using indicators. Anyway, back to the game.
Purple wasn't going that fast. He was.. but not steadily. He slowly disappeared over the bend and I lost him for a while. Then after about 10min I spotted him in the slow lane trying to cut past a lorry. Smart. I for one, dont like spurts. I'm content with a steady speed of 110 or so. If there's a climb I touch down on the pedal a little harder. Keeps up the momentum you see. Curves and bends are tricky at high speeds no doubt. So I had to slow down when one came by. Purple got cut back somehow. My eyes weren't on him but it was quite evident from his crazy antics that he'd get pushed behind. I raced past his sorry state. It was at this point onward where I was sure that Purple had got ticked off for some reason. Don't ask me why. I had this strong notion that it was indeed so. I glanced at my rear view. Purple was now a speck on the glass. I smiled.
A dozen odd overtakes later, I noticed a dark smear on the rear view. It was Purple. He was back with a vengeance. Haha.. yea right. But he was definitely pulling up much faster this time. Call it luck, but to his dismay the odd orientation of cars in and around our zone of contention was too much to gamble with. He had to stay back for a bit. But he was tailing me fine. Just to add fuel to the fire, I'd accelerate a tad bit every time he gained a little on me. I'll say it again though - everything was in check with my speed limit : 140kmph. Anything above that and I'd let him pass. No chance of me playing dangerous.
This game went on for a bit. Purple never got ahead of me throughout the run. We did keep seeing a lot of each other now and again but only for a short while in close quarters. A couple of times he was threating to get ahead but luck was on my half. He'd always get caught in awkward situations with other cars. But he had super speed on his side. The Swift I admit, has no real 'power' to speak of. It has a very fine tuned engine that runs well on long runs. One of the steady gunners.
When we reached the toll naka it really felt like a pit stop. Exciting stuff. Anxiously waiting for the bar to be raised for my clearance, I looked to my right. Purple was still busy with the attendant. I got back to the gearshift and upped it with the extra torque. This is one area where I was severely handicapped. Maruti models are known for anything but their power band. I wondered if he'd spotted the golden chance.
From the right side, Purple gained real fast. On lower gears, he was way ahead of my start. I could sense his power throttling louder and harder. He zipped past my vehicle in the last stretch.
Purple won the war.
(Duel happens to be Spielberg's first movie - a great flick based on just two vehicles for the entire movie.)
Posts
4 comments:
this is the most exhaustive driving experience i have ever known about someone... quite niice...
"One of the steady gunners"...
Go arsenal, though I know you mean otherwise.
whatay phun...!
Great post to read!!!
Post a Comment