2017 Honda One Make
The race prepared Honda CBR150Rs are not only faster but handle better too
So for a company with so much racing heritage to come down to our country where track riding is still an idea that hasn’t gained popularity is nothing short of a bold move towards the faith it has in the growing talent that India harbours. Honda’s Ten10 Racing academy invited me to have the experience of being professionally trained by their director and extremely seasoned trainer Mr. Ramji Govindrajan.
Our day began with us boarding our flight to Chennai at 5 AM and finally reaching the track by 8:30 AM. We were one of the first to arrive and after a quick walk around the track, I was surprised by what I saw. I saw young teens, both boys and girls training in complete race suits. To me who’s been chasing speed and tackling local speeders on our city streets and nearest ghats was a huge surprise to see how young all this talent has started and my eyes were filled with pride and envy.
We were greeted by Mr. Ramji himself and we headed for the briefing room where all the other journalists assembled and the room was filled with this ‘Back to school’ vibe. Speaking of back to school, we were all sleep deprived and exhausted and desperately waiting to be let out for our recess on the track. After a whole hour and a half of briefing and safety instructions, we were finally sent for our first practice session.
The safety gear provided to us was nothing short of good quality. We were given Taichi racing suits and gloves and KYT racing helmets. Once in our leathers, the sleep started to fade away and as we were set out on our bikes from the pit lane, my sleep and the rider ahead of me blasted off. My heart started pumping and I got nervous but as I got on the track, I started to soak it all in, the wind hitting against me, the loud exhaust, the committed riding position, the smoothness of the track and all of a sudden it hit me.
This is it, this is that moment where I don’t have to worry about any potholes or pedestrians or cows for that matter, I realized this was that moment to reach my full potential and not hold back. I won’t lie, I was a little nervous about getting my knee down at first but with each passing lap, I could see my confidence grow and me getting lower through each corner and my God that feeling is amazing!
I could feel the balance we were given between theory and practice
We were called back into the pit lane and then another briefing where Mr. Ramji pointed out to each of us what we were doing wrong and pointed out our potential. He made one thing very clear to us that the fastest way around a track isn’t always with your knee down, not every corner needs you to get your knee down and as a rider, it’s us that has to identify which ones need it and which ones don’t. We were all given equal attention and it never felt that any of us were being left out when it came to being taught both in our briefing and individually. As we hit the track again, I could immediately feel myself go a lot faster and be more consistent through the corners.
I’ve been so caught up talking about how it felt, I completely forgot about the bikes we were riding. So the motorcycles given to us were Honda CBR150Rs turned into race bikes. The exhaust, fueling and body were different on this machine. It made more power and was lighter basically which made a huge difference on the track because it made the CBR150R feel so well balanced and controlled through almost everything I seemed to put it through and it was just so much smoother and more free-revving.
After our first day being spent well, we headed back to our hotel rooms which were an hour away thanks to Chennai traffic. After finally catching up on some precious sleep, we started early the next day and were at the track by 9 AM. To our surprise, the weather was just perfect with no signs of rain and it not being too sunny either. We were each allotted a bike of our own with the transponders fit to time our laps which got us all excited.
I managed to post the 4th fastest time around the track which felt awesome
It was the second time I had ever been on the track since yesterday and I was amongst a lot of experienced riders. We were provided lunch and the day came to an end quite early since tomorrow was the big day. It was finally here, day 3 at MMRT and everyone was all set and ready for the Honda one make championship. We had a qualifying round and I managed to qualify with the third fastest lap this time, putting me right ahead on the start line.
As my heart pumped and raced with every passing second, my eyes set dead straight at the lights as they went from red to red to green and it was blast off! I raced as hard as I could and finished in 3rd place to my surprise. I could see all that training take shape and make the winner I was that day. It really goes to show how just 2 days spent at the track can make such a huge improvement that I managed to shave a whole 10 seconds off my first practice session the day before.
We headed over to the podium and by the end of that day, we all looked at each other as rivals but never with the lack of respect. It was one of the most fun experiences I’ve ever had and I would most definitely recommend it to everyone out there. 3 years of riding on the ghats couldn’t teach me what I learned from spending merely 3 days at the track. Kudos to Honda for trying to help the talent in India grow and learn in a safe and controlled environment.
Further Reading –
Suzuki Gixxer Cup Experience
TVS Apache 200 One Make Race Experience
Honda Racing Academy Experience