248F1...

Its out and its already topping the timesheets... The sexiest thing I've ever seen. Look at the aero packs at the back. Another radical FERRARI package..

All the best 248F1.

Tearing up Fiorano with F2006!!!!

MS testing the F2006 at Fiorano. 2 more days to go....

Bahrain Countdown : 49 days 22 hrs

GIVE ME RED!!!!!!

ITS COMING!!!

24 - 01 - 2006

GRAN PREMIO DI CHENNAI – CIRCUIT DE OMR-ECR…

A combination of precision driving, technical excellence and sheer bravery is required to drive in this circuit, facets which highlight the differences between the sensible and the non-sense in streets. The Median-lined (not continuous) circuit leaves no margin for error, demanding more concentration that any other track. Cars run with minimum downforce and still brakes are worked hard. Overtaking is next to impossible so qualifying to drive in this circuit is more critical than at any other circuit.OMR-ECR's mix of high and low-speed corners, plus its abrasive and rather bumpy track(where the hell is the track???) surface, makes for a physically and mechanically taxing lap. Alright I’ll get to the flying lap of the circuit…

The Start-Finish straight (ECR) is one of the smoothest and best roads you’ll ever finds in India – particularly Chennai. The Car starts at the end of the straight and up thro the gears until 3rd before it turns into the tight left handed corner and then a jittering 50 m stretch into the LBR before you encounter the smooth left handed curve into the OMR. The car experiences the minimum downforce here and adds to the wind blowing across the Lattice Bridge over the Buckingham Canal. The driver has to watch out to his right and left before turning into the OMR for there is traffic coming both in front and back (yeah that’s right – traffic coming in FRONT in the wrong side). The circuit now comes to a very tight right handed corner turning into the Taramani Road. The Pit Lane Entry is on the left here. This is one of the slowest corners in the circuit where you’ll have to actually stop for the signal n also for the vehicles who don’t respect the signals!!!

The Taramani road stretches ahead with lots of vehicles parked on both sides of the road – making the road actually smaller than it should be. The Awesome MRTS railing moves over head as the car shifts up thro the gears until 45 kmph and turns sharp into the Bypass which starts on the left immediately after the highly classified Bio-tech facility. The Car shifts up thro the gears again along this part of the stretch until 60 kmph (The only thing the driver has to take care of is the children running across here and there in the road – but even international circuits has experienced breaches, so who cares!!!) At the end of the Bypass the car shifts down braking hard to turn right into the OMR again. This is one of the trickiest corners you can ever find in the world. Literally with no road at this junction of Bypass and OMR, the car shakes down to the core!!! The earth shattering experiences are taxing on the driver and worse than the G-Forces. One wrong move here and a driver could break his spine!!!!

The OMR(oldest part of the circuit) is a mix of slow and much slow curves and straights. The mainstay in this part of the circuit is the speed traps. Here the speed traps are manned by Mr and Mrs Buffalo. (Yeah u read it right… you can find them inspecting the track at any time they wish and they’ll check your speed.) Avoiding them is simply impossible on this part of the circuit. The OMR stretches for 6 kms and all thro the 6kms it’s a drivers nightmare with people walking across any time, Cars coming on the opposite side if the road… Speed Traps, Water logs (have been there since 200 BC – esp. in front of my office) etc… The straight ends at sholinganallur taking a hard left (a barely visible corner – hiding in the midst of teakkadais and bus stops.. ) into the connecting road for ECR. This road is worse than the OMR though its only for 2kms. There is literally no road with huge holes in the centre (Ofcourse water will be there in it!!!) and the unique thorny bush fencing!!! One wrong step and your car paint scheme is damaged but drivers generally prefer this to going thro the holes – which are heavy on the shock absorption system and might break it too!!! The highly characteristic point of this road is the small chicane at the starting of the bridge over the Buckingham Canal. Once you negotiate it successfully, the bridge high up gives a unique challenge to the drivers. If you drive with your windows down… or without helmet… you are sure to be hit by atleast 14 - 15 insects (yeah I counted once and don’t know about the species)

The road finally ends up at the ECR and taking a sharp left turn the car is back onto the newest part of the circuit and the driver can push it up thro the gears until 90 – 110 kmph (Ofcourse a driver has to mind the oncoming traffic, Buses coming along side and the people on the sides!!!) before reaching the Start-Finish Line.

Whew!!! That one hell of a Lap is taken daily by me and many others for work.

PS:
The Circuit de OMR-ECR is located only 12km from Chennai. It is easily accessible on major routes, either the IT HIGHWAY or the LB motorway (exit 13) towards IIFT.

Alternatively, it is served by rail from PARK station (Line 2) to Tiruvanmiyur Station with journey time lasting about 45 minutes. The circuit is a short walk from the station.

If you're flying, then the nearest international airport is Anna International Airport in Meenambakkam, which is 27km from the circuit. There are regular connections to the circuit from the airport via bus.



Glossary:

OMR – Old Mahabalipuram Road
ECR – East Coast Road
LBR – Lattice Bridge Road

Hyderabad Part 2

Day-3 :

Again half the day wasted in getting up and getting ready!!! After about 3 hours we were all in front of the hotel. But still some of them were missing. Finally we all settled down at PARADISE again for another one of those heavenly meals. No I did not count the chickens this time. After the meal, Pats n Scienty bid farewell as they had to be in Mumbai the next day.

Off we went to Golconda Fort. The travel was again so erratic and crazy, I felt like turning back to the hotel. A guy coming in the wrong side of the road hit the car with his bike and started arguing that we should’ve come slowly!!! Bloody Hell!!! And after some 10 minutes… another Skoda was trying to pass us at high speed… and a guy turned sloooooooowly… slowwwwwwwwwly……. Into the main road right in front of the 2 cars!!! He was taking forever to turn and go into the side. The Skoda almost hit us whilst trying to avoid that guy… pushing us into the platform. But lucky we… the car did not get any scratch or damage on it. We reached the Fort finally only to roam around it for almost half hour to park the car. Then another half hour was spent in Me,Nambi and Bala getting crushed in the crowd to get a 5 rupee entry ticket. I have never seen such crowd anywhere else in India to visit a historical place. This fact gave us some satisfaction that there will be something worth of all this suffering. Half the Gang was doped by the awesome Chicken Biryani and Meeta Paan!!!!

So with all expectations we started walking inside the fort to find this.


The Golconda Fort

There was nothing intact in the lower layer of the fort, except for the tall halls called as CLAPPING PORTICOS. I did not find anything strange about it other than that people were standing and clapping and yeah they were also trying to listen to some sort of echo!!! I heard none. So the guys already in a drunken stupor, decided against climbing to the top of the fort and rested on the lawn. And as the time passed with our target Saby in the centre, we decided to call it quits and head back to the Hotel.


Me inside Golconda Fort

That night everyone except Me, Bala and Satheesh everybody left back for Mumbai,Pune and Chennai. We had booked our flights on the next day – trusting some ingenious distance calculation and new year trip planning by the great SW Engineer in HYD.


Day – 4 :

The day started with a hot bath in the tub, which was refreshing and relaxing as we all had got tired of doing nothing but yapping and drinking!!! Then we paid the hotel and left for Charminar in the car. The USP of HYD is Charminar. At least that’s what I was told when I was about to leave my home on 30th. So with great expectations we set off to the Old City, where the actual HYD was located. The maddening crowd almost killed me again. I kept counting how many times the car is gonna hit something/someone this time on the 18 km trip to the Charminar. The count crossed 10 and I gave up!!!

Finally I was standing in front of the Charminar, but in total disappointment!!! Neither did it look like what it looked in the pictures nor was it impressive!!! The historical monument, built for thanking INSHA ALLAH for saving the city from some plague was in a very bad condition!!! The maintenance was too bad. There were people all around the place and electric wires running all around the beautiful building. Couldn’t get a clear shot.



The Charminar



Inside the Charminar



The Mecca Masjid


The Mecca Masjid, situated right next to the Charminar was impressive. Though it was not open for tourists during prayer time, people were allowed in on that particular day. But we decided to skip the Mecca Masjid (The stones used in the building were brought from Mecca, hence the name) and head for our last trial on the famous HYD Chicken Biryani. The hotel which we went was moderate and rated highly by our driver. But when we went inside, the place looked no different from the kayyendhi bahavans of Chennai. But the Biryani tasted damn good. Just as we were about to leave, the hotel was stormed by Americans… around 30 r 40 of them (All females ofcourse!!!) and so we had to spend some more time there. (No you filthy minds… not cos we wanted to sit there and admire those Gori ladies… we had to wait until they settled down for getting our bill.. only one waiter you see!!! )

So after 0.5 hours.. we set of on the final phase of our journey in HYD… to the Airport!!! After bidding farewell to Pistu.. we checked in and waited in Q for another loooooooooooong security check. I was thinking how to explain the officer if he gets suspicious of me again. But the never bothered… he just stamped and let me pass!!! And as we reached the Hold Area… we were informed that our flight was delayed by 0.5 hours. So after another 0.5 hours of grueling wait… (actually it was good… we saw Pavan Kalyan – Chiranjeevi’s bro, met our cabin crew, calculated how far will the Murphy’s Law work out and also fighting so hard to control smoking despite sitting directly in front of the smoking room and with Satheesh smoking along with out Captain)we finally boarded the plane for a real rough flight back to home!!!!


Hyderabad Airport

Trust Me… the return flight was so bad that I felt the Volvo Bus would’ve reached Chennai smoothly!!!! Anyways there were more things in this trip to be remembered of!!! Thanks again guys.. to all of those who could make it and also to all those who called!!! Esp to Mac… hope u got some place to see the fireworks in Sydney. Be back soon in my other blog. Au revoir!!!!

All Flights fly to HYD!!!!

The trip to HYD(Hyderabad) started on a lazy day in Chennai (30th). Already having applied for the leave and more over missing the Away Day party with the project people, I started along with Bala n Satheesh for HYD. The cab reached airport just in time. We were almost the last to check in for the HYD flight. Being the first flight for Satheesh n Bala, they were excited and Bala was expecting some fun in the flight!!!

After the routine security checks (I had an extra loooooooooong one, not coz I look like a terrorist, but coz of the metal rods inside my leg. It took some time for me to convince the Officer that I have a metal rod inside!!!) we rushed to Gate-4, which is in the first floor. Singara Chennai Airport escalators and elevators don’t work !! !!! So had to do a trek up the stairs and reached the Gate 4 just in time with Bala n Me sweating all over!!!

I expected the flight to be a smaller one.. but it was the normal Airbus A320. So finally we were all set for take off and ready to rock HYD with others who had already reached and who had not!!! After a rather dull one hour, we reached HYD and the pilot kept circling the city thrice before landing. Bala’s comment – I expected some fun during the flight!!! – meaning he wanted the jet to turn like the fighter planes!!! 180 degree Cobra maneuver is not possible with two mediocre turbo fans Bala!! You need a thrust vector controlled engine and nozzle to do that!!!

After a grueling 15 min drive reached at Baseraa!!! This hotel was awesome!!! The rooms were good, and the room service – even better!!! Except for the nagging Lady at the front desk who cheated us on discounts worth some 3 grand!!! Slowly the guys started arriving and finally at around 5.30 all gathered except Saby n Neo.



Day -1 :

The Hyderabad Central – not so good as the Bengaluru Central. No collections and not so good. I did not like it. I saw MnS there at Central and was surprised!!! I was thinking that MnS had opened shops only at Delhi n Chennai in India! I’ve never seen any records about HYD store.

CLUB 8 – Nice place. Though it was nowhere near to some of the premium bars(Westminister,BnB,StarRock,Zara’s) in Chennai, the gang of 15 meeting after 1.5 years set the place on fire(ofcourse with the help of spirits!!!) Even StarRock would win hands down when compared with CLUB-8. The service was bad. I simply hung on to scotch n beer.



PARADISE – The famous hotel in HYD for the famous HYD Biryani. If a chicken commits a crime, it would be sent to HYD.The paradise is CHICKEN's HELL.I guess no chicken would be alive in HYD. This place Paradise is of 4 floors – each floor is of about 2500 sq.ft. and can comfortably seat around 200 to 300 people one floor. All 4 floors serve Chicken Biryani!!!! They have only 3 variations in Biryani. SMALL,LARGE and PREMIUM.And the hotel is packed to the max. We waited 15 mins to get our table. Just imagine the amount of chickens used for that!!! Though the Biryani was real tasty, me and Bala were counting the possible no of chickens killed per day and we couldn’t come to a proper number at the end as the food we had ordered distracted us!!!


All set for the food in Paradise


Day -2 :

Half Day wasted in the hotel trying to wake people up and also waiting for Saby n Neo. Finally, they showed up around noon after a real long n tiring bus journey. Kudos to you two... if you two hadnt come... there would've been something missing.And you guys know what it was!!!

PRASAD’s – This place was awesome. The mall has an IMAX screen (in which we watched HP-4 without understanding what was going on. I hate HP!!!) With some li’l help from Bala (crazy fan of HP) I could understand and patch it up.


The Prasadz...


Yours Truly... trying in vain to join The Hogwarts

The IMAX is nothing but a forward inclined screen of gigantic size. Almost twice or thrice the size of a normal movie screen. It does cause dizziness for weak hearted people!!! It was fun time after the movie. Saby and Neo tried their hand at rock-climbing. To our astonishment, Saby was much more efficient and faster than Neo at climbing (guess this is a common trait with people from Dadhagapatti!!!) He almost touched the top before his weight let him down. It was fun for all of us to see our dear Saby (Hero – Zero- Hero) back in action, along with his all time contender Neo!!

The EAT STREET – This is the place I loved the most in my trip to HYD. This place roxx!!! Its got all – Idli,Chutney to Pizza to frankies to everything… I know this sounds similar to TRANSIT at Forum but trust me u get much more options than you get in Transit. So bad that Chennai does not have such a place to eat out!!!



Me n Bala at the EAT STREET - happy after two pizzas..

Then back to the HOTEL… for the Bash… to welcome 2006. Since we were a big group and all Stags (Royal Stags are not allowed into most of the clubs in India!!) we decided to keep the party personally in the room and it would give us some time to sit and talk too. Since Saby (Our Main Target) had come late in the afternoon, the focus was on him and his Malaysian Sweetheart!! It was fun… I can remember only till 1130 on the 365th day of 2005. After that I was on a total high… don’t remember cutting the cake… talking to Miths n Vinu over the phone… and lots of other stuff… even now… (I was shell shocked when I heard that I did all this from Vinu!!!)


The final cheers of 2005

Me feeling real sleepy.More on Day 3 n 4 later...HAPPY NEW YEAR...