My Racing Incident

A winding road about 20 km long - Flanked by Sea on one side, hills on the other - A lonely car speeding along. For NFS (a car racing game) lovers, this will be a dream come true. That is Vizag’s Beach Road for you. My childhood was filled with drives along this beach road. We had the most rickety yet trusted of cars – The Ambassador, at that time. But the fun was never missing.

A few snaps of the place...see the road between the sea & the hills..



turning towards right...



Anyway the point of the post was to share an experience. So we now have a Palio Petrol. It’s a great car! Esp. for unfortunate souls like us the transition from Amby to Palio was overwhelming. Before I continue further, let me tell you that I have no racing experience, apart from the hundreds of hours spent on NFS 2, NFS 3, NFS 5 & NFS 7.

So here I was cruising along the beach road listening to Rabbi Shergills “Gill Te Guitar” when a slow moving Tata Indica in front of me catches my attention. “OK lets overtake him”, I think. That was not to be so easy! The moment I try, a Hyundai Santro coming from opposite direction appears in front from the hidden turn quite ahead. The overtaking still would not have been a problem, if this Indica guy had not increased his speed. I looked at him – the guy had a satisfied smile on his face. To be safe, I braked hard & fell back. The annoying smirk of the Indica guy was still in my mind. And he was still in front of me driving as slow as ever. This guy derived pleasure by driving slow & not allowing others to go ahead. Overtaking him was a problem has the road was narrow & full of turns*.

I could not control the emotions. My blood was boiling. I decided to teach this fool a lesson. Now I know the beach road very well – aakhir hum yahi to palle badhe hain. I know the straight patch of road that will come about 500 mts ahead will be the ideal place to overtake. I know that the acceleration of his Diesel Indica will be no match for my Petrol Palio. I try some more half hearted, fake attempts to overtake, giving this guy the smugness that he is actually very good at this. By this time my straight patch of road is here. Luckily there wasn’t anyone coming from the opposite direction. Now I let the 2nd gear of my Palio do the talking. Our heads bang back to the seats & off we go. He tries speeding; he tries cutting me out by suddenly moving towards right. But by that time we’ve already crossed him. Satisfaction! And I feel like I’m playing NFS 5.

And check this snap we took in the same trip…Feels like NFS 7 doesn’t it.



PS: sorry for the bad quality snaps. its the best my poor camera phone could do..

* On narrow hill roads, overtaking should be done only when the road is straight as any car coming from opposite direction would not be visible when the road is winding.