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Off a Pony, and on to a Wing
Hi All,
It's nice to be among riders again. It's been four years since I interacted with motorcyclists. Work, kids, and more work I guess did it. Now I've 'slowed down' a bit, and that in a twisted way means riding fast.
Recently I had focused my automotive hormones on riding in cages; particularly in a 2009 S197 Ford Mustang. Enjoyed the car to its fullest, and learnt a lot on driving fast. It felt like a weapon of mass destruction, piloting 330hp at speeds over 240kmph (don't really know how much more since the speed read only till that). I would like to share with you a heart-rushing drive I went for along with two R8s, a Modena 550 and a RS4. Of course, with out a passenger.
After overtaking three cars, I was left attempting to catch up the driver of the red R8. I closed in on his rear at 230kmph in fifth, until his head tilted towards the rear-view mirror. That was soon followed by this subtle gust of dust near his exhausts signalling his downshift (to which gear I will never know), and all 400-something horses let loose. The Audi moved away from my nose like an RD350 in front of a Vespa. Gulp!
Having never driven a fast-food eating, mayo-dipping upsized American at those speeds, I too downshifted in some hallucination of actually closing in on the German autobahn figure skater. The ’Stang blipped, tach-needle wondered why, and swung reluctantly from 5,800rpm just to use up the remaining 200-odd revs left to redline. The car went a tad-faster, hit the cut-off at 6,000rpm, followed by a verbal abuse in the cabin, and back to fifth (yes, the top gear). The speedo-needle camped at the 240kmph limit, while the tach-needle continued its sway past five-large. Meanwhile, the mid-engined Teutonic wonder was enjoying a slightly banked left-hander at 295. Further back, the 3,000-km old, V8-engined behemoth’s suspension overheated due to more frequent vertical travel, even on an extremely smooth road, resulting in stability of an 80-foot yacht on calm sea. At 250+ smooth roads, well, aren’t.
My head has never had that much processing to do ever. Yes, of course on the race-track, but this was the street albeit inter-state highway. Ironically, I felt so unsafe and contemplated buying a car-racing helmet during those high-speed drives. Maybe even a six-point harness. Oh hell, let’s throw in a four-point roll-cage too. But you see it didn’t seem to end; it still never felt as safe as a motorcycle.
The Pony-car had to go. And my new addiction arrived on a Wing and a prayer – the CBR600RR.
I shall share a small piece on this bike with you guys.
Cheers,
Rado.
It's nice to be among riders again. It's been four years since I interacted with motorcyclists. Work, kids, and more work I guess did it. Now I've 'slowed down' a bit, and that in a twisted way means riding fast.
Recently I had focused my automotive hormones on riding in cages; particularly in a 2009 S197 Ford Mustang. Enjoyed the car to its fullest, and learnt a lot on driving fast. It felt like a weapon of mass destruction, piloting 330hp at speeds over 240kmph (don't really know how much more since the speed read only till that). I would like to share with you a heart-rushing drive I went for along with two R8s, a Modena 550 and a RS4. Of course, with out a passenger.
After overtaking three cars, I was left attempting to catch up the driver of the red R8. I closed in on his rear at 230kmph in fifth, until his head tilted towards the rear-view mirror. That was soon followed by this subtle gust of dust near his exhausts signalling his downshift (to which gear I will never know), and all 400-something horses let loose. The Audi moved away from my nose like an RD350 in front of a Vespa. Gulp!
Having never driven a fast-food eating, mayo-dipping upsized American at those speeds, I too downshifted in some hallucination of actually closing in on the German autobahn figure skater. The ’Stang blipped, tach-needle wondered why, and swung reluctantly from 5,800rpm just to use up the remaining 200-odd revs left to redline. The car went a tad-faster, hit the cut-off at 6,000rpm, followed by a verbal abuse in the cabin, and back to fifth (yes, the top gear). The speedo-needle camped at the 240kmph limit, while the tach-needle continued its sway past five-large. Meanwhile, the mid-engined Teutonic wonder was enjoying a slightly banked left-hander at 295. Further back, the 3,000-km old, V8-engined behemoth’s suspension overheated due to more frequent vertical travel, even on an extremely smooth road, resulting in stability of an 80-foot yacht on calm sea. At 250+ smooth roads, well, aren’t.
My head has never had that much processing to do ever. Yes, of course on the race-track, but this was the street albeit inter-state highway. Ironically, I felt so unsafe and contemplated buying a car-racing helmet during those high-speed drives. Maybe even a six-point harness. Oh hell, let’s throw in a four-point roll-cage too. But you see it didn’t seem to end; it still never felt as safe as a motorcycle.
The Pony-car had to go. And my new addiction arrived on a Wing and a prayer – the CBR600RR.
I shall share a small piece on this bike with you guys.
Cheers,
Rado.
Looking for more.
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