Session 13 Debrief: By The Sea

Last night me and the boys were having a few drinks together. Due to this, we speculated that waking up might be challenging. Hence, we decided to perhaps call off today’s session, which also worked well into my strategy of shifting my attention to Formula 1.

However, as the blood alcohol content rose, we decided that the drive would occur. The plan was to ride by the sea beach because those roads are often crowded which can give me some much-needed real-world driving experience.

I rang them up in the morning at 0600 hours but none answered. They were still sleeping which meant last night’s planning went in vain. Fortunately, they woke up half an hour later and were on their way to my place soon.

The drive was commenced by a friend of mine. He took us to the beach and there we switched drivers.

Session 13 Recap

Initially, I drove around toward the less-taken roads around the beach. There I focused on executing turns efficiently, both in terms of turning the car and pace. After a quick tea break, we headed back into the town.

On the way back there were numerous instances of bumper-to-bumper traffic. This meant the car had to be stopped and driven slowly while maintaining clearance on all sides.

It was occasionally tricky due to poorly thought overtaking maneuvers of certain vehicles around me. Most of those vehicles were two and three-wheelers but car drivers were in the mix as well. 

These incidents are pretty normal when driving through gritty streets and require you to stay calm as well as agile. I had to take evasive actions, mostly braking the car in reaction to others, throughout to avoid crashing.

Clutch control and handling were critical in those situations. There were moments when I mis-shifted the gears, but it was well managed. Also, in a couple of instances, the clearance toward the left was too thin.

Regardless of the ‘close calls,’ the overall ride was smooth. The steering and clutching were seamless and I was actively shifting my right foot between the brake and throttle pedals to control the car appropriately.

We took another route back home. It was a bit narrower, rougher, and relatively more crowded. 

One essential lesson I brought home today from doing all that was maintaining a stable and safe space. The earlier phase of acceleration in cars is relatively slower compared to motorbikes, enabling two-wheelers to get the better of you in slower driving conditions.

It is far more likely that car drivers will lose track position when slowing the vehicle while taking corners or driving over speed breakers and accelerating again back to normal pace. This occurs due to bikers being able to brake late and accelerate much quicker at a better rate.

Hence, I must expect these predicaments in sedated driving conditions.

Areas of Improvements

The biggest takeaway, as mentioned earlier, is to maintain a steady pace in Indian driving conditions. Sometimes, my shifting can be scruffy, which may contribute to this issue.

For instance, there was a moment when I shifted to the first gear but wanted to shift to the third one. Thankfully, this happened on the empty beach roads, preventing any kind of potential damage whatsoever.

A similar mistake, that is shifting to third instead of the first, can stall the car in tight streets, dramatically increasing the chances of someone rear-ending my vehicle.

Yes, the chances of this happening reduce with each up and downshift as I get a better feel of the stickshift, but it’s still there at this point.

The final area of focus isn’t even related to driving. It’s about parking the car correctly, ensuring I occupy as little space on the road as possible. Indian drivers usually struggle to find appropriate car parking spots due to various challenges, and doing so properly with whatever’s available is a feat in itself.

Looking Forward: Time Off and Night Drives

Now that I am significantly more comfortable behind the wheel and have a bit of experience in parking the car, I can certainly take it out for a night ride. Of course, I must take some time off in the interim to recover from pushing too hard for the past few days and do some creative stuff.

I can perhaps take the car out for a ride on Friday, but we will see if the schedule is light. The guys at work are hustling me and I must endure this temporary discomfort for a potentially fat pay raise.

Until next time,

Tara

—

Next Chapter: Session 14 Debrief: Solved the Shifting Problem

Previous Chapter: Session 12 Debrief: An Hour Long

Index (with Prologue): The Path to Driving License