Motorcycle Stories - How I got into Motorcycle racing

When I came out of the left turn, all I could think and see was the kerbs curve right. The yellow and blue seemed to fade by from memory, one box at a time. All I can see is the curvature of the tarmac, and the far end of the turn is visible. In my mind's eye, the apex; that imaginary line that all us racers see in the turn; is visible. A downshift and the rpm needle swings past the power band, almost at the rev limit. The exhaust splutters and the engine revving hard at 13100 rpm is very evident. I shift to the right, pushing hard against the handlebars.

I lean to the right, stooping forward, feeling the front wheel as I keep my right wrist firmly on the throttle. A slight scraping sound, the sound of kneesliders banging against tarmac is audible over the drone of the motorcycle engine. The apex is becoming shorter and shorter... I am at the the middle of the turn and I can see the exit and the kerbs on the left side. The brain and wrist work as one. I accelerate hard, the revs building up as I exit the corner. The engine is revving hard in the power band. I lift the bike straight, as the knee comes back into being one with the motorcycle. The helmet tucks under the visor. I hear the engine scream as I shift into 4th gear, then 5th and into 6th as the speed builds up to over 180kmph.

And then I see the kerbs that mark the start of another turn...

Motorcycling feels like a natural thing for me. It's been over 8 years and 100,000km on board different motorcycles so far. And every time I get on one, it just feels like a raw and overwhelming experience. I've primarily used motorcycles as means to travel, and that had been my sole experience with them for the last 90,000 odd kilometers or so. But I've loved pretty much anything that has motorcycles associated with it.

One of those has been racing.

The start

Some of my earliest associations with racing motorcycles has been watching them at racing events such as MotoGP, our very own university project of Novabike at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, and other events such as the 4 hours of endurance racing at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium. All of these experiences etched indelible memories in my brain and made me want to feel the urge to go fast, lean into corners dragging knees (and now wanting to drag elbows), live life on the edge of control between man and machine. The other side of all these was the thought of fast crashing and possibly breaking a bone or two. But I kept those fears hidden away, not wanting to open that box until I came upon it.

I watched MotoGP live in Assen in Netherlands twice, and came away bolstered and on a high. I had to get on the race track, and I had to race.

Valentino Rossi and the Yamaha YZR M1

When I got my Yamaha YZF R3 in 2016, it heralded the start of new beginnings for me, and one of the first things I did, in November 2016, was to head to the race track.

The training

The school of racing is divided into 3 levels and then a 4th level. But to be a racer, it is mandatory to go through the first 3 levels. I started with IndiMotard's Throttle Wide Open course, for level 1. It was an eye opening experience, and lessons learnt on track have held good even on the streets. Level 1 was a lot of unlearning, and learning to control motorcycles without brakes, to anticipate, to understand what to do to take corners fast, and how to evaluate corners.

It was without doubt the most important lessons, because everything else was build up from there.

Here are some pictures from the first time on the racetrack...

This was my first taste of the racetrack. I did not get me knee down even though the picture below proclaims otherwise! But the seed that had been sown had blossomed into a little sapling. It was time to let it grow. And that meant aiming to race in the Indian National Motorcycle racing championship in 2017.

Story for another post!