Sep 11, 2007 07:11 PM
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Before I go into this review, I would like to mention that I am not a racer. But myself and my friends indulge in Street racing now and then. Last Sunday one of my friends called and asked "can v burn some rubber"?. he had brought a Honda City Exi 2 Months before, and was eagerly waiting for his running in period to get over soon. My other friend is an avid racer and he was ready even before I made my decision!!!.
We usually race at ECR, but my friend said lets check out the chennai chengalpattu Highway. Its safer than the ECR cos it has a median for whole 70 odd Kms. So we met near Tamabaram, and went to the highway. v parked the car near the road side and 3 of us got into the ciy to determine the strech!!!. It was a good road no ugly pot holes, no rain damaged portions, however there were mild tapperings on extreme left of the roads here and there. We went for around 7 Km it was when v decided the ending point. We got down. Took out white cloth and tied it in the small tree(in the median).We turned and got back.
It was around 7:30 in the morning. Traffic was ok, since u need not negotiate with oncoming ones.The cars were of the following Specs:
Swift VXI - 1.3L, 87 BHP, Alloys, ABS,
Getz1.3 - 1.3L, 82 BHP, Alloys, K&N Airfilter, Michilen tyres, ABS, Spoiler.
Honda City Exi - 1.3L(?), 77BHP, Alloys
A Note on drivers:
Friend 1 - 70 Kg - street racer - Getz
Friend 2 - 66 Kg - Relatively Amateur - City
Myself - 68 Kg - Relatively Amateur - Swift
The race Begin exactly at 7:40 or so. I think I was the first the I had made my idiling RPM as 1300 and my Swift zoomed past them only for 5 secs or so...the Getz jus poked its nose on my left. 8 sec..Getz driver was on par with me, 15 sec...Getz is ahead of me and believ me I was in 3rd gear(around 70+ could see prescisely). I think it was the work of the K&N airfilter. Honda city, I am sorry I really could make out where she was. My last glance in rear view mirror was at around 60 km when I noticed City was at my back(very close) after which I was engrossed in overtaking the Getz. The Getz was up there till I reached 90 maybe some 20 ft ahead of me.After the 90 km mark I shifted the 4th Gear.
Thats when the Power of swift unleashed itself!!!. I breezed past Getz @ 110 km.But the Getz wasn't goin to leave me so easily.Mind u he is a street racer. I touched 125 on 5th my car was revving up real fast...this bloody black dials make visiblity at high speeds tough..i think my tacho needle was straight up...When I was around 140 I saw the destinantion sopt, the white cloth was waving in breeze...little did I know that this Getz fella was coming at me really fast ...Jus as I was within 300 Mtrs...i took my foot of the acclerator...jus for 2-3 secs...Oh my god...i jus got the shock of my life..This Getz fella almost brushed my car...he over took me by my right!!!!Christ I had no choice but to appy brake and steer left which gave more than enough time for the Getz to roar past me..and before I could realize whats happ...i found the City's airhorn screming wildly to my left. I immediately swerved right, shifted to 4th and stood up on the acclerator, the tacho was running wild (was around 125+ km), I could hear extreme noise. I was jus brutal on my swift and it scremed past the destination point jus in time to finish second....ah...the city immde zoomed near to finish third. That was the most spectacular and best race I ve ever had.And my friends didnt differ from it.
The swift is fast...real fast. Esp after reaching 80km, the "Bug eyed Bunny" turns a "bug-eyed Beast"!!!. The Getz had a K&N filter which had really improved the acceleration of this car. But any other day(maybe with a better racer) the swift can swallow both Getz and City. I know City Exi is not tuned for perfomance as City ZX. But neverthless it did put up a good show. The city strenghts are really in acclerating..maybe its good for street races with turns and more turns. But still it can never outperform a Getz or Swift.
Top speed achieved here(as claimed by owners of respective cars):
Getz - 145 Kmph
Swift - 140 Kmph
City - 140 Kmph
So thats the result the Getz won this time. But the real interpretation in this race is knowing the strenghts of theses cars. Hope u enjoyed the review, looking forward for ur comments.
