|
The
Ultimate Indian Racing Saloon Car Of The 70,s and 80,sby Niaz Ali from Downunder |
 Hands
up those of you who have heard of the 'America's Cup', I'm not a Boatie
sort of person, but it represents the ultimate speed race for a (sailing)
Boatie. The Americans have always won the race until a Aussie boat finally
broke the domination not so long ago. In the 70's and 80's the ultimate
performance that could be derived from and Indian saloon was the "Groupe
2 FIAT TROPHY", and as the Americas cup this race was dominated by the
boys from Coimbatore, their Fiats were the Fastest, and no one dare challenge
their authority of the "Coimbatore boys"
Enter the Calcutta team
We didnt have the professionalism, but we certainly had the skill, and
the ability, so we put cars together and went "Sholavaram" the Mecca for
all motor racing enthusiasts, every year we got a sound thrashing, but
every year we got better and faster, till finally we won the cup, you
have no idea as to how great an achievment this was, and the odds that
were against us, we broke a ten year domination, and to the best of my
knowledge the trophy has never left Combatore before or since, (when the
Coimbatore cars ran).
This is our story
I never built the car, it was built by my friend Adi Irani, who was a
guitarist in a band called the 'Great Bear', the man was a genius, and
it showed in his meticilous preparation of the entire car, I spent many
an evening with him in his Bedroom watching as he masterminded the motor,
he would wash his hands, then tie a bandana around his head so no stray
hair would fall in this creation, then lay a clean white sheet on the
ground and very slowly assemble the parts of the engine, every part of
the motor (and I mean every part), was checked and perfected, nothing
was an original part, every thing was lightened and balanced, the ports
on the head were like mirrors, and combustion chambers were like some
display item in a jewelers shop. The man was a perfectionist, and after
seeing how much in love he was with this motor I decided to drive the
car.
 There
is a lot that goes into building a group2 Fiat, and it all has to be fabricated
tested strengthend, and tested again, and if you get it wrong then you
just have to start it all again. .There were no half mesures if the Grp
2 cup was to be won. In a nut shell our car had a 1198cc engine, just
2 cc below the maximum 1200cc limit of the class, we had fitted Disc brakes
out of a triumph herald, a huge radiator, monstrous would probably be
a better word, a high lift cam, two twin choke down draught webers (IDA'S
to those of you who are into webers) or two twin carburettors to those
of you who are just surfing,an electronic ignition system, (remember the
1100 D only had points in the dizzy), we also had a home made close ratio
gearbox, with straight cut gears, because the lathe shop we went to didn't
have a machine to cut helical gears, we lightened the car right up to
the limit as specified in the blue book, there was a full flow oil system,
the stock system only sends 1/3 the oil into the filter, but since we
ran a oil cooler this mod was required, the engine revved to about seven
and a half and the power band started fairly quickly at about two thousand
RPM, to take advantage of this extra power we fitted wheels and tyres
out of a Triumph dolomite, they were 15'', most people laughed at our
"tall tyres", but what it did was to change the diff. ratio to give us
a better top end. We could get about 160 to 180 KMPH at the end of the
straight.
The Race
The race was of 25 laps around the track at Sholavaram which from memory
(now failing) was about two and a half or three kilometers long.
The Plan
The plan was to tail the Coimbatore cars for 23 laps, and then on the
last two laps, just put the pedal to the metal and hope that nothing broke,
if this worked we should have won.
Let's Race
 Ok
so let me strap you into the seat next to me and pretend you are in the
car during the race, as you drive with me up to the starting grid you
are aware that the car viabrates a lot and the exhaust has a strange wop
wop kinda sound, this my friend is the hi lift cam working, it sounds
like the car is missing. The vibration is because the engine mounts have
been drilled and a nut and bolt put through them to stiffen them up (thats
how we did it then) the whine that comes from the gearbox is because of
the straight cut gears not meshing, dont worry.. you wont hear any of
these noises once were off. Ok so now we are on the grid, altough there
are about twenty cars on the grid , you are only aware of one, thats the
one on your right the one with the big No.1 on the door, hes' the man
to beat, the sole reason for this pilgrimage.
 The
starter lifts the flag and you are madly blipping the throttel, trying
desperately to remember to get the wheels spinning before you bog the
motor down, damn why is he holding the flag up so long, then as if in
slow motion it starts falling. Ok ok down on the throttel and drop the
clutch, the car starts to shudder, and just for a millionth of a second
you think hey this baby is not mooving, then the "G" forses kick in and
we are screaming watch the revs, that was good start, 4, 5, 6, 7 thow
change 2nd, 567, change the close ratio is working really well, 3rd and
just as you get to the top of the rev range its time to brake for the
first hair pin, ( those of you who have driven at Sholavaram, and are
treading this article are probably leaning your head to the right like
me as I type). Ok power down and you are suddenly aware that the revs
are climbing as you lift that rear wheel careful if you over rev this
motor it could be over before it starten.  Ok
you made it through the first lap, and you let that silver fiat through,
because you intend to stick to the plan, he screams past, at what seems
to be much higer revs, ahaah, the taller tyers are working, we can maintain
the same speed but with lower revs, once he gets past you duck in behind
him and get into the slipstream, this allows to back off the throttel
even more. Ok it's settel down and conserve the car, as the laps unwind
you are painfully aware that it will soon be time to go for broke, and
the anticipation is killing, ok lets cut a long story short, finally lap
23 comes along your still behind the silver fiat, as you crest the start
finish line you entering the 23 lap you instintively press the throttel
harder, now you are approaching the hairpin to your right, you pull out
of the slip stream and alongside the Coimbatore car, ok buddy this is
late braking time and you rise to the challenge, dont forget he is no
rookie, so you both brake together knowing you've left it a bit late,
as you jump on the brake the car tends to start sliding as the tail gets
light, feather the brakes straighten it up, the wheel start locking up
but you still keep it under control, side by side you exit the turn, then
it back on the power and he is matching you rpm for rpm, this is great,
you get this grin on your face as you sneak a quick look into the eyes
of your oponent and you are surprised to see him looking at you, ha ha
look into the white of his eyes, this one is going down to the flag buddy,
and this time , your not going to take it away from me.
Its now history, that you won that race and the cup will forever bear
your name, the Coimbatore boys will always special to you HASTALLAVISTABABYILLBEBAAK
|
|
|
 |
|
|
