The road from Bangalore all the way upto Yercaud is amazing. Anyone who says you can’t enjoy a sportscar in India needs to make this trip.
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Tyre Change + 1250 KM in a month!
Let’s start this update with a visit to the Cherry Tyre Park Pirelli showroom on Double Road, Bangalore. They sourced Pirelli P Zero tyres for me. This was a long due update and I was excited to put on the new shoes for the Boxster. This actually transformed the ride and handling of the car and gave me way more confidence in the corners as you will see below. Also got a puncture repair kit with an air pressure machine just in case, as there is no spare tyre.
Road trip #1 – Porsche Drive to Hampi
A couple of days after getting the new tyres, I got a message from Androdev about a Porsche sportscar drive to Hampi coming up. Thanks to him, I signed up almost immediately. This would be the first time I took the Boxster outside Bangalore on a proper road trip. Yes, I’ve had the car for 4+ years but I’ve always been very careful with it and baby it everywhere. Lot’s of drives to the airport and a couple to Golfshire but nothing beyond that. What gave me confidence was the fact that Porsche was organising the drive and all sports cars so even if something went wrong, they would have it covered.
Such a good decision to do that drive. Absolutely enjoyed driving all the way to Hampi in a convoy of skittles Special kudos to Porsche Bangalore for a very well executed and enjoyable drive to Hampi.
Did around 750 km in 2 days. Went on Friday and back on Saturday. The roads were amazing and the car came alive on the highway. The induction sound combined by the pure and linear accelerate mated to the manual gearbox is bliss. Still pinch myself while driving the car and I got a real taste of how good the car is on this drive.
Road Trip #2 – Impromptu Trip to Yercaud
The wife and I decided to take a trip to the hills of Yercaud for a ‘workation’. Went on Monday morning and got back on Friday. I slyly chose Yercaud because I know the roads are amazing. With the new found confidence in my car’s ability to be taken on Indian highways, I was waiting to drive on those Yercaud ghat roads with its 20 hairpin bends.
The road from Bangalore all the way upto Yercaud is amazing. Anyone who says you can’t enjoy a sportscar in India needs to make this trip. Sections of road on the way to Hampi were uneven and I had to wear my driving gloves on some stretches to reduce the vibration of the road delivered to my hands via the hydraulic steering, but not on this road. It was an absolute bliss cruising through the highway and overtaking other cars was so rewarding. The real fun started as I started climbing the ghat road.
It’s pretty much the first time I truly appreciated the handling dynamics and chassis of the 987. It does not understand the concept of body roll and understeer. I will admit that I was far from pushing the car but driving relatively quickly around corners, the feedback of the steering, the howl of the flat 6 behind me and the top down was therapeutic. The cherry on the cake was the amazing weather coupled by the canopy of trees all the way up the hill. I told my wife we have to come to Yercaud once a year (the answer was ‘we will see’ haha).
Once we reached our hotel (GRT), I parked and with the help of the kind watchman there, used the Octavia’s outdoor cover to cover her up. While the drive was amazing, it did get scary at times when people saw the car and stopped looking at the road. Lot’s of shocked people. Hate the attention it draws but luckily no bad incidents.
There is also a 32km loop road around Yercaud that is absolutely amazing. Single lane but perfectly paved. Did it twice. No driving fast here except tiny stretches but driving through the forest on winding roads with the roof down is worth every drop of petrol. Halfway up the loop is a 150 year old coffee estate. Had some locally brewed coffee there while admiring the car in front of us.
We also did a coffee estate tour and had to take our car inside. I asked many times and they said it would be okay. I took the leap of faith (very unlike me with this car) and took the 2 door sportscar into a coffee estate!! It did not touch even once but I must say it was quite scary and I would not recommend. But I say that mainly because the stress is not worth it. The car seemed to have no problem with the rough terrain. Again, not a scrape which is absolutely amazing. Plus side – got some beautiful pictures of the car inside the estate and next to the lake within it.
The only time it did touch across the 500 km to and fro journey was a speed breaker in Bangalore city. Yes, our roads can be worse than a coffee estate which technically had no roads
Special kudos to the newly installed Apple Car Play device that proved extremely useful on my first 2 road trips in the Porsche. Hope for many more to come but I am not going to overdo it.
Sharing some videos taken on my Ray-Ban Meta sunglasses below. It’s the best gadget to take driving videos I think. Highly recommend!
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