Thrills, Spills & Cup Cars

- Abhishek Chaliha

The sun had almost set, and only the last few golden rays remained in the sky over the Buddh International Circuit. The silence was, all of a sudden broken, by a raucous bellow from a twin-turbo V8. And out of a corner emerged a bright yellow Mercedes-AMG GT S. That was one of the most fun experiences I’ve had on a racetrack. The AMG GT S is simply unbelievable – a physics defying feat of automotive engineering that allows you to carry triple digit speeds around corners in an all too effortless manner, letting you appreciate this supercar at another level. As far as good days go, driving one of the greatest cars on the planet currently on a world-class race track has got to rank up there with the best of them.

You can only imagine my excitement, then, when the opportunity to take part in the VW Ameo Cup came my way. After all, driving a full-blown race car on the Madras Motorsports Race Track is an offer one simply can’t turn down. While we at autoX are familiar with the BIC circuit, the MMRT is still regarded by a whole bunch of enthusiasts as the most technical racetrack in the county. It has tight corners and sections where you need to go flat out despite visible directional changes. The racing line too is tricky in places, and braking points are never where you think they should be. But before I got to figure any of this for myself, I was strapped into Volkswagen’s new Ameo Cup car and sent out for practice laps before race 2 of the 2017 VW Ameo Cup. Having never driven on the track, I was literally left to guess which direction the track would go in next. There’s only one way to put it – I was all over the bloody track and going quite slow in the process. Over 2.08 seconds slower to be precise!