JA Motorsport Inde 2.0 review, test drive

Narain Karthikeyan takes us on a quick few laps of India's own track-day car, the Inde 2.0

Published on Oct 04, 2013 06:37:00 PM

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What comes as a bit of a shock, however, is just how hard the suspension is. It’s so rigid, I can literally feel the Inde thudding over every pebble and every patch of gravel on the less than perfectly paved pit exit. And the thuds are so hard and unyielding it feels like there’s no suspension at all. No springs, no dampers and no give; just nothing. 

The pit lane exit is a tight right-hander, but Narain’s right foot stays pinned as his fingers flick up the ’box. Now we’re fast approaching C2, a 90-degree right. We sail past the normal braking point, still hard on the gas, still accelerating. The speed is colossal, the kerbs come rushing at us and it seems there’s just no way we can make the corner. But the car just grips, and after a slight lift, a dab on the brakes and a flick of opposite lock, we sail nonchalantly past what looked like a certain trip into the gravel trap. One thing’s for sure, in a normal road car, we’d be picking foliage out of our ears now. The lateral grip is just mind numbingly insane. 
Narain’s already hard on the gas again, even before my brain has had time to process what’s just happened. The next few corners pass in a blur as I struggle to come to terms with the high g forces this little car is throwing up. It just sticks, sticks and sticks. But Narain is going so hard that it’s beginning to slide around now, India’s fastest driver wrestling the wheel like he’s grappling with a gator. This car feels like it is regularly making twice as many gs as the supercar we’d only recently been driving on this very same track. It isn’t really difficult to come to this conclusion. All you have to do is pay attention to your stomach. In this car, you can feel your innards getting squished from side to side as the car rides from apex to apex.

 

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