The Idukki express. The monsoons are here. We celebrate by taking two special cars to a very special road in Kerala

Transcription

1 The Idukki express The monsoons are here. We celebrate by taking two special cars to a very special road in Kerala Words by Ouseph Chacko Photography by Abin Babs Abraham 184 evo India August 2014

2 August 2014 evo India 185

3 The rain is rolling in over T the Western Ghats. The hills farthest to us disappear into the haze and the din of heavy droplets exploding on foliage grows terrific. For a brief moment, we consider an impromptu dance, for being here, in the heart of monsoon-drenched Idukki is pure bliss. To the west, there s a valley of green as far as the eye can see, to the east is the road we ve come here for. To get to where we are, you need to start at 4am. That way, you ll leave Cochin by About an hour and a half of driving later, you ll get to this gleaming ribbon of tarmac winding its way through low hanging clouds. Essentials for this trip are a strong gut and an able car because, for the next 170km, this road is a rollercoaster. It s a rollercoaster that climbs above the clouds, snakes through dense jungle, goes over a dam and spits you out at the other end with a ridiculous smile plastered across your mug. It starts at a place called Moolamattom and between here and the finish line at Mundakkayam, lie perfectly surfaced, correctly cambered, mostly wellsighted corners -- the kind that will goad you into driving Above: It s a challenging road, one that demands an able car. It s nice then that we ve got two of those. For 170km, this road is an absolute rollercoaster your tyres off. It s why you need the strong gut your face won t turn as green as the monsoon-painted foliage around you and, with an able car you won t end up in the said foliage. We have two able cars. Cochin based tuner Pete has worked his magic on them the Polo is a GT TSI with an ECU remap, a free flow intake and exhaust kit. The Laura is a diesel but it is making 50bhp more than its maker intended. On a road like this, horsepower comes second to suspension and grip because out here, there s no place for massive straightline speed, plenty of place for big cornering Gs and little room for error. It all starts as soon as you hang the 90-degree left from Moolamattom. The reasonably broad road turns into a narrow-ish two-laner that starts climbing. It s drizzling, the tarmac is gleaming black from the downpour and the Polo GT s lifeless steering isn t disclosing the limits of its tyres. I m forced to feel my way up and that means

4 pushing a little harder through each corner before the car slides into understeer and the traction control light tells me I ve stepped over the line. The nature of the road means it s mostly second and third gear stuff for a bit and then it s hard on the Tarox brakes to shed speed for a fast approaching second gear right-hand hairpin. A faster, third gear left-hander follows, the Polo sticking impressively to the slick surface before it s on the brakes again for a tight left-hand hairpin. The road then jinks to the left and to the right with no interlinking straight and this particular Polo seems to revel in these direction changes carrying impressive speeds through the transitions. A regular Polo TSI is too soft to be pushed this hard there s too much slop in its soft springs. This one s well-tuned Bilstein B14 is working really well with the wider tyres the turn-in is immediate and extra grip allows you to punch out of corners with the turbo on full song. The car has enough grunt the remap and the bigger lungs give this car a healthy 25-odd bhp more made evident every time I put some 354 Km 9 h 02 mins # AH # 41 Kadayirippu Pathenkurish Vyttila Muvattupuzha Kochi Pulhiyakavu Cheriakadavu Manakunnam Arookutty Kanjimattom Elanji Ezhupunna Vellor Vaikom 40 1 Route taken Main Roads Sea National Highway Asian Highway Water Sports Rest spots Monuments Wildlife 49 Vazhappily 1 40 Pavithanam Pala Kanjirappally Thodupuzha Pinnakkanad Thambalakad Cheruvally 40 Kanjikuzhi 14 Idukki Kuttikkanam Ayyappancoil Mundakayam Konnathady Elappara 41 Idukki Nedumkandam Thookupalam Erattayar Kattappana Steaming cups of chai and smoking hot cars pressure on the throttle. I just wish VW would offer this car with a proper manual gearbox. The DSG is quick shifting and all, but it simply cannot match the satisfaction a well synchronised manual downshift gives you. Thirty minutes of this and we drive over the Kulamavu dam, punch through the light mist and spot that other Kerala phenomenon a tea stall. We stop, and over steaming cups of sweet tea and the sound of pinging brakes, we take in the million shades of green of the surrounding jungle. The temperature has dropped and amongst involuntary shudders, the tea stall owner tells of a herd of wild elephants that stepped out on to this very road a week before. It s not hard to believe him the heart of Idukki is quite some way away from civilisation as we know it. Time to push on to Idukki town and a breakfast of appam and egg curry. I slide into the Laura s Recaros, wince at the diesel growl, and put my foot down. Traffic is light, as it always is on this road, and the Laura, on its adjustable B16 suspension allows even crazier cornering speeds than the Polo does. The steering is immediately more feelsome and the brakes are staggeringly strong. It s just as well we are on the top of the hill now and the road is mostly flat and that means you

5 generally build up a lot of speed as you pick your line and straightline each well-sighted corner. The steering shimmies in my palms as front tyres momentarily aquaplane over the rivulets flowing across the road. Getting it wrong here is unthinkable but then again, the car is so sure-footed that it would take a mongee (as uttered by Babu, our tea stall owner) to chimp it up. Hotel Everest is near the base of the Idukki arch dam. Its gaudy lime green exteriors hide the fact that the breakfast served here is delicious and the filter coffee, even better. Ask for the idi erachi. It is handpounded super-fried beef that goes well with everything. Five hundred bucks, bursting stomachs and another filter coffee later, we re back in the cars for the last push towards Kuttikanam and then down to near sea level. Back in the Laura and I m revelling in the extra torque that comes standard with the ECU remap. It s always there, that twisting force, and it sort of makes up for the DSG s hesitant downshifts. What s more, the powerband is very un-diesel like because it pulls strongly all the way to the redline. Put that with the staggering grip from the 235-section Continental tyres and the zero body roll policy of the Bilsteins and you have a car that is really at home on this road. The scenery is changing gradually as forests give way to massive tea estates and even narrower roads. You need to be really careful here as buses ply here and their drivers take the racing line. They even try powersliding through corners. It s true Youtube has a video of a green bus doing a bit of a threewheeled drift! In the wet! Give them wide berth and use your horn liberally. The roads leading to Kuttikanam have plenty of blind corners, so you need a car that won t The roads are drenched, but the cars are so sure-footed, it would take a monkey to chimp it up

6 step out of line in a hurry. I find exactly that in the Laura no matter how hard I push, the nose stays faithful to the chosen line and tracks around it like it s on rails. Forgive that last cliche, but that s what it feels like. Kuttikanam to Mundakayam is downhill and that s where I discover the Laura s only limitation. The 10-pot Tarox brakes fade seriously if you don t allow them to cool enough and the 18km down to Mundakayam is tight and tough, so the brakes have little chance to cool off. Five km from the finish line, I m forced to go slow -- the pedal has sunk to the floor. Stopping and cooling them off restores full brake force. It s back in the plains after Mundakayam and a nicely surfaced but rather plain 100km back to humid Cochin. Idukki and its clouds and mist are unlikely to be forgotten soon. As a way to get your thrills, this road is up there with the best in India. Not too many people know about it and because there are other ways to get to Idukki, there s reasonable hope that this one will remain a great driving road for some time to come. Go there, drive your heart out and be back in Cochin in time for an evening cuppa. Forget this story s title, I m calling this road the Idukki Espresso. Forests give way to massive tea estates. Be careful here, local buses ply the racing line