There is no single success Mantra and it is not possible for me to write all the Mantras even if I know all of them, which I do not pretend to know anyway. Hence I used the suffix “Part-1” in case I come up with further thought on this.

This thought is brand new, as of 24th Feb 2018 when I participated my first Car Rally of my life, an Autoprix. What happened during my participation gave me an insight what a success Mantra in life can be. That is what I wish to share.

But before that let me first elaborate what an Autoprix is for the uninitiated. Grand Prix is the mother of all races for cars as we all know. I doubt if there is any among us here who would not know what a Formula-1 race is. It needs extreme training, expertise and car modifications and is a test of pure speed. Speed is fundamental to F-1 or Grand Prix and the track is designed for pure speed.

However Autoprix does not need any extreme speed and it is no greater than speeds on our roads. It is instead a test of Driver’s driving and his car handling skills as well as the car’s handling characteristics. Hence any amateur can participate easily. Of course the winner is one who completes the full track in fastest time. The track is marked by traffic cones and markers on a large level ground and may or may not have a ramp, which adds to the toughness. Cars are entered as per engine capacity. And Amateurs and Pros are in different groups.

In this particular contest one could enter any car and any maximum 3 times. I registered for 2 entries only. Our track was 2.1 kms long. I was in 1400- 1650 cc petrol class and in first attempt I did it in 262 point something seconds and in 2nd attempt I made it in 211.774 seconds. My car was an ordinary sedan and the fastest speed was by a Porsche who did it in 170.823 seconds.                         

Observations

  1. In first attempt – my very first in life, I tested my car and the track and became confident and in 2nd attempt I jumped up by 51 seconds in speed.
  2. I made a mistake of not registering for 3rd attempt which was allowed. It would have helped me improve my speed even further and I am confident that a further 30 seconds reduction in time was possible. That would have propelled me to top three positions or close.
  3. It was my bad luck that in my class I was the only racer and as per rules if number of entries in one class is less than 4 then the scores would be merged with the next higher class and so my scores got merged with the next class of 1650+ cc cars and I missed the chance to go into finals. Even though at the end the top three finalists in this class scored 174.196 secs, 175.600, 181.977 secs respectively. [ The fastest score by the Porsche was during qualifying rounds].
  4. Incidentally in same class as mine 1400-1650 Professional and modified cars class the top three was also within same range of seconds with first being 173.769 secs. This shows that modified cars did not have effect on the speed it was more of skills than cars.
  5. Thus my speed was close [difference of only 37 secs roughly, which was possible to overcome if only I tried 3rd time] even without accounting for one fact- Automatic cars having a lag in pickup at idle to start stage. The top scorers were using manual transmission cars. Not to consider my age compared to the other racers who were much younger.

Lessons learnt about SUCCESS MANTRAs

  1. What you know is necessary (type of car, its power, transmission etc) but at the end it is sheer Passion (Driving Skills) that makes you the winner because with whatever little you have you can always climb mountains in your life or career.
  2. Those who won had a certain amount of desperation in them. They did not really mind their cars getting damaged [yes one car overturned and the driver broke his hand and one car went out of control and hit a wall outside the track] and tyres certainly getting damaged. I had some hesitation which did go the 2nd time but even them the remnants held me back. In life you need a certain amount of desperation to succeed. Only then you will surely succeed.
  3. Had I not been a miser with my money as one entry was Rs 500 . two entries was costing 1500/- and 3 entries was costing 2000/- I could have entered for three attempts and easily improved my speed and even if merged with next higher class I would have gone into finals as I got cut off by one rank only. So too in LIFE if you want to SUCCEED you should NOT be a MISER in your efforts. Give all your efforts into whatever you are doing.
  4. While not being dishonest or unethical one does need to be a manipulator. The rule allowed same car to be driven by more than one driver and same driver driving more than one car. Now if I had known this rule before I could have taken my wife and two of my friends with me or even caught hold of someone from the crowd and made them drive my car to make the entry of 4 participants in my own class. Then I would have surely gone into the finals and had 99% chance to be first in my own category. It was perfectly allowed in the rules.

So last two lessons are that in life you must be aware of all the rules of success and be ready to manipulate and pull all the strings to get the results, within the rules and ethics.

And of course there is always a second chance in LIFE as long as there is life.

Also Read ” Business for Dummies“

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