One year and nineteen days later, I was in a similar yet very different setting. No fear of jaywalkers, bad roads or unmarked speed breakers. No, this wasn’t some utopian city, but a test track — the COASTT in Coimbatore. Being out of practice (and shape) is one thing, but come back after a 384-day hiatus on an all-new track? That’s double the work — not just brushing up the basics, but also learning and understanding the track… all while evaluating a new motorcycle — the TVS Apache RR 310.
Interestingly, my last track date was with the RR 310’s sibling — the Apache RTR 310. So, I was a bit nervous and had second thoughts about the new faired machine. When the naked made just a little over 3 bhp and 1 kgm more than the 2022 RR 310, it was plagued with vibrations in its most usable zone of the rev range. Naturally, with the 2024 RR 310 making 37.48 bhp and 2.9 kgm, I presumed it to be even more vibey. I didn’t want a vibey engine to play the spoilsport in my first track outing after the long break. And boy was I glad when it didn’t.
Almost four decades of racing experience has made TVS an expert in milking out the maximum performance from its engines. This is the same reverse-inclined 312.2cc liquid-cooled single-cylinder engine that debuted seven years ago, and in its latest avatar, it’s borderline show-off. TVS has used a forged piston that’s ten per cent lighter, a bigger throttle body and airbox along with some electronic changes to make it almost like a track bully.
Just the first throttle input was all it took for me to realise that this upgraded engine is now peppier than ever before. Right from the moment I rolled out of the pitlane, it just wanted to surge ahead. Yeah, I shared the excitement, but I was rusty, so I had to get up to pace with my basics.
All it took was one corner for me to forget that this was a new track and more importantly, I had an implant in my leg that I had to be careful about. While I thought that the first session was going to be about me getting my groove back and the second session to actually push the bike to its limit, I was scraping my knee slider on my second lap!
The Michelin Road 5 tyres were phenomenal on the track, and coupled with the performance boost, it became all the more engaging. Lap after the lap, the engine was in a relentless pursuit to go faster. TVS has thrown in a bi-directional quickshifter to make that job easier, and with the exception of one miss-shift, it worked just the way it was supposed to. And my consistent performance was also because of my confidence on the brakes. They were sharp, consistent and provided ample feedback. But with almost everything going great, some bits which otherwise would have gone unnoticed, became a glaring issue.
The footpegs being the biggest ones. With a chassis as capable as this one, and now that is backed by even more performance, a more rearset footpegs would have been nice. By the end of my session, I virtually grinded off the feelers of the pegs. Maybe this is something that you wouldn’t require on an everyday basis, but if you are a track junkie, the accessory footpegs that TVS sells are a must.
Even with the footpegs sorted, I believe the exhaust’s positioning will be an even bigger issue. Almost every time I was hanging off the bike on the left, my leg was resting on the exhaust’s heat shield, and if I went hard on a right corner, that shield would sometimes scrape, too. But then again, I am just nitpicking.
Oh, and if any of this gave you an idea that the winglets were a big part in making the experience that engaging, you are mistaken. They may have made a small difference when shedding speed, but otherwise, it seems that it was just an eye-candy, and a good one nonetheless. Even the transparent clutch cover added to the visual drama. Of course, the Bomber Grey paint scheme was all that was icing on the cake.
There are some developments on the features list, too. Along with an updated phone connectivity feature, there’s also traction control, cruise control and of course, ABS, all of which are lean-sensitive. While I didn’t test the cornering cruise control, the lean-sensitive TC works just as advertised and switching it off actually amplified the fun.
All cramped up, with aching joints and sore muscles, I was back in the pits. It was clearly going to take me a few days to recover, but the RR 310? It was doing the same thing over and over again the whole day. Though the bike is priced at ₹ 2.75 lakh onwards, the fully-adjustable suspension, electronic suite and the ergonomics kit are going to cost you more. In fact, with all of that, the price shoots up to ₹ 3.31 lakh (ex-showroom). That’s almost ₹ 15,000 more than the KTM RC 390. But all of the calculations disappeared the moment I recalled my experience with the new RR 310. This bike turned out to be the perfect wingman for me to get back in the game.
