VOL. 51 ISSUE 11 MARCH 18, 2014 P115
red lights makes an appearance)
you notice right away that there's
pretty good drive out of slower
turns without having to slip the
clutch, as you'd surely have had
to do with a two-stroke 125cc
single.
This makes the Mahindra a
more flexible, forgiving friend
than an uncompromising Aprilia
RS125 might be, more ready to
pardon an error – and I made
lots! - and with better accelera-
tion as well en route to slightly
better lap times than a 125 in
expert hands, in spite of being
around 33 pounds heavier, but
over 10 hp more powerful. It's
the way that power is delivered
that's allowed Moto3 bikes to
beat 125cc GP lap times at most
tracks.
However, one thing you're con-
stantly aware of on the Mahin-
dra is how nervous the MGS30
feels at all times – this is in every
way a four-stroke 125 in charac-
ter, rather than a meatier scaled
down Supermono. To begin with,
rather than drive in a straight line
from one turn to the next, it felt as
if it preferred to jiggle very slightly
from side to side even with the
throttle wide open, and that on a
still day – crosswinds must be a
real issue on this bike.
I put this out of my mind and
focused on the payoff from this,
which is the Suter frame's excep-
tional agility. I finally did the chi-
cane in front of the International
pits right, by dancing on the
footpegs and letting the Mahin-
dra flick practically on autopilot
from side to side. You just have
to think a command, and the In-
dian bike's gone and done it for
you – a level of responsiveness
that is the root cause of your ini-
tial insecurity, because the bike
is designed to be so nimble and
fast-steering. Little things mean a
lot in Moto3, and the degree of
precision needed to ride one of
these bikes is really exceptional.
The Mahindra's radial Brembo
brakes are fantastic, even without
using the rear stopper at all – so
much so that the first couple of
laps I found myself having to re-
