There was a beautiful sunset with the sky throwing up a colourful show as we rolled out on the TVS Apache RR 310 ARRC Race Bike out at the Sepang International Circuit last month. I was in the second batch, and with a minor incident involving one rider in the first batch, I didn’t want to be the next one to drop this obviously expensive race bike at this beautiful MotoGP circuit. But pussyfooting around Sepang is no option, and when you have a 123 kg, 60 bhp machine at your disposal at such a circuit, sooner or later, temptation will come knocking. But that sunset was too pretty, and my first session results – not impressive at all. “You were smooth, and consistent,” someone told me later, so some consolation there. But first, let’s talk about this special motorcycle.
Also Read: 2024 TVS Apache RR 310 Review
As the name suggests, the ARRC Race Bike is used in the One Make Championship at the Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC). And it just shares the engine displacement, the crankshaft and the red painted frame of the road legal bike. Everything else, from the bodywork, ECU, brakes, wheels, suspension and tyres are completely different and purpose-built.
The TVS RR 310 ARRC Race Bike is built for the One Make Championship at the Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC)
The race bike is based on the road-legal TVS Apache RR 310, but only just. It shares the same steel trellis frame, and the crankshaft, and it has the same engine displacement. But there are a lot of changes, ranging from the bodywork, cycle parts and engine internals, making it an almost entirely different motorcycle. And no, it’s not the same bike as the one used in the Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship (INMRC) Prostock 300-400 cc championship.
The bike sports carbon fibre bodywork, and top-shelf components including Ohlins fully adjustable suspension
The ARRC Race Bike uses carbon fibre bodywork, including a carbon fibre subframe, with the target of making it as light as possible. The result is a bike that weighs just 109 kg dry and with the 6-litre aluminium fuel tank filled up, kerb weight is just 123.5 kg! The engine now runs titanium valves, but with the same displacement as the stock bike, with identical bore and stroke. Up front there’s a gaping hole for the ram air intake, and the exhaust system is one into two set-up, used to help the engine achieve high output while emitting the exhaust gases as soon as possible from the combustion chamber.
The gaping hole up front is for the ram air intake.
The result – a whopping 60 bhp output, compared to the latest version of the stock RR 310’s 38 bhp. A race-tuned ECU offers three engine maps, and there’s a bi-directional quickshifter as well, with a GP-shifter, with the shift pattern opposite of the road bike. For a few of us though, TVS Racing engineers kitted out the bikes with the normal shift pattern for easy use. The bike also runs racing slicks from Dunlop, fully-adjustable, premium Ohlins suspension, front and rear, as well as an Ohlins steerring damper. Braking set-up includes J Juan radial calipers gripping a big 340 mm front disc and a 240 mm rear disc, with a Brembo master cylinder. And earlier this year, the TVS ARRC Race Bike set a new top speed record of 215.9 kmph at the Chang International Circuit in Thailand!
After the rather sedate first session, where I was more focussed on getting to know the circuit better, and get comfortable with the bike, the second session became more interesting. There was no distracting sunset, the floodlights had come on, and it was a completely different experience, riding under the lights. But daylight or no daylight, I somehow figured which gear to be in at which corner, or something like that. The result – a much smoother, and more confident outing, focussing on the correct lines and practising trail braking tips which Alessandro Codognesi from Italy had shared with me during the break.
This is no street bike, so you have to keep the engine on the boil to exploit its performance and be rewarded!
The ARRC Race Bike is a lot different, the engine revs higher, a lot higher than the stock bike. And to extract the right performance, you will have to be brave with the throttle, even around corners. There’s a surge of power above 7,000 rpm, and you have to maintain high revs even when leaned over, or else there will be some pops and stutters which somewhat robs you of enjoying the joys of this race bike’s performance. And talking of corners, it drops willingly into every corner, and the performance will have you grinning from ear to ear inside your helmet.
The TVS RR 310 ARRC Race Bike is still a forgiving motorcycle, and you can get away with mid-corner corrections and stupid mistakes like yours truly indulged in!
But what is evident and common with the stock RR 310, is the ARRC Race Bike’s forgiving nature and predictable chassis. Even when trying to correct lines or trying to shed speed, or accelerating out of the tight right hander onto the main straight, the bike made me confident, even with my limited skills. After all, this is the first race bike I have ever experienced, and my first time ever riding at night under the lights on a MotoGP circuit. And all that enjoyment showed up in the results of the second session, where I managed to shave off more than 20 seconds over my first session timings. Still a far cry from the faster riders of our group, but hey, for some of us old timers, it’s all about the ride, not the lap timings.
For the author, riding a fully kitted out, proper race bike, and under lights at a MotoGP circuit were two firsts!
Riding the TVS RR 310 ARRC Race Bike was nothing short of an impressive outing at Sepang. It’s been an interesting opportunity to experience what TVS Racing has been able to do with the RR 310 platform to develop what is truly an out and out world class race bike. More importantly though, learnings from TVS Racing, which include analysing data points, research and development and constantly tweaking the hardware, the combination and ECU maps of the race bikes over seasons and seasons of racing will definitely give valuable insights to the team.
The TVS RR 310 ARRC Race Bike is nothing like the stock Apache RR 310, even though it shares the same main frame and exact engine bore and stroke.
More importantly, for everyday riders, some of those learnings are certain to trickle down in one way or another to future production models. To that end, the future of TVS Motor Company’s engineering of products promises to be brighter than ever before. As for me, can’t help but think back to that evening in Sepang, and maybe, just maybe, get another chance to get up, close and personal with SIC. As I write this, I have already made a mental note, not to get distracted by any sunsets at Sepang, and focus on the track, the machine and my lines, one hundred percent!
