It was 2020 when I first saw the Royal Enfield Continental GT-R650. I was racing Formula 4 cars back then, and in the National Championship event organised by JK Tyres, Royal Enfield had brought a whole lot of race prepped bikes for the Royal Enfield Continental GT Cup. These were the newly launched Continental GT 650 under the skin, but with a new & more aggressive exhaust system and a half fairing replacing the headlamp, amongst other things. While I wasn't much of a motorcycle person back then, the deep growl from these parallel-twin 650 cc engines left me awestruck, tempting me to take them out for a hot lap.
The Royal Enfield Continental GT-R650 is a GT 650 under the skin, but with a handful changes made to make it more agile, faster, and lighter.
That opportunity took its own time to come to me, but it was worth the wait. car&bike got the invite to try hands on the GT-R650 race bike, and I took no time to volunteer to go. And the best part was that this wasn't just a 4-hot-laps kind of day, it was a proper race weekend, with a dedicated practice session, qualifying, and an 8-lap race around the beautiful spectacle that Kari Motor Speedway is.
The Continental GT-R 650 feels intimidating when you first sit on it, but once it gets going, it makes you feel at home.
Wearing skin-tight leather overalls, I got on the bike, and immediately felt intimidated by its size. And mind you, I'm no tiny guy; 6-feet tall and almost a 100 kgs. The GT-R650 gets several changes to the stock GT 650, and these also include ergonomic changes like lowered clip-on handlebars & higher set footpegs - all the more intimidating. But the moment I got going in the practice session, everything changed.
The 650 cc long-stroke motor has ample torque to make it shoot like a bullet out of corners.
Compared to the stock bike, the GT-R almost 24 kgs lighter, and you can feel it on the move. The stainless-steel exhaust system has also helped the powertrain gain almost 4 bhp over the stock bike, and that paired with stiffer suspension setup makes the bike a delight to ride. What's interesting about it though, is that unlike most other race bikes, this one is not super sharp and unforgiving, which is ideal for a novice like me to have a blast of a time on the track. Yes, it's long, and takes longer to change directions compared to some straightforward supersport bike, but it does it in a very elegant & predictable way. And the torque from the long-stroke motor - which now revs up to almost 7,000 rpm - always picks the bike up in milliseconds when you're done with the corner.
The GT-R650 is 24 kgs lighter than the stock bike, and gets a fairing to help with aerodynamics.
I don't have much experience of riding bikes on track, and had never ever ridden a GT-R650, as opposed to many other auto journalists I was going up against. Which is why when I qualified 6th out of the 13 riders, I was delighted. Yes my time was nowhere close to the national champions, but they are champions for a reason, and my target for the weekend wasn't to beat them. It was to have fun on the bike and learn the art of leaning into corners, while also having a go at the dozen other journalists.
With little experience of riding on track and no experience of riding the GT-R650, I put in a lap time that was 6th fastest in qualifying.
And so came race day. Our race was right at the end of proceedings, and we were riding the same bikes that the national championship riders rode. Having been on the grid a couple of years earlier in a four-wheeled machine, the track was no stranger to me, and the bike had done its part to get me acquainted to it. The race didn't go as planned, as I had a crash on the opening lap with a fellow journalist who didn't see me making a move on him. But that's a part and parcel of motorsport, and I'm glad that we both walked away from the incident with only minor injuries. I could've continued the race after the incident, and I wish I did now, because I always wonder, what could've happened in those 7 remaining laps?
