Tata Nano is here

Wow! Thats the word. Wow! Nothing else can capture the essence of this engineering feat. The Tata One lakh car had been subjected to a lot of ridicule and speculation about its birth and design. And here it is ladies and gentle man the ONE LAKH CAR. Called the Nano (they might have some problems from apple but dont think apple has it blocked even for cars) this does look good. Yes it does a resemble the Smart for two car a bit. But the price of the Smart for Two would be definitely more than 5 times its price and the best part is as the name says would seat only two. Think about in that terms you make something better(that is taking Tata's quality versus Mercedes's lets make no bones about who the winner is here) and cheaper. As far as the engine and power transmission is concerned I have only a few words "Its a One lakh car" please do remember the price of the car before commenting on anything. Given an option i would definitely buy one forget about the engine handling and everything. Drive it off from the showrooms have a spin and return home and park it on a pedestal where it should stand for ages to come. Yes it is definitely that monumental.
Well to give it a bit more perspective and appreciation, there is a company called Dacia. They also planned to build a very cheap car and as usual subjected to much ridicule, finally they did come out with a car which was appreciated worldwide for its cheap cost and the usability. We know this car in India as the Mahindra Renault Logan. Just think about the price difference before you comment on anything.
So there you have it people the one lakh car. And yes i'm serious about the pedestal thing, I would.


P.S : For the more techy ones yes i wish Tata had put on bigger wheels. This might be detrimental to the handling.

A tribute to Colin McRae

One of the world's best drivers passed away on 15 th September 2007. The helicopter he was flying crashed near his house in Scotland. The world was shocked and rightly so. For those who have followed the WRC for even a short time would kno that Colin Mcrae was right at the top. For those who have played his games, Wow ! What a game. The perfect game to carry his name.
When he was on any rally circuit he would definitely show that he had balls. If people want to see some examples of Colin Mcraeism , go to Youtube and type in Colin Mcrae + X games 2006. Watch. I just dont want to give out any spoilers on the video if you have not seen it. Its jus awesome example of Colin Mcrae on the track.
I had the chance to watch a show by Jeremy Clarkson called the "Thrill of Speed" in that one of the episodes features Colin McRae. In that a psychiatrist explains to Jeremy that while Jeremy's brain is processing probably one or two information at a time Colin McRae's mind is so trained that he is processing so much of information at time. Jeremy then tries taking McRae's car out only to bang it into a hedge in about a couple of minutes. After this Jeremy just walks away with a great respect for McRae. I always had a great respect for Jeremy. So when his respect grew mine had to naturally grow for the great rally driver.
One could not keep him off any car. When he retired from the world of rally racing in 2004 when he didnt have a drive. He went into the world of Paris Dakar racing for sometime then after some talks with Bentley he was part of their team in Le Mann's 24 Hours race. He also attended the race of champions with very great enthusiasm. Not to mention the X-games. We could say that he almost tried driving the wheels of in almost all the classes of motor racing.
Its also said that he was working to find himself a drive in the rally world. That would have definitely been something. But things have changed and the world wil definitely not forget Colin McRae.
So this is sort of a late tribute to Colin McRae, a great driver, a great motoring name. A Minute's silence then..

HOO HOO!!

I finally after much searching I have finally laid my hands on a very great book. The Book actually. This is the autobiography of Alex Zanardi. Hoo Hoo !! I'm not able to put it down. So i hope to put a post up on de book.
To the Road runner then.

Well here is something to start with

If you are one of the few who kno me and read this blog you would kno tat i'm in the US doin some crap. And for those who dont, Yes I'm in de US tryin to do a MS in Motorsprt Engg (After comin here i figured that this is just a fancy name for an Automobile Engg, but thats another story).
There are a few things I would like to get out of my system, firstly I'm not a great fan of this place. Its mainly because I had had almost infinite freedom back home and that I had my own mode of transportation. It may not be a great matter for those of you who are reading it but for a guy who jus loves to drive and would be glad to run an errand jus beacause he is getting a chance to drive its a matter of great importance, couple it to the fact that the person isnt always early. Boy ! It can make a difference!
For those who still think the america is the place to be, I would like to point a few things,

The public transportation system is pathetic! There are jus not enough number and you have to be very disciplined to get on them. For a guy straight out of a college in India I believe thats a tall order.
A friend of mine recommended a great movie by Micheal Moore called "Sicko". No it wouldnt nauseate u visually but there is quite a chance that you will be disgusted with the American System. If u are in the mood I would recommend "Faranheit9/11" by the same director. Time for some enlightenment I guess.
If u think this place is clean and not nauseating. I suggest u to go to some big city like Chicago, New York or Detroit. There is quite a chance that u will start to believe India is a cleaner place!
There are so many trivial things lik most of the restaurants close by 10! There are almost no great choices if u are in the mood for a midnight snack.
The worst thing abt this place is that i had to eat the stuff i cooked. For a guy who is very choosy about food its probably the worst punishment.
If u have seen "Run" I was like Vivek thinkin "Appan vitta sabam weaponattam vanthu thakkoothe da" (For those who dont understand Tamil, it means my father's curse is attacking me lik a weapon)
These guys have subsidized the wrong stuff they have booze which is subsidized. I agree some booze is good once in a while. But thinkin that u can get drunk on some great booze cheaper than wat it costs u too fill ur stomach wid some food is not very heart warmin or should i say "Stomach" warming.

Yes there are definitely some great things about this place,
People are very polite, friendly, genial and what not in the smaller cities like the one i'm currently in.
There is absolutely no dignity of labor. There are only two stories, one u are employed and that u are unemployed. Thats it. They dont mind doing any job and i mean "Any".
You have infinite freedom to do anything. Look at me I'm doing some whacky course. Also u can start afresh very easily. I could have easily transfered from Motorsport Engg to somethin very far frm me, in terms of understanding, like Bio Technology. That is very good if u feel right now that u are doin the wrong thing. Here u can do anythin thats definitely a great boon.

So thats about it for now. I'm hoping to do something in the next post about the roads and cars here. (Arent u surprised ?? I bet u are :D) So see you till then.

I'M SORRY

I'm sorry, to the ppl who spend time readin this blog and find it intersting but find it irritating that i've not updated it. For those who think this is jus a waste of space, I'm sorry to have wasted your time. I suggest you guys go look at smething else.

Hopefully, i plan to update this page. Lets see wat happens....

OF RED ROSES AND REJECTS

I happen to get a chance to drive two cars a Honda city ( the new old one that is) & Maruti Suzuki Baleno. These 2 cars are generally not compared but tell you wat these two cars would actually belong to the same group if Maruti hadn’t so “aggressively” cut the price of the Baleno. These two cars command a very unique position in the market, while the Baleno has been dropped like a hot coal the City sells like hot cakes.
The city is totally futuristic, at least in de looks dept., is wat many ppl say but in my opinion the front looks as if somebody kicked the bonnet really hard & the boot seems to be design afterthought. The interiors of the Honda are good but what were de engineers thinkin when they put such a fat A- pillar which has blind spots that would shame David Blaine at de vanishin act.
The Baleno is no looker either, its plain Jane looks never turned heads and probably won’t. Its interiors are of vintage pedigree of a bygone era. They still seem to have slider switches. The odometer and tripmeter haven’t yet caught up wid de digital age. The icing on de cake is probably de climate control unit on de top end models. Wow! Only the Swift is another car which is close by the price range which boasts one.
I was raring to have a go at de Honda city. I missed out on the older generation city and I sure wanted to make amends. Boy oh boy, was I disappointed & how the Engine is dull with almost no throttle response. The steering wheel is vague & too damn light to transmit any feedback. The car is more like playin on your comp wid de force feedback switched off. I think Honda is too much into virtual simulation and stuff, things just crept into de City project.
The Baleno has a fine Engine & a finer steering. It’s well weighted I cannot wonder wat it would be lik if de tyres were a lil lower profiled. As a car if you looked at it from an enthusiastic driver’s point of view it’s a stellar performer. The cars steering just oozes confidence into de heart and mind of de driver. It’s remarkably sensitive. The car bein a low rider has very minimal body roll. You could just close your eyes for a moment, imagine you are Schumacher or whoever your favourite car racer is, and de car wouldn’t disappoint you as the City would.
Agreed de city goes more kilometers per liter, the Engine is a refined one. It seems as though the Honda has been designed by ASIMO & it naturally chucked out de character that de old City had. The Baleno bein a great car doesn’t get the recognition it requires. To top it all if u look at de sales chart u would see de city probably outsells de Baleno one is to ten minimum. It seems ppl don’t lik any open exhibition of character. Oh dear Oh my! Wat is de world comin to??

Alex Zanardi- The fighter

Alessandro Zanardi born in Bologna, an f1 racer, a CART racer is one of the toughest customers one would ever see in the world. Not because he was arrogant or anything. He lost both, yes both his legs in a CART race in Euro speedway in Germany. As Alex Zanardi was exiting the pit lane he lost control and skidded onto the track were he was clipped by a fellow racer, Tagilani who was traveling at a speed in excess of 200 MPH. Alex Zanardi’s Legs were severed off in the accident leaving him amputated below the knee.
Alex Zanardi started his career lik any other F1 racer he raced GO-Karts then moving to Formula 3 then Formula 3000. He won on his debut in F3000, he was not only the rookie of the season, he finished second in championship that year. Ya some debut season right. Having attracted the eyes of several constructors in F1 he moved to f1 in 1991. He joined the Jordan team. He started two races with them. Occasionally filling in for others racers on the grid. He was then on the roster in the Lotus team. But when the team’s active suspension was voted out of Formula 1 the team lost the competitive edge. He failed to score a point that season. He switched to the CART racing series where he became an instant hit.
He was one of those guys who would do a ‘donut’ on the track after winning the race. He became a phenomenon there. He repeated his performance of being the Rookie of the year and also finished second in the championship. He was promptly brought back into the F1 fold by Sir Frank Williams. Williams were not competitive and history repeated itself, his season was not competitive, mainly due to the reliability issues of the Williams car. So he went back to his old job, CART racing. He was fighting his way up the grid when the accident occurred.
Most of them put Zanardi away, wrote him off. The fighter in him was in full frontal attack. He put on prosthetic legs went o rehabilitation. He passed out of rehabilitation in half the time the doctors expected him to. He not only did that he did something nobody would have imagined him to do. He wanted to be strapped in the race car and complete the rest of the laps in the Euro Speedway. He amazed everybody again by doing the remaining laps at race speed. . Imagine racing at full speed when you have prosthetic legs from knee down. The spirit of Alex Zanardi cannot be compared with anything on and off the race track.
. If any of you were wonderin where Mr.Zanardi is, taking his retirement. You are all proved very wrong by him. He is very much in the racing scenario. He races in the European touring cars along with Chris Goodwin of ESPN-STAR.. It is like u can’t keep this guy of a driving seat. He won races in touring car and celebrated his victories true Zanardi style wid ‘donuts’ Alex Zanardi’s autobiography is called “My sweetest victory”, a fitting title to the autobiography of a racer, a fighter. To the fighting spirit of Alex Zanardi then.