19 evo india april 2015

19

APRIL 2015

` 150

094

MERCEDES-AMG C 63 S

DR I V E N 026

VOLVO XC90

F E AT U R E S 062 AUDI R8 EXPECTATIONS

The outgoing Audi R8 was a great ‘everyday’ supercar, which made it a favourite. The newgen has a lot to live up to, then

032 HYUNDAI I20 ACTIVE

068 AUDI R8 LMX

Besides the awesome 562bhp, the R8’s futuristic laser headlamps light up the dark. And how!

036 AUDI S5

040

MERCEDES-BENZ B-CLASS

042

078 PORSCHE CAYMAN GT4

Who wants a 911 when the mid-engined Cayman GT4 gets everything you’d find on a 911 GT3?

MERCEDES-BENZ A-CLASS 100

044

MINI COOPER S

048

RENAULT LODGY

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089 2015 AUDI TT

088

Audi’s TT is now sharper, crisper and looks better too. Is it the perfect everyday sportscar?

094 MERCEDES-AMG C 63 S

The electrifying AMG-spec C-Class is a proper performance sedan, and threatens to outgun the much appreciated M3

100 SKODA OCTAVIA vRS

Why India deserves the Czech manufacturer’s madder Octavia

104 HURACÁN LP 620-2 SUPER TROFEO The race-spec Huracan that’s lighter and madder than you’d imagine

122 HARLEY-DAVIDSON LIVEWIRE

Harley goes electric with this one.

Are we missing the V-twin thump already?

ISSUE 19 APRIL 2015

CONTENTS

128

R E GU L A R S 010 NEWS

The best of the 2015 Geneva Show, including the Lamborghini Aventador SV, Audi R8, Porsche 911 GT3 RS, and more. Back home, new launches we tell you about

128 DUCATI DIAVEL

A cruiser-esque Ducati with the heart of a superbike? Surefire recipe for fun!

134 HARLEY TO INDIA BIKE WEEK

The Ed rides a Harley to Goa for the India Bike Week to tick another one off his bucket list

144 TATA MOTORS T1 TRUCK RACING

Watching the biggies jostle for space around the corners of the BIC is something we couldn’t have missed!

054 COLUMNS

Gautam talks about competing in the Ferrari European Championship, Bijoy revels in the joys of offroading, while Gaurav tells us about his fitness regimes

142 MOTORSPORT

Season 2 of the Tata T1 Prima truck racing series, the Baja SAEIndia and round 2 of MRF NRC

060 LETTERS

Readers extol the Maruti 800 generations story, and the evo Off Road Expo

146 LONG-TERM TESTS

The Tata Safari takes a seriously muddy dip, the Ed’s Merc E 350 CDI is here, the Honda Unicorn CB 160 invokes nostalgia, while the Mahindra Gusto joins the fleet

166 EVO KNOWLEDGE Buying a used Ferrari F430, gaming reviews and more.

186 ART OF SPEED

Old-school doesn’t mean uncool. The Peugeot 106’s steel wheels are the definition of old-school cool.

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Test location: Barcelona, Spain

Volvo XC90 T8 Sit up and take notice, for the new XC90 has the potential to go right to the top of its class

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T hi s month p32 hyundai i20 active The i20 crossover gets a butch exterior, colourcoded interiors, raised suspension etc

D

Did you hear about that driver in Finland who was fined 60,000 US dollars (thirty seven lakh rupees!) last month for speeding? And lest you think he was doing 300kmph in a school zone, the poor sod was 20kmph over the limit on his way to the airport!

Scandinavian countries don’t use the usual formula of calculating fines based on speed and, maybe, location; instead the penalty is a percentage of income – the logic being that whether you’re rich or just living off scraps, a fine should sting. And having filed a

7-million-dollar return, Reima Kusila was fined the equivalent of a Volvo S60 for running late to the airport.

That tells you a lot about Scandinavia. Ostentatious displays of wealth are frowned upon; design sensibilities are minimalistic. And the new XC90 is all the better for it.

Doesn’t it look happy? Doesn’t it make you smile?

That – to me – is Volvo’s greatest triumph as they kickstart a new product offensive after years in the doldrums. Unlike rivals like Audi’s Q7 and BMW’s X5, the XC90 doesn’t look like it wants to punch every other car

p36 audi s5

The S5 is coming, with a 328bhp 3-litre supercharged V6 engine

p40 mercedes-benz

B-class

The B-Class gets a more powerful diesel engine

p44 mini cooper s

The 3-door hatch with a 192bhp twin-turbo four

p48 renault lodgy

It has all the MPV virtuesspace, comfort and a strong engine

T HE T EST T E A M Ouseph has driven the new Octy vRS (see page 100), but it might not come to India. Team evo argues why we must have the vRS back.

SIRISH CHANDRAN

Editor “There still are boy racers craving for a lower, stiffer, louder, extravagantly winged yellow saloon. Even at `30 lakh.”

ROHAN PAWAR

Publisher “A combination of pace, technology and Skoda’s bulletproof build quality. The perfect everyday package.”

OUSEPH CHACKo

Assistant editor “Because I need a project car. That engine is strong and there’s so much potential waiting to be unleashed.”

tushar burman

Managing editor - Online “A fast car that is relatively easy to drive, buy and keep. We haven’t had that in a while. C’mon Skoda.”

ABHAY VERMA

Asst managing editor “Nothing like having a family car that can hit 200kmph with four occupants and doesn’t cost a bomb either!”

Byram Godrej

Technical editor “It was the first car that did 0-100kmph in under 9 seconds, without burning a hole in your pocket.”

ANIRUDDHA RANGNEKAR

Consulting editor “A car that can take you to work in comfort, and can teach some more expensive cars a thing or two on the track.”

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8

E X P E C TAT

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NEW AUDI R8

IONS

The outgoing Audi R8 was a firm favourite at evo and its successor has a tough act to follow. The acid test will be our first drive, but until then here’s the technical low-down and passengerseat impressions of the second-generation car

b y J E T H RO B OV I N G D O N

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by H E N RY C AT C H P O L E P H O T O G R A P H Y by d ean s m i th

Following the Audi R8 LMX’s five-star review in our first drive, evo visits north Wales under the cover of darkness to take stock of the ultimate iteration of a machine that reshaped the sports car landscape. Catchpole fires up the lasers‌

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PORSCHE CAYMAN GT4

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The weight of expectation Led by the charismatic Andreas Preuninger, Porsche Motorsport – maker of the extraordinary 911 GT3 and GT3 RS models – has finally turned its attention to the sweetly balanced Cayman. The wait is over…

by R ich a r d Me a den Photogr a ph y by de a n Smith

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Mercedes-AMG C 63 S

AC/DC Words by O u s e p h C h ac ko

The new C 63 AMG is electrifying

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Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo

T ro p h y

H U NTER The Lamborghini Huracán has evolved into a firebreathing racer – the lighter, more powerful, rear-wheeldrive LP620‑2 Super Trofeo. And it’s also a pointer to a 458 Speciale-rivalling road car…

by J e t h ro B ov i n g d o n P HOTOGR A P H Y by A S t o n Pa r ro t t

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he absurdity of flying to Malaysia to drive a racing car for 40 minutes isn’t completely lost on me.

In some ways this is one of those jobs often referred to within the industry as ‘a jolly’. And as appealing as these might sound, they’re usually just frustrating and a bit of a waste of time. However, after the slightly muted response to the new Huracán from many who have driven it, and with the trip including an audience with chief test driver Giorgio Sanna, research and development director Maurizio Reggiani and the big cheese himself, CEO Stephan Winkelmann, it seemed a good opportunity to take the pulse of Lamborghini. Oh, and have you seen the Huracán LP620‑2 Super Trofeo? Wow. This new race car will, of course, form the backbone of the

one-make Super Trofeo series for 2015, replacing the Gallardo. It also signals a new direction for the series and for Lamborghini in motorsport in general. The previous Gallardo racer was really a road car modified for the track, featuring the same gearbox, wiring loom, ABS system, four-wheel-drive configuration and the like. The new car is different. Developed from the ground up, it’s a pukka racing machine, adopting rear-wheel drive, an Xtrac pneumatically operated sequential ’box, Motec engine management and traction control systems, Bosch racing ABS, Öhlins dampers and a host of other near-GT3-specification components. The 611bhp car was a joint project between the newly formed in-house Squadra Corse motorsport department and Dallara, and has been built in parallel with the recently revealed Huracán GT3.

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Response feature

The longest

~

Coffee Run ~

Words by T u s h a r B u r m a n P h o t o g r a p h y by V i k r a n t S Dat e

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Mercedes-Benz CLA 45 AMG

We drive 1500km for four bags of coffee and the pleasure of that barking AMG over-run. So what if it’s the author’s birthday?

I

I love technology.

I’ve been a technology geek long before it crossed over into the mainstream. The sort of guy whose mailbox is often overflowing with promotional email due to the fact that he’s signed up for everything.

New beta web service? Let me help! New app that’s not broken into the mainstream yet: I can haz? Particularly curious is the amount of calendaring and personal information management apps I try, buy and eventually delete off my iPhone, seeing that I rarely even have the discipline to use them. So when Sirish asked me to drive to Chikkamagaluru in the Mercedes-Benz CLA 45 AMG on a Tuesday, I did a rough mental checklist. Slow day? Probably.

Fast car? Yummy. Decent road? Last I heard.

Check fancy new calendar app: Looks free to me. Sign me up!

Fast forward to that Tuesday. For reasons unmentionable, we set off six hours late, take a one-hour detour to fetch photographer Vikrant, by which time I’m thoroughly disgusted driving a spectacular car in appalling conditions. Fancy new calendar app failed to remind me it was my birthday. The highway surface is expected to be awful for many, many kilometres. 12 hours to go. FML. Chikkamagaluru, our destination this day, is 730km from Pune, mostly along the NH4. If you live in western India, you’ve likely made the obligatory run to Goa for weekends/bike week/bachelor parties/selfie albums and will know that the NH4 is the quickest way to get there, even if it is technically a longer route than the NH17 that’s closer to the coast. Key to this is the spectacular wide dual-carriageways that extend from beyond Satara all the way to Bangalore. The sort of stretches that make

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Harley-Davidson LiveWire

Whack open the twist grip and the bike lurches forward with impressive thrust, reaching 100kmph in just four seconds... “Big deal!” I hear you cry, “the latest sportsbike manages this in half that time!” Okay then, what if I tell you this is an electric motorcycle... Built by HarleyDavidson? Impressed now? Or rather, horrified that this American ‘Motor Company’ icon whose bikes are known for their distinctive engine roar would even dream of going down the silent and goody-two-shoes ‘clean’ electric route?

Let me tell you this straight away: The LiveWire is a prototype,

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not a production machine. It’s a research project into the viability of an electric two-wheeler for Harley-Davidson. H-D built a few dozen demo bikes as part of its Project LiveWire Experience (you can check it out at projectlivewire.com), where customers in the States got to ride it last year and have their say. Now it’s coming to Europe and Canada, so if you happen to be travelling to these areas then go online and book! Or start lobbying your local H-D dealer to bring the project to India...

It’ll be worth it. I’ve never been a huge fan of Harley-Davidsons.

I’m more of a sportsbike kind of girl; I love racing, track days, taking corners as fast as possible… Not something you’d want

y s E-a er d i r

Words by ha r r iet r idle y

P hoto g r aph y by man u fact u r e r

Is Harley-Davidson’s LiveWire going to transform the legendary cruiser maker’s future?

to do on a relatively slow steering Harley that's more at home on a straight road. And I’m a proper petrolhead too, electric bikes just don’t do it for me... Although I’ve been pretty impressed by the progress of the electric racing bikes taking part in the Isle of Man’s TT Zero series. They not only manage an entire lap of the 60.4km course without running out of charge, but they do it at an average speed of more than 190kmph! Only a few years ago big prize money was offered to anyone who could lap an e-bike at 160kmph…

But I digress. What I’m saying is, I’m not the ideal candidate to give the Harley LiveWire the thumbs up. But I like it. Yes, I’m

impressed. To the point where I’ve started to believe in a future for electric motorcycles that is not quite as dull as first imagined.

And it’s not only that initial thrust that I’m impressed with; the LiveWire looks cool too.

H-D engineers have clearly put a lot of effort into the LiveWire’s design. It borrows heavily from Harley-Davidson’s flat-track heritage, and I love these bikes. The ‘fake’ fuel tank (don’t forget it’s electric so doesn’t need a petrol tank!) is low and flat with flat handlebars, and the tail section is chopped short.

It has a modern LED headlight and dash, the mirrors and indicators are all-in-one CNC-milled billet aluminium jobbies,

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Ducati Diavel Carbon

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The devil Words by A b h ay V e r m a P h o t o g r ap h y by V i k r a n t Dat e

wears The Diavel Carbon seemingly mocks every superbike. What’s it like from behind the ’bars?

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One

lo n g ride

Words by S i r i s h C h a n d r a n P h o t o g r a p h y by A s h o k G e o rg e , M e h d i , R i c k e n , s u n i l & a b h i m a n y u

Riding a Harley to Goa for India Bike Week, that’s another one knocked off the bucket list 134

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India Bike Week

I

It’s two in the afternoon and there’s still no sign of our fellow bikers. Goa Ways, the dhaba strategically perched just after Nipani, where you hang a right off the NH 4 and hit the narrow state highway that leads to the Amboli ghat, is packed with Harleys. It’s the Wednesday before the India Bike Week and by the look of things, every second Harley owner in India is on his bike and heading to Goa. I’ve been on the road for a good seven hours; but at least I was in bed in Pune when the rest of my group started in Mumbai two hours earlier. If I’m fried, I wonder what’s happening to them. I get a text from my wife; she left home in our Polo half an hour before me and has already reached Goa. I’m only half way there. And my Arai helmet has a dark visor. This could be a problem.

Screw it, let’s ride In all fairness, I’d been forewarned. The best are too flowery to put in print but the gist was that the ride would be incredibly slow, the riders terrifically hopeless, and I would never have kids.

It’s incredibly slow – I grant you that. But there’s more than a hint of sour grapes to the rest. Harleys aren’t fast bikes but there’s – I don’t believe I’m saying this! – genuine pleasure to be had in hitting the highway on a Harley. The HOGs (Harley Owners Group, I’m sure you knew that) refer to the fast, mainly Jap bikes, as ‘plastic’ and soon I get so caught up in the banter that I join the chorus of laughter at a passing rider on an R1, ass up in the air, spine obviously set to be rearranged by the time he gets to Goa. I’m astride a Fat Bob. Not having had much interest in Harleys up until now, I left it to our resident bike expert Abhay’s best judgment, with a gentle reminder that one day I will want to procreate. When offered a selection of cars or bikes, we motoring journalists always – always! – opt for the fastest, but with Harleys it doesn’t matter. Whether it’s a Street 750

Fat Bob sits on the cusp of performance dragster and laid-back cruiser or Night Rod or whatever, all are as fast (or slow) as the other. In fact, I’d soon learn, that the fastest Harley is a Street 750 (it can corner) but the debate is still out if it’s a proper Harley.

My Street Bob then. It doesn’t have too much chrome, which is a good place to start. It is stripped down, yet looks fat. I like the matte black tank, and the shiny black engine cases. The engine is massive and rocks on its mounts when fired up (reminds me of the old Scorpio). The twin headlamps look cool. The riding position is easy on my back. Parked in my driveway it looks cool as hell, much to the approval of my wife. And mum (!). It sits on the cusp of a performance dragster and laid-back cruiser, and we have 550km, from Pune to Goa, to find out which side the needle swings.

Freedom and the open road Americans are the self-appointed custodians of freedom. Whether it is sending snipers to Afghanistan or bombing the f*ck out of Iraq, everything is in the pursuit of some jacked up notion of freedom. Many years ago, when asked what the Beat diesel stands for, a senior Chevrolet exec told me ‘freedom and the open road’. WTF!

s r e Raid RM

STO ’ e h t of

rticipants, Six days, 130 pa upply of sand: s e m ti fe li a d n 2300km, a 15 esert Storm 20 D i k u z u S ti ru Ma Wo r d s b y

D i pa ya n

a ph Photogr

du t ta

r Misr a y by M i h i

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AWARDS & EXPO SPECIAL ISSUE

ITH MENT W SUPPLE IL 2015 ISSUE IA APR evo IND

HARD CORE!

Gurkha v Thar v Gypsy

Getaway

Gul Panag’s Himalayan expedition

Braving the ’Storm Rallying the Polaris RZR

195

Mahindra Generations

The hardy goats that built Mahindra’s reputation 204

Thar v Gurkha v gypsy

Let’s settle this once and for all 213

evo off road awards

First of its kind, and this is just the beginning 226

Desert Storm

We run riot through the desert in an RZR. 232

fORTUNER v PAJERO SPORT

Want to go off-road comfortably?

238

aUDI ICE DRIVE

The Ed has a working weekend in Finland 248

rfc gYPSY

This was a Gypsy, now it’s a weapon!

254

gREAT ESCAPE, JAISALMER

Sun, sand, palaces, feasts and mahindras.

256

the dirty show

What happened at the first OFF ROAD Expo.

264

masuoka san

We get driven around by a Dakar legend.

270

OFF-ROADING IN a jcB

Our resident Mad Max samples a backhoe 274

Girl power

Gul Panag talks about her trip to Ladakh 276

off road community

Heading out with the Pune Pathfinders 278

Hi! Busa

Halfway across the world on a Hayabusa 283

Baja Mania

What it takes to build a winning buggy 286

Icons

The Toyota FJ 40. ‘nuff said.

ISSUE 03

Contents Free with

evo india April 2015 issue

Three’s just the start I

Issue #3 of evo OFF ROAD! When we started this experiment with evo India’s anniversary issue last October, even an ardent mud-plugger like myself didn’t expect this to become a regular occurrence. But such has been the response from you, dear reader, that OFF ROAD will be a regular quarterly magazine distributed along with evo India. Thank you for your love, and now, coincidentally, three things: The first: We gave everyone a month’s notice. A month’s notice to send us SUVs and 4x4s, put up display stalls and create purpose-built off-road tracks. We gave them even less notice about the OFF ROAD Awards and we apologise for putting you all through the wringer.

And yet, despite the late storm warning, the enthusiasm of everyone – off-road clubs, manufacturers who participated and offroad people who got their boots muddy at the first OFF ROAD Expo, was exceptional. Even the weather gods were on our side – how else do you explain two days of pouring rain coinciding with the Expo?

What would have resulted in disaster at any normal Expo, only made the tracks at the OFF ROAD Expo even more challenging; more fun.

Big shout out to Sunil Pawar, Raju Shaikh and the entire team who put together the mad off-road track, the clubs for coming out in force to participate, 4x4 India for helping us put the word out there double quick, and to everyone else for the words of encouragement.

The next edition will be bigger and better, for sure.

The second: I’m disappointed. I don’t understand why people go off-roading and not wear seatbelts. Yes, sometimes when you’re stuck at extreme angles, the locking system in the belt mechanism won’t let you belt up again, but there are ways to get around that. I say don’t unbuckle when you’re in such situations; get someone to spot you out of trouble. Most also don’t understand the decapitating effects of snapping winch lines or tow straps – I’m terrified of standing anywhere in the vicinity of a winch under load and I can’t understand why people nonchalantly walk around the no-go winching zone. Sorry about that morose thought, but yes, I think it’s important and I had to get that off my chest.

The third: I’m very excited. Excited because I drove a yellow Gypsy that’s unlike any other custom-built 4x4 I’ve ever seen. One that’s been inspired by and made for the Rainforest Challenge. Out of the box vehicles like these, not to mention the mad RFC Gurkhas, will make the trek to this year’s event in Goa (July end - mark your calendar!) worth it. And it will be a mega off-roading festival as we are proud to announce our tie-up with RFC India to bring the Rainforest edition of the OFF ROAD Expo to Goa from July 24 to 26.

Enjoy the issue - we can proudly say many boots were muddied and tow straps abused in its making.

Ouseph Chacko, Assistant Editor ouseph@evo.in |

@ousephchacko

January 2015 |

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HARD co r e WORDS by O u s e ph C hac ko P hotograph Y by G au rav s T ho m br e

I

If you want climate control and sat-nav, powered leather seats, airbags and an audio system, I suggest you skip to the next test.

This one is all about getting muddy; it goes back to the basics in vehicles where power steering and air-conditioning are luxury features. But, wait, the Gypsy doesn’t have those either.

So, what you get for Honda City money is go-anywhere, treadover-everything ability backed up with a warranty. You walk into a showroom, put the down payment on any one of these mud-pluggers (actually with the Gypsy you also have a long wait) and the mix of old-school ladder frames, leaf springs and manually engaged fourwheel drive systems will take you where no car has gone before.

These three are the hammer and tongs in an iPhone world but which one should you put your muddy boots in? We’re shifting into fourlow to find out.

Rock Crawling There’s a boulder field and none are of the round, smooth type. All I can see are sharp, jagged edges waiting to rip out plastic bumpers, gouge the sump’s guts and bend axles. Right, Gurkha, time to prove your mettle. Forward, right and all the way down on the short stubby lever to engage four-low on the transfer case. Pull up both the Qualis handbrake-like levers sticking out of the floor to engage differential locks on the front and rear axles. The main gearlever is fiddly and, believe it or not, first gear is a trick dog-leg. Clutch out and the Gurkha does what it does best. Crawls. With its transfer case ratio of 2.05:1, axle ratios of 4.375:1 and an engine with low idle speeds, the Gurkha literally inches its way forward like a monitor

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The Thar in the pictures is for photography purposes only. The standard Thar doesn’t get a snorkel or mud-tyres

Gurkha, Thar or Gypsy?

Let’s settle this, once and for all

Test

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Event

W

Welcome to the first award of its kind in India. Presented by JK Tyre, powered by evo India and with NDTV’s C&B show as a partner, to win here, you need to be exceptional, but even that may not be enough. You need to have made a change to the way things were, brought about a change to the scenario and of course, gotten dirty doing all this. As you can imagine, picking winners from so many entrants isn’t easy, but we stuck our boots firmly in the mud, shifted into four-low and got down to the business of picking the best of the best from the offroad world.

From SUVs to adventure bikes, teams and events, and even a few extraordinary people, we’ve left no stone unturned.

All in an effort to ensure that we encompass the entire offroading community.

The hi-lift jack, that we’ve chosen to be our award, is in many ways symbolic of the off road community. As it has raised jeeps on many an occasion, we’ve awarded it to those people and vehicles that have raised the bar.

Uday Bhan Singh The godfather of Jeeps in India, Uday’s knowledge of Jeeps and Jeep parts is second to none. He’s a Jeep fanatic and collects, restores and even has one sticking out of the first floor of his house!

Gaurav Gill Where do we start? Asia Pacific Rally champ, multiple Indian National Rally Champ, National Road Racing Champ, the list of Gaurav’s accolades goes on and on.

Hari Singh He’s won five Indian National Rally Championships, four of them back-to-back. He’s also one of India’s best tyre testers and one of the safest pair of hands.

Sirish Chandran Sirish brings with him fifteen years of experience in automotive journalism. He cut his teeth at Overdrive and went on to head the magazine and TV show before setting up evo India.

SIDDHARTH PATANKAR Siddharth Vinayak Patankar is an award-winning journalist, who has been with NDTV since 1999.

Siddharth serves as Director on the steering committee of the World Car Awards.

Tejas Kothari Asia’s only off-roader certified by the International 4-Wheel Drive Trainers Association (i4wdta), Tejas runs offroadjunkie, a company dedicated to training newbies and popularising the sport.

Byram Godrej Byram is the technical editor of evo India. He’s also the technical director of evo’s rally team – Slideways Industries – and the man responsible for the Indian Rally Polo.

Ouseph Chacko Ouseph comes from ten years at Autocar India and is now assistant editor at evo India. Every moment he’s not in office, he’s out there trying to drive over something he’s not supposed to be driving over.

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Sean Parameshwar Sean is the proprietor of India’s first off-road accessories mega store in Bangalore. He knows the aftermarket scene inside out and is always testing out his products first-hand.

Storm Troopers

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Adventure

We battle against extreme temperatures, tonnes of sand and other madmen at the 2015 Desert Storm

WORDS by A n i ru dd h a R a n g n e k ar P h o t o g rap h Y by p u rv i s h b h ardwa j & m i h i r M i sra

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ADVENTURE

WORDS by S i r i s h C h a n dr a n P h o t o g r a p h Y by H i t e s h S INGH

The ChilL Of Driving Off-roading in freezing Finland. In sedans!

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Built to flex This was a Gypsy.

Now it’s a Rainforest Challenge contender

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This is bananas! You sit about three feet off the ground, so forget climbing in if you’re unfit. To get in, you step up on to the rockslider with your right foot, swing your left foot in over the roll bars, and slide your fat a** in while ducking. This way you won’t end up with a roll cage induced bump on your head. The Sparco race seats are snug and the four-point harness holds you in place, which is good. At the Rainforest Challenge (that’s what this Gypsy has been built for), you lean crazy angles and the last thing you want to do is find something to brace against on a competitive stage.

There are no keys; you flip up two aircraft style plastic shields, click down two toggle switches for the fuel pump and ignition and thumb the starter button. The first oversize pistons of the 1.6-litre, ex-Baleno engine cough and spit an angry note through the Automech free flow exhaust.

Grab your popcorn, sit back and enjoy the ride because this is one hell of a Gypsy. Sorry, one hell of an ex-Gypsy.

Before I get a chance to throw it at the scenery, I want Sajid to give me an idea of what it can do. I point at a 45-degree slope littered with pebbles. Sajid nods, slides the small gearlever into four-low, creeps up to the slope and guns it. For a moment all I can see is sky as

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evo India | April 2015

WORDS by O u s e p h C h ac ko P h o t o g r a p h Y by V i k r a n t Dat e

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