Overdrive Magazine June 2011 issue preview

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June 2011 Volume 13 Issue 10 ` 125

petrol & diesel

verna

takes on Honda City, VW Vento & Maruti SX4

Renault Fluence Petrol & diesel driven

Honda CBR250R on road & track

Toyota Corolla Altis face-lift BMW 6 Series Audi A7 Merc R-Class BMW S1000RR Lambo Aventador

CBR vs P220, RTR180, R15, Karizma ZMR & Ninja 250R

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Subscriber’s copy

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June 2011 Volume 13 Issue 10 ` 125

COLLECTOR’S

SPECIAL EDITION

Lamborghini aventador

News to share?

Call us on +91 20 33223341-50 or Fax us on +91 20 33223322 Email us at editorial@overdrive.co.in

motoringnews L o g o n t o w w w. ov e r d r i v e . i n / n e ws/

New 2012 XF on its way Jaguar gives 2012 version of XF sharper, more muscular styling based on XJ

T

Sharper new XF likely for India launch early 2012 featuring sharper styling and a lower entry price tag thanks to new 2.2-litre four-cylinder diesel being added to the line-up.

Expect other prices to remain the same

he Jaguar XF was always considered one of the prettiest cars in its class.

Combining classic British looks with strong engines and well sorted handling, the XF was a favourite worldwide. Now, three years after the launch of the original, Jaguar took the wraps off the refreshed XF at the April New York Motor Show.

The XF story began back in 2007 when Jaguar displayed to the world its strikingly beautiful concept car the C-XF and promised a production version based on the same. When the actual XF was launched, it was a significantly toned

down design, still very good looking, and still very British but lacking that oh-mygod, neck snapping appeal. Nevertheless it went on to be a success and was one of the significant contributors to saving Jaguar from the deathly grip of bankruptcy. Circle round to 2011 and Jaguar has infused more of the C-XF’s signature style into the production XF. The new lean, striking face is a real looker but you won’t be wrong to think you’ve seen it somewhere before. The front end is rather similar to XF’s larger sibling the XJ. Jaguar seems to be heading down the road Audi has taken in establishing a family look and producing an entire

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TOYOTA COROL L A ALT IS

Fresh wine

Face-lifts are usually old wine in new bottle, but the Corolla is a little more than that Words Sirish Chandran Photography Gaurav S Thombre

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lsewhere in this issue you will read how an engine done well powering a car done even better can fend off rivals for a scarcely believable 13 years – even if the engine in question is a petrol while the competition all have diesels. But there’s another equally impressive success story and it’s this – the largest selling nameplate in the automotive universe – the Toyota Corolla. For eight years since it was launched in India the Corolla has dominated its segment for all but two years. And it did it with a petrol engine, fur-

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ther emphasising the fact that Indian customers are more interested in overall product integrity, not which fuel goes into the tank. It was only late last year that a diesel found its way into the Corolla Altis, in the process lighting the fuse under the sales rocket and putting it in a frankly unbeatable position. And now to extend its stranglehold on the D-segment comes this face-lift.

Toyota face-lifts are typically of the blinkand-you-will-miss-it variety and this one stays true to form. The changes centre mainly around the nose; the headlamps are

pinched and stretched out at either extremity to become even more shapely and then sunk in further into the re-worked bumper. The grille too seems larger and even though changes are really quite minimal, it all contrives to give the Corolla an even more upmarket air bringing it, visually, much closer to the much bigger Camry.

The profile remains unchanged while the rear gets new tail lamps with LEDs that look rather aftermarket in my opinion - like what the Thais would slap on to their Corolla taxis.

Obligatory chrome strips on the grille and a

big slab on top of the rear license plate round off the exterior face-lift while inside there is keyless entry and ignition, (very welcome) parking sensors, perforated leather upholstery, darker (fake) wood and a new stereo which is a 6.1-inch touch screen affair that also plays DVDs and has Bluetooth connectivity.

And usually that, as they say, is that as far as face-lifts go. Except the Corolla also gets an engine upgrade.

The old ZZ series engine (which was phased out internationally in 2007 when this tenth generation Corolla was launched) makes way for the modern ZR engine family and though you will still see a 1.8 badge on the boot, the displacement has changed marginally from 1794cc to 1797cc courtesy wider bore and shorter stroke dimensions of 80.5mm x 88.3mm (from 79mm x 91.5mm).

This allows it to rev with evidently more eagerness and it gets variable valve timing on both the intake and exhaust side (ZZ had it only on the exhaust) to improve overall efficiency. The power figure goes up by 8PS to 140PS while torque is up by 3Nm to 173Nm. The old five-speed manual makes way for a 6-speeder with altered ratios, particularly a long-legged sixth gear, to allow the engine to spin at lower revs while cruising on the highway, making it more relaxed at speed while improving fuel efficiency. Theoretically the top speed should also go up but we can only confirm that after a proper road test. It has become quicker off the line with 0-100kmph taking 11.8 seconds, quicker by half a second.

Changes mainly centre around the new headlamps, grille and tail lamps

Plush interiors remain unchanged save for darker wood. Stereo is a 6.1-inch touchscreen that plays DVDs, has Bluetooth connectivity and a remote. Keyless ignition on top-end variants

New ZR series engine gets variable valve timing on intake and exhaust side and is mated to 7-speed CVT or 6-speed manual. Power is up to 140PS, torque to 173Nm

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Renault’s back The Fluence arrives in both petrol and diesel guises Words Sirish Chandran Photography Gaurav S Thombre

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ctually that’s a bit misleading because Renault never really went away. What they did was lie low as the divorce was completed and backend put in place for a proper assault on the Indian car market. An enormous plant, a dealer network, key personnel, a product plan for the years to come and now the assault begins in right earnest – with this, the Fluence. The car to erase the memory of the Logan, the car which Renault freely admits shouldn’t have been their launch car.

And so with the Fluence begins the repositioning of the brand in India. In rapid order Renault will make sure you know they’re French with a uniquely French sense of style and flair. They will bombard you with new concept cars that mark their design

renaissance, pulling it out of the styling rut that sired the Logan. They will tell you how three front running teams on the Formula 1 grid have Renault engines and that they pioneered turbo engines in road cars and F1. You will know that they’re at the forefront of the electric car game. And they will urge you to walk into spanking new Renault dealerships for an experience that you will remember – down to the smells in the showroom and the water you’re served.

All of which will be of no use if the Fluence isn’t any good.

It does look good and that’s a positive start. As has become habitual we’ve got the car stuck in the sand as we nudged towards the ocean and swaying palms off the East Coast Road connecting Chennai to Pondicherry for pictures. As I wait for villagers to

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v e r na C R D i

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V en to T D I

Menage a trois The Hyundai Verna, Maruti SX4 and VW Vento bang bonnets on diesel turf Words Bertrand D’souza Photography Gaurav S Thombre

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f you watch FTV, one aspect about design that should strike you is that it’s an universal language; there really aren’t any regional differences. So a designer in Asia will have the same take on a theme as a designer in Paris whose design will not deviate much from what is being presented in Brazil. So a trenchcoat or even lingerie will look the same everywhere. But that’s clothes for you. If you had to look at electronics, it’s still the same, there are no regional influences. An LED TV designed in China looks the same as one made in Taiwan or the one made in eastern Europe.

Almost all goods of modern society are designed without regional influences. That however is not the case in the automobile industry.

In the automotive business, each region that is a hub of design and manufacturing exerts its local influence. So cars are distinctly American, German, Italian, Japanese and now yet another major influence is emerging, Korean. Once however everyone in the world

ridiculed Hyundai’s designs, which no one other than the Koreans themselves thought were brilliant collages. These cars, I’ll admit, weren’t really great looking but, somehow in various parts of the worlds they worked.

Today things have changed for the better. Hyundai has established its own design language devoid of any inspiration, yet with a wholly Korean attitude that is flashy and obtuse to some but pleasing to others. This new design direction is Hyundai’s new arsenal in the battle against the rest of the world’s automobile manufacturers.

And the most recent car armed to the teeth with this arsenal is the new Hyundai Verna. It is making headlines everywhere it goes, it is also making heads turn everywhere. Hyundai’s new fluidic design theme is getting infectious but in our world, the world of the critic, does this new design language that touches almost all aspects of the new Verna work against the others in the segment? I have the diesel, JUN 2011 overdrive

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Move over Does the Hyundai Verna have the Honda City’s number?

Words Sirish Chandran Photography Gaurav S Thombre

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uch has been said about Hyundai’s new fluidic sculpture design language so I won’t go there except it’s hard to write anything about the new Verna without touching on the way the car looks.

For everything that the old Verna had, the one thing it patently did not was style (made even worse by the end of life face-lift) and that’s the most radical departure on the new car. No longer will the term ‘Korean cars’ be applied in a derogatory way; the new Verna exorcises the ghosts of the past by donning properly appealing and genuinely stylish sheet metal. That’s half the battle won.

The other half is the diesel engine which you will have read about earlier. In fact with petrol prices going up by another five bucks and the day when petrol could touch 100 bucks not being that far away, it’s safe to say that without a diesel engine (or two) you might as well get on with digging your own grave.

Except the City has made do with only a petrol engine (or two) for the past 13 years and still ruled the segment, only being knocked off its perch in the last two months by a combination of the Vento (and its diesel engine) and the production cuts (due to the earthquake and devastating tsunami in Japan). Nevertheless there’s no denying that a petrol engine done well, in a car that’s done even better, will find favour with the Indian buyer and if the Verna has to gain genuine re-

spect, it has to best the best C-segment car in the country and play by its rules – with a petrol engine. .

Engines then and the Verna starts strong by offering two petrol engines, the base 1.4-litre (also seen in the i20) with 107PS and the 1.6-litre four-cylinder tested here with 123PS, up by 20PS over the old Verna. Both are from the all-new gamma series with the 1.6 getting twin overhead cams, variable valve timing on the intake side and is mated to a 6-speed manual transmission (and four-speed auto) while the City makes do with a 5-speed manual (though the auto also gets 5-speeds).

Performance? The Verna accelerates with far greater vigour and enthusiasm, hitting 100kmph in 11.93 seconds, 0.5 second quicker than before. The standing kilometre takes 33.28 seconds and it gets to a top speed of 197kmph. It also has a strong bottom end with good in-gear flexibility and with the tall sixth gear, fuel efficiency improves considerably to 11.1kmpl in the city and 18.7kmpl on the highway to deliver an overall figure of 12.99kmpl.

A big step up then over the old Verna but Honda is still the master of the internal combustion engine and despite the City’s iVTEC engine displacing (a lower) 1.5 litres and churning out 118PS, it still beats the Verna to 100kmph (taking 11.53 seconds). However, the tall final gear ratio in the Verna helps it edge out the City in terms of top speed JUN 2011 overdrive

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lam borg h i ni av e nta d or l p 70 0 - 4

The Furyof Furies In Greek mythology Alecto, one of the three Furies (spiritual deities of vengeance) was described as one of unceasing anger. A relentless force! I met another relentless force today. Blazing orange like the sun, it unfurled savagely behind a shield decorated by a bull. We know it as the Lamborghini Aventador, and this isn’t mythology. It’s living composite material, the kind of car that becomes a legend before its time Words Bertrand D’souza

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Ho n da C BR 25 0R

No quarter given...

...none asked for. Honda gets its CBR250R astonishingly right!

Words Shubhabrata Marmar Photography Gaurav S Thombre

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iding into the sunset seems like the perfect ending for practically all motorcycle stories but not this time. If I am out on the highway, the sunset comes laden with fear and apprehension for me - Indian highways at night are not my cup of tea. Today is one of those days. I am roughly 140km from Mumbai and I have a little over 40 minutes to get back to the safety of the city. Can the Honda CBR250R get me there in time to allow the bile I can taste at the back of my throat subside?

The highway itself is well surfaced but not always smooth, four-lane for the most part, usually has traffic in clumps with big gaps between platoons. Passing another slow-moving platoon, I turn up the wick. Which on the CBR is a pleasure. The 249cc, DOHC, fourvalve single with its PGM-FI fuel injection is an eager beaver. Not in the R15 league of revhappiness but most certainly knocking on that door. The engine makes appreciable power all the way from 4000 to 7000rpm with a Honda-typical smoothness. It is a huge sweet spot to be playing in and past that lies still more power, more sound from the engine, all the way to 10,000rpm. The final 500rpm are there in case you need them, but for progress shifting up between 9500 and 10,000rpm seems to work rather well.

In response to my rolling on the throttle all the way to the stop, the motorcycle surges forward with all the fury the single-cylinder engine can call up. A steady, smooth 110kmph cruise turns easily into a 130kmph buzz. And there is more to come - top speed in testing is an indicated 151kmph, which turns out to be 146.82kmph on the VBox. Then I tuck in under the capacious fairing’s screen. I have read that past 120kmph aerodynamics matter but I have not seen such an eloquent demo before. Tuck in and before you can blink, the speed rises without additional throttle effort from 130 to 141kmph.

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This, by current Indian standards is a proper performance motorcycle. It is only a second or so slower than the Ninja 250R to 100kmph and gives away a considerable 20kmph in top speed - but on our roads, that’s bench racing ammunition at best. The CBR is also a whopping four seconds quicker than the R15 to 100kmph, just to put it into perspective.

Then again, this engine has the same bore, stroke and displacement as one of the Fireblade’s four cylinders, but a much lower compression ratio, obviously. It was developed in Japan, India and Thailand and is designed to fit the riding needs of our countries as well as the US where it competes head to head with the Kawasaki Ninja. Honda racked up no less than 27 patents in the process and the engine employs all of Honda’s usual bits to great effect, from the friction cutting offset crank (which straightens the conrod on the power stroke to minimise power lost to friction) to mass centralisation. Which is why you can thrash it mercilessly and not have the engine cry uncle. However, ridden like this, economy can drop to the low 20s, despite the acceptable 26.7kmpl showing in our city test and the 35.2kmpl on the highway.

Of course, chin on the tank riding is purely optional, it is a Honda after all. Over the month of riding, I discovered that the CBR is quite handy in traffic, as long as you don’t let the revs drop below 3000, at which point the engine is distinctly uncomfortable and it actually stutters out its disgust below 2500rpm. But keep the revs past 3000 and without aggressive throttle inputs, without excessive gear changes, you can masterfully ride a thick wave of torque and leave everyone around far, far, behind. In feel, the Karizma does the same sort of torque-surfing as well, but in note, the Karizma sounds wheezier while the CBR is a surprisingly loud motorcycle with a clear voice. The gear ratios fit the power delivery like they were made from spandex and the shift quality is as slick and positive as a Deepak Chopra lecture.

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OD Rating Price ` 1,77,000 ex-showroom Mumbai (ABS)

+ Engine performance + Ride quality + Handling have been sportier - Could filler cap is sans hinge - Fuel - No power under 3000rpm

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T r ac k T e st

Pulsar 220

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K ar iz m a ZMR

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CBR250R

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N i n ja 2 5 0 R

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RTR 1 8 0

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YZ F- R1 5

Apex predators

India’s top six enthusiasts’ motorcycles battle it out on the merciless Coimbatore racetrack

Words Shubhabrata Marmar Photography Gaurav S Thombre

The testers Shubhabrata Marmar has been road testing for a decade but is rapidly making up time lost not being at the racetrack. His lap times are getting quick and there is more speed to come. He represents the rider who has done a few track days, is gaining in skill and confidence but still some way from matching someone like Anand on track.

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Anand Dharmaraj used to be a club racer in the US before chucking a perfectly good software career to become a full time motorcyclist.

Indimotard’s lanky boss’ easy going manner belies his incredible speed and smoothness in the saddle.

Anand is a pro-level rider, whose trap speeds, corner speed and lap times are our reference for this test.

Rishaad Mody is a naturally fast rider whose raw speed is matched only by his inexperience. This is Rishaad’s first time at the track and he represents the largest chunk of Indian enthusiasts - talented but new to the track, and to the art of riding motorcycles fast. His sense of traction, confidence and speed will naturally differ from the others.

The test Lap times alone tell eloquent tales but our track test is different. We have the times for three levels of riders as well their feel of the motorcycle and as you will see their feel is not always matched by their lap times, and sometimes between themselves, they don’t even agree.

What we are looking for is a motorcycle that will keep you interested and learning at the racetrack, without busting your bank. The winner of this test will be a motorcycle that feels great around the track, has the power and handling to allow you to grow your skill, doesn’t cost the Earth and is comfortable to ride outside the track environment if possible, in that order of importance.

The bikes We picked the top six motorcycles in terms of enthusiast appeal for this test. The Yamaha YZF-R15 may make a big impression but it is the smallest displacement motorcycle here. Its reputation at the track

is solid gold. Next up is the TVS Apache RTR180, physically the smallest bike here and TVS bikes have traditionally always been trackfriendly. The Pulsar and the Karizma are the two 220s. Both are big draws for the enthusiast and great on the road and the highway. Can they hack the track? The two juiciest motorcycles, of course, are the box-fresh Honda CBR250R and the Kawasaki Ninja 250R, both top the charts in price, power and desirability.

The venue Coimbatore is a good track for these smaller motorcycles because of its combination of slow chicanes, high speed sweepers and short and long straights. It’s harder to get a good lap at the smaller of India’s two racetracks because the track doesn’t flow like the one near Chennai.

It is also old tarmac and the bumpier surface also forces the suspension to work harder, all the better to work out how these bikes do on the ultimate test of all-round performance.

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B MW 650i

Wind surfer

The new BMW 6 Series invokes the joys of open-top motoring Words Martin V Alva Photography Gaurav S Thombre

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en And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance is a fantastic novel. This Robert M Pirsig masterpiece is the reason why, like many others, I have embraced motorcycling as a way of life. For those who’ve read the book the reasons are obvious - among other things the author says cars are a cage that move your body while failing to move your soul. He says looking out of a car is like watching the scenery go by on television. That cars fail to invoke the sense of freedom and the oneness with nature’s elements as you drive along.

I agreed completely, until now. Until I stepped into this beast of a car, which has rewritten every feeling, every emotion, everything I had in my head about cars.

Pirsig, evidently, never experienced the thrill of belting

Photographs don’t do justice to the 650i especially when it’s pegged next to these stunning natural beauties

Location Digvijay Horse Riding Academy, Pune Model Sneha Akware Styling Mangesh & Shruti Make-up & hair Vrunda Moray

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round twisties in a convertible. Had he, he’d never have bothered with the book at all. I could ramble forever about the joy of driving a convertible but it’s something best experienced first hand. I feel the rush of the wind in your hair as the speedo swings east and determinedly inches south. The noise, the wind, the whole experience is something that, even in our business, is a rarity.

Coincidentally, the last time I drove a convertible was the outgoing 6 Series so it’s a sweet homecoming for me.

There is no better way to experience the cutting edge that European car makers operate at than by sampling their flagship GT cars. This is where they apply all their engineering nous to ensure the flagship reflects the ethos of the brand.

So let’s start with the basics. The platform is the high-

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1035

OD Rating Price ` 95,000,000 ex-showroom Mumbai

+ Looks + Performance + Comfort - Value - Practicality - Rear space

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audi a7 3.0td i Qu a t t ro

Da Bang!

The Audi A7 is the new king of cool

Words Bertrand D’souza Photography Gaurav S Thombre

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onsumerism has ensured we can now buy ten types of curd, twenty types of cereal, thirty kinds of hot beverages and nearly fifty kinds of cookies at your local grocers. If you drove into a supermarket the choices will swamp you until you’re a mental mess of selection.

That sort of mental calisthenics extends to the automotive market as well. Maruti began the trend by offering a different car for

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just 25K rupee increments. Then Tata Motors followed suit and so did Hyundai and before you knew it at similar price points you have more than half a dozen choices. Now the bug has caught the luxury car manufacturers. So Porsche, BMW and Mercedes sell everything they make globally in every variant available at a dealer near you. And joining this bandwagon for a merry old jamboree is Audi which has finally sensed that a pot of gold exists at the end of this multi-coloured rain-

bow. So within a span of just three months it has brought us the new A8 and the R8 V10 Spyder and now we have the A7 Sportback, Audi’s spanking new take on the grand tourer theme and the RS5, a hyper coupe to blow away all else. In the next few months there are a couple more cars expected, but what’s interesting to note is that Audi seems to have done a complete volte face on its philosophies though it isn’t expressing it very transparently.

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OD Rating Price ` 64,00,000 ex-showroom Delhi

+ Stylish fastback coupe + Luxurious interiors + Very fast diesel - Very thirsty diesel

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M e rc ed es - Be nz R 350 4 m at i c

Big boy Does the Mercedes-Benz R350 4Matic have as massive an appeal as its size?

Words Bertrand D’souza Photography Gaurav S Thombre

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am. Other than the milkman and the newspaper boy there are very few souls awake this early in the day. The few who believe their days must start at this unearthly hour are busy pounding the pavement. As for me, I’m trying hard not to run over these few early morning stragglers.Don’t blame it on me, I may still be getting out of slumber but the behemoth I’m driving is so huge it easily scares the morning walkers into sticking to the extreme edges of the road.

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That the Mercedes-Benz R350 4Matic is one massive vehicle is a given. However at 4.9 metres long and 1.9 metres wide it is just a bit shorter than the Q7 and even the GL class.

But the impact of its bulk comes from its low stance and chunky proportions. It sits tremendously low to the ground, just 147mm above it in fact. The doors are so huge two people could walk in together through the same opening. The roof is yet another massive expanse of metal which the IPL has just identified it as a forthcoming 20/20 venue

and that front face looks like it could swallow the whole of China without emitting a burp!

So where exactly does a vehicle like the RClass position itself? In the Indian market that position isn’t very clear but then even globally the R-Class finds itself in a bit of a lonely place. The R-Class was conceived as a MPV (multi-purpose vehicle), sold as a sports cruiser first and then toned down in market speak to a family tourer. It’s a cross between a station wagon, a minivan and in very small doses an SUV. A majority of its sales came

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1037

OD Rating Price ` 59.38 lakh ex-showroom Mumbai

Seven seats work + comfortably Sport mode sharpens + handling is cumber - Size some in the city - Transmission is iffy

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Brave Men Wanted Riding the world’s most powerful sportsbike requires courage.

Meet the BMW S1000RR Words Shubhabrata Marmar Photography Martin V Alva

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ometimes things that work right feel wrong. It isn’t until you see the results that you realise this fully. The styling of the BMW S1000RR is not one of those things. While we are taught from the moment we become coherent that we must not make fun of the disabled, the fat or the cock-eyed, the BMW is hard to resist. In time, we have come to accept this Bavarian mock-

ing of our natural propensity for anthropomorphising as normal. No one, for instance, considers the R1200GS odd, though it was once memorably described as possessed of the visage of a startled duck.

But mismatched eyes on the S1000RR are hard to get past. This isn’t some rare, sacred Abyssinian cat, it is, very much a startled duck. And then BMW Motorrad decided to make a virtue of it by continuing the asym-

metry down to the fairing plastic. The right side has this lovely shark gill-like strakes. The other side, it appears wasn’t spotted by the designers until two days before the launch so someone thought a nearly undesigned hole would do the business.

They don’t. Even owners don’t get it.

Cyres Mehta, the owner of this motorcycle is probably better qualified than most of us in this matter since he is by profession an eye

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F e at u r e

Cast ro l E d g e Nür burg r i n g Ex p e r i ence

Ring of the lords Our man (finally) gets to drive the Nordschliefe Words Shubhabrata Marmar

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t the speed I am travelling, the Flugplatz is childs play.

A long, not-entirely-straight leads up to the crest. Which isn’t even a sharp crease.

More like a gentle fold. My BMW X5, its 4.4litre V8 gurgling happily along, barely unloads the suspension as it begins the downhill rush into the approaching right hand corner. The radio crackles to life.

Jorg, BMW driver training instructor and race driver, is ahead in the M3. As he slices the car into the right hander, he starts talking. “This is most famous Flugplatz. First a small crest that you take at 250kmph in a race car that leads into a sharp left hander. This is interesting turn because there is a jump in the middle of it. And then you brake and turn right.” What he leaves unsaid is frighteningly eloquent. He doesn’t mention that the length of the preceding straight means you’re airborne at 200kmph or more depending on which car (or bike) you’re in (or on). At that speed, a second airborne is an alarming distance covered, a distance in which you can do

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nothing but wait for gravity to kick in and help. Gravity isn’t something you accuse of being indolent - especially if your parachute refuses to open mid-skydive - but the ‘Ring is so fast, it makes gravity look slow. Jorg omits the mention of the fact that the distance from landing area to apex is short. And that it compresses further at speed. He’s trying to ease us in to the ‘Ring and he most certainly will not point out the fact that the armco that lines the Nordschliefe is never more than a few feet away from you. And that the armco is alive and it’s hungry. It stares into your very soul and dares you to tease the finite limits of traction. Today, I will go nowhere close to the traction control button. Today, I will allow the ‘Ring to sink in. I will live to fight another day, as it were.

The Flugplatz, just so you know, is one of 78 corners that make up the 22-odd kilometres of the racetrack that every one now calls the Green Hell thanks to Jackie Stewart’s memorable reference to the tortuous nature of the ‘Ring and the formidable forests that line the track. Each corner is marked with a

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JC B

Monster tracks A tete a tete with a vehicle with tracks instead of wheels Words & photography Martin Alva

CB has come to be the generic term to denote excavators and other construction equipment around the world and especially in India. It’s like entering a store and asking for a xerox copy not a photocopy which is the correct terminology. Any construction machine in yellow or actually any other colour is called a JCB, even if Hyundai or L&T is boldly printed on the sides. This is the all pervading impact this company has had on the construction industry around the world.

So what are we doing in one? Satisfying our curiosity. Isn’t that enough for apetrolhead?

And so I wrangled the rare opportunity of visiting a JCB factory and having a go in one of its excavators at a training ground and needless to say, I kicked dirt!

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The imposing factory at Chakan is quite in keeping with the mammoth machines made here and the huge scale of operations.

Its global leader status was all evident the moment I entered the lobby of the training centre. Almost every wall is adorned with photographs from the firm’s archives, documenting its milestone achievements and rich history. But history was never my strong suit and being in control of a gargantuan excavator had my toes tingling. Nevertheless the JCB story is an interesting one. After all today these are some of the largest, most complex and intricate pieces of machinery on the planet. How did they get there?

It all began in 1945 in a humble 12 feet x 15 feet shed in Straffordshire, England where Joseph Cyril Bamford (JCB!) made his first

vehicle, a tipping trailer from World War II surplus materials left over by the British armed forces. He sold his first trailer for a healthy profit and soon began work on another trailer and within no time he had procured a old cheese factory in Rochester which he then converted into his workshop and had six people working at the workshop by 1950. In 1953, the first yellow backhoe loader rolled out of the Rochester factory and since then there has been no looking back for the company which would go on to become one of the biggest construction machinery manufacturers in the world. JCB started operations in India in 1976 in collaboration with Escorts and in 2003 it became a hundred per cent subsidy of JCB Excavators Limited.

But enough backtracking and let’s track a

JCB has three manufacturing plants in India, two in Pune and the one in Ballabgarh is the world’s largest backhoe manufacturing plant

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