Ferrari ride

It is a bumper 426-page issue, a 10th anniversary special, filled with the glitz, glamor and glossy pictures of cars and bikes, as well as authentic auto news and views. "Back in 1999, I hadn’t realized the enormity of launching Autocar India. It was the first time in 104 years that Autocar was published outside the UK and we became custodians of the brand in India.... Autocar has unrivalled history. It is the world’s most authoritative and respected name in motoring journalism, having set so many industry firsts including the invention of the ‘road test’ more than 80 years ago,” writes auto expert Hormazd Sorabjee in his editorial in the special issue dated September 2009.

Included in a brief retrospective of the Top 10 stories the magazine "has enjoyed bringing to you over the years” is one entitled "In Schu’s shoes” when Sorabjee squeezed into a racing cockpit to become the "first Indian journo to drive a real F1 car.” "In November 2001, you could count the number of Indians who had driven a Formula One car on the fingers of one hand. In fact, you can still count the number of Indians who have driven a Formula One car on the fingers of one hand,” the magazine notes. So when Sorabjee found himself eight years ago at the Lucy Lervis circuit near Paris, behind the wheel of a Larrouse LH 94 Formula One car powered by a 700bph 3.5 litre Cosworth V8, "it was a lifetime’s dream come true, with eyes wide open.”

Sorabjee was supposed to drive a 1998 Benetton which Fisichella raced, but the previous day "an over-exuberant German had cracked the nose section, putting it out of action.” So the car he actually drove was a 1994 car "which came from a little French team” that competed from 1987 to 1994. "Despite having driven everything from rally cars to supercars, nothing could have prepared him for the sheer power and acceleration of this open-wheel single seater,” the magazine described.

Ratan Tata (Top) with his Ferrari California; Hormazd Sorabjee (below) in a 1994 Formula One car Photos courtesy: Autocar India

A more recent thrill which Sorabjee writes about in the 10th anniversary issue is the Sunday morning ride he had with Ratan Tata in a Ferrari California, probably the first in the country, which Tata has recently acquired! "The California looks absolutely stunning in ‘Rosso’ red (the color all Ferraris should be) and beige leather interiors...The two-piece folding hard-top retracts into the boot in 14 seconds and we are ready to go... the 4.3-litre V8 bursts into life. Even at idle, the burble from the four tailpipes sounds terrific,” Sorabjee describes. "It’s fairly silent below 3,000 rpm but when you accelerate there’s this fantastic roar. So even if people don’t see you, they hear you,” Tata told Sorabjee between bursts of acceleration down Marine Drive, as curious and thrilled motorists and bikers edged dangerously close, trying to capture the moment on their mobiles!

"More boulevard cruiser than boy racer, the new California lends itself to Tata’s genteel driving style. He drives with utmost care, avoiding potholes and crawling over speedbreakers,” writes Sorabjee. "When I took the car out of the airport, I scraped the underside several times. I couldn’t help it because the speedbreakers in the airport are so huge that howsoever slowly I went over them the underbody touched! The Ferrari engineers told me the California has underbody plates and is well protected, so I need not worry,” Tata told the Autocar India editor.

Tata spends most Sunday mornings behind the wheel of each of his cars, taking them out one after the other for a short spin around south Bombay. "Quite simply, Ratan Tata is crazy about cars. He can’t help it. Born a Parsi, the passion is deeply embedded in his DNA.... the pristine manner in which he maintains them explains why the term ‘Parsi owned’ fetches a premium. True to his clan, he is particularly possessive about his cars — no one other than himself can drive them...There’s nothing like the gorgeous lines of a Ferrari and the sound of a quad-cam V8 to wash away the worries of Corus or Jaguar Land Rover. What a great way to unwind!” Sorabjee concludes.