04 July 2006 - 12.20 pm

Just managed to reach office. Typical of Mumbaites I felt guilty staying at home second day on the trot and ventured out. My Thane- Mumbai commute normally takes one hour ten minutes maximum - today it was two hours. But the wrist watch cannot explain the anguish. Read the rest of this entry »

It is always nice to hear from a reader. And if the reader happens to be an aviation enthusiast who would like to contribute to Open Sky (the two month old BS magazine on aviation) then it is even nicer. Sanjeev Mehta saw the first issue in an airplane (where else) and wrote back to us saying that he wants to be part of the action. His job takes him to various parts of the world but it is the journeys and not the destinations that gives him a high. Today, he filed a route check for the August issue of Open Sky - a well written one on his Jet Airways flight to LHR (London to most of us) with great attention for detail . Here is a sample: Sector :BOM LHR BOM Flights : Jet Airways 9W 0118 / 9W 0117 on June 19 and June 26 respectively Aircraft : Airbus A340-300E ( VT-JWA / VT-JWC). In case you didn’t know, VT-JWC is the third A 340 that Jet Airways has acquired! And in case you want to know, seat number 3K is equidistant to toilets on either side of Club Premiere in the Jet A340.

And he wants to share 10,000 odd airline post cards with Open Sky. Better off asking him to write than trying to satisfy him with our writing, right?

Just back from thrashing a 911 Turbo around Dubai Autodrome for a day. No, I am not boasting here - Porsche is one car compnay that allows you to really drive their cars to the limit and even beyond. The walkie inside the car was buzzing all the time and the instructor for the day wanted us journos to push the car even more.Now pushing a 911 turbo that costs US$120,000 (close to Rs 1.2 crore when it arrives in India) is not an easy task. Then you have to fight with a 473 bhp, force-fed, boxer-six motor that sits behind the rear-axle. You see, the 911 lay-out is flawed to begin with but Porsche has made it the ultimate everyday super car by fine-tuning it over the last 30 odd years. The new 911 Turbo (997 Turbo for real enthusiasts) is blindingly quick - how about 0-100 kph in under four seconds? And 200 kph in under 12 seconds. The straight at Dubai Autodrome gave me a chance to floor the throttle and get the beast out of the Turbo - and the experience that followed will be cherished for a long, long time. And yes, I had my very own ‘tail out’ moment too. You see, Porsche has given the 911 Turbo four-wheel drive and along with the traction control system it is extremely difficult to unsettle the car. But I tried and when the tail decided to step out it was not akin to a cute tail-wag of a mermaid - instead think of an addicted blue-whale starved of coccaine and you get the picture. I was scared silly (that was the idea) but the massive opposite lock that corrected my line has left me with a nice, almost enjoyable, ache on my left arm. Reward for driving insane number of inane, mundane cars for a living. You bet!

Last week some of us travelled to Neemrana in Rajasthan for an editorial brainstorming session. As usual I ended up suggesting cars to my friends in Business Standard. Read the rest of this entry »

Met an airline start-up biggie (how can that be?) who says his model is as close to the successful ones in Europe and America as it can get. One aircraft type fleet, maximum seats, just buiscuits and water on board…he has got a point indeed. And he says the last thing he want to do is change the model. And according to him those who have already fiddled around with their model will perish. Pretty strong words, but somehow made sense. Want more? You got to wait for July issue of Open Sky.

What better note to start a blog than boasting that I test drove the world’s best motorcar? The Rolls-Royce Phantom came for a road test and we had to er…road test the car, right? So no pussyfooting with the near four crore behemoth then.

We drove it as hard and fast as we could, subjected it to some really terrible suburban and metro traffic and well, even subjected it to a performance evaluation track test (PET test to BSMotoring crowd). Was it fun? You bet. The three-tonne automobile shrinks around you as you drive and you can treat her the same way you treat a Maruti 800. Read the rest of this entry »

We are yet to drive the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S, but the 955 Turbo Gemballa is not a bad substitute at all.

Let me take you to a stud farm just outside Pune. It has got wide roads and I am driving a rather wild car. Calling it just another Porsche will be a crime.

Calling it just another Cayenne, even more so. Time to stand up and honour the emperor of the SUV world, the Porsche Cayenne Turbo Gemballa edition. Read the rest of this entry »