Tired of waving the Ferrari flag in front of the video screen at the local pub or generally being considered a Cacophonix at home every F1 Sunday?
Sport Abroad, SOTC's new business unit, offers a neat way to actually be there, at an F1 track, with tens of thousands of fans, listening to the unreal wail of an F1 engine at full tilt, and soaking in the amazing spectacle that is Formula One.
The Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix (Sepang, March 23rd, 2003) is Sport Abroad's inaugural travel product, among a host other sports travel offerings that include cricket, tennis, golf and football, aimed at the Corporate Incentive travel mart and individual Indian travellers.
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The four-day Malaysian Grand Prix offering is attractively priced (Base package: Rs 34,000, twin-sharing, ex-Mumbai,) and will include hotel acco, visa fees, airport taxes, all transfers, sight-seeing and, most importantly, the Grand Prix tickets. Sport Abroad is the official agent for the Malaysian Grand Prix and also has the flexibility to offer F1 enthusiasts circuit access for the practice session and qualifying laps.
And if being there at Sepang gets you well and truly hooked, sell that 21" television and start saving up for the rest of the F1 season - Sport Abroad will soon have holiday offers for the Italian, Spanish, British, French and European Grand Prix.
Phantom menace
Pound 320,000...That's 16 and six zeroes in rupees approximately. Now that kind of money gets you a new car that wears perhaps the most revered of automobile logos in the world. After about four-and-a-half years since BMW took over Rolls-Royce, we get their first, all-new car, the Phantom.
The designers are supposed to have found inspiration for this model from classic Rollers from the past like the '30s Phantom I and II, the '50s Silver Cloud and the '60s Silver Shadow. What actually inspired them is anyone's guess, as the new Rolls' front-end looks as if the Parthenon merged with a dam.
The Phantom has a lightweight aluminium space frame body, and the rear doors are hinged at the back to allow easy access. Nestling under the long hood is a 6750 CC V12 that develops 454 bhp and an awesome 72 kgm of torque at 3500 revs. In spite of its un-aerodynamic looks, the Phantom can touch 0 to 100 kph in 5.9 seconds and a top speed of 240 kph. So what will it be, the Maybach or the Phantom? Let's toss.
Totem pole
With 500 bhp on tap, the Dodge Viper's accelerator pedal is something most drivers would be scared of. So, think about the time when Dodge's CEO had to ride what is effectively a motorcycle powered by the 8300 CC V10 500 bhp lump on to the North American Auto Show stage.
The Dodge Tomahawk was supposed to reinforce the performance identity of Dodge and Viper and was the product of some 'extreme thinking'. Bah, lunacy is more like it. The two close-set wheel pairs at each end would probably get murdered within minutes and a top speed of 420 mph is strictly theoretical, and so's the standstill to 100 kph timing of 2.5 seconds.
Phew! For once, we are happy that the Dodge Tomahawk will not make it into production.