Perfect '10

FRONT OF THE BOOK
Lots of news is good news

The PAL Zigma has been voted as the UV Of The Year 2010 in Burkina Faso. The Sigma, which is manufactured in Pune, has done well for itself in various countries in the African continent, mainly due to its ability to run on any fuel and handle any terrain. And passengers, goods, and livestock.

The first ever Hong Qi in India has been delivered to pan masala baron Rajnikant Lal Daantsaday. His customised Hong Qi - a Chinese take-off on the Rolls-Royce Phantom - is a hyper luxury car that boasts self-cleaning spittoons, a puja section and a hotline to Dubai.

"I am so happy with this new car that I have ordered another customised Hong Qi for my wife, which will have an LPG stove, a chimney and bespoke utensils too," said a visibly pleased Daantsaday.

In international news, Toyota has increased its lead over General Motors by picking up Mazda from Ford. The world's biggest carmaker had purchased Subaru from GM in 2005, Seat from Volkswagen in 2007 and Smart from DaimlerChrysler in 2009.

Rumours are that Toyota is planning a diversification into real estate. A purchase of the contentious Kurile islands from Russia and Hawaii from the US is not ruled out.

Fiat's loveable Cinquecento, the car that aped the venerable Nuova 500 from 1957, has finally brought the Italian car maker back from the brink. The massive success of the Cinquecento all across the world, and especially in Asian countries like India, China, Pakistan, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, has helped Fiat make profits after decades.

The 21st century 500 is a full four-seater (3+1) with a turbocharged 82 bhp 449cc two-cylinder engine and is touted as the world's urban car.

Audi has proved that there can be performance diesels, and how! Audi's R10 Le Mans racer has picked up its fifth title in succession. The R10, powered by a 650 bhp-plus/113 kgm 5500cc 12-cylinder biturbo motor, made its Le Mans debut in 2006 and made Audi the world's first manufacturer to win with diesel power.

With the R10, Audi repeated the earlier success of the petrol R8, which also won five times at Le Mans. What next, Audi? The R12 Fuel Cell?

COVER STORY
We put the Hindustan Motors Ambassador Grand Hybrid Mark XIV to the test

Impossible as it may sound, it's actually true. Yes, Hindustan Motors has launched yet another version of the good ol' Amby. Okay, so the car still looks like it did half a century ago, but look carefully and you'd notice the Hybrid tag on the boot.

The car is slightly heavier than before and it's not just all that badging that's adding to the weight. You see, the huge boot has finally been put to some good use because it houses the hybrid system in it. The Amby comes with a 100 watt electric motor that works with its 2000cc petrol engine.

The rear-wheel drive layout has been retained which means it will still be great fun around corners. The rear seat, even today, rivals the best in its class.

No wonder then that the politicos who have matured with this car never showed any signs of letting it go. Well, as long as they order it with the optional 10 gasbag package, we think it's not a bad choice.

TRACK DAY Exclusive! Inaugurating the Khopoli Race Track in style

After all those years of whining for a world-class Formula 1 track, our prayers have finally been answered. With 6 km of the finest tarmac this side of the Atlantic at our disposal for the next 12 hours, this was going to be a field day. With the responsibility of laying down some traction on the ultra fresh tarmac at the Maharashtra Speedway, three weeks before the Khopoli Grand Prix, we turned up with the best equipment available in the country. There was so much power on offer that day that we could have powered Romania for ever.

The weapons of destruction that day ranged from the five-year old, but still God-fearingly fast, Bugatti Veyron to the brilliant made-in-India Mitsubishi Evo XV.

Then there was the Ferrari 590 (the 430's grandson), and of course, how could we not bring a Lambo to the party. And we didn't opt for some pansy V8 either. The folks at Volkswagen sent us the most powerful Lamborghini ever "" the 700 bhp, V12 all-new Miura.

The ubiquitous Porsche 911 Turbo was there too, as was the stock 600 bhp Nissan Skyline GT-R. But even that wasn't enough to shake off what we had in the form of competition.

You see, our good friend Mr Todt had agreed to send us the two-year old Ferrari Formula 1 championship contender from his personal collection. Sure, it was a hard day's work, but with so much steam-roller rubber on offer, we ensured that we did our job to perfection.

And as we packed our bags at the end of the day, Business Standard went on to report that the price of oil had indeed reached never-before highs. We wonder why.

HEAD TO HEAD
The hundred thousand question. The battle of the basement bargains begins

Tata's Indi might have caused a sensation when it debuted three years ago for being the cheapest car on the planet then, but Maruti might have just thrown a spanner in the works by launching its own budget automobile, the cut-price 800. Those of you old enough might remember the 800 that was launched in 1983 put India on wheels. By the sheer virtue of it being in production for so long, MUL have now managed to get the sticker price down to just Rs 6,973 more than Tata's famed one-lakh car.

However, the cars themselves couldn't be more different. While one is completely indigenously built and runs on a rear-engined, 600cc CVT motor, the other still retains the trusted 796cc three-cylinder petrol engine and has now become the ultimate rep mobile.

EXTREME TEST
One Lap of India in Porsche's first GT

It's been a couple of years since India got its spanking new road network. And on the other hand, Porsche has just launched its first grand tourer. Sure, it's been a busy month, but we just had to put the two together.

And so it was that we set off on the One Lap of India with the M5-haunting Porsche Panamera feeling at home on some of the best national highways we have ever seen till date.

We had done this journey almost seven years ago in a Mahindra Scorpio, but both the road and the car are constantly reminding us of our nation's glorious progress.

Unfortunately, it also means that speed cameras have cropped up on every stretch of road and so the 400 bhp four-wheel drive V8 has to be tightly reined. Wonder if we were happier then. Naah. We'll take a restricted Porsche any day. Find out more in the next issue.

SHORT SHIFT
The Hero Honda CD200Fi ends the run for carburettors in the Indian market

Hero Honda's venerable CD100 finally ended its 35-year run at the box office. The company unveiled the new CD200Fi at a glittering ceremony yesterday. The big news is that the horizontal single cylinder is joined by a clone of itself, this one standing vertical.

And both the cylinders "" yes, it's a 90° L-Twin, just like a Ducati "" are fed by a sequential fuel injection system bristling with a 512-bit microprocessor.

A quick ride on the bike shows that while performance isn't that much greater than the CD100, the new traction control system allows greater corner speeds irrespective of road surface conditions. With this ground breaking new fuel injection system, Hero Honda have finally eliminated the fuel gauge from the CD, a goal they set themselves in 2006.

The new bike, with its 17-litre tank, electric motor assistance and a mind-boggling 232 km per litre (under standard test conditions) means it will run for a year on the median use cycle without needed a refill.

Hero Honda says the company will top up the bike at service time for a small additional charge plus fuel expenses and claims that no CD200 owner will ever need to visit a fuel station.

In the face of the soaring sales of leisure class high-performance tackle, Hero Honda hopes to re-ignite commuter sales with what is at first glance, the commuter to own.

HEAD TO HEAD
Forget the Japanese and Koreans, check out the best of the Indian 750cc inline-fours

For BSM's enriched Plutonium anniversary issue (125th), we decided to put together India's growing breed of superb inline-four 750cc street sports machines.

The morning dawned with the Bajaj CT750, TVS' Star 750R, the LML Super 750 and Kinetic's Target gleaming under the morning sun, waiting for us to boot-up the injection systems. As the auto-warm-up functions ripped the morning air with ever harder blips, we knew we were in for something special.

The boys (will always be boys) had just laid fresh rubber at Khopoli with the Veyron, Evo XV, 590, the Lambo and what else, and we were about to reap the benefits. Of the four, the Target is easily the most focused of machines, while the LML's turn of speed is still unrivalled.

The Bajaj and the TVS make up a stonking mid-segment pair of the mid-sportbike category. As we heard the chatter of the engine as the traction control fought to temper our exuberance against cold tyres and morning dew, we knew the battle was truly on.

Our road tester, ex-MotoGP God, Sete Gibernau (no, he didn't bring Esther along) did the warm-up laps on all the four and then it was our turn...

ABSENT WITHOUT LEAVE
A flight of fancy to the ends of the Earth

Our itinerant travel writer has a very special destination in this issue, and that too in a very special vehicle. He takes off (literally!) in our just-arrived long term Honda Corporate Jet and heads to Tierra del Fuego, at the tip of the South American continent.

In this issue, he explores Ushuaia, the world's southernmost city. And we have something very special next month... Antarctica!