Features Mantra

Car companies are perpetually finding ways to keep their cars in the limelight and therefore work towards increased sales figures. In utopia that might work, but with customers getting smarter this procedure can result in some flack.

Take for example the latest deal from Honda Siel. The company has launched an enhanced Civic for the market. What are the enhancements one might ask. Well, the enhnacements are steering mounted cruise control switches and turn indicators on the OVRMs! The higher end car gets a reverse sensor to aid in backing up the sedan.

Earlier, Honda had done the same with the Accord, by introducing a sun roof and lights in the footwell. The Jazz too has recieved some mild treatment in the last couple months.

So the changes have been made and they are mostly minor jobs that really don't tickle the senses. Customer feedback might mention that such features are great and everything, however the true requirement would come in proper model upgrades.

I personally feel that these changes are too small and customers won't really come rushing in to buy cars just because of these features. No doubt, they are all great features, but what I am getting at is the fact that on paper customers would like to see something a little more substantial. Small changes are good, but if you want to sell cars, the change ought to be substantial. Just by introducing a new color or 1-2 features in a car does not do enough to titilate the senses.

Though midlife changes are good, I would personally prefer that manufacturers consider customer feedback and then introduce the changes at an appropriate time when they can carry out more than just 1-2 features. Further to this, timing is also necessary. If the changes have to be restricted to 1-2 features, manufacturers should wait till either the festive season or the begining of a new year to bring in these mods. In that way, the package will look more complete to the customer and should yeild better results.

Hopefully we will see more elaborate changes in the future, and if not, then at least the changes will be better timed.

Maruti Suzuki Sets World Record!

I've always been a fan of the Guiness Book of World Records. Surely, it takes some amount of talent and endless amounts of patience to perform and win one of these covetted awards. Having said that, I never thought that I would be witness to an actual record being set, however that was set to change on the 30th of May 2010.

Maruti Suzuki India Limited managed to set a record of their own on the morning of May 30th. Yeah, temperatures were soaring, but that didn't stop the tons of Suzuki Swift owners from showing up to be a part of this record.

The agenda was to gather more than 250 Maruti Suzuki Swifts at a single location, making it the largest gathering of a single make and model ever! Now, Maruti, not being the ones to take chances, organized gatherings of Swift owners in Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi. The final stand was over 610 cars in Chennai, with around 400 in Mumbai and 340 in Delhi! That's right, the record was broken thrice over in a matter of hours!

It might not sound like much, however it surely was a sight to see. I was just happy to bear witness to this feat, and is sure was a way to celebrate 5 years of the Swift in India.

Rally School

Drifting, heel-toeing, left foot braking and displaying an unnatural level of vehicle control are skills that I aspire to have, and what better place to get started on these than a Rally School!

Nothern Motorsports recently held a day long rally driving program recently. The day was set to be action packed and the small group of 15 odd learners were set to get lessons from none other than Gaurav Gill, driver of Team Sidwin India-WRC, himself!

For me, this was a double whammy and I didn't hesitate one bit in waking up early to be the first to arrive at the grounds where we would be learning how to control a car that literally looks as though it is out of control.

The day was divided up into two sessions, the theoretical and the practical. Gaurav explained various technics that we would have to use on the 1 km tarmac track laid out for us. One of the most important lessons for the day was to understand the track and determine the racing line. This very objective is what racing in any sport is all about, and it makes all the difference in a tight situation.

Once done with the classroom work, we headed out towards the track and did a walk around. Even the best of drivers do a walk around in order to get better knowledge about the track, familiarize themselves with the terrain and also mind map the layout of the track. This helps in their judgement while driving, and is an amazing tool to use when applicable.

Finally, the time to get in the cars had dawned upon us. With Gaurav in the passenger seat ( a pleasant change for him as well), each of us individually set out to do a timed lap of the track. This timing would later be used to evaluate our improvement, for the rest of the day involved practicing various technics, and learning how to push the vehicles to the limit without loosing control. My timing was 53.75 seconds on my first run, possibly the slowest in the group, but I didn't loose my cool.

The rest of the afternoon, I spend behind the wheel to learn the art of mastering vehicle control around sharp corners, doing a calculated drift, and speeding through a slalom section. These three elements would greatly benefit my timing, and once I was feeling a bit confident, I was sure to show a significant improvement in my final lap timing.

Gaurav, meanwhile set a lap speed record of 42 seconds. This was sort of a ballpark figure of what we had to try and achieve, considering his rally pedigree. Post which he took each of us for an individual run with him driving, so that we could see and understand just what he did on the course to tackle the various obstacles.

With the training done, and the day's lessons coming to an end, it was now judgement time. So, helmet on, I proceeded to the SX4, buckled myself in, made sure I was in the right sitting position and took off to tackle the track. I refrained from being too aggresive, and played it cool. I tried to achieve as much as Gaurav had taught me throughout the course of the day and I made my way around the track in what to me felt like eternity, but the lap time told a different story. I had managed to do the course in 46 seconds! Just 4 seconds off from Gaurav's time! I was overjoyed, and couldn't help thinking that if a single day's session could improve my driving by 8 seconds, what would a routine practice do?

Having started my journey towards becoming a rally driver, I was given the most important lesson at the end of the day, when Gaurav told me that no matter how much he teaches me, it is up to me to put it into practice. Find ways to teach myself, now that the basic 'theoretical' knowlegde is in place and that is just what I intend on doing.

I also hope that the Rally School becomes a monthly initiative instead of just being an annual event, for that would not only help me hone my skills, but would also help build the interest of any budding rallist who wishes to really learn the tricks of the trade.