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Old 25th July 2007, 19:13   #1
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48 Hours! And how best to spend it than......

Hi all!
I'm very sorry this came up so late. Some where watching my signature for some time now. Here it comes!

Day: Saturday, 21 June 2007.
Location: Trivandrum.
Time: 10pm. (22:00 Hours)

There is a PS3 connected to a JBL 5.1 Home theatre system and a Sony projector. The PS3 is a great gaming machine and has some awessome graphics and it's wireless controllers are simply amazing. More about it can be found here.
This is the 2006 season and I am currently at different parts of the world driving with team Mclaren and Scuderia Ferrari switching between Massa and Raikkonen.
Yes, I hate Montoya and that elder Schumacher.

Note: All pictures are going to be crappy in this thread as I didn't have my cam with me. All pictures taken from a Nokia 6233 which has been abused more than my poor Alto. I am sorry and request all to please bear with it.


Sepang! And the green line you see on the circuit is an aid to help you keep you car on the racing line.


My cousin trying his hands on that great corner. Team-BHPians where very close to this corner when we went to Sepang this year.

Monaco! Just before you enter the tunnel. You can see some good sea cruisers lined up to see you drive past.


Coming into the pits. You have to completely control the pits too. The faster you are on pits can make wonders. As realistic as it gets. Right?


Again, I love this picturesque location. Also, notice the speed!

Suddenly my better half comes and stands in front of the projector blocking all the view of that great Monaco tunnel and I crash out in no time like what Schumacher did 2 years ago! And ofcourse, the crashing of an f1 car does sound great in the JBL satelite speakers and subwoofer with each bits of the car's body, suspension and tyres making it's presence felt in different booms and squeeks!
Then as satisfied as she was, my wife moves away from the projector letting me view the 'waiting for race completion screen' on the big huge wall in front of me.

Then the questions are raised of why this intollerable act and she reminds me of my trip to Cochin. Oh! I have no car to drive so long. And I am in no mood to drive any of them after driving the Mclaren MP4-21. But then of course it not avoidable and I have to say goodbye to my pit crew and manager for a 2 days off.
I get ready. My bags are packed and kept in the car. I have to just sit in the driver seat and push off! With widened eyes of excitement because this was going to be another good lonely drive in our newly purchased Swift VDI. It was there waiting in the porch.


Yes, it is again a crappy picture.

But then suddenly, my cousin also jumps in to to the passenger seat. I ask him where he is upto and he says they need the car for sunday and
they are going to drop me at the railway station and I should take the next train to Cochin. Huh! could this be more humiliating?? I try my best! Squealing, shouting, crying, threatening. But nothing seems to work.
I am dropped off at the Railway station to take care of my own problems and phew! It seemed like I am going to have a hard day ahead.

Day: Saturday, 21 June 2007.
Location: Trivandrum Central Railway Station.
Time: 11:30pm. (23:30 Hours)

The train arrives. I am given a berth in a comfortable compartment which has a working AC and my personal reading light. Thanks to the extra Mahatma gandhi printed stuff.
Now, I am moving in one of the biggest pieces of automotive thingys and slowly falling to sleep while browsing team-bhp!

Day: Sunday, 22 June 2007.
Location: Ernakulam Town Railway station.
Time: 4:30am. (04:30 Hours)

I am trying to get into one of the smallest pieces of automotive thingys invented especially for our country. Yes, you all guessed it right. AutoRickshaw. The driver is asking some extronormous (I made up that word) amount and I am forced to before the raindrops get me. I try hard to sit in the half wet seats of the thingy and it phuts phuts away into the pothole filled, rain water drenched and garbage filled roads of Ernakulam/Cochin.
As the roads are empty in this wee hours, the moron who is controlling the thingy is trying to imitate an AutoCross driver driving at max speeds and avoiding potholes. It was amazing to see that he remembered every newly formed pothole which was not there just a week ago.

Day: Sunday, 22 June 2007.
Location: Home.
Time: 4:36am. (04:36 Hours)

I reach home. Open it and go inside. Nothing exciting. I see the PC is switched on. So, decided to spend some time on team-bhp before I start my day in another 2 hours.

Day: Sunday, 22 June 2007.
Location: Home.
Time: 6:30am. (06:30 Hours)

Innova arrives with a driver from my parents' house. I take the keys and it feels great and all the Mp4-21 and Monza is forgotten by now. I start driving. And there is still some rain and I carefully drive towards my destination.

Day: Sunday, 22 June 2007.
Location: Ernakulam Airport.
Time: 7:30am. (07:30 Hours)

The guest arrives. we drive towards the nearest comfortable hotel where he can get ready for the wedding and I can have something called breakfast! And now, the excitement begins.
Our guest has called up his personal car for the journey ahead. And it is a white S320 CDI. I can see it parked in front of the hotel as I drive in.

But there was something more!

Another one! So, 2 brand new S320 CDIs! That too of a close relative.

I already knew the day is going to be exciting. My veins were pumping some extra blood all over my body and my heart beats were hardly catching up to it.

Hmmmm..... So let it linger!
Time for a break. I will be back soon! Don't go away.... More excitement is on your way!

Last edited by speedzak : 25th July 2007 at 19:17.
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Old 25th July 2007, 19:14   #2
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Zak - change title to how BEST. Nest is the place that Artofzen works at.
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Old 25th July 2007, 20:08   #3
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Break?

Man! This is just like watching malayalam movies. Some good moment comes and suddenly 'interval'!

Hey, bought the Swift from hercules? Xinome said popular somewhere on the forum.
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Old 25th July 2007, 20:14   #4
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Nash works in a Ghonsla? Must be a big tree

Nice report Zakariya Singh, keep us posted with the remaining parts!!
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Old 25th July 2007, 20:30   #5
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keep it coming zak...eagerly waiting for the rest of it...cant guess where all this is taking us though.
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Old 25th July 2007, 20:33   #6
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Certainly seems exciting. Btw, if you come to Chennai on the 4th & 5th I will let you drive the Mp4-5107 on track. And then you can right another experience like this. One which I would certainly cherish reading. So whats it going to be? In or out?
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Old 25th July 2007, 20:55   #7
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Speedy can't wait any longer man.. Hurry up .
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Old 25th July 2007, 21:47   #8
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48 Hours....... Part II

Thanks for your patience guys!

Day: Sunday, 22 June 2007.
Location: Abad Airport Hotel.
Time: 8:00am. (8:00 Hours)

So, the day had begun with a lot of mindblowing calculations already happening in my mind. I was now cursing myself for the absence of my cam. Imagine 2 S320 CDIs standing in one place. And both of them owned by people known to you and caretakers A.K.A drivers of these beauties ready to obey anyhting you say. I couldn't hold myself more.

But had to. Because both the S men wanted to have breakfast and I had to join them. A very nice Breakfast and I kept myself cool outside while it was burning hot inside. I was getting a bit horny (in a Motoring way of thinking purely) just glancing at those bulky beauties. Normally I like slim beauties, but this was something different.
10 minutes into the breakfast and I started enjoying it. The Pineapple Juice was nothing much commendable. But the sausages and baked potatoes were awwessome and I was now concentrating more on my stomach part of life.
Coffee tasted just okay and was nothing remarkable. And I called it enough. By then our guest and the other S man had long finished their breakfast and was back to their rooms to get ready for the journey.

Day: Sunday, 22 June 2007.
Location: Abad Airport Hotel.
Time: 9:45am. (09:45 Hours)

I came out again. Took a good look at the beauty again. Somehow, I liked this one more than the fairer S (white). Again this also doesn't happen to me in human variety of females.


It was again and again making me oogle at it.

I went to the driver asked him for the keys and unlocked it and sat inside. Hmmmm..... I knew, I won't have any good words to describe it. It wasn't any different from the fairer one. But this was used a bit more and had about 3k kms on odo. Checked out the car for a while. But didn't bother to switch on and hear the motor because had experienced it some time ago and I didn't want to act like I am a crazy fellow in front of all the people who were staring at me and the car.
There were some people who were actually posing next to the car and taking photographs. I know all of them were jealous when I was checking it out like my own car. LOL!
By this time, the Fairer S was getting a wash nearby. It had a lot of mud on it because of the long drive it did on the previous night.

Yes, no matter what car it is, one cannot escape the slush and mud created by rains in God's own country. Special thanks to the potholed roads that cannot even stand one monsoon.


This is after the wash and 50kms! So, imagine how it should've been before that!

Day: Sunday, 22 June 2007.
Location: Abad Airport Hotel.
Time: 11:45am. (11:45 Hours)

Soon, everybody came down and we were ready to move.
I didn't wait for an invitation and just took the rear seat of the white S 320 CDI. The owner always sits in the front passenger seat. No matter what car he is in. He barely drives any of his cars.
The driver of this car takes good care of this car. I really liked the way he was washing the car and also taking care of each and every element of the car. But that also had a problematic face to it. He drives it tooooooo carefully. That means, even a small pothole in the vicinity and he brakes. he brakes to a point till the car has reached about 10-20km/h. And he also has the capability of sensing potholes from quiet a good distance. That means very few chances where the car could actually do some good speeds.

I was praying for some reason to kick the driver out of his driving seat. Meanwhile I managed to click some photos without anybody knowing. Yes, I cannot take pics when somebody is looking at me. Some here on the forum knows why.


He is young but his driving is very matured and slllllooooooooowwwww! Look at the speedo!

Then an idea stuck!
I asked my guest what is his plan for the evening? He said it was not yet confirmed. (according to the earlier plan, he was supposed to spend the coming night at my parents' place). He may want to stay at Trissur itself. Then I said, that is not fair. Being our guest you can't do that. He then said some very genuine reasons for doing so and I kept on nodding.
Then I slowly raised the issue of my vehicle being parked at the airport hotel (By this time we were about 40kms away from it). He said not a problem and told the driver to stop at the next town. We reached it in another few minutes and the driver was send back to the hotel to get my car.

WOWeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!
I was going to take over a brand new S class which had done only 1023kms on odo. And I got in to the driving seat. Our guest looked at me and gave me an all knowing smile which indicated that he understood my intention!
Then slowly, I closed the door and was all ready to set off!

Now, shall I quickly attend some more things other than typing this heavenly experience??
Sorry, but I am very hungry now. Will catch a bite and give some energy to my fingers to do some more good typing.
Till then, buckle up! And keep watching.

Last edited by speedzak : 25th July 2007 at 21:49.
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Old 25th July 2007, 23:04   #9
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More more more !!!
Don't be so mean and tease us like this.
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Old 25th July 2007, 23:09   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by speedzak View Post
WOWeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!
I was going to take over a brand new S class which had done only 1023kms on odo. And I got in to the driving seat. Our guest looked at me and gave me an all knowing smile which indicated that he understood my intention!
I remember your uncle's comment when we visited his house. He was like, if that car can be driven like that in these roads ( his roads) then its zak. I was almost hiding coz I expected scolding for driving up behind you that way. Phew.

Would suggest that you post the pix of the Turbo S with 22inchers too.
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Old 25th July 2007, 23:16   #11
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Zak!!!!! man you are such a tease.... this is NOT fair. and I know about your eating. Better make it fast and get back to business. After hearing the whole story, I still cannot wait to see it all here in writing with the pics. It all sounds like a dream come true to me....
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Old 26th July 2007, 00:03   #12
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Hmmm...

Whats jkdas talking about? Turbo S with 22 inchers? I hope thats a mistake! man, i'd like to see the pics...
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Old 26th July 2007, 00:05   #13
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Thats some eating you are doing wackko. Next time make sure you send me an invite too, not to check out the cars I mean. Its the food that I am after from now on.
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Old 26th July 2007, 00:12   #14
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48 Hours...... Part III

Ok. Stomach(s) full with a very good Soup, Fried rice and chicken. All flavoured with some nice Oyster sauce. Top it up with lots of mango juice and I am all set!

Day: Sunday, 22 June 2007.
Location: Chalakkudi??
Time: 12:15pm. (12:15 Hours)

So, guys!
I was beginning my motoring Niravana from there. I firmly push the accelerator without jerking myself. The car pushes off slowly. I cannot feel any type of vibrations on the steering or the accelerator.
There was a bit of clear roads in front of me as soon as I took over. And I kept my intentions clear. I pushed the accelerator as down as I could expecting a sudden throw of power and we all getting sucked into the seats. Hmmm... I waited and waited and waited..... Nothing of that sort. Yes, there was a small change in car's driving character, but nothing exciting. Then I look into the speedo and was to see it almost hitting 120kmh! Couldn't feel it at all. Then before I could expect, came the potholes and that too, some huge car breaking ones. And I switched my right feet onto the other pedal. Yes, BRAKE!!! I did brake very hard. I expected a very good shouting from our guest. Hmmmm..... Nothing. I also didn't feel the necessity of it as we hardly felt the brakes. This is exactly where the S makes all the difference.

You can accelerate how ever hard you want to. And then brake however hard you want to. But you feel very less of it inside. You have to look to the sides of the car to really feel any of the speed and the stopping power.

Then when it came to the potholes, I could feel each and evry one of it. The car will let you know that. It is butter smooth for sure but, that doesn't mean that you cannot feel any pothole out there. The suspension works better on smooth roads and small bumps, height variations etc... are not noticeable at all. But in potholes, this is not very different from the E class.

Day: Sunday, 22 June 2007.
Location: Casino Hotel, Trissur.
Time: 12:45pm. (12:45 Hours)

We reach Trissur. Our guest was supposed to address a conference there. He quickly go for it and I spend some more time enjoying myself with the different aspects of the car.

I will put up some photos taken while I was sitting in the rear seats.


Mirror with light for rear seat passengers.


Centre twin speakers for the rear passengers. Front has another set of these.


The rear door and it's controls.

As told earlier, the snaps are very very crappy shaky and good for nothing. Blame me and my very roughly used 6233. Sorry for that.

Soon, he was back and we were on the way to a wedding. There we had more exotics including an S500. Man! The excitement didn't end here.

I will be back tomorrow with it. Till then, Goodnight!
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Old 26th July 2007, 00:18   #15
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Oh man... the write up more than makes it up for the shaky pics. I guess will have to call it a day and get some sleep afterall.

BTW, since when did you start going to sleep in the night???
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