A leap for the best

 

What do you think is the best version of you? Your future self should be your superhero and so, here is an imagination of how I want my 2.0 version to be

 By Ganesh Murthy 1.0 (This article is a part of Digital Deepak Internship Program)

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Two years back if you told Ganesh that he would be a successful digital marketer, he would have laughed at your face. Because the old Ganesh had a different mindset. He was working in the core rubber industry and wanted to make it big in the automotive industry. In his next job though, he had to manage as well as write articles for an automotive website and the print version as well. Never at that point did he imagine that he would one day foray into the digital marketing space. He is an engineer who majored in rubber technology and his goal is to excel in the technical field he majored in. 

Image from Unsplash, pic by Clark Tibbs 

With focus and clarity of mind which reflects in his work, Ganesh has finely balanced between his day job in an automotive OEM in a technical position, his other interests in digital marketing, blogging and creating automotive content, and leading his family life. Writing had opened new avenues for him much before he knew it but it was a digital marketing internship that transformed him and put him on a path to success. After the four-month-long internship program, he has gained success in freelance digital marketing and affiliate blogging. He made more money in a month than he could imagine and that has only accelerated his interest in digital marketing. Moonlighting as a blogger and affiliate marketer, he has given a free rein to his alter ego and this has boosted his confidence in all areas of life. He is doing well in his day job as well, getting a couple of promotions and winning employee of the month on many occasions.

The 390 Adventure. All the bike you need?

The new Thar has evolved into a comfortable machine to take on and off road

He is passionate about cars and bikes and that shows in his choice of wheels – a KTM 390 Adventure, Mahindra Thar, and VW Polo – the trio signify adventurous traits. The above-mentioned machines are well equipped to handle any terrain and the choice of vehicles reflects his personality of adapting and taking on situations as they come. His wife too approves of his choice of wheels and there is nothing more smile-inducing than the love of your life being on the same page as you are when it comes to automobiles. 

Image from Unsplash, pic by Austin Distel

Ganesh has progressed well with digital marketing and has been doing great webinars to keep the new batch of interns on their toes and pushing them to overcome their hurdles on the way to their success. He has also done a couple of guest appearances for Deepak’s webinar to share his experiences and motivate budding digital marketers. For a guy who has never done any video blogging before joining ‘Digital Deepak Internship’, Ganesh has come a long way but he still has a lot of ground to cover and a lot of minds to ignite. 

The Volkswagen I.D. R is on a record-breaking spree

Should Volkswagen Motorsport consider renaming its all-electric racecar to “I.D. R. Nürburgring”?

Next only to the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo at Nürburgring-Nordschleife

6:05.336 minutes. That’s the time it took for the Volkswagen I.D. R to lap around the revered Nürburgring-Nordschleife circuit! Let’s take a moment for that to sink in. The Nürburgring-Nordschleife is one of the most difficult, if not, the most difficult track (according to the boffins in Volkswagen) on God’s Green Earth (it also has a nickname of Green Hell). The I.D.R holds the lap record for electric cars at Nurburgring. The all time record holder is still the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo.

The record

While everyone was wondering if the I.D. R could outrun the previous lap record, the I.D. R put all those doubts to rest today. The Volkswagen I.D. R - with Porsche’s Factory driver and winner of multiple 24 Hours of Le Mans - Romain Dumas at the helm, shattered the previous all-electric lap record held by NIO EP9 (6:45.90 minutes, with Peter Dumbreck behind the wheel in 2017) by a staggering 40.564 seconds! Peter raced the car at an average speed of 185kmph back then. The average speed of the I.D. R was 204.96kmph!

Romain Dumas, after setting the record

 “For me, this is the best and most difficult race track in the world. I want to thank the team at Volkswagen Motorsport, who have once again done a fantastic job. The ID.R was perfectly prepared for the Nordschleife and it was so much fun to experience the blistering acceleration and rapid cornering speeds.”

Changes to the I.D. R

Volkswagen Motorsport had made many tweaks to the aerodynamics of I.D. R after the record-setting climb at Pikes Peak to suit the conditions at the Nürburgring. It took them a total of five months to prep the car for the record run. The company concentrated on achieving maximum speed rather than maximum downforce. They fine-tuned the chassis, energy management, and tyres after numerous simulations and test laps at the track. Powering the I.D. R are two motors with a system capacity of 670.5 horses and 650Nm.

It is a complicated track, the Green Hell. So much so that many manufacturers have made camp there to set new lap times. The track has played an important role in the handling and performance aspects of modern cars – from sports to hypercars. The 20.832km long Nürburgring circuit has 73 turns, with elevation changes of approx. 300 meters between the highest and lowest points on the track.

With this record run, Volkswagen Motorsport’s I.D. R has become the fastest emission free racecar around the Green Hell. It is a hat trick for the company after the all-electric racecar made its debut last year at the 19.99km long Pikes Peak hill climb (it was called the I.D. R Pikes Peak). It set a time of 7.57.148 (m.s.ms) sending shockwaves through the automotive fraternity – we are talking about an all-electric race car that has made its IC engine counterparts look like ordinary cars fitted with oversized front and rear wings. It was not an ordinary feat, as Romain Dumas became the first driver in 100 years to complete the run in less than eight minutes.

Carrying the same momentum forward, the I.D. R set its sights at the Goodwood Festival of Speed - which incidentally celebrated its 25^th anniversary in 2018 - to create another record. It did and how – it took just 43.86 seconds to complete the 1.86km run. It bettered the all-electric record, set in 2013, by 3.48 seconds. However, it could not beat the all-time record of 41.6 seconds set by former F1 driver Nick Heidfeld in a McLaren-Mercedes MP4/13 Formula 1 car, two decades ago.

Within a year, the I.D. R has created three records at three different iconic places steeped with motorsport history – the Pikes Peak, Goodwood FOS and the Green Hell. With another record in their kitty, Volkswagen Motorsport has demonstrated to the world once again the extreme nature of electric racecars.  

Click here to see the video.

Meet the most powerful Ferrari – the SF90 Stradale

The SF90 Stradale is the first series production PHEV from the Maranello based outfit and it packs in 1000 prancing horses!

The most powerful Ferrari, now powered by a V8 hybrid powertrain

Ferrari has done it again and has enthusiasts across the globe in frenzy. After jaws were dropped at the Geneva Motor Show this year when Ferrari showcased its powerful V8 model then – yes, it’s the F8 Tributo (710bhp and 770Nm), the company had taken the wraps off its latest creation, the SF90 Stradale, a few days ago. 90 in the SF90 represents the 90^th anniversary of the foundation of Scuderia Ferrari. What better way to celebrate the occasion than by showcasing its range-topping model? Another interesting point to note is that the SF90 Stradale marks the first time that the V8 is a top-of-the-line model in the company’s line-up of cars. Dialing everything to 11 is the addition of ‘Qualify’ mode apart from the usual drive modes! Apparently, this allows the system to extract maximum power output of 217bhp from the electric motors, which gives the performance the upper hand over battery charging. Now that’s more Ferrari-like to make things crazy.

What better way to celebrate the occasion than by showcasing its range-topping model?

An engineering marvel

There is no doubt that the SF90 Stradale is pure supercar (or hypercar?) porn – you just cannot get enough of it. There are many firsts for this car and one of them is that customers can now choose between a ‘standard’ car and more sports oriented one. The latter includes significant upgrades like special GT racing-derived Multimatic shock absorbers, extensive use of carbon-fibre (door panels, underbody) and titanium (springs, entire exhaust line),  all of which help to shave off 30kg.

Now, for some mind-blowing stats. The SF90 Stradale is powered by a 4-litre 90° V8 twin-turbo, which develops 769bhp/ 800Nm while the three electric motors churn out an additional 217bhp. Ferrari used the 3902cc V8 twin-turbo engine (F154) and bored it to 3990cc. Many other tweaks were done to bump up the power and torque figures like redesigned intake and exhaust system, larger diameter intake valve, electronically controlled wastegates for the turbos to improve catalyser heating and improvement in fluid dynamics and so on. The 3.9-litre V8 engine also won the 2019 International Engine and Powertrain of the year award. This is the fourth time that this engine has won this award! This is a record in itself as no other has won the award four times! This engine powers a whole lot of Ferrari models including the 488 GTB and the 488 Pista. The combined power output of the V8 and the electric powertrain is a staggering 986bhp. All that power is transferred to the wheels via an F1 derived 8-speed dual clutch transmission. The SF90 Stradale cracks the ton in 2.5 seconds and hits 200kmph in 6.7 seconds with a top whack of 340kmph! Ferrari has also given the time it takes the SF90 Stradale to lap the 3km long Fiorano circuit – 1 minute 19 seconds!

The rear electric motor called MGUK, which stands for Motor Generator Unit, Kinetic is derived from Ferrari’s F1 activities. The rear motor is located between the engine and the new 8-speed twin-clutch transmission on the rear axle. The SF90 Stradale is also the first Ferrari to be equipped with a 4WD, which is essential to put all the power down to the road, according to the boffins at the company.

No reverse gear!

Making a debut in the car is the fully electric front axle, known as the RAC-e (electronic cornering set-up regulator). The advantage? Apart from providing electric propulsion, the two motors on the front axle control the torque sent to each wheel – this is torque vectoring for you and this makes driving easier when you push the car to its limit. The SF90 Stradale does not get a reverse gear – instead, the electric motors on the front axle are tasked with reversing duties. Things just get more and more interesting with this car, no? 

The chassis and the body shell is all new and Ferrari says it has used multiple materials to build this car, including carbon fibre to keep the weight and center of gravity low and increase the rigidity of the car.

More tech on the interiors

On the inside, Ferrari has adapted “eyes on the road, hands on the wheel”, a track derived philosophy to enhance human-machine interface by influencing the ergonomics and the styling of the interior.  Another talking point is the steering wheel – it now has a touchpad along with some buttons that allows the driver to control the car using his/her thumbs – pretty cool when you are driving at warp speeds.  Moving to the central instrument cluster, it is now digital and the SF90 Stradale has become the first car to make use of a 16-inch curved HD screen, which can be fully configured and controlled using the controls on the steering wheel.

A hyper-technological future

Prices for the SF90 Stradale are not out yet and even if you can afford one, chances that all the SF90 Stradales might be sold out. Sigh. Anyway, the company says that the SF90 Stradale slots in between the mid-rear-engined coupés, like the F8 Tributo, and supercars like the LaFerrari. Essentially, Ferrari says the SF90 Stradale is the flag-bearer of hyper-technological extreme cars that give a glimpse of what the future of hypercars might look like. McLaren and Lamborghini, are you listening?

Jehan Daruvala wins a race in the inaugural Formula 3 Spanish Grand Prix

The team Prema Racing driver was the only Indian on the 30-car grid

Indian racer Jehan Daruvala has created history by winning the second race of the all-new Formula F3 Grand Prix in Spain.  In the second and third position were Hitech Grand Prix’s Jüri Vips and Niko Kari of Trident.

It must have been a proud moment for Jehan, the lone Indian in the race and billions of other Indians as the Indian national anthem was played probably for the first time at an F1 Grand Prix in front of a full crowd. The Indian racer, from team Prema Racing, started from the second position on the 30-car grid and quickly took the lead before the first corner itself. His lead though was cut short, as there was an accident at the back involving four cars at turn 1 in the first lap itself and the safety car was called into action.

When the race restarted, Jehan was on pole and after five laps with Niko Kari breathing fire down his neck, Jehan still held his ground.  However, in the ninth lap, another accident happened which involved  Simo Laaksonen  (MP Motorsport) and Campos Racing’s Alex Peroni. The latter sent the former spinning off the track and into the wall as he was trying to defend his position.  Simo retired Alex was handed a 10 second penalty and the safety car came out for the second time in the race. Due to this, the 7.4-second lead built by Daruvala crumbled as the remaining racers assembled on the grid for another restart. But the Indian racer just got a strong start and built a lead of 1.5 seconds in just two laps.  

In the final two laps, Vips closed on Kari and took P2. Daruvala dominated the race with an unassailable lead to take the chequered flag ahead of the Hitech man in second, Kari in P3.

“I was in control of the race, except for the first restart. After that, I was just managing the pace. I have to thank everyone at Prema Racing for giving me a fantastic car. I did not overdrive it although if I needed more I could have pushed in the final couple of laps.” the former multiple International Karting Champion said.

In the overall driver standings, Robert Shwartzman (Prema Racing) is on top after the first round with 37 points, followed by  Christian Lundgaard (Art Grand Prix) in second with 24 points and Daruvala in third with 23 points. PREMA Racing leap to an early lead in the Team’s Championship, taking 81 points from the first event of the season, 32 points ahead of ART Grand Prix in second with 49, with Hitech Grand Prix occupying third place with 20 points.

The all-new FIA F3 Championship was created by merging the erstwhile GP3 Championship and FIA F3 European Championship, resulting in an ultra-competitive 30-car grid. The championship will be the perfect training ground for the world’s best upcoming talents, to race at F1 events and get the opportunity to prove themselves to all the F1 teams.

France will host the second round of the FIA Formula 3 on June 21-23.

About Jehan Daruvala

Jehan Daruvala began his career in karting at the age of 10. Since then he has won the Indian National Karting Championship, the Malaysian Junior Yamaha Karting Championship, the FIA CIK Asia Pacific KF3 Championship and the British Superone National Karting Championship. Jehan remains the only Indian on the podium of any FIA World Championship when he was the second runner up in the FIA CIK World Karting Championship. Jehan also remains the only Indian to win a Grand Prix, when he won the New Zealand Grand Prix and later went on to become the only Indian to win a race in the erstwhile FIA F3 European Championship, which used slower cars. Earlier this year Jehan was selected by Prema Racing, one of the world’s most successful Junior Racing teams.

Desert Storm 2019: Aabhishek Mishra and Adrien Metge take the top honours

After four days and 2000km, the 2019 edition of the rally culminated in Jaisalmer

For the fourth time, Aabhishek Mishra from Jaipur won the Desert Storm rally in the Xtreme category (cross-country rally for cars) and he is the third person to defend his title successfully along with six-time winner Sunny Sidhu and Suresh Rana in this class. Driving a Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara with co-driver Srikanth Gowda, he conquered the scorching heat, the desert and his opponents with a cumulative time of 9 hours 21 minutes and 45 seconds for a commendable victory.

This is the first time that Chandigarh based Samrat Yadav and co-driver Kunal Kashyap entered the rally with the Toyota Fortuner. They drove consistently throughout the rally clinch the second spot in the rally with cumulative timings of 9 hours 41 minutes 34 seconds. In third place were Lakhpa Tsering and co-driver V Venu Rameshkumar in their Polaris RZR 1000, who, despite being slow in the earlier stages, gained time quickly and finished the rally with cumulative timings of 9 hours 47 minutes 30 seconds. In the fourth and fifth place were Capt AVS Gill (co-driver Diwakar Kalia) and Sanjay Razdan (co-driver Karan Aukta) with cumulative timings of 10 hours 9 minutes 59 seconds and 10 hours 23 minutes 7 seconds respectively.   

"We were against some top teams and the win feels special" - Aabhishek Mishra

Aabhishek Mishra from team Sparky's Garage was elated after winning the Xtreme category against what he touts as one of the best drivers’ line-up ever at Desert Storm. He said, “This win feels incredibly special to me and my co-driver due to the fact that we were competing against some of the top teams and best rally racers in the country and we came out victorious despite being budget privateers. We always had a strategy in mind which was to stay consistent in the initial few days and preserve the vehicle for the 200 km stage. Until the day of 200km stage, we had started to realize that Team Mahindra Adventure was falling apart and our vehicle was still pretty much in good shape. From there onwards, we upped our game and went straight for the kill. I am thankful to my co-driver Srikanth and the entire squad at Sparky’s Garage for making this win a reality.” 

In the Moto Category, Sherco TVS rider Adrien Metge won the country’s longest motorbike rally with a cumulative time of 6 hours 13 minutes and 25 seconds. CS Santosh came second with a cumulative time of 6 hours 19 minutes and 0 seconds. He lost time in the second day and though he clocked the fastest time in the 190km marathon stage yesterday, Santosh was not able to catch the Frenchman. TVS Racing’s Abdul Wahid Tanveer who clocked a cumulative timing of 6 hours 35 minutes 28 seconds, rounded off the podium in the Moto category.  

Ankur Chauhan (and co-driver Prakash M) was the other big winner, with best rankings in all five legs in the Endure Category (Regularity rally or Time-Speed-Distance rally). In second and third place were Capt. Abhilasha Singh (co-driver Aashish Agarwal) and Team Army Adventure Wing’s Aman Katoch (co-driver Siddhartha Nandal). The Ndure category results are evaluated on the basis of average rank after all five legs.

After four days of tough racing, the competitors were felicitated in a glittering ceremony at the Marriot Resorts and Spa in Jaisalmer.  Among the key awards won, the Team Trophy (Xtreme Category) went to Team Army Adventure Wing, Team Trophy (Moto) to TVS Racing, Team Trophy (Ndure) to Team Army Adventure Wing. The Coupe des Dames (Best Female Contender) Awards were claimed by Khyati Mody in the Xtreme category, Aishwarya Pissay in the Moto category and to Capt. Abhilasha Singh in the Ndure category.

India’s Dakar hero and Hero MotoSports’ rider CS Santosh put a strong show in the rally. This is his first rally after the 2019 Dakar, where he suffered a massive crash and could not continue further. Even in the second stage today in the Desert Storm rally, Santosh had navigational issues due to a broken GPS mount coupled with the low visibility due to a sand storm (not for nothing it is called Desert Storm rally). Despite the setbacks, he held on to his second place this makes him the fastest Indian rally rider in the Desert Storm 2019, which is commendable. It was also an incident-free rally for him. 

CS Santosh on the Desert Storm and his next rally

“This is also the first year I rode without any major incidents or penalties over the course of the race so I’m finally making progress.  Happy to say the bike is improving every time I get on it and we had absolutely no problems! Next stop is Baja Aragon in July!” 

Congratulations to all the winners!

Images by Northern Motorsport and Polaris India

Desert Storm 2019 day 3: Gaurav Gill slips to eighth position

Aabhishek Mishra and Adrien Metge continue their domination in the Xtreme and Moto categories; CS Santosh won the stage today

The penultimate day of the Desert Storm saw some shuffle in the results. It was a 190km marathon stage and it was the longest stage of the rally. This stage put the navigational skills of the competitors and caught them unawares. Team Sparky's Garage Aabhishek Mishra (co-driver Srikanth Gowda) in their rally prepped Maruti Suzuki Vitara blitzed the stage today with a time of just 02:49:49.

Close behind their heels, in second position is Samrat Yadav (co-driver Kunal Kashyap) in second position in their Toyota Fortuner with a time of 3:00:44 to complete today’s morning stage. Capt AVS Gill (Diwakar Kalia) also from Team Sparky Garage was in good form and he jumped from fourth to third place after today’s stage, completing today’s stage in 03:03:01.

 It was tough for Mahindra Racing’s Gaurav Gill (co-driver Musa Sherif), as he crashed into a barbed fence; he suffered mechanical issues and drove again. But he had lost precious time – he took a little over four hours to complete the stage (4:09:26). At the end of the stage as of today, he has dropped to eighth position. Lhapka Tsering (co-driver Venu Rameshkumar) driving their Polaris ATV jumped two places to P4 from P6 yesterday.

In the Moto category, Hero MotoSports’ CS Santosh won the SS6 with a time of 02:44:30, with Sherco TVS rider Adrien Metge two minutes behind him. Not all was easy, as Santosh ran a loop twice and went 10km in the wrong direction. Despite this setback, he won the penultimate stage according to the partial provisional results. “This year I stayed on the bike and avoided the big crashes I had the last years. Last day tomorrow so I’m looking forward to finish and bring this home!” Santosh is second overall as of now. 

However, Adrien is first overall as of now, with a total time of 5:16:49. He also found the navigation quite complex and the scorching heat was not helping either. Maintaining his third position is TVS Racing’s AW Tanveer, who finished SS6 in 2:45:56 minutes. Teammate Aishwarya Pissay did not start the stage due to technical issues and will restart the stage tomorrow again. R Natraj and Rajendra RE from TVS Racing are in P4 and P5 respectively.

All results mentioned are provisional.

Adding more drama, another eight riders in the Moto and four drivers in the Xtreme category dropped out of contention due to the extreme conditions. The Desert Storm finishes tomorrow and competitors in the Xtreme and Moto category have to cover 160km and 80km respectively. 

Images by Northern Motorsport and TVS Racing

Desert Storm 2019, day 2: Aabhishek Mishra and Adrien Metge take the lead

Many competitors retired due to mechanical issues and extreme heat; Hero MotoSports’ CS Santosh is in the second position behind TVS Racing’s Adrian Metge

One of the first images in the initial stages of the Desert Storm 2019 was a rally spec Maruti Suzuki Vitara’s fiery end. According to sources, the extreme heat coupled with some electrical issues resulted in a fire in the car and soon, it was burning. The crew is okay and they have escaped unhurt. Sanjay Agarwal (co-driver Smitha N) drove the car in question and they were strong contenders in the Xtreme Category until this unfortunate event took place. As many as eight competitors in the Moto and four competitors in the Xtreme category could not complete the stages on the first day due to the extreme conditions.

The second day of the rally saw the competitors cover a distance of 560km in two stages in Bikaner and Jaisalmer. The competitors covered a distance of 80km on the first day. 

In the Xtreme class, Aabishek Mishra (co-driver Srikanth Gowda) from Team Sparky Garage is leading after two days. Mahindra Adventure's Gaurav Gill (co-driver Musa Sheriff) was in the fourth position after the first day due to some navigational issues and technical snags. His rally spec XUV500 was also stuck in the sand and he lost precious time. However, he bounced back strongly and made his move the morning, jumping up two places in the leader board with a time of 01:10:11 in SS4 for a cumulative tally of 03:25:46, just three minutes off the leader. Privateer Samrat Yadav (co-driver Kunal Kashyap) held on to his third position.

In the first day, it was Mahindra Adventure’s Sunny Siddhu (co-driver Ashwin Naik), who was on top; but due to some issues with his car after SS4, he dropped down the order and Aabhishek made most of the opportunity to emerge as the new leader.

In the Moto category, TVS Racing’s Adrien Metge is leading with a total time of 02:03:34 hours after SS4. This is his second rally in India. Eight minutes behind him was CS Santosh with a total time of (02:11:20). In day 1, he lost a little over two minutes and today, he lost some more time in the stages but overall, it was a good second day according to him. AW Tanveer is in the third position. Rajendra RE and R Natraj are in P4 and P5 respectively. Aishwarya Pissay from TVS Racing had a couple of falls (no injuries), a 20-minute penalty and is in 23^rd position. Hero MotoSports’ Sathyaraj A (Group B) also suffered engine problems and is out of contention.

In the Ndure Category, Ankur Chauhan (co-driver Prakash M) was in the lead with a cumulative leg penalty of just 13 minutes 38 seconds after eight sections. Behind him were Deepak Sachdeva (co-driver Japjyot Singh Dhingra) and Capt Abhilash Singh (co-driver Aashish Agarwal).

All the results mentioned above are provisional.

The Desert Storm rally is one of the toughest rallies in India, looking at the challenges competitors have to face in this race of endurance to test man and machine. Tomorrow is one of the longest stages in the rally and the competitors are preparing to tackle the extreme conditions once again.

Images by Northern Motorsport and TVS Racing