The Hindu Business Line : ING Renault’s F1 roadshow kick-starts Commonwealth Games celebrations

New Delhi, Nov. 10 The sound of high-powered cars split the eardrums of visitors to the Rajpath, a place you might usually expect to hear the sound of marching bands, or offensive language from an irate driver.

The ING Renault F1 roadshow, as part of the kick-off celebrations to ‘700 days to the Commonwealth Games 2010’ showcased two Formula 1 (F1) cars, a couple of their Megane Trophy cars, and three Cartoon cars.

First in line

The ING Renault F1 cars were the first F1 cars to run on Indian roads, and were driven by the team’s number two and number three drivers, Nelson Piquet, and compatriot Lucas Di Grassi.

Nelson Piquet was recently confirmed as the team’s 2009 driver.

It did not matter that the cars were 2007 cars painted in this year’s colours for the enthusiastic audience of about 120,000 for the two drivers reached astonishing speeds, unthinkable in Indian roads, and also showcased the handling of such powerful cars by burning rubber doughnuts on Rajpath.

Mr Suresh Kalmadi, Chairman of the Organising Committee of Commonwealth Games (New Delhi) 2010, said, “The youth of India are taking to sports in a big way. We have seen the results of our efforts from the terrific results at the recently concluded Beijing Olympics. Formula 1 racing has a huge fan following across the country, though limited to television till now.

“We are extremely delighted that the ING Renault F1 Team road show will enable lakhs of fans to see these fantastic cars put up a show in front of their eyes. It will no doubt signal India’s preparedness to take on the challenges of providing better infrastructure and facilities to our youth, especially with the Commonwealth Games 2010 in Delhi and also the planned official F1 circuit in India.”

Responding to a question, he said that the F1 would come to India in 2011.