IN CONVERSATION
For the hottest wheels
RESHMA S KULKARNI
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Gautam Singhania opens up about his passion for supercars and the launch of India’s one and only Supercar Club.
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The club aims to be a special interest group for like-minded people to share their passion for cars.
Revelling in his love: Gautam Singhania with his beauty-on-wheels.
There are cars… and there are Supercars! The ones that make your heart thud as they zip past agog with resplendence. While many may dream of owning a beauty-on-wheels , a few are fortunate enough to realise it. For those fortunate few, hereR
17;s a great opportunity to revel more in their love. How?
Well, via the ‘Supercar Club of India’ (SCI), the first-of-its-kind, by-membership-only Supercar club in India, floated by three avid Supercar enthusiasts — Gautam Singhania, CMD Raymond; Autocar India and Bellset entertainment.
This la-di-dah club is a brainchild of Singhania, himself an avid lover of these dream-machines.
He revealed, “Supercars have been my passion for a long time and it was my dream, for the last two years, to create a Supercar club where like-minded people could get together. This dream inspired the formation of India’s first ever Supercar Club, which was launched on June 21 at Mumbai. The club aims to be a special interest group for people to share their passion for cars.”
Singhania apparently was also inspired by the Supercar clubs across the U.K., the U.S. and Europe.
Criteria
The SCI couldn’t have come at a better time now that several world-renowned Supercars have penetrated the Indian market. Audi, BMW, Lamborghini, Porsche and, very recently, Jaguar have already set up showrooms in India, while others like Ferrari, Lotus Elise, Bentleys, despite not having a showroom-base here, have been popular favourites.
If you’re wondering how one can enter this high-profile club, sweat not… because entry is extremely rare, privileged and strictly by invitation!
In fact, SCI approved just 30 applications. What then, one wonders, are the parameters to gain an entry into this privileged set?
Singhania explains “For starters and most obviously, applications will only be considered from those who actually own a Supercar such as a Bentley, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Rolls Royce ...
Then, there also are other criteria to be met. For e.g. the car should cost more than Rs. 1 crore; it should be over 400 BHP and so on. Initially, we will limit the membership to only 20 to 30 members; later, the club will be open to others who are interested, for which they will have to pay membership fees (amount not yet decided) to be a part of this club.”
Great plans
Well, if mere entry to the SCI is so rarefied, one can be sure that, once there, the privileges accorded to the esteemed members will be nothing short of spectacular! Singhania affirms this saying “The Supercar Club of India will be a great opportunity for members to interact socially, exchange knowledge and participate in activities organised regularlyfor them.”
“We will meet every three months for Sunday brunches, wine tasting and long drives to Amby valley or Lavasa. In fact, regular get-togethers and track-days at Supercar-friendly venues are high-priority among the host of planned activities. We’ll also be hosting one large-scale event in January 2010. The SCI will be a forum for Supercar owners and enthusiasts to come together and share their experiences. Members will enjoy an exclusive concierge service, association with other Supercar clubs as well as prestige and performance car hire companies from across the world. The monthly SCI newsletter will keep members and enthusiasts abreast of the latest happenings in motor-world. SCI is in the process of forming associations with Supercar clubs in the U.K., the U.S. and Europe and in organising international automotive-related events around the world, while also being the first to provide a service of self-drive hire of prestige and performance cars,” he continues.
Understandably, with the humongous response and frenzy of curiosity that the SCI has elicited with its mere establishment, coupled with eager anticipation for its varied activities to begin, Singhania is not off the mark when he says, “This was THE time to commence such a club. I’m so happy we’ve done it!” although he dismisses a stray thought that this may well mark Raymond’s foray into the automobile sector. “There are no such plans. It’s just my passion for cars that is at play here.”
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