That was a very pleasantly surprising news, when HRT announced the lineup with Pedro De La Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan for the year 2012. I am not going into the specifics of sponsorships especially when even the last year HRT ran with TATA as the main sponsor. A season aborted last year and making a historic appearance during the Indian GP, I remember his exact lines.

Driving in front of the home crowd cheering [me] on is going to be a surreal experience, a once in a lifetime experience and I feel extremely fortunate.

That he could make it irrespective of the competition so hard speaks volume about the confidence in the way he can pull it off. I am not talking about the monetary part, I have had the opportunity to see him at close quarters and let me admit that he has this confidence of pulling it off when people almost have written him off.

I remember even the first season, it was a great debut going by what he has been through, and sponsorship issues which stopped him from racing with the erstwhile Minardi for a couple of races in 2004. It was always his optimistic outlook which saw him in good stead even when the critics wrote him off and that included some of the reporters who were reporting F1 for the first time.

His presence augurs well for F1 in India and most importantly the Indian GP. This will also boost the fortunes of the young drivers especially the likes of Armaan Ebrahim and Aditya Patel and others. Karun ofcourse will be a reserve driver.

In his Q&A on the sidelines of the HRT announcement Narain says F1 is a continued dream…

For me, Formula 1 is a continued dream, it is always ultra-competitive and competing at the pinnacle of the sport is what I love. So I am very happy to have the opportunity to continue living my dream and I have every intention to make the best out of it.

As for the sponsors they will be able to leverage the last year one off sponsorships to a more sustainable year long affair. I am happy to see an Indian on the track who is a cynosure of all eyes in the paddock. In one of my conversations with a F1 driver, he saw Narain as a natural & gifted driver and lets not forget what his team mate at Carlin Motorsports the present day Mc Laren driver Jenson Button had to say. He was in praise of him infact he had beaten Jenson in British F3.

Talking about Carlin Motorsports, I am reminded how close Trevor Carlin was to owning an F1 team and that would have changed Narain’s career in F1 and also the Indian connection would have had far reaching effects. Having said that, lets resign to the fact like what Narain said all’s well that ends well.

With India solidly a part of the F1 calendar we can only hope for the best to happen and wish it had happened a little earlier it would have been far better and more robust Narain with better experience and far better team to contend with.

Lets hope for some real stellar drive from the fastest Indian! This season gives another opportunity for the Indian F1 fan to root for another car apart from the Sahara Force India F1 team.

Now the most important thing which made me blog this post was this part of the Q & A:

Q: How would you define yourself as a driver?

NK: One thing’s for sure – I never give up. I’m here, against all odds and expectations, which wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. I have worked incredibly hard, I believe in my ability and know that I am as quick as anyone else out there.

Here’s wishing him all the best and salutation to his never say die attitude which  has got him back to where he rightfully belongs.

R Senthilkumar

(Thats Me with Daniel Ricciardio at RBR Speed Street in Delhi!)

I am keeping a promise that I made to myself and this is a beginning of writing about the F1 Teams and the drivers regularly. This year the F1 circus is going to be really huge and we can start imagining that there will be a real contest on the cards. Unless of course that the guys at McLaren and Ferrari don’t take themselves seriously.

The way the seats got filled so early is a good pointer, there are at least a couple of seats undecided as I write this, nevertheless its a heave of sigh for quite a young set of people and of course quite an old set of people – read Pedro La Rosa it is now a settled affair.

The most important point here would be that its is becoming a sort of champions round akin to what we have in our National Racing Championship. All the champions are there when you have Kimi also joining in, it will be fun to watch. I am only sad that Adrian has not been confirmed yet and would be forced to comment if they came together at a corner or if any of them were to be racing together at some point in a race. I wish Webber and Massa also had a chance to be champions so almost half of the grid would be champions.

Now lets see how they stack up, Red Bull  remains the same team, and we should only be looking at their style and they can be a great team in the making, I am talking long term. If one team which has the potential to be a threat to Ferrari fan base in the long run without being in the motorsports business, trust me it could be only Red Bull. Not because I was the official blogger, but you should know the branding that Red Bull is capable of and how they were on top in both the forms of racing today – the circuit and the forests, I mean the racing and the rallying they have been there. They are building a loyal fan base, if you have doubt check out their Facebook page with 25 million likes and almost a million people talking about it.

Just check out this article which underlined how Red Bull has now really become the content and media in a way that they are doing a great job of most importantly selling the energy drink. I have been associated with the brand up close, and some of the branding association and the branding on ground is pretty close to the energy drink literally. Take the case of the Red Bull Racing Cans, the students get to make cars out of Red Bull cans and get to do a race like event with trials, qualifying and the race. For the first time when I watched, I didnt know they had a final with all the cars on the grid! In a way as one participant pointed out you had to control the remote very well and aerodynamics can wait, still it was fun to see the cars going all over and you know how they get stuck in a corner and et all. And there are appeals to the Marshals and Chief stewards after the results are announced.

Then the best one happened when I was with Team Red Bull Racing at Khardung La, running an F1 car at 18,380 feet above MSL to be precise is not everyone’s idea of owning an F1 team. Here’s how they make themselves heard and they are loud about that when they do it.

To top it all they had their Kart Fight this season in India. Its a nice way to be there, and I know for sure what they are capable of, setting the trend as they did a few weeks before the Inaugural GP blazing the road at the India Gate.

Once Yohann Setna in a conversation long ago had said, ‘You wont be surprised if you can see Red Bull on anything that moves, motorsports in particular, and most important they have only one product!’

If you can add up all these, they are slowly building up the momentum to be the franchise that everyone would want to associate with. And you can easily do it with so much of action on the ground and off the ground, at the races, rallies and even in the Himalayas!

On the other hand they have a formidable Young Drivers Program, and that’s getting really into the mode. Daniel Ricciardio who will drive for STR is a Red Bull prodigy in their terminology. You get to be the best under Red Bull.

Now back to the teams, Mc Laren and Ferrari  have so much at stake atleast start pretneding to be guys, and make a match, while 2011 was boring except a couple of races, we need to see some down to the last race happening this year in 2012. Would be interesting to see someone fail me in that aspect.

Button will continue in his form and Lewis will try a resurrection from the bad times he has had on track and his personal life. Fernando and Massa will be watched eagerly by all the F1 fans and that eventually means Ferrari fans at large.

Then there is Mercedes, with Schumi and Nico they are trying hard and probably they were the ones who tried hard last year. Lotus Renault, we can call them with full honours with the other Renault becoming Caterham, will love to see them challenge the guys on top. Will wait to see  how Kimi a part owner too, will play his part and make it happen, we are for sure in for some real fast entertainment. The Iceman is back as an owner/driver at Lotus Renault.

Down the order we have, Force India – Sahara Force India to be honest, only wondering if the Kingfisher’s problem should not rub off on to the team, its been an excellent progress to date for the team. Though I would have loved this team to have an Indian driver in Narain or Karun, I am sceptical of Mallya approving my idea. On that front, I think the erstwhile Lotus Renault did make us look bad when they didnt put Karun in for Indian race giving Mallya a big boost for his idea of Indian drivers not being upto the mark.

Then there is Williams, where are the glorious days Mr. SFW? But I have the highest regards for such an independent team on the grid, lets hope they get some pace and make themselves heard.

Sauber, our Amul’s Brand car if I may call it and then HRT, STR and Marussia to complete the list.

Personally sad to see Sir Richard Branson leave, he is my entrepreneurial hero away from the tech world.

Will write about the teams and the drivers in details in the posts to come.

Till then signing off!

R Senthilkumar

(Indian F1 fan)

The first Indian Grand Prix had so much in stake for itself. The advertisement or the bad PR of Common Wealth has not been erased from the memory of the public. As the preparations were going on at a racy speed came the Supreme Court order that they move  25% of the ticket sales to a separate bank account till they decided if the sporting event needed a tax cut.

Cut to the party after the successful hosting of the Indian Grand Prix which was attended by the most venerated person Sachin Tendulkar, in a country where Cricket is a religion and God decided to witness the race, it was only fitting that he waived the chequered flag.

One of the most interesting takeaways of this whole exercise is that it has been able to showcase India as a wonderful tourist destination. !ncredible India was bang on as one driver after another went gaga about the Taj, the roads, the food, the pretty Indian women and ofcourse the rickshaw or the tuk-tuk.  Sebastian Vettel has vowed to learn the most important words in Hindi so that he would be able to impress a few charming godess as he put it the next time he is in Delhi.

It opened vistas for a lot of event management people albeit only for the month still it did give rise to hope for better days in the near future. The people who had sold their land in the meanwhile had made a killing and are living a luxurious life thanks to this F1 venture of Jaypee.

The success had its effect and it was not without reason. It was a show case par excellence in terms of private party holding an event of this magnitude. For all of us having to tend to disagree with what government working can be like this event with such mass gathering of over 1 lakh plus apart from the volunteers and the men working around the clock to ensure a great event was like raising hope over something’s that we normally don’t take for granted.

It also underlined that the public private partnerships, thought the government was  not directly involved, can work wonders for the sports. With the unveiling of the track we have already seen Mercedes open a training academy that’s the first here and third after Germany and China. So it would only spur the motorsports fraternity to test waters and make it a global hub.

It was also nice to see two support races in MRF Championship and JK Tyre Asia Series where all the future racers gave a shot to their dreams not withstanding the machinery they had was not that great, but the spirit was there for all to see. The next year the machine will be all the more bigger and better.

It has also opened up the newly christened iSeries on the lines of the IPL, which has already got enough of media attention and has lined up more almost all the franchise as I write this, the reason is very clear – the series has two of its races at Buddh International Circuit.

Also be rest assured that there will be a lot of Karting races happening and you can actually scout for some new venues which will come up in the days to come since that is the basic breeding ground for kids to enter racing early in their life. Force India already ran a One in a Billion in 7 cities and now Red Bull is doing a Kart Fight in 4 cities.

On a large level the economic benefits of this is yet to be realized to its full potential, while the racing weekend can rake in a lot of tourist and makes for a good tourist festival, the motorsports as an industry will only thrive with so many brand getting into the sponsorship arena.

Take the case of Amul, which partnered Sauber for a one off race sponsorship, gives ample scope for the brands to think global starting with such associations. The other brands like Vodafone and Renault already having tasted the success of being a part of F1 circus will increase their spend to better it the next time. But if you ask me the one brand which walked laughing all the way to the branding bank was Airtel. It made a kill with a branding by being the presenting  sponsor – Airtel Indian grand Prix and the rest was history. And I like it when you have two of the most competitive brands in Airtel and Vodafone vying for your  mindspace.

So the race has already got cracking with the calendar for next year. With such economic benefits the brands will only be ready not to miss the ship this time.

Well, the inaugural Airtel Indian GP was a run away success by any international standards. It has been in the waiting for almost three years and we were still unsure of how it was going to unfold given the niceties that we encounter with a popular government issuing diktats to the organizers everytime something big was going to happen.

Ask Narain Karthikeyan who was all smiles after his completing the full race without any hitch, it was surreal as he had quoted. It was always a ‘will this ever happen in India’ question for people like him. They had their reasons, Narain the pioneer in F1 in India broke many a shackles when he became the first F1 driver in 2005 with Jordan F1. It was a result of his commitment, unwavering confidence that led him to his seat, not to miss the sponsors who saw the potential in his abilities.

Things had changed fast after that, the Indian GP dream was unfolding and it was almost three years of waiting for the calendar to be finalized and what we saw when it was unveiled was really the best of infrastructure and a track the country could be proud of. It was a great moment for us when the country stood for the National Anthem before the race started.

It was also a great moment when we saw Narain Karthikeyan race for HRT though it was one off race. The car had Hero (Hero Motocorp) written on the rear wing, and Narain was the Hero in fact of this show. Karun who was also expected to race had a disappointment at the last moment and it was really tough for the Indian fans to miss another Indian on the grid. F1 has been a business driven sport and it can hand harsh and stricter business decisions like this one.

Micheal Schumacher and Narain won the crowd as one commentator said Vettel too deserved the applause and the standing that Schumacher and Narain rightly deserved.

So the Friday we could see that the place was dusty and the rack was dirty when the first MRF Championship support race started, Hormadz Sorabjee tweeted saying its so dirty and the cars are all over the track.

So this being a new track and like someone in my stand said, this has been a [addy field so you are bound to see lot of dust.

The big moment was the first practice and literally a dog had its day when it forced a red flag. Welcome to Indian GP and the first red flag was due to a stray dog on the track and it took almost five minutes to actually drive it off the track.

As the laughter subsided there were talks about how even Turkey had its dog moment. But in Indian context this was not a big deal if you ask me. Its not uncommon that we find animals in the roads on a lighter note.

The drivers said the same thing, its like very tough and very dirty and you had to take the racing line and you miss it the track will punish you for that. But over all they had praise for the track and new challenge for them and it was a proud moment for the Jaypee Group and thye had definitely put India on the world sporting map. Some lessons for the govt how a private enterprise can pull off such a big event given the much needed logistic support. You will fail if you don’t praise the road leading to the track I am sure the people who drove would have touched easily the max on their car without any problem, this road Yamuna Expressway was a track for the driver in you. The road signs had the people drive in perfectly to the destination.

Ofcourse the final day and the second day the traffic woes did remain a matter of concern since all roads were leading to the track. These are early days and the organisers will ofcourse look into the issues in the long term.

As the Friday practice concluded there was a big sigh of relief for everything went well no hccups no untoward incidents except ofcourse a Marussia Virgin car was involved in a crash when the rear suspension gave way.

The Qualifying was a good one with Red Bull team making it known that they were very much in the business after having collected both the trophies for themselves, the drivers and constructors championship. On the other hand the race for the second place in driver’s championship was going to be really competitive with Webber, Button and Alonso and Hamilton in the fray.

In the end Red Bull making it to the pole was sweetest moment for me as a Red Bull Official Blogger and ofcourse we did see the P1 stance from Sebastian Vettel. It is ofcourse a bit boring since nobody is challenging that anyways, still I did predict this quite long back. It was a matter of fact that the track would easily help the reigning champions.

As we would close the day, the Indian star Narain Karthikeyan would have a bit of disappointment when he was penalized for blocking Schumacher on his flying lap, Narain commented ‘there is just a single racing line, how will we give in?’ it didn’t earn him anything better and the race day he started last.

It was an anticlimax again when he started last from the grid. But on the drivers parade he led form the front and the crowd were all smiles and were cheering him as he strode gallantly in a classic vintage and the other drivers followed suit. It was great to see them in nice vintage cars. The loudest of cheers was reserved for guess who, Micheal Schumacher. I would love to put on record we grew up with F1 knowing his exploits on track and F1 for quite some time was Micheal Schumacher and now turning to be Sebastian Vettel, the common factor that they share being German nationals.

The race was a great starter akin in a dinner course, but it was going to be expected result when Sebastian Vettel went on to make the historic win for the inaugural Indian GP. It’s going to be in the history book of motorsports for ever. That’s what every driver looks to do and Sebastian was perfect that weekend. Narain finished 17^th in what he could term as the historic moment for Indian motorsports in front of a home crowd and in front of his family to be precise. All his family had come to watch him race in India a moment we had all been waiting for.

The race winner Sebastian Vettel received the trophy from the Honourable Chief Minister Mayawati.

Absolutely perfect weekend no issues to ponder, on the track and kudos to Team Jaypee led by its CEO Sameer Kaur, and its mentor J P Kaur. The event had sealed its place for the coming years as an exciting destination for F1 circus.

All compliments are also due to the Uttar Pradesh Govt  who joined Jaypee Group in making this a grand success.

Indian F1 Fan

Excellence & winning is never an accident! I saw this in a different vein and this would encapsulate the whole experience for me! I have always seen F1 from a team perspective and it would get into everyone right from the driver to the mechanic to contribute to the team’s success.

This day would be the day of reckoning for the team and forget not this has been a hardwork and a culmination of smart work over the last six months. And as we inch closer to the pinnacle, its becoming more challenging.

The South Pullu experience has taught the team that we need to check the engine as we get closer to the summit. So at every capable distance they stopped the car and check the engine and lo it went to life without any murmur of dissent.

As we were on our way we had a pleasant surprise in Honourable Mr. Omar Abdullah, the chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir. He was kind enough to do a symbolic flag off on the way and later would meet us at the Summit – The Khardung La Pass!

A note about the Chief Minister, a very attractive personality and a very enthusiastic individual he was mesmerized by the machine he saw and took all out effort to familiarize about it from Neel Jani.

So As I stood watching Neel explain his all important Steering wheel, Mr. Abdullah was all eyes and ears to what Neel was saying.

‘It’s a kind of your PSP steering wheel, you have controls and shift paddles here, ( he was showing all the knobs and paddles) but the only thing is if you make a mistake in your PSP there wont be any problem but here in you do a mistake it will be costly!’ said Neel.

That made Mr. Abdullah laugh and he was pleasantly surprised with the fact that Red Bull chose his state for its record feat and went on to say it was sort of unbelievable and incredible to see an F1 car on hilly road in the Kashmir valley!

This is what the Honourable chief Minister  had to say ‘Its great fun! it was an incredible experience. I never thought I would get to see an F1 car attempting to make its way through Khardung La! Hats off to Red Bull Racing for doing this.  All the best!’

The Tourism Minister, and the Director of Tourism were also accompanying him, and not miss his young nephews who were also enjoying the car.

You would also want to remember Neel’s friend and the No.1 driver at Red Bull will seal the Title Championship at Japan today. Just one point separated him from being the youngest 2 time World Champion.

Its always nice to be a part of history when being made, you have years on to keep going back and reminiscence those moments.

Yes I forgot to mention something important, it had snowed all night and the way now was all snow and it was looking pretty white everywhere. Akshar even tried playing snow ball, and Tomaz was shelling his snow ball on all the windscreens whenever we had to stop to a convoy or an upcoming traffic.

Our trucks were well on their way to Khardungla after Neel had done some 15000 plus feet on the car and the roads were getting slippery and the tyres were changed for better.

Just as we were getting near the summit there was a huge traffic jam, no it was not Delhi but this happens when there is a truck or a vehicle trapped on the road and you had to travel all the way down to get spares or even repair the puncture.

Somehow after almost an hour we reached the place, it was so colorful with the stupa in there. There were prayer flags fluttering around thought the temperature was really below zero degrees, we could sense that but in the heat of the moment literally we forgot that we were in minus 12 degree out there.

To tell you more before I conclude this marathon blog, there are several places of interest you should visit once you are on this Khardung La. There is this cafeteria nice one dishing out Maggi and tea to everyone. It is awesome feeling to taste their Maggi at such altitude. The tea would also taste sweet and turn cold if you thought about something for a moment.

There was a souvenir shop and you should buy something for the simple reason you were there. It would have the Khardung La name on it. A super special memorable gift to oneself if you want it.

The camera crew was now buzzing around so too were the Team RBR. They had just checked the car just some 2 kms away to start and they had been positive about it and so the were only looking to clear the logistics around the truck and were waiting to clear the traffic which had gathered as a result of us being there.

It took some time to clear the traffic and make some clean road for the F1 car to be driven by Neel. Meanwhile Neel was also enjoying this time chit chatting with engineers and the crew. He would give in to any request for a picture and be on his wonderful smile.

So the traffic cleared but the winds weren’t happy though, it started snowing, and it was getting cold  all the more. We were there and we didn’t want to be outdone by external factors, so we kept working and the whole team waited with bated breath when the car was started up. It got into full drive mode and Neel went on to drive one of the most memorable drives which will lead him to history as the one who drove the first F1 car atop the highest motorable road in the world at 18380 ft to be precise.

It was a moment to cherish for everyone from Team RBR, the Case productions and ofcourse the Team Red Bull India.

As the car came to a halt, it was celebrations galore with team cheering up Neel on this mission and making it successful, there were hugs around and for me it was one of the high points in life, literally and more so emotionally, its been a great run with F1 in indirect terms with watching races and writing blogs and reaching out, never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I shall report one of the most challenging F1 project ever undertaken from a team as respected as Red Bull and I shall be so close to the making of history.

Now was the time for photo ops, the cameras were on roll and the shutters didn’t stop. The team was estatic, they had made the best of engineering possible to fire the engine at such altitude and also had a formula for the fuel to make it happen.

The ride height being raised was one of the factor I had already talked about, but on the other hand the fuel was 97 octane petrol and a new engine management software took care to manage the fuel mixture the ratio of fuel to air in order to compensate for less oxygen.

Anthony Ward, Head of Brand for Red Bull Racing said, “It is a testament to the engineering crew of Red Bull Racing that we have been able to get a Formula One car running from 11,000 feet, all the way up to the 18,380 feet mark. Logistically too, this project demonstrates Red Bull Racing’s commitment to continually pushing boundaries.”

For Tony Burrows, The Team Head, they had done exceedingly well in a sense they got the car to start without a hitch at that altitude and it was a great day at office for the whole team.

For 27 year old Neel Jani, veteran of drives like Red Bull Racing’s journey to Table Mountain in South Africa, this was an experience he’s unlikely to forget in a hurry. “Of all the places I’ve driven around the world, Khardung La has got to be the most humbling. The Himalayas are as imposing as anything in the world and to become a part of history here will be a cherished memory,” said Jani.

The Red Bull Speed Street Leh project marks another milestone for Red Bull Racing; it joins the team’s other impressive runs, including the Formula Santo Domingo Beach Run and the Canadian Red Bull Frozen One on ice.

As for me it was a culmination of what was a dream come true, not so often do you get your chances of being at the summit, with an F1 car and a team which literally gives you Wings. The Team Red Bull.

Signing off

R Senthilkumar

This is an early day today and food packed we would be on the way to the most enviable expedition ever undertaken! F1 car enroute the highest motorable road in the world, build and maintained by the Border Roads Organisation. If you were worried about the muddy roads and potholes across the city imagine after a shower of snow the roads becoming slush and treacherous in literal terms. So we drive the car making a clear road ahead for Neel Jani, there are people looking out for pits and stones and luckily we don’t find any on the road, it was going to be a clean drive.

The team had got used to having pit stops at will and some places where we could really get respite from the grueling session we were on.

Let me start at the start of the hillock, we had to cross three stretches crossing mountains every time. The road would be winding around a range and then we would be on the next one to cross.

The total distance was 34 kms from the town. The distance can be divided into two, one a 20 km road till the South Pullu where there is an army check post and then to the Khardung-La. The first part is easily motorable in the sense that there are roads infact nice roads you would want to drive faster but it’s a hill so you got to take control. It will be a smooth drive though.

From South Pullu to our wanton destination is the most treacherous road, the army truck wear chains over their tyres for more grip to avoid sliding over the slush of muddy roads caused after a snow fall.

That’s where our challenges lie, apart from that the car would need to be stopped whenever we have a problem with the terrain posing ground clearance and suspension issues.

We also had to be careful about the fact that we don’t cause hardship to fellow travelers along the road. Every curve lent itself a platform to view the vastness of the country with its multi colored hues spread over and the autumn just setting in it was a perfect landscape for the canvas.

Once the car was ready to run the crew also had to shoot alongside, and that was really fun for Neel.

I remember he was just following a truck with camera, and he had to really slow himself to the speed of the camera.

Once he got out of the car after the drive, he said, ‘Was very tough to follow the truck, I had no view except the truck in front and it is becoming fun’

Another time when he came to a stop he had some problems with the clutch. He said ‘It was taking a couple of seconds to respond.  We need to just fix that!’

Half way through our drive we were greeted by the officials of Border Roads Organisation. They have been of immense help! Getting us clearance and sending us an escort van to help us with.

As much as pit stops happening on the roads and valleys and plains, the lunch was also happening the same way ofcourse it’s sometime chilly and windy out in the open!

Every drive on the road was getting us clearly up some over 100s of feet up the ground. Sometimes it would be more than 500 feet up in a single go. A long and winding drive for Neel up and I really doubt if anyone would get to do such drive anytime in the future!

We did have a long day with multiple pit stops and driving up the terrain literally scaling up a feet or two with every turn or a corner or going an elevation up hill! Sometimes it felt like a fast track and with no arm cores and tyre barriers.

And by the way we have crossed almost 20 kilometers and the most challenging 14 kms are yet to be made!

In the sidelines, something I watched from here is the fact that lot of people in our armed forces have made these their home so that we live in peace time all year through.

R Senthilkumar

A new different day and well we are now locals with almost three days of being in here in Leh, you would really develop contempt, that’s human nature but you don’t change your dress though its still cold and its still the same altitude and precaution is better than cure.

The car has arrived and the driver is already there and we are close to making the first road trip in the plains of Leh. The mountains are beckoning us as we see from the windows, looks like there will be enough challenges that would make the project interesting. What would life be without challenges and it would be mere pushovers for us if it was that easy.

And for those who dare life it doesn’t come easy, it’s exactly the premise that life holds forth so many challenges that we are deservedly there to meet it, otherwise we would not face any.

The car had arrived and we had some issues in getting them on ground.  Case of too much of Red Bull and it developed wings.

In peace time they say the armed forces are the best to help the civilians and here too the armed forces lent help to unload some of the things from the truck. Sometimes we get reminded that we are on that altitude and getting things at hands reach is not easy. So the trucks made their way to the Air Force base to get things sorted out.

It was nice to see them get the equipment on ground for us to take flight. Neel in the meantime was looking at the car he was going to drive. He has driven this car earlier to attest to the fact that ‘this was also my car.’

It took us almost a few hours to get settled with the equipments and more so with the car. Now everything is down here and the team RBR is full on with energy and enthusiasm as they put things together.

Even as the car was being readied word had spread that an F1 car was here in town. We had a regular stream of visitors both young and old. Some kids too had come in with parents to escort them. Lucky kids I should say, where on earth you would get access to touch a machine so revered by fans across the world.  An F1 car – in all its glory. The kids had a gala time even got to press the machine on the hydraulic jack to get the car to the ground.

Team RBR gifted them with some nice caps and the kids were happy… beyond words. The accompanying parents too were happy.

As work was getting long into the night, we were eagerly awaiting the car to be fired. Something was seemingly amiss and the team went into overdrive to fix it up and then finally the engine roared to life searing through the silent valley. It was finally P1 as the team puts it!

There is an early and a long day tomorrow every body said this to everyone. And it proved to be true far beyond our imagination.

R Senthilkumar

After a nice sumptuous lunch at the Grand Dragon, the only hotel in Leh which boasts of centralized heating, I got introduced to Neel Jani, the driver who will in all probability will hold the record of being the first driver to have driven an F1 car at an altitude of over 18300 feet above MSL.

The most striking part of him is his ever smiling countenance and short and stately appearance. He doesn’t look Indian but the manners bare it all, he is Indian from his Dad’s (Mukesh Jani) roots in Gujarat, India.

He would say I am more of my Mom in my looks. The family history dates early days even before independence of India. His family has been across the world in Africa and in Europe more specifically. Now he is also in America for the races and that means he is a World citizen by his own words.

So that evening we went around the Leh Market to begin with. It is a small place but you would come to know that its pretty costly too in terms of heritage and also some of the things you could buy.

But yeah Indian shopping isn’t all complete without our street shopping and Neel was only willing to go that extra mile and enjoy his trip this day at the markets.

So he went around shopping trying a bit of apparels and some caps and et all. He took to conversing with the shop keepers in the Hindi he could try and plain English and got to know the things and the history of some of the heritage items for sale.

There was so much to shop and so little time, you know what I mean, it is possible that you would want to take a part of history with you. But then we can’t take all that is on display.

Neel took time off to stop and make pictures with onlookers once they found that he is a racer and an F1 driver. Notice him being casual and ofcourse he was wearing only his Red Bull T shirt, he was down to earth personified.

Neel spent some time purchasing some shawls and caps and even tried some of them on him when ever he felt the urge to try it out. He would seek help of the shopkeeper and try it out and would ask us if it fit him or how good looking he was with that dress or cap on.  He also took some postcards for memory sake.

The most interesting part was when he went shopping for some apples and well he was on the other side meant he was like sitting among them selling the apples. He had a great time and it probably is that the climate is cold but people out there are warm. And with a global citizen by your side you would feel better irrespective of the temperature close to some 5 or 10 degree C.

Walking down the street, Neel when he came across a prayer wheel, you are bound to find them like we have Ganesh temples across in the city, decided to go around three times for a prayer.

Down to the welcome arch and shooting some pictures of his walking the street and a photo frame in air were some of the memorable moments during the afternoon.

Some nice shots taken I thoroughly enjoyed this shopping and clicking and we return to hotel to wait what we were told the F1 car is some 20 kms away from the venue. So it is getting close to what we have been here for in literal terms as the car arrives, we are into the game for sure.

R Senthilkumar

Two days of acclimatization should be enough for us and the D-day is fast approaching with the car having arrived a little close to the venue and the Driver for the event in town. Neel Jani has arrived and well it is going to be real great with him at the venue.

We also have the acclimatizing happening for Neel so he can make the best of the Project without any problems healthwise. F1 drivers are the most fittest in terms of physical fitness and that would be great to see how he takes it to himself at this weather. Though the conditions are a bit European, in terms of weather the altitude here is altogether a different ball game.

As a part of the helicam again this time we went to the Famous Leh Palace. A winding road from the market place and a nicely laden tarmac led us to reach the Leh Palace.

Leh Palace is nine storeys high; the upper floors accommodated the royal family, the stables and store rooms were in the lower floors. The palace, a ruin, is currently being restored by the Archaeological Survey of India. The palace is open to the public and the roof provides panoramic views of Leh and the surrounding areas. (Courtesy Wikipedia)

We had ample shot being taken to accommodate the aerial view and also the a fact that some construction work was going on. ASI has taken it upon itself to restore the glory of this monument. It amazes me to see how they had built it in the first place and how it did have an overall view of the whole country side from the windows.

With lot of onlookers at our side we had tough time to shoot without being disturbed by young and pretty faces. Well I should admit the people here are beautiful like what Baksh of Red Bull said they are happy and that makes them beautiful

I am happy with the fact that apart form technicalities I am learning a bit of life lessons, on how to look at life, meditation, and more so be content and happy, some traits of Buddhism.

As we would up the shoot which were ofcourse the handiwork of Tomas and Renata, we went next to the road to the Tsemo where again it was an awesome view of the countryside. It meant the planning has been meticulous and it also meant that it was easy to control. All the management theories were plain visible in terms of a kingdom being run. Not a fiary tale but in reality these were some of the take-aways.

We did shoot till Lord Vayu decided to stop us with his windy breeze and sun also got the better of us. The afternoon was a different one and I have decided to dedicate a separate blog for that. My time of my life with Neel and what an evening it was, mind blowing simple because you had someone so wonderful and down to earth and always smiling talking to you about the other side of racing the normal human being that Neel Jani is.

Over to the next blog.

R Senthilkumar

So what better way to begin a day with yesterdays’s memories? My initiation into the Red Bull family started the night we landed here. Very affable and helping team, and more so focused on job at hand and fire fighting some minor unforeseen issues, the team was all pepped up to make the most of the project at hand, driving an F1 car at Khardung La, some 18300 odd ft above MSL.

This is not a project done in haste yesterday but one which has been planned over a period of over six months and getting approvals and clearance et al, and now we were closer to reality some few days away from history being made.

The morning was warm and the sun was hot, you should expect sun to be closer to you and he could easily tan you to the darkest of the color. And well if you wanna read about the term acclimatization and more importantly about medical advice please read here.

The teams on the production side were divided into two. Before I go further allow me introduce the crew – Case Productions under Selim.

This team has the rare distinction of shooting for over 30 days at Antartica and that too was for Red Bull. A very energetic and an enthusiastic team was already at work. They take their fun at work too seriously I bet.

Getting back I was going to travel with the Helicam team for generic visuals across some of the finest tourist destinations in Leh. The team had a lovely couple in Tomas and Renata hailing from Poland and Berk from Case Production to help them out.

Accompanying us was the ever smiling Mr. Sonam Dorje, the Asst Director of Tourism in J&K.

Our first stop of the day was the Holy Fish Pond Lake adjoining the Shey Palace.  After few minutes of walking around the pond and the road to the palace, the first shot was setup on the helicopter-camera.

The helicam went soaring up in air Red Bull had literally given it the wings. Tomaz took a nice trajectory hovering the monastery almost setting up a shot when accidentally the pigeons flew all at once.

I was training myself with a camera my brother Sashi sent me. Some nice shots of the Palace and the heli-cam in air.

Next we proceeded to the Thiksey Monastery, further on the same road, it was visible from a distance and we took a little road to go to the place. Up on a hillock, the monastery had an imposing structure and a grand design. The F1 car would start from here, and the monks here would bless with their venerable presence.

It was a challenging shot for the team and they took almost two hours in finalizing three shots from three different directions.

It held the young monks in awe when they saw the helicam on air. It was nice capturing them on the camera for me. On the way back sun on top helped to record some of the finest stupas on heli-cam.

It was lunch time at Hotel Grand Dragon.

The Red Bull Racing team – (F1 show car Team) was awaiting the arrival of the car in the mean time and they were the ones  truly acclimatizing to put it in perspective.

Well you know you can’t exert yourself more and thus we had the first day of shoot! A truly successful trip at that and happy awaiting what’s in store for tomorrow. The car would have arrived so too was the driver Neel Jani!

R Senthilkumar