The Two NKs of Indian Racing - Part I

Narain Karthikeyan

A humble soul with exceptional driving abilities who is flying the Indian flag really high in the international motorsports scene.

Narain Kathikeyan is better known for being the first Indian to race in an F1 car. I vividly remember two Indian sportspersons, Narain Karthikeyan and Sania Mirza (Indian tennis player), caught the fancy of the great Indian media at almost the same time. And I strongly believe that Narain was grossly ignored by the media during those days. Those who probably did not even know the full-form of F1 were writing reports and columns about his 'poor' performance. Real F1 fanatics know how difficult it was for a rookie driver like Narain to drive well with the backup of a not-so-good team (Team Jordan).

Ironically, the same media was going ga-ga when Ms. Mirza managed to enter the second round of a championship. I guess you are feeling what the Sania Mirza angle has got to do with all this. Well, motorsports, like all other sports, have been grossly ignored by the Indian media. While Sania Mirza was made a star overnight, everybody conveniently ignored Karthikeyan. Maybe because, the guy is too non-controversial to write any masala and gossip articles on him. I have no grudge against the tennis sensation(?) but the unfair treatment given to NK really irritates me.

Fast forward to 2008 and look who is doing better. Narain has secured 10th position for an ailing Indian team in the A1 GP Championship. (These silly 'journalists' often confuse A1 with F1. So much for journalism). He has done well as a test driver with Team Williams and can soon be seen racing again in F1. He is still in the news for his exploits on the track and NOT for other unnecessary non-sporting issues. And he is the still humble and soft-spoken Narain Karthikeyan we all know.

I guess that says it all.

To be continued ...

Indian Cars in Racing Games!

My intention of starting this blog was to write about various topics apart from automobiles, but it seems like no matter how hard I try ... I end up writing about the same old topic.

I believe that many of us are bored driving exotics and Jap tuners on race tracks and city streets on our PC and/or gaming console. But now, it seems like times are changing for the better.

Trine Game Studios, an Indian company is coming with a new game named Streets of Mumbai featuring Indian cars street racing on Mumbai streets. The overall look and setup of the game is reminiscent of EA Games' Need for Speed Undeground Series. Hopefully, it should be launched within the coming month. (Check out the picture posted in this topic)

Here are some links: (Tip: Right click on the links and click on 'Open Link in New Window')
Trine Game Studios
Streets of Mumbai – Team-BHP.com
Streets of Mumbai (NDTV) – YouTube.com
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For all fans of the Gran Tourismo Series, GT5 may soon have Indian cars like the Suzuki Swift, Mahindra Scorpio, Tata Indica and so on. They are a part of the tentative list of cars which may be developed for the game in the near future. For those who don't know, the Gran Tourismo Series is the most realistic simulation of driving a car.

To get the entire list of cars and some general screenshots follow this link.


Signing off.