If you’ve been riding with us for the past 11 years, you’ll remember OVERDRIVE’s very first anniversary issue. It ran with a lead shot of the Ford Ikon which the magazine testers had spied running around near Pune, obviously shot very poorly, so the designers had to render it graphically. And someone thought it fit to render the Ikon in green. Virulent green. Well, that’s what was done back then, in addition to slapping on a big fat OVERDRIVE number plate. And that’s what we celebrated our anniversary with – an Ikon!
I love recounting memories of those days – we were so starved of cars and bikes that the Ikon was something to go totally mental over. My very first road test, of a Sunny Spice, ran into nine pages. And I topped it with an equally laborious road test of some TVS moped whose name I can’t remember and which, come to think of it, I never even saw on the road. A Lamborghini? Our dreams didn’t dare venture that far; we were so far off the radar that we weren’t deemed worthy enough to be sent a press brochure.
What we dreamt of was Mercedes. And when we struck gold with the Mercedes S-Class we stuck it on the cover of our next anniversary issue. Oh my god, a Mercedes! It came with a driver that wouldn’t let you sneeze next to it. I cleaned my shoes and was allowed in. And my year was made.
Like anybody with a strand of white hair will say, those were simpler days. There were barely any cars and bikes. But what we had, some said a little too much of, was passion. And a fierce desire to burn as much petrol as possible doing as crazy a story as possible. We did things nobody else thought of doing. That’s why when we suddenly realised there were a dozen fast cars we did the country’s first 0-100-0 test, and stuck it on the cover of our 2001 anniversary issue. Then the editor got inspired to burn even more petrol and came up with the 24-hour endurance tests to celebrate the fourth anniversary. Flat-out we rode the two Karizmas to set the national time and speed records and a week later we were similarly flat-out in the Alto. An 800cc Alto that didn’t make enough power to even warrant running up the banking but, well, it was a huge story back then.
But for all that flat-out driving, the main cover story was the new Camry. Our automotive market was still nascent. Camrys were desirable. We still didn’t dare dream of Lamborghinis.
And look at us today! I’ve been to Italy four times in the past two years and on every occasion I’ve driven either a Lamborghini or a Ferrari. On one occasion I drove both, back to back. We’re on the automotive map, we jet around all over the world attending motor shows and launches, we’ve driven Formula 1 cars and hypercars including the Veyron. For this issue a little working of the phones was all it took to sort out a Boxster to drive across Italy on the legendary Mille Miglia road race. On the way back we dropped by at Bologna to drive the Lamborghini Murcielago Super Veloce. And in between 300kmph runs we got a call from Porsche asking if we’d like to swing by at Munich to drive the Panamera.
I can’t even begin to describe how far we’ve come in such a short time. And most tellingly we no longer have to run to Europe every time there’s a supercar itch to scratch.
What hasn’t dimmed though is our enthusiasm to do something crazy. The obvious would have been to take the R8 to the race track but our anniversary issues have moved on from track tests (the staple in 2005 and 2007). Our anniversary issue now involves packing bags, drawing up wish lists, kissing our wives and girl friends goodbye and taking off.
I think you will enjoy our twist on the R8, introducing it to the ’Busa on India’s fastest road, as much as you’ll enjoy reading about Porsches and Lamborghinis in Italy, mopeds in the Himalayas, record runs across India, hot women scorching the race track and small cars being tested in Ladakh. That is what OVERDRIVE is all about. It’s all about passion and enthusiasm – of wanting to go out and drive, ride, travel, seek adventure and pen what are truly evocative stories. Basically live out our stories, and take you along for the journey.
Eleven years. It’s been a hell of a journey. But guess what, the more things change, the more they remain the same. That first anniversary issue? The other cover story was a small car comparison test!
