Generation Speed was a melting pot for all things automotive, with sounds of engines echoing through Aamby Valley.
Have you ever been to a rock concert and wondered where the scores of long-haired, black-shirt-wearing, tattooed metalheads who typically throng to such an event disappear to after it’s over? That’s exactly the feeling I had as I walked onto the Aamby Valley airstrip for the inaugural edition of Generation Speed and saw the sheer variety and rarity of the cars on display. Just where do these beauties hide away for the rest of the time?
The Inception
The idea behind Generation Speed was simple, says event director Martin da Costa, who, by the way, also founded India Bike Week. “We’ve been doing IBW for a decade now, and about 2-3 years ago, we thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to do something similar for cars?’ The idea was to create an India Bike Week equivalent for car people: for tuners, drifters, people who love overlanding, and bring all of it together in one place.”
Rare JDM Classics (L-R): Land Cruiser, Subaru WRX, Nissan 300ZX, Toyota Celica and MR2, and Nissan 240SX, all in one place.
As I made my way through the festival grounds, just ogling at the exotica around me, I stumbled upon my first surprise for the day, echoing what da Costa had said to me earlier, “The festival should feel like walking into a village that you don’t know very well. There are so many left and right turns, and there’s a surprise at the end of every turn.”
Defender Experience
It was an array of Land Rover Defenders lined up ahead of an off-road course, and anybody could just turn up, pay a nominal fee and experience the off-roader in its element. I didn’t hesitate to sign up, of course. “I don’t have a lot of off-roading experience,” I cautioned my instructor. “That’s perfectly alright. It leaves me a job to do,” he said reassuringly.
Car culture is as much about expression as it is about performance.
It didn’t take long to realise why the Defender is such a legend off the tarmac. The track we were on was reasonably challenging, enough that I could make use of all the off-road modes on offer, including the Rock Crawl mode. And no, it was not me doing the hard work. The electronic suite on the Defender is simply brilliant, making every obstacle feel like a non-event.
No car festival is complete without some modified VW Polos.
Drag strip drama
After spending some time in the dirt and gravel, I walked down to the main drag strip, only to find my childhood poster cars screaming down the straight in all their glory. There were Nissan GT-Rs, Lamborghini Aventadors, Porsche 911s, Ferrari 458s, tastefully modified Volkswagen Polos (no car festival is complete without a collection of modified Polos), and superbikes, too. Even the classic and vintage motorcycles and cars didn’t shy away from taking it to the drag strip. But the most breathtaking sight (and sound) of all was the Formula 4 and the Indian Racing League race cars battling it out down the straight. It was a spectacle to even see these cars up close, let alone punching through the air, shaking the barriers as they whizzed past you. Results? The F4 was consistently quicker than the Indian Racing League car in the quarter-mile sprint.
Red Bull stunt rider Aras Gibieza wowed the crowds with his antics.
Drift and Smoke
As the sun fell behind the horizon, I peeled away from the drag strip and made my way to the drift zone where Lithuanian stunt rider Aras Gibieza was gearing up for a freestyle stunt performance. The man is a Red Bull athlete and once even held the world record for the longest no-hands motorcycle wheelie. Seeing him make his bike dance like it was a small BMX was quite spectacular, and later, I managed a quick chat with him, asking him about his experience at the festival.
“I really enjoyed it a lot. Every minute, I saw more and more people coming, and that was really encouraging. I have already done a lot of shows here in India previously, but this one is pretty unique,” he said.
A smoke screen created by these two drifting C-Classes completely blurred out the background a few moments later.
Dirt bathing
The first day was already so eventful for me that I didn’t want to waste a single minute on Day Two. I showed up nice and early just as the gates opened, and casually strolling about, I discovered a dirt track with a few all-terrain buggies that I had completely missed the previous day. Known as Mudslinger SRIIIs, these buggies were powered by 200cc engines with about 7hp of power. I was raring to sample a new kind of vehicle, and it was indeed great fun, kicking up some dirt and going sideways with ease. I was caked in a thick layer of dust by the end of it, but I didn’t mind because it felt like evidence of the fun I had.
The plucky little Mudslinger SRIII was great fun to slide around on the loose gravel surface.
Later on, as I was wandering around a static display of vintage cars, I came across none other than Indian motorsport legend Vicky Chandhok, and being able to chat with him was a fanboy moment. Even he had an admiration for how the festival had turned out. “Anything that promotes motoring should be received with open arms. Ultimately, we are all motoring buffs, and I am really pleased to be here. The people are enjoying themselves, the cars here are fantastic, and it’s fun to be out here,” said Chandhok.
Vintage beauties (L-R): Pre-war grand-prix style Fiat Corsa 501 S, a Standard Avon and an Adler Trumpf.
Towards the end of the day, I found myself in a cosy tent tucked away in one corner, far away from the noise and pomp of the drag strip. Here, I was listening to Ashik Aseem, a professional photographer, share experiences from his overlanding trips and how he had managed to marry his passion for cars with his profession. It was just a handful of people attending this session, people who were really interested in overlanding and wanting to learn from Aseem’s experience.
Celebrating car culture
And that’s when the essence of the festival really struck me. It was not just about the fast and expensive cars. You could just turn up in a modified Jimny, Thar or Polo, and be just as cool. Or even if you did not turn up in a car at all, you could just soak in the timeless beauty of the classic cars, meet and interact with prominent Indian motorsport personalities, see your favourite cars in the flesh and hear their engines scream. You could even indulge in one of the experiences curated by the event organisers; there really was something for everybody. It was an immersive experience into the world of cars that so many of us dearly love.
Rally legend Hari Singh doing his signature two-wheeled stunt in a Baleno RS.
It was inclusive and welcoming, and a real celebration of car culture, something that needs to be nurtured and made more accessible to people in our country. Martin has promised this is going to be an annual event, and I can’t wait for this to come around again next year, and so should you!
In conversation with Martin Da Costa, event director, Generation Speed
What was your biggest learning from having organised IBW that you implemented here?
The key learning was to make it a people’s festival. The people who come to IBW feel like it’s their festival. And I wanted to bring the same feeling to people who come here.
How satisfied are you with the reception of the inaugural edition of Generation Speed?
This first edition of Generation Speed already feels big, and we are still just scratching the surface of the car culture in India. We’ll be taking a lot of feedback from everybody, and there are many things we would want to tweak for future editions of the festival.
What can we look forward to for future editions of Generation Speed?
I would like to take it to more cities, perhaps Bengaluru and Delhi, and keep coming back to these places on a rotational basis. That way, we can address a larger part of the car community in India.
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