Hamilton set to enthrall B'lore

McLaren-Mercedes driver to showcase skills in front of citys glitterati today

On Tuesday morning though, the racing star will have no car to run into, nor will he have stewards penalising him for ‘aggressive driving’ when he sits snug in McLaren Mercedes’ 2008 F1 machine and burns some rubber on a 500-metre stretch at the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) Road in Bangalore with a hand-picked crowd in presence.

Like many other companies who are trying to cash in on the inaugural edition of the Indian Grand Prix, telecommunication giants Vodafone Essar, sponsors of McLaren Mercedes, introduced a couple of contests in the build up. But in their biggest move yet, much like Red

 Bull’s promotional jig to have Daniel Ricciardo drive down the 1-km section between the India Gate and the Rashtrapati Bhavan on October 1, they roped in Hamilton to show off his skills in Bangalore.

Talking about the section of the road which is going to be used for the event, NICE managing director Ashok Kheny said: “Around three months ago, people from Hamilton’s team chose a 500-metre stretch at the junction of Bannerghatta and            NICE road, next to the Gottigere lake, close to the T John College, because it was the best they could find in the country.”

Hamilton, who was in India on three other occasions previously — Mumbai (2008), Delhi (2009) and Chennai (2010) — will arrive in the City, along with his technical team, on early Tuesday morning.

Car being readied
Sources also revealed that a team to put together the car is already in the City and has begun work. Along with the 2008 car in which Hamilton won the championship, a Mercedes sports car -- most likely a car from the SLK platform -- will also be used to take five lucky people around for a spin.

The last time a Formula One car’s distinctive growl was heard in India was when Red Bull Racing’s David Coulthard drove down the Bandra-Worli Sea Link in Mumbai in 2009.
“From the information I was able to gather, we have got around 5000 confirmations. We will have a horde of A-list celebrities such as cricketers Javagal Srinath, Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey, the Rajkumar family and also a couple of State ministers at the event,” said a spokesperson for Vodafone.

“We are using a non-used section of the road that’s smooth, and I’m really not too sure about the number of security personnel being used. We have asked for the assistance from the local police and I can assure you that there will be good security.”

Assistant Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Sunil Kumar said ‘adequate security arrangements have been made and nothing will be out of place during the event’. With all arrangements in order, Hamilton’s tyre-burning display should be quite a hit with motor sport fraternity in the City.