The Pakistan Racer Hunt has made its way through Islamabad and Lahore with some extremely competetive qualifying rounds. Karachi is next where the qualifying sessions will be held in Mid November. And at the end 10 qualifiers from all three cities will race each other in Lahore.
The turn out of extremely competetive racing enthusiasts so far has been beyond everyone’s expectations. With all the lack of motorsports in Pakistan and the lack of awareness about it, Pakistan Racer Hunt is definitely a step in the right direction. Having participated myself, I can tell you that track racing and especially go-karting is one heck of an adrenaline pumping thrill ride. In terms of sheer excitement a go-kart is in a different league from any other road car. If you consider yourself a petrol-head you should definitely make it a top priority to get a ride in one of these.
Here’s a photo gallery from the qualifying session in Lahore…
The Chevrolet Joy is aimed at a group of people who like to buy a smart and reasonably priced car that is up to date with the modern world. It offers features like CD/mp3 player, rear seat belts, power windows and mirrors which are miles ahead of what all the other cars in the same budget range have to offer. The performance and fuel economy figures are also very impressive.
This car is not very popular in the used car market yet. In the future however, I’m sure it will gain more popularity. So you can get a good bargain if you are planning to buy a used one of these right now.
The Bank Alfalah Karting Championship is back in Lahore once again. This is the round 2 of the 2009 Championship. As always, this weekend the event will be held on a street circuit at Lake City which is located on Raiwind road 13 kilometers from Thokar Niaz Baig.
Here are some details about the event…
Teams:
1. Alfalah Equipe Corporate
2. Bed & Bath
3. ASR Pro
4. ASR Women
5. Espresso
6. Cosa Nostra
7. Pattu Dragons Death Squad
8. Hi Profile
9. Pak Wheels
10. Lake City
11. Team Stone Age
12. Zong Velocity
Format:
Saturday – 6 pm – Teams Meeting
Sunday – 12 pm – Track Reporting Time for Teams
1 pm – Karts Allocation
1:30 pm – 2: 30 pm – Practice Session
3:00 pm – 4 pm – Qualifying Session
4:15 pm – Race Start
9:15 pm – Chequered Flag
The day will feature:
DJ
Food & Beverage Stalls
Car Demonstrations
Date: Sunday, 11 October 2009
Time: 12:00 – 21:00
Venue: Lake City , Lahore
Phone: 03227740909
Email: info@racingpakistan.org
Here’s a post about the last round of this championship.
How many Pakistani racing teams have you ever heard of? Better than that, how many championship winning Pakistani racing teams have you ever heard of?
Here’s one…
“Pakistan Express Racing Team was established in 2008 by Faisal Ahmad. The team competes in the NASA Performance Touring series in the Great Lakes and Midwest regions. Our mission is to raise awareness of motor sports in and to bring the excitement of motor racing to Pakistan.”
And they’ve just won the NASA great lakes championship title of 2009. When I say NASA it doesn’t mean the one with the satellites and the space shuttles. This NASA stands for National Auto Sport Association.
Anyway, well done Pakistan Express team and best of luck.
watch this video report about the PakExp team prepared by NASA.
Here’s a public awareness video message from the City District Government of Karachi. It features some horrible road accidents captured by their traffic cameras on the roads of Karachi. The footage from these cameras should be very helpful in the investigations after such accidents.
It’s a good thing to know that finally some local government is beginning to take notice of a major public safety issue. Local governments from other cities should also take notice of this safety issue.
I once said in one of my articles, that the reason why no one has ever built a racetrack in Pakistan is because the Pakistani land has been cursed by some Martians so that no one can ever build a racetrack here.
Well, it seems that the Martians visit my blog quite regularly. Because they’ve finally lifted the unbreakable curse from Pakistan. Islamabad is now home to the first ever racetrack of Pakistan. This is great news for all the Pakistani motorsports enthusiasts as well as the thousands of people who own really expensive sports cars but can’t really use them for anything more than posing.
So far all I know about this racetrack is that it is located near Rawal lake at Lake View Park in Islamabad and it is only 1.5 km long. The first race of this track is being held in October.
The Racing Pakistan team is back with a change. After a number of go kart endurance races, this time they are on a talent hunt. The idea is that there will be three qualifying rounds in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad. And at the end there will be a grand finale in which the top 10 racing drivers from all three cities will race against each other. There are handsome prizes for the podium finishers and a racing contract for the winner.
There are only two kinds of car buyers in Pakistan, those who want quality and those who want a Suzuki. The Toyota Vitz introduced a whole new benchmark of quality in Pakistan at least in the small car market. That’s why the quality buyers adore this car.
Engine Capacity (litre)
Power (bhp)
Torque (Nm)
0-100 kph (sec)
Top Speed (kph)
1.0
68
95
15.7
154
Score
Remarks
Performance
8/10
Great
Grip & handling
9/10
Amazing
Space & Comfort
9/10
Best in its class
Reliability
9/10
Great
Fuel economy
9/10
Great
Maintenance
7/10
Slightly expensive
Resale
10/10
For sure
Price
7/10
good value for money
Equipment
8/10
Best in its class
Build quality
9/10
Best in its class
Rivals:
Chevrolet Joy
Hyundai Santro
Suzuki Alto
Suzuki Cultus
Verdict:
If this car falls in your budget, then buying it is the obvious choice. Unless you want to spend your money on a large tin can with a “Suzuki” badge on it.
Have you ever had to ask ten different guys on the street for directions, out of which at least eight led you in the wrong direction with full confidence?
Well now you can look up where you are going at google maps before you set off. And better still you can also look up google maps on your cellular phone. For that you can go to m.google.com/maps on your mobile and install the google maps application. The best feature in this mobile application is that even if your phone does not have GPS, it can tell your current location within a range of a couple of kilometers at max using your cellular network (not magic).
The rest of the world has had this facility for ages but Pakistan has only recently been included in the google maps database. The road map of Pakistan was developed completely by volunteers in an amazingly short period of time. You can also contibute in this map by adding places. If you want to contribute go to http://www.google.com/mapmaker. You can also use the ‘get directions’ feature on google mapmaker which is not yet available on google maps for Pakistan.
