Go-karters to burn rubber on Maidan

KOLKATA: Go Karting on the maidan. Sounds unbelievable? Thrill seekers need wait only till February 22 to go zooming down a race track in the heart of the city.
The go-karting race track is part of the package in the first automobile fair in the eastern region. The exclusive track is, in fact, what sets apart this auto fair from the one it is modelled on — the Delhi auto show.
“Go karting, the poor cousin of Formula One races is all about speed, passion and endurance.The sort of thrill that makes you go wobbly in the knee and speed that makes your surroundings go blurred. Even the toughest clutch their stomach praying for it to calm down,� gushed Devyani Mitra. “There are only a couple of places where you can enjoy gokarting in Kolkata but they are all very far out from the city. It’s great that we will be able to enjoy the adrenaline rush of high speed right at the centre of the city, even if it’s only for a short time,� said go karting enthusiast Rajiv Dhir.
Apart from go-karting, the other attraction of the fair will be a vintage car hanger, which will showcase all vintage cars that are in Kolkata. The fair, which will be held annually, is being organised jointly by the Pavilion and the West Bengal Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation. While speed enthusiasts and car lovers can indulge in their passion to their heart’s content, there will be special treats for children too — a separate kids’ corner set up exclusively to sell toy cars and computer games.
“It will take some time to bring the Kolkata automobile fair at par with the Delhi auto show, simply because Delhi has all the infrastructure for such shows. They have many closed auditoriums and Pragati Maidan itself is a huge space compared to the Kolkata maidan. However, this is an effort promote the eastern region as a potential market through this fair,� said MD of WBTIDC, Dhiman Mukherjee.
As opposed to the Delhi auto show, where the stress is on marketing the products, the Kolkata fair will have provisions for buying and selling too. “I feel that people in the eastern region have a raw deal as far as choice of cars is concerned,� said Mukherjee. This fair will expose Kolkatans to imported products like Audi, Daimler Chrysler. BMW, Suzuki, Skoda among others.
Kunal Mitra, secretary of the fair committee pointed out that the fair will have an organised car bazaar too, where there will be a systematic sale of second hand cars.