AVIKASH Chand drives a Mazda RX8 which has a 1.3 litre 13B rotary powered engine that has a top speed of 239km/h.
Mr Chand says his car is not to be underestimated just by its engine capacity as it is not a piston engine, but a revolving rotor engine which is way different in design.
The car engine efficiently produces enormous amount of power which is around 230 horsepower.
“It is a six-speed manual transmission with rear wheel drive and 18-inch tyres and is a street legal car,” Mr Chand said.
“My friend Imtiaz Gul is a car dealer (M Gul Carz and Parts — Coastline Transport Ltd) and he imports and sells cars.
“One day we were browsing through the list of cars that he was supposed to go and inspect in Japan before importing and I saw this particular car in his list — The Mazda RX8. It was love at first sight and my friend liked it too, but it was the only one available then so he let me take it.”
He said he used to walk 3km one way daily on foot to get to school and cars would go past really fast, making the road dusty.
“My friends and I would say to each other that when we would have our own cars we would not drive past people so fast,” he said.
“I started working and bought my first car which was a Sprinter Marino GT. It was fast but when I used to drive on dusty roads and if I would see someone walking along the road I would slow down so that I don’t create a lot of dust.
They would wave to me with a happy face, which was good.
“My vehicle is installed with a XTD 6 puck stage three-racing clutch kits and JDM carbon fibre rear truck GT racing wing and ECB redstuff ceramic performance brake pads. It also has a laser iridium sparkplugs and Yokohama semi slick racing tyres. I am in the process of importing a dual titanium tip Cat back exhaust system and all of this costs $9000.
“It’s all about understanding your car. You can’t just add everything at once and expect the results instantly. You might overdo it and over time you will slowly understand what your car needs.
He said adding modifications one at a time would give the best results and then again cost factor played a vital role when someone wanted to modify a car for performance.
“I love fast cars and watching car racing movies. Drag race programs ESPN motorsports used to be my favourite in my childhood days. I even made a car that could drift for the schools open day. I always wanted a sports car but did not really know for sure if I could actually have one. When I bought my first car all I knew that it was a Marino that had an unusual engine,” he said.
“Nobody wanted to buy it for that reason but I bought it anyways. After some time I found out that it was a special GT edition and had a racing engine.
“Now I have a RX8 which is so amazing to drive. I have other cars and vans in the company but I usually like to drive the sports car.
“I also have a SPYDER racing bike in the family and I also enjoy driving it around. I would like to own a Mustang one day.
“Dangerous drivers can drive fast, but are always careless and have lack of understanding about their cars, roads and other cars and people on the road.
“Double line overtaking, oncoming overtaking, speeding near schools and too many junctions are some of the major problems that drivers need to avoid.
“To all those other people who want to own a sports car or already do, please understand that it’s not always about speeding. You can be fast but safe. Understand the road. Not all drivers are alike and they don’t think like you.
So you have to calculate what is best in that time. Never take an action and wait for its outcome.
” As long as you own a sports car and have had no accident records, you will be a proud sports car owner.
“The day you end up in accident, maybe hurting someone will be the last day of your sports car dreams.
Drive safe and live your dreams for ever. So far I have had no accident record and I pray to God that it stays that way.”
