If there ever was a poster boy for all the fancy hashtags like NotAGarageQueen, BoughtItToDriveIt, DailyDriven and the likes, this gentleman would be it! We had the good fortune to catch up with Mr. Ashique Thahir a few days ago and for those who know him, I am pretty sure you’d now agree with the opening line of this piece. For the uninitiated, Mr. Thahir is a Calicut based supercar enthusiast and the owner of a long list of cars including a Lambo Huracan, Porsche 911 Carrera S Cabriolet, Ferrari 458 Italia, Merc G55 AMG, Rolls-Royce Ghost and so on. But the car we experienced was his newest possession, the Type 991 Mark II Porsche 911 GT3. Barely a month old and this car is already inching towards 2,500 kilometres on the odo. This, however, comes by no surprise as the odometers of his other cars too have reading which many supercars never see in their lifetime. For instance, his admitted favourite of the lot, the Ferrari 458 Italia is touching 30,000kms, his less-than-a-year old Lamborghini Huracan LP 580-2 Spyder is at about 7,000 and his Carrera S will soon reach a milestone. More on that later.

As you would’ve guessed by now, this gentleman loves driving his supercars. He was in Bangalore with his friend Vijesh aka VVP87 who’d accompanied him in his Type 991 Mark II Porsche 911 Carrera. They started off from Kerala and drove to Chennai for a shoot for a certain magazine at the racetrack and then to Bangalore and then back to Calicut. Rounding up a little over 1350 kilometers in two days, driving through some of the most scenic settings in this part of the country, with cars like these it sure was a sensory overload. Goals much?!

We met Mr. Thahir at a central Bangalore hotel hours before he left. As any petrolhead would, I was up way before my Murcie SV exhaust note alarm went off. Waking up on cold, early mornings is usually quite daunting a task but if it a couple of 911s on the other end, it was a breeze! A shot of espresso and I was out. I made my way to the hotel and, well, was way before time and no complains since the cars were parked up right at the porch. Before time meant extra time to salivate at these beauties parked and I used my time quite well to get a good look at these cars up close. As they say, seeing cars in pictures is one thing and seeing them in the flesh is a whole different thing altogether. The GT3’s rear end is unreal in its proportions and the Carrera looked delicious shod on its just-installed HRE P101s painted in a shade of gold. Soon after, our photographer for the day, Vivek Ravichandar arrived and the cameras went click.. whirrr. The cars were covered in muck but somewhere I realised that the muck gave the cars a lot of character (which Vivek tried to bring out on to the frame). While we were at it, Mr. Thahir came down and we got chatting. It is Ramzan and this gentleman here was mile munching while fasting. Imagine driving from Calicut to Chennai and then to Bangalore on barely any liquids, leave alone food! Ain’t no mean feat, this! More so, considering that he spent a good amount of time outdoors in Chennai on the racetrack in a heat that drenches you in sweat even before you complete reading this sentence. Fast forward a few minutes and I find myself in the passenger seat of the GT3! A self admitted, shameless Porsche fan boy, this was quite an experience for me. First thing you notice once inside the GT3 is how similar it is to any other 911 but that is only till the car gets rolling. Once on the road, even as a passenger, one could feel the stiffness that the GT3 by the seat of their pants. And this stiffness isn’t just a hard suspension type of stiffness, this car feels rigid and like it would dance at the movement of your fingertips. Fittingly enough, Mr. Thahir very well knows how to drives his cars and as soon as the fluids heated up, he was out and about nailing the car on straights and corners of empty Bangalore streets. With a blazing red Carrera tailing us, it was quite an aural delight. Lost in the moment, it was all a blur while the GT3 roared in all it’s glory. Soon we were back in the hotel and it was time for us to bid adieu to these two so similar yet so distinct machines as they left for their home in Kerala.

They usually say that supercars aren’t practical in India but if there’s one thing that is clear then thatif you want to use your car, you will find excuses to. These gentlemen here stand testimony to exactly that. While taking a flight to Bangalore of Chennai would anyway be easier, more so while you are fasting, but it is the love for cars and an itchy right foot that gets one going. Driving is definitely some heightened form of meditation that only a few can practice! And here we have the gurus of that very form!
 

A huge thanks to Ashique Thahir and VVP87 for having us over and taking time out to show us around the cars despite running on a tight schedule and Vivek Ravichandar for these amazing photographs! Home page cover image courtesy Ashique Thahir.