F1 drives busy testing new car models for car manufacturers

We have seen the fastest Indian car racer, Narain Karthikeyan only behind the wheels in a motorsports car until now. But, apparently there is another side to him, which we are not quite aware of. As a matter of fact, it’s not just him but the most popular rally car driver in Asia, Gaurav Gill and Karun Chandok, a Team Lotus driver for F1 races are also known to exhibit their diversified skills in testing high-end cars for renowned car manufacturers. Narain Karthikeyan who is a Formula 1 driver with Hispania Racing Team (HRT) for example, is deeply involved in testing cars for Tata Motors during the off season for car racing. He is the one who tells us how important the car testing is before any new car makes it to the market before sales.

The tester plays a very important role who in the first place should have the right qualifications to perform this task. The car tester should ideally have an innate quality to differentiate the slightest detail from one car to the other to be able to tell the best feature of the new car. This in turn will help the car manufacturer to market the new car playing on its best feature and deciding on the car price accordingly. However, a car tester job is not a dedicated field as of now where the car manufacturers are on a look out for good experienced drivers like Narain Karthikeyan or Gaurav Gill for instance, where the latter has recently done some testing on the Audi R8 super car, Mercedes-Benz AMG, Porsche Cayenne and Porsche Panamera we see in the car market today. Many of us might not know, but the famous Delhi-based rally car driver, Gaurav Gill had a lot more to do than we know with the Mitsubishi EVO10 rally car who is also employed with MRF tyres apart from his overwhelming rally performance we witness when we get lucky.

With the new car launches happening more than ever in the country despite the slow car market, the car manufacturers are not shying away from launching the new models. Though, we as a consumer just get to experience the driveability and the other aspects of the car only after the car launches in the car market. But, there are many other things that go behind the scene before any new car is introduced. Narain Karthikeyan had been very vocal about how he manages both the jobs efficiently switching between the car racing season where he races for around 15-19 races per year and drives his passion for car testing during the other times. Tata Motors, where he is a dedicated tester for the company depends on this renowned sports car personality for their high-end cars who is on the verge of introducing some interesting concepts for the international market including Tata Pixel concept. The auto major will also showcase the Tata Manza hybrid at the 2012 Auto Expo in New Delhi this week.