24 Hours Speed Endurance Challenge: In conversation with the drivers

As our first day of the 24 Hours Speed Endurance Challenge drew to a close, we managed to talk to the drivers about how it felt driving the Mahindra XUV700 on the Mahindra SUV Proving Track for long hours and at almost full speed.

Adil Jal Darukhanawala, evo’s editor-at-large, known as ‘bossman’ by many, noted that compared to the first Mahindra Scorpio 22 years ago, the XUV700 was a very impressive machine. Adil went on to add that the XUV700 held on to the track very well, despite being a large FWD SUV, and that it truly showcased Mahindra’s evolution when it came to engineering cars and SUVs in India.

Also part of our driver lineup was Shana Parmeshwar, a sportscar enthusiast who has a car collection that is bound to make any petrolhead take notice. Shana admitted that she had written off the XUV700 at first, but after hammering it around the track at serious speeds, she was very impressed by its road manners and more so at the fact that it was a homegrown SUV.

Trading two wheels for four, factory Dakar rider Aravind KP was fascinated by the digital cluster of the XUV700 and the myriad of functions it had to offer. Aravind went on to add that driving the XUV inspired a lot of confidence, especially when driving it at the track at nearly 200kmph.

Vicky Chandhok, the famed national racing and rally champion mentioned that he did not expect any less from the XUV700 before driving it, but he was still impressed when he drove the car on track. Vicky added that he loved the comfort of the SUV as well as the amount of tech the Mahindra had crammed in.

After talking to the drivers, we head on into Day 2 of the 24 Hour Speed Endurance Challenge and tomorrow, we’ll talk more about the challenges of driving at night.