Many for the Road

In fact, Lalwani didn’t care that the Prince of Wales toured Canada in a Buick or the fact that a Darracq looked like a horse carriage until he met Mallya. This was in 1980, when Mallya prepared to race a 911 Porsche at Sholavaram, only to find that its oil cooler was acting up. ‘‘I told him that it meant instant death if we opened up the damn thing right there, so I worked on it later in Kolkata,’’ recalls Lalwani. The deal was that Lalwani would fix the engine if Mallya would sponsor his car at the rallies, and the duo soon set up a team.

A few years later Mallya roped in Lalwani to restore the finest classic cruisers for his collection. A Fiat Corsa, which was added to Mallya’s fleet of 40 vintage cars, was one of his fascinating discoveries. It was spotted in a courtyard in Hyderabad and Lalwani admits it was love at first sight. ‘‘An entire wall had to be broken down to move the car and rebuilding the wall was part of the restoration expenses,’’ he laughs. The snake-filled Rolls Royce Silver Ghost has its own story. Revealing that it was bought off a Russian settled in Mumbai back in the ’80s, he says, ‘‘We spent five lakh buying the car, another five on restoration and it costs at least Rs 50 lakh today!’’

Seated at the Herbertsons garage, tucked away in Colaba’s Pasta Lane, he narrates some more fascinating tales. Starting with the 1993 Great American Race, one of the world’s finest annual vintage car rallies, in which he drove with Mallya and when the bumper of their 1902 Grand Prix Mors kissed coast to coast. ‘‘This was one car where you’d feel unsafe at 50 kph,’’ he chuckles. And he unabashedly confesses how they lasted just three out of 13 racing days. But the Mille Miglia, an Italian vintage car rally, in 1991 more than made up. ‘‘We drove 1,000 miles around the countryside alongside some of the most famous Grand Prix names who were in it for the fun of it,’’ says Lalwani.

He admits Mallya is a wizard behind the wheel. ‘‘He’s a good driver and learns fast. He’s also got great coordination skills,’’ he says. Remembering the time when a mechanic went into panic when Mallya hadn’t practised driving on a 1898 Mors he says, ‘‘You need four hands to drive that car, because it has more levers and hand brakes than anything I’ve seen.’’ The nouveau driver in question mastered the machine 15 minutes before the annual London-Brighton run. Incidentally, the carriage-like car was considered a menace with a max speed of four mph!

While he’s pored over volumes of literature on vintage cars, racing has been Lalwani’s calling since the ’80s. ‘‘I still prefer modern racing cars,’’ he says. His last Indian project was a convertible called San Storm. He’s also designed 12 racing cars for a racing school in Chennai. ‘‘It’s not frightening, but it’s quick,’’ Lalwani says of the machine that’s fitted with a Maruti 800 engine.

More recently, he designed a single-seater Formula Maruti for a track at Coimbatore. There’s still a long road ahead before the 63-year-old takes a break.