The last weekend was one of the most exciting weekends I have had in the recent past. I was invited by Honda Cars India to the Budh International Circuit, India’s only and one of the fastest F1 race tracks in the world, for the pre-launch upcoming hatchback the New Jazz. The event, Hangout with Honda as Honda called it, was a grand one.

One of the best things about being part of the event was of-course meeting a lot of like-minded bloggers from all across the country but, the most exciting thing for me was getting to drive (if not race 🙁 ) on an F1 track!!

Icing on the cake, I was going to drive the all new Jazz before anybody else (expect for us who were there) gets a chance to experience it!! Now if this is not an exciting weekend then what is.

Ever since F1 came in India, I had always wanted to get to see the track. But as much as I wanted to see it, I had no such plans in the near future so when the invitation came for the event I knew my time to actually drive on the track has come. I did not waste any time and accepted the invitation readily.

Couple of days later, there I was at the Indira Gandhi Airport in Delhi, being received by the Honda guys on our way to the Hotel and the event venue, the BIC!!!

Post freshening-up and lunch we reached the BIC and the event started soon-enough. The event was hosted by VJ Yudi who was fantastic as always.

Soon Mr. Katsushi Inoue, the CEO of Honda Cars India took the mic and briefed us about the philosophy, safety and environmental aspects that were kept in mind while developing this car. One of the many things he talked about which I really liked was their concept of man maximum, machine minimum which tries to minimize the size of the car’s components and use that space to give more room to the occupants inside the car.

Later in the day, we had informal one to one with discussion about the car and other aspects at Honda. Some hints about up-coming models were thrown as well 😉 .

Soon after Mr. Inoue’s speech, Ms. Navneet Kaur the head of Product, Planning took to the podium to explain the technical aspects of the car. Now, let me be very honest here and tell you that my knowledge about technical aspects of cars are not much higher than ziro. I am a lame end-user and hence decided to hold my feelings about the car until I take a spin in it. For now, I mainly concentrated on the attendees around me.

Soon after her speech, it was finally time to hit the tracks which got everybody excited. After signing the indemnity bond and going though a session about the do’s & dont’s when on the track, we were finally ready to hit the track.

My turn came after the third group was done with riding the Jazz. For the time when we were waiting while other groups drove around, Honda had made sure we don’t get bored and had done enough arrangements of games and activities for us to keep us engaged.

Finally, my turn came and the excitement on my face was tough to hide 🙂 . Also, the fact that I got to ride the car of the color I liked the most was another reason for my smile, no seriously! 😉

The first thing I felt as soon as pulled the car to the track was that, this car was much smoother than the previous Jazz or any other hatchback I have driven recently (not that I have driven many anyways). I also liked the smooth power delivery of the car. Unlike the Honda Brio, the interior was not at-all minimalistic and the car felt pretty spacious. The shifting was butter smooth, something which Honda is known for anyway.

This version of Jazz is a bit bigger than the old version and hence gives you more space for the occupants and luggage, for a long trip may be 😉 .

I wish Honda gives me the Jazz for a month, to take it to the Himalayas and let me test its real capabilities 😉 .