<%@LANGUAGE="JAVASCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> Autocar India Ford Drive 2009
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Ford India and Autocar India are on an epic 20,000km drive across the country. The 'Ikon Cross Country Drive' will pass through 26 state capitals and three union territories of India and will take a total of 46 days to cover the entire distance.

The drive was flagged off from Ford’s manufacturing facility in Chennai on 22nd April 2009. A Ford Ikon with the new 1.4-litre DuraTorq, common-rail TDCi engine under its hood, is the chosen vehicle for this pan-India drive. The car is a standard Ikon diesel, without any modifications what-so-ever. The car will be undergoing service checks at stopovers at Ford's widespread authorized service centres en-route the 20000km run.
The journey will test both man and machine as it traverses through varied and extreme conditions. From the sapping heat of Rajasthan to the numbing chill of the Himalayas; from rutted mountain trails to smooth expressways; from the gridlock of Hosur Road to the runway-like Rajpath; the drive will encounter the complete tapestry of climatic, geographical and road conditions.
The car is manned by a two person crew from Autocar India who are rotated every six days. KPMG have been appointed as independent auditors to validate the proceedings and the end result of the drive program.

The team will monitor and log every parameter of the car’s performance including fuel consumption, tyre wear, and consumables like engine oil, brake fluid etc to establish its true-world fuel efficiency and cost of ownership after 20,000km.
The drive will end on 6th June 2009 at the Ford India's manufacturing plant in Chennai.
 
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Day 11 Pune – Daman

Day 10 was a rest day for the team and most of us had come down to Bombay to be at home with our families. Day 11 started with an early morning dash to Pune. I was itchy behind the wheel and had my share of entertainment in the ghats because on the way back I knew we weren’t going to be so fast around the corners.

After the press conference at Planet Ford, we headed out of the dealership at 4.15pm. We knew the roads well and also knew we could do the distance of roughly 300kms in not too much time. We know the Mumbai-Pune expressway like the back of our hands, so we were very comfortable about the leg even though we started late.

Our first rest stop came at the food mall after the second toll on the expressway. After a healthy dose of McDonald’s and Coffee Day, we headed out to the road again. Progress on the expressway was good, but we were slowed down a little at Thane’s Ghodbunder road which was expected. We kept our heads down and made steady progress. At 11.30pm, we were about 50kms outside of Daman and decided to stop for dinner. After a good meal (which took a lot of time by the way), we reached Daman at 2.30am. After tanking up, the lead Ikon had managed the highest yet 31.67kpl while the second Ikon returned a very similar 31.08kpl. The Fiesta also returned an impressive 15.89kpl. We were very satisfied with the figures since this stretch involved a lot of continuous high speed driving.