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Car culture & things to do for petrolheads in different cities in India

2nd July 2024, 12:38 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

For example, Mumbai has a bunch of activities that keep this enthusiasm alive - Sunday car meets, car rallies, drag race events, off-road training and much more.

BHPian Omkar recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Everyone has a different definition of car culture and we, as Indians, have a mix of everything. Especially in a city like Mumbai, the car culture is such that it excites everyone. You have Italian supercars, American muscle cars, JDM cars, souped-up German saloons, etc. - you name it and someone has it. So, what defines the car culture of Mumbai? It’s just the enthusiasm that people have about cars and car-related things. The city has a bunch of activities that keep this enthusiasm alive. I'm listing out some of them here.

Sunday Car Meets

Driving down to South Mumbai on a Sunday morning has become a tradition for many. This is the prime essence of car culture in Mumbai where you’ll find enthusiasts who want to take their prized possessions out for a drive. In the area around Horniman Circle, Marine Drive or Worli Seaface, you will see plenty of supercars and even vintage & classic cars. There are also some cars and coffee meets that are arranged regularly by different car clubs like this one by Bayview Motor Club.

Here’s a video that sums up car meets in Mumbai

Car Rallies

These are wonderful for meeting people and their machines. Since it’s an organized affair, there’s a structure to the event and you can get to see a wide variety of cars. One of the most famous rallies that happens in Mumbai is the Mercedes-Benz Classic Car Parade. Then you also have the Vintage & Classic Car Drive and the Modern Classics Rally.

Drag Race Events

If there’s an empty stretch of road and two cars being driven by enthusiasts, there’s going to be a drag race for sure. Back in the day, there used to be some illegal and some legal drag race events around Kharghar, Palm Beach Road, and Bandra Kurla Complex. Nowadays, the biggest drag race attraction is the Valley Run which is organized annually. Recently, the Juhu airstrip in Mumbai was also opened for a night drag race event after almost 30 years.

Image Source - Autocar India

Off-Road Training

There are customer off-road events that are organized regularly by manufacturers to showcase the capabilities of their vehicles. But these are purpose-built obstacles. If you want to test out your off-roading skills, there’s a 19-degree North off-road adventure park and there’s also the Learn Off-Road Academy run by D-BHPian Tejas@perioimpl at Pali, around 120 km from Mumbai.

Karting

For lovers of speed, what’s more exciting than some wheel-to-wheel action on a track? While there's no full-fledged track like the BIC, Noida or the Madras Motor Race Track, Chennai, Smaaash in Lower Parel has a Go-Karting track with electric karts. There’s also the Indikarting track in Wadala East where you have 2-stroke karts. This is also where some professional karting races are held and they also have some training programs.

Drift Events

Recently, there was a drift event organized by BadBoiDrifts, which was quite a success. People could get their cars and drift and there were purpose-built drift cars too for drift taxi rides. They were also conducting training sessions on their cars.

Formula 1 Screenings

Ever since the 2021 F1 season, the popularity of F1 has shot up like crazy. Now, multiple locations across Mumbai are streaming F1 races. More importantly, the response from people is also quite good and you will find a bunch of F1 fans at these screenings.

Other car stuff

Last but not least, Mumbai also has a drive-in theatre, which is a cool experience. And while I don’t think we have an out-and-out car-themed restaurant in Mumbai, there’s Café Monza in Navi Mumbai which comes close. There are MaplePods also, but I don't have any first-hand reviews of that place.

All in all, there’s a lot that happens in and around Mumbai. If I’ve missed out on something, do share. Also, please share information about the car culture in your city and things to do for petrolheads.

Here's what BHPian Samba had to say about the matter:

Car culture in Kolkata is awesome!
I love the car culture in Kolkata. It is quite versatile and people are passionate and enthusiastic about automobiles and road trips.
To name a few, we have all these in Kolkata -
Car meets
Group travel
Car rallies
TSD Rallies
Bike meets
Offroad drives
Drives with a particular brand of car owners like Duster meet or Jimny meet etc.
Supercar meets
Superbike meets
Vintage car meets
Car meets
Apart from Team-BHP, there are several car groups in Kolkata like R.O.A.D, Driving DNA, Car Photography, and many more.
Yearly they arrange monsoon drives, picnics, and many more events and these drives include even 70+ cars in a convoy.
Then there are our Team-BHP meets with 50+ cars too in Kolkata, owing to some limitations in the forum membership.
Group travel
I have been a part of 25+ group trips from Kolkata. Though I prefer solo travels now, I must say all these were super fun and I enjoyed them to the core.
Few pics of our group drives from Kolkata to places like Ladakh, Spiti, and a few more -
Car rallies/TSD Rallies
FMSCI is quite active in Bengal. FMSCI and Bengal Motor Sports do have some great mentors in Bengal. They organize rallies. Of late, they are joining hands with the Driving DNA club in Kolkata to promote rally driving among people who have no exposure to this field. They are trying to promote new drivers by training them which in itself is an excellent initiative.
Bike meets
Be it super bikes or just regular commuter bikes, every weekend our highways are filled with the biking group guys going from short breakfast rides to longer rides. Yearly there is an event organised by Wheels United, where more than 500 bikes go for breakfast rides together!
Pics from a small afternoon ride -
Off-Roading
With the launch of the new Thar in 2020, people all over the country found a new hobby in off-roading. But here we have been lucky to get exposure with Kolkata Off-roaders and the mentorship of legends like Sir Uday Bhan Singh or his son Adhiraj Singh for a much longer period. We have been taught all the Do's and Don'ts on a hands-on basis.
I feel lucky to get this handwritten acknowledgement from none other than Sir, Uday Bhan Singh.
Car owners meet
Now there are car owners meet like Nexon owners meet, or Jimny owners meet, or so on.
I had the opportunity to be a part of Duster Owners Meet and Jimny Owners Meet.
Supercar / Superbike meets
Every weekend there are supercar or super bike meets on the highways. Of late there was a grand midnight supercar meet held in Kolkata.
Vintage car meets
Kolkata has a great collection of vintage cars too. Every year Statesmen organise a vintage car rally in the city and that attracts a lot of car enthusiasts.
Go Karting
Initially, Kolkata lacked a proper Go-Karting track, but recently I heard a good Go-Karting track is soon going to make its way to Kolkata.
The level of madness? When someone goes to take delivery of his new car, all these mad people come to the showroom to be a part of the delivery ceremony!
Mr.Samaresh Das from Kolkata drove his Ecosport from Kolkata all the way to London in 2017.
Last but not the least - Safe driving
Kolkata police always take a good initiative to promote safe driving in Kolkata. The commonly used line is 'Safe drive, Save life'.
Our very own DBhpian SS-Traveller took a safe driving training twice in Kolkata. One was for the Kolkata Team-Bhpians and the other one was for a few lady drivers from Kolkata under 'She Must Drive', that was initiated by Bhpian DogNDamsel12.

Here's what BHPian suhaas307 had to say about the matter:

When it comes to car culture, Bengaluru pulls its weight quite emphatically!
Cars & Coffee BLR has gained immense traction over the last year or so and has become something of an institution. On one Sunday of every month, a C&C BLR meet takes place. Instagram and WhatsApp Community announcements are made a week or two in advance.
The founding members / core-group of C&C BLR take all possible measures to ensure that the meet runs smoothly, with strict guidelines published a day or two prior to the meet.
These meets are usually organised at venues such as popular coffee and breakfast spots in the city, karting tracks, used car dealerships and even speed shops.
It is quite well organised as this core group of members get in touch with the venue well in advance and work with them by extending their full cooperation.
Vintage and classic car enthusiasts are often treated to vintage car rallies and meets that are again organised by a plethora of vintage/classic car clubs in the city:
Team-BHP members and fellow enthusiasts often get together and go on short blasts to locations right outside the city for a quick lunch:
Supercars and their lesser counterparts are often found at every street corner:
You will find some rare gems tucked away at speed shops and workshops, waiting to receive TLC:
Some ultra-rare sports cars are also found causally street parked on a random Sunday:
Bengaluru’s car culture is not only thriving but also growing at a rate of knots! As an enthusiast, it’s heartwarming to witness it in motion.
(Due credits to the owners of the first 15 photographs)