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Gul Panag, F1 Racer!

Recently, Gul Panag was called in as a celebrity invitee to test drive Renault's Formula 1 car on the Paul Ricard Circuit at Le Castellete, France.

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Rachna Tyagi meets up with actor Gul Panag who was invited by Renault to test drive an F1 car in France recently

MUMBAI: Recently, former Miss India and actor Gul Panag was called in as a celebrity invitee to test drive Renault's Formula 1 car on the Paul Ricard Circuit which is now known as the Paul Ricard High Tech Test Track at Le Castellete, France.

The circuit is a high-tech training track where every square metre is covered by cameras, and where flags have been replaced by multi coloured lights that serve as indicators.

"This was indeed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," says Gul Panag, who's now returned from France. "As you know, I drive a 4x4 custom built Mahindra Scorpio but driving an F1 car is in a different league altogether, where you're expected to leave your conventional driving wisdom behind. Being a motoring enthusiast the opportunity to test-drive a Formula 1 car was indeed exciting, to say the least. It was a fantastic feeling going through all sorts of emotions as well as being part of the training that a Formula 1 race driver has to go through on the day of the race," says the actor.

"Would you believe it, if I told you that there are 19 sizes of helmets available for you to try on and get the best fit for your head before you enter the race car," exclaims the visibly overjoyed Panag.

"On arriving there, I had a couple of briefing sessions where I was categorically told about the car that I would be test-driving and its capabilities. I was also told about how the car could not go below 6000 rpm and about how and exactly where on the circuit I needed to downshift ansd corner exactly into the apex of the turn for making the most of the race car's performance. These along with some other vital tips for driving a race car were given to me and after that I was raring to go." says Panag.

"Once in front of the F1 car, I had a sinking feeling looking at the position I'd be sitting in through the test drive because the seating position did look a bit unnerving but it was just a psychological thing probably and once I started the engine, the sound of the engine just drowned everything else around me and I was all set to floor the car," says Panag. 

"The car had six forward gears and amazing stability even when I was cornering at speeds of 90-100kmph. The small super sensitive steering wheel was a delight to hold and the 180bhp race car weighing 450 kgs simply delighted me every bit with its agility" says Panag. I also got a detailed telemetric printout of my car’s performance later.

"I also got to go for a Tandem drive with a professional race driver, which is usually reserved for the rich and famous who want to smell burning rubber on the tarmac and get really close to the Formula 1 experience as possible but are unsure to do it themselves. This turned out to be a fantastic experience indeed where the professional driver drove an F1 car with special tyres performing all sorts of handbrake stunts and just gliding and sliding the car around," she adds.

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