Thursday, November 06, 2008
By Our Correspondent
LAHORE
The sixty-five European participants in the Himalayas Classic Car Rally 2008 reached the provincial metropolis in their 30 vintage automobiles by road from Iran en route their final destination, the Himalayas via India on Wednesday afternoon.
The convoy of the 30 cars along with their drivers and navigators was given a reception at the Pearl Continental, Lahore, official host of the participants in the rally.
This Internationally acknowledged event was being organised by (Federation Internationale de L’Automobile’ (FIA).
It is the same organisation, which holds the Formula-1 car racing event, the most prestigious international motor sports event in the world.
The vintage vehicles, which included a 88 years old ‘Bentley” car, the oldest of the entire congregation, was the star attraction of the fleet.
There were over 50 years old ‘Volvo’, 60 years old ‘Austins’ and over 50 years old ‘Mercedes Benz’ in the convoy, which was a rare feat and a feast for the eyes of the motor sports enthusiasts as well as unique car collectors.
The drivers and the navigators who had reached Lahore to cross over to India through Wahga border after an overnight stay in the city of lights were quite excited to be in this famous city.
Despite a tiring and nerve-wrecking journey of over 1,500 kilometres from the point of entry into Pakistan at Zahidan (Iran), all the European participants in the rally were beaming with joy.
They were received at the PC compound on the beat of traditional drums playing ‘Bhangra’ tunes .The top management of PC Lahore presented bouquets and garlands of flowers to the guests.
The representative of Pakistani organisers of this leg of the rally, Naeem Murtaza of Motor Sports Association of Pakistan, told The News that the rally might seemed to be a very small event for the Pakistanis who want to show the peaceful and loving face of Pakistan and its people to the world, this was a great happening.
He said that the congregation of such a huge number of foreigners in Pakistan in the so-called scary circumstances was a unique opportunity for Pakistanis to prove to the world that they are certainly not a terrorist nation but a peace-loving nation.
He said that the rally would cross over to India on Thursday morning around 10 am and during their night stay in Lahore, the participants would be shown around the city and a special dinner has been organised for them at the PC hotel. Naeem said that events should be promoted in maximum possible ways so that we could earn a good name for the country and could dispel the wrong image about us in the world. Secretary Sports Syed Munawar Abbas received the rally participants on behalf of the Punjab government.
The rally participants said that they were very impressed by the warmth and hospitality of the people of Pakistan throughout their journey and they were surprised to find the reality to be absolutely contrary to what they had heard about this country and its people.
However, they did complain about the dilapidated state of the roads from Balochistan to Lahore.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=145150
