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Mumbai:
In a first-of-its-kind initiative, Vodafone India will speed up
India by offering motor-racing enthusiasts their first street racing
experience. Motor racing fans and loyal customers of Vodafone will
witness Lewis Hamilton burn rubber in his Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
MP4-27 car on Sunday, September 16, 2012 (evening), just a week
before the Singapore Grand Prix 2012 night race. The venue for this
unique and exciting initiative will be the historic and breath-taking
landscape of Marine Drive in South Mumbai.
Lewis will enthrall the crowd driving in his Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
MP4-27 car along the curves of the brilliantly illuminated Queen’s
necklace (Marine Drive) that will be made to look like a Formula
1 race track complete with grand stand and pit garage. The ambience,
the driving skills of Lewis and lightning fast speeds of the Vodafone
McLaren Mercedes car is sure to leave the audience spellbound. Some
lucky customers will have the privilege of riding with Lewis Hamilton
and a chance of visiting the pit garage to see the technology behind
the team, powered by Vodafone.
Vodafone is the ‘Title sponsor’ and 'Official Total Communications
Partner' of the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team since 2007. This
partnership is Vodafone's major global sponsorship and is part of
an ongoing commitment to the Formula 1 World Championship, a sport
which continues to deliver massive global television coverage and
which has significant appeal for Vodafone's consumer and business
customers and racing fans around the world.
Says,
Marten Pieters, MD & CEO, Vodafone India, “Vodafone shares
an exclusive relationship with McLaren Mercedes which gives us access
to the team, the drivers and other assets which enables us to provide
our customers unique content and enjoy great experiential events
and promotions.”
“Our activities in India are an extension of this association.
I am very excited that we can bring world known megastars like Lewis
Hamilton to India. The street race experience in Mumbai is an exclusive
event that happens so far only in Monaco and Singapore. We are very
happy to bring our customers to get closer to this action”,
adds Marten.
An excited Lewis Hamilton, who is no stranger to India and enjoys
a tremendous fan following said, “I always love coming to India
and I am really excited to be coming to the city of Mumbai this
time. I would like to thank Vodafone for their continued support
to the team. I am simply overwhelmed by the incredible excitement
shown by the people of this country. I had a wonderful experience
in Bangalore last year and this year I am hoping that the excitement
will be faster, smarter and better in Mumbai”, adds Lewis.
The excitement around this initiative is already building up on
Twitter with a #speedupmumbai requesting people to tweet their opinions
on what it takes to speed up the city. Over 500 people have already
tweeted about what they would love to do to speed up the city. This
activity around the drive will peak into Vodafone Speedfest from
Sept 11-16, 2012 at malls and high-footfall locations across Mumbai.
Motor racing enthusiasts and speed lovers will enjoy a full-scale
speed experience with helmet simulators, car simulators and also
an opportunity to get up close and personal with the exact replica
of the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes car.
All through August 2012, Vodafone has also been engaging with its
customers and motor racing fans across the country through a roadshow
showcasing the exact replica of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes car at
business parks and malls. This initiative has seen tremendous response
from die-hard fans and motor sport enthusiasts all over as they
engaged in interactive games and clicked pictures with the speed
machine.
Additionally, in order to make significant in-roads into the small
and medium business community and to give then a platform for easier
path of growth, Vodafone India, launched the second season of Vodafone
Drive into the Big League. This initiative gives one lucky SME the
opportunity to take center stage with their logo on the Vodafone
McLaren Mercedes cars at the second season of the formula one motor
racing event in Delhi. Vodafone received a phenomenal response of
over 270,000 entries for the contest vying for the coveted spot.
The winner of this unique initiative will be announced days before
the start of the Indian Grand Prix weekend (Oct 26-28., 2012) in
Delhi.
Vodafone and Speed go hand in hand and today in a survey undertaken
by German-based engineering services provider P3 Group, it’s
the fastest data network in the country.
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