The Castrol Power1 supported Grand Indian Road Trip commenced from New Delhi on 11th March 2012 with super bikers- Sundeep Gujjar, Sunil Gupta, Sandeep Goswami, Himanshu Gupta, Abhishek Bhatt and Shivanshu Singh. The road trip stretched over 13,000 kms across 25 cities and towns all over India in 52 days. On 17th May 2012, the bikers were back in the city and film actor John Abraham was present at the occasion to welcome them.
The exciting journey covered the cities of Jaipur, Udaipur, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Mumbai, Pune, Goa, Bangalore, Coorg, Ooty, Munnar, Alleppy, Thekkadi, Trivandrum, Kanyakumari, Chennai, Vijaywada, Hyderabad, Vizag, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Asansol, Varanasi, Lucknow and Agra during its course.
A passionate biker himself, brand ambassador of Castrol Power1, John Abraham was present at the event organised by the company to honour the roadies in New Delhi. In the event, John said, “The Grand Indian Road Trip is an exciting concept and I am delighted to be associated with it through Castrol Power1. Castrol is at the forefront of supporting events such as these which help promote the passion for biking and help build a community of bikers. From what I have heard, the Grand Indian Road Trip was a fantastic event and I wish I had the time to join these superbikers on their journey. It would be a really great way to see our beautiful country and catch up with fellow bikers”.
To bring the biking community together and make the trip even more thrilling the company organised several events. The events included Castrol Power1 ‘Fix & Flick’, which was a do-it-yourself (DIY) bike maintenance session. Also 'Castrol Helmet of Change' where the bikers took a pledge to support safety measures and 'My Reason to Ride' where every biker got a chance to express his feelings. Every biker was given a jacket sporting the logos of all the biking clubs in the country that participated in the event and was called 'United Motorcyclists Jacket of India'. The six superbikers created a biker code based on the reviews that they ramped from their interaction with the bikers across the journey, which was called 'Castrol Power1 Biker Code of India'. A biker in every city that fell en route the trip was given a chance to host the riders under 'Biking Host' event.
Regarding these activities, John commented, “I am particularly thrilled about the Castrol Helmet for Change programme which the superbikers propagated during the journey. Safety is synonymous with Castrol and I am personally endorsing the Castrol Helmet for Change programme since I never get on to a bike without a helmet and protective gear”.
The whole aim of the road trip was to build a biking community pan-India and have a close interaction with the bikers all over the country. The superbikers interacted with over 5,000 bikers and 27 biking groups on the journey. The bikers were motivated to express their views as well as online using the Castrol Power1 Facebook page (www.facebook.com/CastrolBiking). Fellow bikers supported the trip through a unique application on Castrol biking, ‘Clock the Kilometre’ when the superbikers were still pursuing the trip. The application was used to record the distance that the supporters clocked on their own bikes and the application recorded more than 1,00,000 kilometres. During the trip 3.67 million bikers were reached using social and digital media.
Deputy Head of Marketing, Castrol India, Saugata Basuray, commented on the event, “Castrol Power1 has always been associated with passionate bikers who look for performance in riding. An initiative like The Grand Indian Road Trip was supported by us to connect bikers and biking communities from across India and engage with them. Castrol is a brand with a history in motor sports and high performance product technology that is tested on racetracks across the world. We will continue to create opportunities and experiences like this one, for biking enthusiasts.”
Sandeep Gujjar, member, Team Xbhp, commented, "The Grand Indian Road Trip was the experience of a lifetime. Castrol has always been an integral part of the Xbhp biking community in India and we see it as our trusted partner. Although the journey was tough and arduous, with Castrol Power1 in our bikes and their support on ground, we had a smooth journey throughout.”
