E-Paper
Weekend Drive by Hormazd Sorabjee: A test of horse power
When a farm for thoroughbreds pivots to building a racetrack, it’s only fitting that the first ride is in a dirt-loving Sterrato
Somewhere in the folds of the Western Ghats, where the Mumbai-Pune Expressway slips off at Lonavala into quieter country, a piece of land is being reshaped into what will, by this time next year, become Maharashtra’s first racetrack. To call it just a race track undersells the ambition. What is coming up here, at the Nanoli Stud Farm, is closer to a race resort, where cars are not just driven but lived with.
The Dhunjibhoy family set up the Nanoli Stud and Agricultural Farm in the early 1990s. Khushroo Dhunjibhoy, who spent a lifetime around shipping and thoroughbreds, took his instinct for horse breeding and (with his son Zahir) turned toward motorsport.
This is more than a bare circuit with a pit lane added on. It has villas, high-end rooms and a clubhouse set within the same grounds as the horses. There will be a 100-car garage with humidity control to protect exotic machinery. The paddock and pit buildings will have a hospitality deck that looks over a large part of the circuit. The track itself will stretch to close to three kilometres, with shorter layouts as needed.
For now, what exists is the base layer. The dirt has been laid and compacted to a finish so smooth it could pass for a rally stage, which is roughly how we decided to treat it.
The obvious car for an afternoon like this would have been something like a Lamborghini Urus or an Audi RS Q8. But obvious rarely makes for a good story. So, we brought a Lamborghini Sterrato, essentially a Huracan, toughened up and reimagined for loose surfaces.
It still has that glorious naturally aspirated V10, loud, sharp and eager. The car we drove belongs to Dinesh Thakkar, who also set what can be considered the first recorded lap at Nanoli. It may not stand for long, but it marks the beginning of the circuit’s story.
On dirt, the Sterrato immediately feels different. Turning into corners is softer, but the front still finds grip. The real change comes when you get on the power. Where a standard Huracan demands restraint, this one invites you to play.
The rear moves around, but in a way that feels easy to read. It becomes less about outright speed and more about finding a rhythm, balancing the car through each corner. The added suspension travel helps, soaking up bumps and letting you carry speed where you normally would not.
Along with the V10’s familiar wail is the sound of gravel hitting the underside, adding to the sense that this is something closer to a rally car than a supercar.
For Thakkar, that first lap was not about setting a time. It was about being part of history. Once the tarmac goes down, no one will slide a supercar through Nanoli’s corners on loose dirt again. Mumbai’s supercar owners have long had the cars but not the space to use them properly. For them, Nanoli will likely be manna from heaven.
From HT Brunch, July 18, 2026
Follow us on www.instagram.com/htbrunch
