Ravi Shastri Drives His 40-Year Old Audi 100 That Billionaire Gautam Singhania Restored For Him [Video]

In 1985, Ravi Shastri, who was part of the Indian cricket team, received a brand-new Audi 100 sedan as a prize in Melbourne, Australia. The car is now around 40 years old and was showing its age. Ravi Shastri finally decided to get the Audi 100 restored and took the car to Super Car Club Garage (SCCG), which is operated by Gautam Singhania, Chairman and MD of Raymond Group. Recently, Ravi Shastri drove the car to Raymond Autofest, and the former Indian cricketer also shared an image of himself with the car on social media, which has now gone viral.

Ravi Shastri posted the images of his Audi 100 sedan with a caption, “India’s @AudiIN – my baby after 25 years! Thrilled to drive it at the Raymond Auto Fest, thanks to @SinghaniaGautam’s incredible initiative to restore #India’s vintage gems. Unbelievable how it still shines like it did 40 years ago when India won it.”

It looks like Ravi Shastri has owned this car for almost 40 years, but he was probably not using it for the last 25 years. The car was likely neglected or not used due to some mechanical issue. Ravi Shastri had mentioned in the past that several garages had tried their hands at restoring the Audi but were not successful. However, Gautam Singhania’s SCCG managed to pull off the job. This is the reason why he mentioned in the post that he is driving the car after 25 years.

Not only did he drive the car, but he also signed the bonnet of the vehicle. He seemed very happy in the pictures, and the same joy is visible in the social media post of the former cricketer. Coming to the Audi 100, its restoration was actually a year-long process. The SCCG took about 8 months to painstakingly put the Audi 100 back together. The start-to-finish process took about a year.

Super Car Club Garage (SCCG) did not use any replica parts to restore the vehicle. Gautam Singhania had said in the past that it was a painstaking task to rebuild the model, and a lot of original parts had to be sourced from around the world.

The Audi 100 sedan was gifted to Mr. Ravi Shastri as a reward for winning the Man of the Series award in the tournament. In an interview he gave in the past, Ravi Shastri said that he was so overwhelmed after winning the car in that match. The whole team was jubilant after Ravi Shastri won the Audi, and everyone jumped on it. There are several pictures of famous Indian cricketers, including Kapil Dev, sitting on this very same vehicle after the match.

In the same interview, he mentioned that the first thing everyone checked in the vehicle after it was handed over to them was the fuel level. They checked the level and then started driving the Audi around Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Raymond Autofest

The Raymond 100 Autofest was organized to celebrate the remarkable 100-year journey of the brand. The event was organized as a car show because Gautam Singhania, Chairman and MD of Raymond Group, is a big-time car enthusiast. He owns several expensive and exotic cars like Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, and several American muscle cars in his garage. He also has a BMW M3 that has been modified into a proper drift car.