Category: All About Wheels – Automotive (Cars, Car Clubs, SUV’s, RV’s etc)

Spirit of Ecstasy

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My friends in Dubai know Rolls Royce is one of my favourite brands not only because I love the car but also because the people behind it are so amazing, awesome and a delight to be with. Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of being a VIP guest of Rolls Royce CEO, Torsten Muller in Abu Dhabi with the Who’s Who of the UAE. It was naturally an incredible experience catching up with various members of the Millionaire Group who I don’t fraternise with enough due to my personal and professional commitments. Although Rolls Royce is not a brand people will normally associate me with as a petrol head chick who hangs out with cars you normally find on the race tracks, recently though I’ve become fond of their cars because the people who work at Rolls Royce or AGMC have become my extended family and are always there to cheer me up with their smiling friendly faces whenever I pop into their showroom or events.

Everyone who has met Torsten will tell you how amazing he is as a person and as a leader and you get inspired by his passion for the Rolls Royce brand. He explained in detail the story behind the Spirit of Ecstasy, the enigmatic symbol of Rolls-Royce when I first met him and I thought about this mysterious woman many times since, often drawing comparisons or being intrigued about her every time I sat in a Rolls Royce since.

Catching up with Torsten briefly again this week reminded me that perhaps I should write something about Spirit of Ecstasy especially as this year she celebrates her centenary. To commemorate the occasion, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars had commissioned world-renowned British photographer Rankin to create a series of one hundred contemporary images, each one inspired by the Spirit of Ecstasy. The pieces were wonderful and I still have pictures of this amongst my favourite photographs so far this year. This week though, also in celebration of the centenary of the Spirit of Ecstasy, the distinctive hood ornament adorning all Rolls-Royce models, a diamond-enrobed commemorative model valued at $250,000 has been created by Mouawad Jewellers. Its stunning to say the least – I put a picture of this online but my BB camera didn’t do any justice to it.

Both Mouawad guys and the gorgeous Alaa of Rolls Royce later sent me their cool versions of the pictures and yes….it looks awesome. My laughing partner who always seems to bring the cheeky side of me to the forefront, Margaret is behind the publicity of Mouawad and she also talked about the Mouawad Centennial version of the Rolls Royce Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament. The low down on the jewelled ‘Flying Lady’ is that apparently three of Mouawad’s master craftsmen spent 350 hours meticulously arranging and placing 2,300 brilliant cut diamonds onto the symbol (value – a whopping US$250,000/-).

Originally called the “Spirit of Speed”, the “Spirit of Ecstasy” first appeared on the top of a Rolls-Royce in 1911. The inspiration for the Spirit of Ecstasy was commissioned by the 2nd Baron John Scott Montagu of Beaulieu. He asked his friend Charles Sykes to design the mascot, which is thought to be modelled on Eleanor Velasco Thornton who was the secretary and lover of the Baron Montagu. Eleanor had bewitching beauty, intellect and spirit but didn’t have the social status to marry the man with whom she had fallen in love. (sniff). The small statue Sykes created depicted a young woman in fluttering robes with one forefinger placed on her lips.

Eleanor’s relationship with John remained a secret for ages, mainly because both lovers acted with utmost discretion. John was a pioneer of the automobile in England. From 1902 he was editor of the “The Car” and Eleanor was his secretary. Friends of the pair knew of their close relationship but they chose to overlook it. I remember being so sad to find out that Eleanor was not able to enjoy the success of the ‘Spirit of Ecstasy as she lost her life while accompanying Lord Montagu to India. He survived but grieved losing the love of his life. It is such a romantic but sad story…..every time I see the symbol, I feel the strength of the love of this couple and visualise Eleanor as an iconic beauty, with power, grace, mystique and intrigue.

I am sure that while Rolls Royce cars are uber cool, the story of the Spirit of Ecstasy is equally fascinating, mysterious and heart warming.

Warrior for a few days

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I promised a friend (an ex breast cancer patient) I was going to touch on the story of the pink printed scarf I wore over my little black dress recently. I have plenty of these scarves but as I am not a morning person, I tend to assess my mood and throw whatever comes my way in the wardrobe that does not need ironing. I have never planned what I will wear a day ahead hence there are days I can be corporate, bohemian, casual, naughty and totally offbeat but hey….I tell myself that if people around me have issues with my style then they can take a hike and they certainly don’t deserve to be around me at all….its a diva code!

Going back to the pink scarf…..this was another initiative of the good people at Ford who happened to be at the ‘Bras for a cause’ fashion show where they had a henna stand with amazing symbols we could have on our body. The funky printed pink scarf to wear around our neck or hair is part of Ford’s sponsorship for ‘Race for the Cure’…an initiative to raise awareness of the fight for breast cancer.

Hence I became a pink warrior for a day…dressed in a slinky killer black dress + an eyecatching scarf from `Ford which I wore a number of times as as I breezed through Dubai in a top of the range All New Ford Explorer. (I am still getting used to the fact that this car changes the station, temperature ++++ at my every command. Now if only I could get a guy who would jump to my every command as soon as they hear my sexy voice)

When I mentioned to a friend about being a woman warrior, she immediately thought I was referring to Leonardo Vecchiarelli’s Grande Transizione, which is a cycle put together like an armed battalion. There are pictures of women warriors, dressed with the keen eye of a samurai preparing for battle but inspired by oriental empresses. Hidden amongst these females is a single male figure – the artist himself. Isn’t that every man’s dream??? This was the artist who I later discovered is behind some shoots of world class magazines. I digress and will leave you to find more about the mystique behind his work yourself!

So…as encouraged by my friend, I am now supporting the Race for Cure by buying my t-shirts, scarves what have you from Warriors in Pink online instead of shops. It feels good!

Corvette UAE Club & Road Safety

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Our Corvette Drive in Abu Dhabi with me in car number 3

I’m having one of those roller coaster weeks…. After being extremely excited about the upcoming Corvette UAE Club meeting for which I am a board member, I now come to realise that I will probably miss most of the drive and proceedings. Instead I will only venture out for part of the event to celebrate my daughters birthday with the club members at YAS island where I hope to see a lot of fellow car enthusiasts and people promoting road safety.

I am sad about missing the main part of the road safety campaign because I have just qualified for a 2 day intensive camera course which I hope to study from a script writer’s perspective. It was something I have always wanted to do so when I had to choose between this course and the drive, it was indeed painful as I would like to be both in Dubai and Abu Dhabi at the same time. Especially as Ford Middle East has given me the most awesome, state of the art Ford Explorer to experience and be seen in and I really wanted to have a leisurely drive in it behind the corvettes to support the safety campaign :). Very excited though that I will at least make it part of the event.

For people who are passionate about road safety, this is a good time to follow the example of our club and attend the lectures organised on road safety. Members and public will be signing on a roll up presenting the campaign of not using phones while driving.

The CUC gathering is on Friday 28th Oct in Abu Dhabi 3:30pm @ the Abu Dhabi International Marine club parking opposite Marina mall. The parade starts at 5pm after the talks to go to YAS island.

Also the corvettes will have a sticker of the campaign on each car’s rear to support this noble cause. The sticker urges people not to use the phone while driving.

As a speed junkie who has reformed to now release any adrenaline energy on safety controlled race circuits, I am a strong advocate of this campaign. Lucky for us, we have the Autodrome and the YAS Marina Circuit to try our driving skills on without having to risk the lives of innocent people on the roads….speed is NOT for public roads. Its a CUC message.

* CUC’s new campaign slogan is “Your commitment, your safety” – a pretty straight forward message that urges drivers to be responsible of their own lives (not much to ask now, is it?)

What’s my passion?

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Funnily, I have been asked this twice this week. It seems that I have such a zest for life, people think I see excitement and thrill in everything that crosses my path so it’s hard to figure Fijianchick out – as I fight a bout of flu that has made my usual sexy voice go to pot, I thought I would respond in detail on word as I nurse my vocals back to its sexy self.

I agree being hard to get figured may be a pain to some but hey, it does keep peeps on their toes….afterall, my husband has not been able to figure me out for 15 years and possibly reckons I’m the most unusual and mysterious person on the planet. And yet, for some odd reason he still hangs around and wants me in his life in one form or another (mysterious or not)

So what is my passion? I love the tapestry of exotic coral waters and am drawn to the magnificence of the Coral coast’s shoreline of private beaches and waters. (Where else can one go skinny dipping and feel totally at one with nature in total privacy??? ).

I LOVE MUSIC….its my all time passion. Be it bellydancing, salsa or hip hop. My favourite has to be reggae but not too fussy on that end.

I love the inspiring scenery of the highlands, tropical rainforests (just to be able to wake up to it as I did my entire childhood). I like the fact that my home town is probably one of the best kept secrets in the world and that materialism, despite the many 5 star hotels has not touched the lives of the people in my community and we still appreciate nature in its raw form.

Its obvious I love the sea…I was born with the sea at my doorstep and found it had a calming effect on me just looking at it from the windows of my home every morning.  My dad had this bizarre habit of walking around the house every morning pausing every once in a while to take in the view of the forest, the sandhills in the distance, the Sigatoka valley, the town and the sea as he got ready for the day. I guess this had a profound effect on me and my likes and dislikes as well. Afterall, I am a daddy’s girl and since we are both hard core Pisces, we have very similar outlook in life about living simply and finding joy in the simple things in life.

I am extremely passionate about my daughter and her outlook of life and the world at large. Being a clued in kid, she helps me see things from different perspectives and I am not ashamed of the fact that at times, she has had better ideas than I could ever come up with – it makes me proud that she stands up to me as well on things she believes in and the fact that she is highly principled. (I was prepared for this eventuality when she finally came out of me after 8 hours of extremely painful labor born as a Scorpio and a double dragon under the Chinese signs – OUCH!

I was born with a travel gene and very passionate about discovering at least one country a year – I have kept this up for 14 years now and have explored over 97 cities in 22 years. Travelling is in my blood so I guess that is another of my passions.

Food – most of my excitement comes from the joys of discovering, eating, cooking and trying new things. I love cooking and find it therapeutic. After being editor of 3 issues of Menus of the Masters, I took a vow to continue experimenting fine dining with an element of exquisite surprise in taste and presentation. Naturally my favourite restaurant is ‘The Edge” for obvious reasons but as a lover of Japanese food, Nobu, Okku and Zuma feature high on my list of awesome venues.

Another of my big passion is books – there are mini libraries in every corner of every home I have including the bathrooms. Even my house in Spain has books I left behind even though I hardly spend time there and I’m in the process of filtering books through to my Fiji home. Luckily my daughter shares my passion for reading so hopefully she will not hate me for the fact that 85% of her inheritance will be books since Kinukinoya and Magrudy’s take all my salary.

So….the sea, the highlands, my daughter, travelling, food, books and music is my passion – if you were hoping to see your name on the list, perhaps its time to start striving towards impressing Fijianchick. Maybe in a few years time, you could be the next big thing I would be passionate about!