It is a conventional but sprawling shed off the Coimbatore-Cochin highway. It is only when you approach the gate of Jayem Automotives that you will perhaps hear the snarl of a beast. Beware, it's a tigress - the fastest one on Indian roads. Is it a Honda City Vtec, Toyota Corolla, Mitsubishi Lancer, Ford Ikon NXT, Skoda Octavia? Wrong. It goes by the name of Tata Indica.

Before we flew to Coimbatore, we were told we would be driving two cars. One was described as fast and the other as wild, completely wild. Nothing convinced us till we tapped the accelerator pedal slightly only to watch the tacho-needle actually hit the 7500rpm mark in the blink of the eye. Mind you, the production model of the Indica has its tachometer graduated only to 8000rpm. We slotted in first gear and hit 100 kmph within eight seconds.

The needle kept climbing till we reached 180 kmph and we could only imagine it continuing further as the speedo is calibrated only to 180 kmph. We drove two more engines of the several under development. One was installed in the Indigo and another in the rally car that Tata Engineering has been trying out in Indian National Rally Championship.

The engine that was placed in the Indigo has been tweaked to deliver more torque than the present production mill and at the same time is free flowing on straight stretches of road. The same engine will likely be the next production version in both small and the mid-size offerings. The engine installed in the rally car delivers 100ps of power in its present state - more powerful than the earlier stock engine in the car used in rallies.

This performance Indica is a special developmental effort being undertaken by Tata Engineering along with Jayem Automotives, headed by one of India's finest tuners, J Anand. The idea is to retain the same engine block but work on the inlet and exhaust manifolds, cam profile, crankshaft and add an essence of electronics to manage the fuel injection to produce more performance.

Considering the project is midway, both Anand and Dr. V Sumantran, Executive Director, Engineering Research Centre (ERC) and Passenger Car Business Unit, Telco, were extremely reticent. In fact it was easier to pull out a tooth than get any information. Dr. Sumantran did share that the three cars we drove are among the several being tested. He also said that the levels of performance that the engines give at this point of time could not be feasible for production as they are too powerful to be driven and could be misused.

Amongst other developmental efforts that are being taken, rally participation is the prime one. He informed us that Tata Engineering is seriously thinking of entering motorsports in a big way and intends conducting its very own rally. Considering the in-house development of engines and other systems in the car, the production costs of the cars would be considerably low as compared to the money that is spent in tuning and preparing other rally cars.

These engines would be tested in rallies - the ultimate test in the worst of driving conditions. The Indian major plans to introduce high-performance kits at a price. The performance of the engine in a stock Indica could be enhanced by the help of kits. So next time you hear a deep-throated roar, don't just assume that it is a sports car, it may be your friendly neighbourhood Indica.