Vijay Mallya is racing again – historical

      Do you remember Vijay Malia? If you've forgotten, let's quote a couple of lines.: this is how an Indian billionaire (apparently a former one) introduces himself on social media: a former member of the Indian parliament, president of the United Breweries Group, a sports enthusiast, former head of the Formula 1 team, a persecuted victim of the Indian government.

      Malia once owned and managed Force India, which competed in the World Cup from 2008 to 2018. (now it's an Aston Martin F1), and was one of the very striking characters in the paddock. But at some point, his affairs went downhill - we talked in detail about the fact that the Indian justice system has been unsuccessfully demanding his extradition from the UK for a long time.

      Then the interest in him gradually subsided, but now the racing press is writing about Mr. Boy again, and the reason is this: he is racing again. "Again" – because he was doing this in his youth, when he had not yet become the owner of Force India.

      Now in the UK, he competes in historic car races and last weekend took part in the Donington Festival, where he started in the class of pre-war cars behind the wheel of a BMW 328, released 86 years ago.

      "This world is very different from Formula 1. Everything is much calmer here, and racing in all these cars is much more fun," Autosport quotes Malia. By the way, he started competing in such races a few years ago and then drove another car from his collection, an even older one – a 1926 Sunbeam Tiger.

      Mallya bought that car for 1 million pounds at an auction in California back in 1990, ordered its thorough restoration, and it was the pride of his collection.

      Of course, he performs in historical car races solely for his own pleasure, which even endless litigation cannot spoil for him. And one more detail: according to witness statements, Kingfisher beer was pouring into the paddock of the Donington racetrack, which is still produced by United Breweries, now owned by the Dutch Heineken N.V.

      However, it is not known for certain whether Vijay Mallya was treating it, or the festival participants were walking on their own.