JOIN USHere's to India's hairpin champs
There is a large army of roaring Indian fans who passionately cheer for every bike that MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi overtakes, even as others let out a sigh when defending champion Marc Márquez falls a lap short of the competition. Yes, MotoGP, the motorcycle world’s equivalent of Formula One racing with its purpose-built 1,000 cc, four-cylinder machines battling it out for the prestigious Riders and Constructors championships across 18 circuits and 13 countries, has an avid following in India. Charting the fortunes of their biker heroes on TV may satisfy the urges of some, but there are hundreds of youngsters who refuse to bottle up their raw passion for the sport merely by watching from the sidelines. These youngsters nurse dreams of joining the ranks of the racing stars one day. DH Wheels recently met a cross-section of the sport lovers who are handholding them to realise their goals. Here’s what we learned.
Even as cricket has assumed an almost religion-like stature in the minds of Indians, many other sports and games (including motorsports) have been left behind. But the steady push provided to motorcycle racing by enthusiasts, pioneers, and even manufacturers across several professionally held and handled championships, might just have shifted the tide a bit.
Training tomorrow’s champs
“India is a unique country when it comes to motorcycle racing. The country plays host to championships that offer riders participation for a very reasonably priced fee,” Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India’s (FMSCI) Two-Wheeler Commission Chairman B S Sujith Kumar told Deccan Herald. Kumar, who is proud of being part of developing a premier motorcycle racing event in India — in the Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship — considers encouraging more and more riders to become champs as the most important responsibility of the federation. And how best to do it than to focus on affordable training?
The leadership of the Madras Motor Sports Club (MMSC), which has played a pivotal role in organising and encouraging motorcycle racing in India, also share this view about affordable training. MMSC Vice President Vicky Chandhok, a well-known personality on the racing circuit in India, told Deccan Herald, “For as less as Rs 2,000 (for novice categories), one gets to become a racer. The target here is to create an affordable concept to encourage young riders, to grant greater stability, and to get more talent into the sport.”
Training is what chisels a champion racer out of a rookie. “Basic to advanced training is provided by several recognised racing schools such as Apex Racing, 10Ten Racing, California Superbikes, and the MMSC TVS Rider Training School. Whoever wishes to race bikes in India must take up a course (over a weekend), for which, fees could be as low as Rs 3,000 a day, following which, riders are also certified. Also, many workshops have been conducted all over the country to locate and train talent,” Sujith Kumar said.
Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India Vice President (Customer Service) Prabhu Nagraj chipped in, “To promote a motorsports culture from the grass-root level and identify talent at a young age, Honda has entered into an MoU with 10Ten Racing Academy for professionally guiding budding racers to perform better. More than 172 riders, over 15 years of age, have trained in our academy.”
The championship arena
Training over, motor-racing enthusiasts now know where to head next. It has been only a few years that the Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship has come to wow the country. The pioneering event has helped identify some of the best talent around, and given rise to an annual motor-racing extravaganza. The championship is organised by MMSC, under the aegis of the FMSCI. It is a serious event which gives riders the opportunity to live their dreams.
“The championship has five rounds (10 races in total), across three classes. Group B allows riders to get their own bikes, whose parts and some features can be modified using even imported spares; Group C allows modification with the use of Indian parts; and Group D permits only original stock, unmodified motorcycles to race (except for few changes for safety),” Sujith Kumar said. Group A, which features imported superbikes, is a rare event.
The different rounds of the championship are held on three race tracks — three rounds at MMSC’s race track at Irungattukottai, near Chennai; and one round each at the Kari Motor Speedway, Coimbatore, and the Buddh International Circuit, near Delhi. The competition allows models such as the Yamaha R15, Honda CBR150r, Suzuki Gixxer, and TVS Apache RTR160, racing with only machines in the engine displacement of 150 cc and 165 cc.
The FMSCI is proactive in getting strong safety mechanisms and regulations in place, setting new standards for the sport. While riders get their machines to the circuit, it must be seen how well the latter fit in with their specifications. “The bikes must undergo a homologation procedure, which means the respective companies have to test each specification of the machine, and verify them with the details and regulations that we’ve set. Also, we’ve set strict safety parameters in the races, which are professionally conducted. Riders are required to don permitted riding safety gear only,” Sujith Kumar added.
The national championship has instilled a sense of deep-rooted competition and grit in the hearts of beginner riders, who also chance upon victory at the same time. Besides, with every passing year, even the spectator count has gone up. “While entry to the races are free, we have seen a steady spectator count of 3,500-5,000 people for each race, which is encouraging,” Sujith Kumar said.
That’s not all. The annual One Make Races (OMR) championships, which runs parallel to the national championship, has enabled motorcycle manufacturers namely Honda (CBR150r and CBR250r), Suzuki (Gixxer), Yamaha (R15), and TVS (Apache RTR160), to have their own racing events (Suzuki Gixxer Cup, MMSC Honda One Make Championship, Yamaha One Make Championship, and TVS One Make Championship), and their own set of riders to race for them.
According to MMSC General Manager (Operations) Amit Arora, “Interested riders have to fill in registration forms with us, at company dealerships, or with the companies themselves. Once they’ve made their choice of a particular make for which they want to ride, they must stick to that team for at least one year. This is to encourage more riders to get a chance, and it also helps manufacturers to scout for talent, nurture it, and make champs out of it.”
Each team has two categories — novice, and open. Those who win novice races get a chance to ride for the open or expert categories. Champion riders have also gone further to race for the manufacturers on the international circuits.
Said Honda’s Nagraj: “The Honda One Make Race actively contributes to the fun culture by developing raw talent via on-track training and exposure. We intend to escalate the racing skills of Indian riders to a level where they can race in premier racing championships like Grand Prix.”
“Honda’s Asia Dream Cup of Road Racing Championship is a unique opportunity where we handpick the best of Indian riders to compete with Asia’s best racers in a six-round race across Asia. We have sponsored three riders from India — Sethu Rajiv, R Harikrishnan, and Sarath S Kumar — for this global championship,” he added.
Yamaha has a rider-specific agenda when it comes to motorcycle racing. Shamsher Sharma, General Manager (Marketing) at Yamaha India, said, “People see (Valentino) Rossi and want to become a racer like him. Ever since we began supporting races in India, our approach has been to promote the rider, along with the bike. Skills are as important as technology.”
It’s all in the business
Since bike manufacturers are sponsoring the One Make Races, there emerges a bridge between racing and their business agenda. Honda is the reigning MotoGP constructor champion for the past four years, when it displaced the run of Yamaha, which was enjoying a hat-trick. It’s not surprising to find the same manufacturers actively promoting motor-racing in India. “Races can be seen as tools to promote vehicles. Besides, there is scope for local R&D, on the part of companies, to understand the capabilities and safety of their machines,” MMSC’s Arora said.
Honda’s Nagraj said, “From 1960, Honda has entered all of World GP races with 125 cc and 250 cc machines, and soon the maiden win followed in the 1961 Spanish Grand Prix. Since then, Honda riders like Mike Doohan to the recent Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa, and defending MotoGP champion Marc Márquez have contributed in winning a total of 700 FIM Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix and Triple Crown victories.”
He added, “Honda has positioned its racing activities in a wide variety of races as its ‘laboratory on wheels’. Globally, Honda incorporates the feedback from the wide-ranging technologies developed for competition in these races into its commercially available production models. A prime example of this is the RC 213V-S — a road model developed from the current MotoGP bike RC 213V,” Nagraj said.
Yamaha’s Sharma notes that the company’s R Series (R15) strengthened its performance image in India. Along with lots of passion and optimism, there is also hope that the situation must improve for motorcycle racing to become a more serious affair in the country.
“A big worry in India is the requirement for more professional tracks (currently, only three exist),” said Sujith Kumar, himself a distinguished car and motorcycle racing champion.
Time for that leap
Motorsport in India has come a long way. “From times before (1950s-1980s), racing has been conducted with much fervour at Sholavaram, near Chennai, which may be dubbed as the birthplace of motorsports in India. There were times when as much as 200 competitors would be seen racing here, in different races,” Chandhok said.
In 1989, the first race permit was sought, and the first race itself was inaugurated at the Irungattukottai race track in 1990. “Thereafter, focus shifted to getting motorcycle manufacturers to also encourage motorcycle racing in the country. We identified that it was best to have the One Make championships, which we created,” Chandhok said.
Motorsport is now perceived as a serious sport with a career path rather than as a hobby. Its reach too has spread across the country, with racing talent coming from all corners. With motorsport finally getting a recognition as a sport, state support would help in getting more racing tracks and premier international racing events to India in coming years.
Exactly what the gurus of motor-racing are yearning for. Chandhok said, “In 2001, I had expected F1 to hit India in 10 years, and it happened. We will see a Superbike championship in the next two years. However, the greatest stage of them all, MotoGP, must come to India. I do hope it will happen in the next 10 years.”
Chandhok said that the MMSC will talk to manufacturers as well, and extend their support, and hope to work out on costs. “In the last few years, the number of riders has improved. All we now need is to create a category to get all makes to race each other. Now, that’s real competition,” FMSCI President Zayn Khan concluded.