As part of this new initiative, which works as a platform for steering the company's participation in motorsports and allied activities, the Tata Motors will field a team of two Tata Safaris and two Xenon XT cars to participate in the forthcoming 'Desert Storm Rally', beginning on February 22 from Ahmedabad.

The team from Tata group will later on participate in other motorsports events in India such as the 'Raid De Himalayas' in their quest to become a regular on the racing circuit. "With best in class technologies in our product range, we will now be able to showcase these technologies through Tata Motors' 'Full Throttle'. The platform will help the company in organising and synergising all efforts and activities in the area of motorsports including development and testing," said R Ramakrishnan, vice president, Commercial Passenger Car Business Unit, Tata Motors.

"The participants from Tata Motors in the Desert Storm Rally are all experienced drivers with enough experience of racing in India behind them. We are confident of a good show in the rally as well as other racing events to be organised later," Ramakrishnan added.

Tata Motors had earlier participated in several non-competitive international rallies such as the London Capetown rally in 1998, ASEAN rally in 2005 and the SAARC rally in 2007 with the Safari sports utility vehicle. Both the Safari and Xenon cars, a 4x4 lifestyle pickup, have also been driven in various rallies in the past by independent participants.

"Our participation will also help in better understanding the capabilities of our products (cars) on display. At the same time, our purpose to get involved with the motorsport events in the country will also be fulfilled," said S G Saxena, Head, Utility Vehicles, Tata Motors.

Lat week, Indian tyre major and a veteran of motorsport field, JK Tyre has announced the launch of a new racing series -- JK Racing Asia Series -- under the management of Motorsport Asia, in its bid to take Indian motorsport to the next level.

The races will commence in April at venues in countries like Malaysia, Korea, Indonesia, Singapore and India. The series will consist of 18 races over six weekends in the 2011 season. On three occasions, the series will support the Formula One Grand Prix in Malaysia, Singapore and the newly-built Jaypee International circuit in India.