IN THE FAST LANE: MOTORSPORT IN INDIA PUSHES PEDAL TO THE METAL

Motorsport in India has come a long way with men, women and even children hitting the track with exuberance

Indian motorsports has steadily been rising up the charts, keeping pace with the rest of the world. The last decade has been particularly robust on two crucial fronts: infrastructure and talent.

We have slowly but surely seen the development of facilities across the country, giving kids who love speed, the opportunity and platform to express themselves. Not too surprisingly, a number of them have moved on to the international level, winning laurels for the country.

The really heartening thing is that this has been across disciplines, from four-wheelers to two-wheelers, from racing to rallying. Indeed, motorsports also passes the womentest -- 10 per cent of the grid across verticals are women – that is the real indicator of a sport’s popularity. The sports’ governing body, the FMSCI, came into existence in the early 70s; and the involvement of few corporations made it a viable sport. In the new millennium, of course, India broke into the ultimate league with Coimbatore’s Narain Karthikeyan becoming the country’s first Formula One driver. A few years down the line, we had our own F1 track, the majestic Buddh International Circuit, easily one of the finest in the world.

Even though we have produced many champion drivers over the years, quite a few of them even making their mark internationally, but it was the advent of go-karting that took the sport to the masses.

JK Tyre Motorsports always felt that this was the one thing lacking in India, and worked in the direction to fill up that gap to tap kids even before they hit 10 years of age. The National Championship inspired many of them to try their hand at the sport, learn its nuances in the hope of getting into the fast lane. There is no doubt that a number of kids got inspired by the success of Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandok, who followed his footsteps into Formula 1.

Indeed, the FMSCI is probably the most active federation in the country: there is rarely a weekend that we don’t have something or the other taking place somewhere. More often than not, we have even threefour events taking place simultaneously.

One of the more heartening aspects is to see the influx of women in motorsports. We have girls in almost every event. India has over 10 annual TSD Rallies for women only.

This year, also introduced the Girls on Track, an FIA initiative to encourage young girls to hit the track.

Another major development in 2019 was the introduction of the X1 League. Conceived on the lines of the Indian Premier League, six franchises acquired the teams and competed in the two rounds that took place.

Motorsports is all about the synergy between man and machine. In the effort to make each other better, technology will continue to play a huge part in the sport.

I do believe that India is ready to host many more international motorsports events. We are already hosting a round of the APRC and I am waiting to see the arrival of a round of the WRC and World Superbike Championship too. Maybe, the Himalayan Rally will start again too, completing the full circle.