The National Racing Championship season came to a close at the Buddh International F1 circuit but the feeling of what could have been was a hard one to shake off despite a fair amount of action on track..
It seemed like 2013 all over again when the National Racing Championship (NRC) came to the Buddh International Circuit at Greater Noida to wrap up its season. At its peak on Sunday the crowds were around the same for the section of the grandstand that had been opened to spectators.
A lot of them were roped in through passes given out through MRF and Toyota’s – who run the Etios Motor Racing series under the NRC banner – dealer network.
With the exception of things looking a bit subdued in the stands on Saturday the weekend was a fairly good addition to the Indian motorsport calendar. With Formula 1’s return not being confirmed as yet to the Buddh circuit it was good that the circuit was being used for hard racing at the domestic level with two rounds of the JK Tyre Racing Championship to follow.
The memory of the near sold out grandstands at the penultimate JK Racing round last year and the 2012 Sidvin Festival of Speed, however, was a stark reminder of what racing at the national level can be if traditional motorsport rivals MRF and JK Tyre realize that both have more to gain with an alliance in terms of organizing racing events.
Even those paddock figures associated with the MRF championships have freely admitted to JK having a far bigger budget for marketing and promotion than MRF.
That is not necessarily something against MRF, who have taken the steps required to have not one but two fairly advanced racing machines in the Formula Ford 1600 and more so the Formula 2000 car.
But odd steps like not holding a single round of the 2014-15 MRF Challenge at the Buddh circuit makes it hard for those in attendance and local media to see Indian drivers doing well in it.
Raj Bharath claimed a win and a second place while young Tarun Reddy - who clinched the Formula Ford 1600 title - also took a win in the opening round of the MRF Challenge in Qatar.
As the calendar stands there will be rounds in Bahrain and Chennai but nothing planned for the BIC.
WONDERING AND IMAGINING
Now imagine a joint card like the Festival of Speed where spectators could see both JK’s India Racing Series and the F2000 cars be raced hard by their own young compatriots.
If I and other journalists sound like broken records on this subject it is only because we experienced first-hand, what a great concept the FOS was and what it could lead to.
Former FMSCI president Vicky Chandhok himself has spoken of the need for Indian motorsport to have something that would get spectators really excited to compliment junior racing series that serve as a means for young drivers to get experience in racing.
That is pretty much what the FOS offered with five categories holding races on the same weekend. Title sponsor for the FOS, Sidvin was more than happy to be involved with costs of running the event being split along with JK, MRF, Volkswagen and Toyota.
A representative of Sidvin has, however, admitted to not seeing much in the way of hope for former friends who are now sworn enemies amongst the different camps patching up for the common good of their wallets.
The lure of media coverage, which could lead to advertising, which could lead to the possibility of further investment in the motorsport infrastructure in the country does not seem enough for the ‘warring’ camps delighting in the game of ‘that so-and-so said so-and-so about so-and-so’.
I personally would also appreciate the end of the in-fighting within India’s small but tight motorsport community so that I can write more about what happens on track rather than the larger problems off it.
But then again infighting and fiascos in the Indian sporting sphere is nothing new. Maybe one day, this will all be just a thing of the past.
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