The recently concluded 2021FIA Formula One World Championship provided mixed emotions to Indian fans. While touching the finish line was no less than a fairytale ending, Indians were deprived of watching it from close quarters. A solid combination of Infrastructure, talent, and money failed to provide any in-house excitement to us.
Indians are striving for a thrilling F1 race
Formula One World Championship, one of the most talked-about versions of moto-sports recently concluded in Abu Dhabi. Max Verstappen, representing Red Bull Honda, defeated the world champion Lewis Hamilton by the barest of margins. Mercedes appealed against it, but it could not change the results. With this Max proved to be Formula One’s new world champion for the year, although the team championship has gone to Mercedes.
As the fame for car racing keeps breaking the established levels of craziness, Indians are constantly finding their country lurking behind in moto-sports. When you will hunt the Internet for our readiness for the Formula one race, you will find that we have everything in the bucket to organise a proper race.
Racing circuit:
India has a racing circuit of its own in the Greater Noida region of Uttar Pradesh. It is a 5.125km long circuit and is beautifully designed by a German racetrack designer called Hermann Tilke. Inaugurated in October 2011, it went on to organise the first Indian Grand Prix in the same month. Unfortunately, Akhilesh Yadav‘s insistence on collecting higher taxes from the circuit led to the cancellation of the race in 2014. Up until December 2021, the racing circuit is unable to organise any race.
The governing body for moto-sports:
Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI), founded in 1971, is the governing body for moto-sports in India. It is affiliated with the Indian Olympic Association (IOC) as well. The main function of FMSCI is to promote motorsports at the grass-root level by facilitating upcoming talents in the circle. Every moto-sports club, as well as a racer, has to abide by the rules set by FMSCI to be able to participate in the moto-sports horizon of the country.
Talented Racers:
India never experienced a dearth of drivers. The late 2000s witnessed the emergence of Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok as two formidable racers from India. Narain is especially credited for reigniting the flare of car racing among Indians. At present, Jehan Daruwaala is touted as the next big thing in Indian moto-sport racing.
Read more: Jehan Daruvala – meet India’s rising star in Motorsports racing
Funding:
As far as Indian moto-sports are concerned, funding is never going to be a problem. MRF tyres and JK tyres are two formidable companies actively engaged in providing quality components to sports personnel and teams. Similarly, Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum, ITC Limited, United Breweries Group, McDowell’s No.1, Birla Tyres, Popular Automobiles, CEAT Tyres, AVT, Goodyear, and Maruti have also played their role as key sponsors.
Moreover, industrialists have shown keen interest in buying various sporting teams during the last 15 years. Investments in leagues like IPL, Indian Hockey league, Indian Super League have witnessed an exponential rise. If marketed properly by integrating social media marketing and Bollywood, it’s just a matter of time before billions of dollars are pumped into Indian moto-sport.
Moto-sports are extremely attractive and full of enormous promises when it comes to economic opportunities. They can also give a boost to the Indian economy. If the right kind of encouragement is provided to it, then moto-sports in India can be transformed with much less effort than it was required to transform cricket after the 1983 world cup.