Ever seen trucks racing against each other? Not the overloaded examples on our roads that try to overtake each other at crawling speeds. Real track racing for trucks is coming to India for the first time and that too at the Buddh International Circuit at Greater Noida.

Tata Motors India in is bringing this popular sport to India on March 23, when 12 of its latest Prima range of trucks will be racing against each other divided into two teams and 12 drivers.

Called the T1 Truck Racing Championship, the idea behind such an event is also to ‘give credibility to the truck racing fraternity’, says the company. This will be a milestone for India, in fact for whole of Asia, for such racing championships are prevalent primarily in Europe, Britain and the US.

A pool of internationally acclaimed drivers has been created for Championship including Steve Horne, a celebrated race truck driver who has won the British truck racing championship twice. These drivers have excelled in the field of Truck Racing in multiple circuits like the British Truck Racing championship and the European Truck Racing championship.

“It is not always just about racing cars and specialised vehicles; it’s also about driving commercial vehicles that are sold to the general public,” says Vicky Chandhok, President, Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India, who has been helping Tata Motors bring this event to the country.

The concept is to try and identify regular truck drivers for the future, he says, adding that Tata Motors will ask truck owners to send a few select drivers from their fleet, who may become part of the selection process and become Indian truck race drivers in the future.

“We will identify those truck drivers and train them to become racing drivers so that they have an opportunity to turn their aspirations into reality,” Chandhok pointed out.

Such ideas do not become a reality overnight and takes time and engineering skills too, just like the discussions around truck racing as a sport, which came across two years ago. Tata Motors decided to go ahead with the plan and the result is the new Championship.

A lot of modifications (22 key ones to be exact) have also been done to these trucks to make them race ready. They include replacing the regular driver’s seat with racing seats, removal of interior trims, adding a roll cage, modifications to the steering wheel, more efficient brake cooling and fuel tank modifications to make the vehicle lighter. But, the basic platform (of the Prima) such as the chassis, engine, gearbox, cabin and the axle remain the same as the road-going truck.

Company perspective There are few broad reasons also from the company’s perspective for such an event, which apart from showcasing Tata Motors’ future readiness in technology and product, will also allow for a systematic analysis of data relating to performance, design and reliability. “The kind of data which it will throw up is something that we are going to use very effectively in the next five to ten years,” Vinod K Sahay, Head – Sales and Marketing (Medium and Heavy Trucks), Tata Motors, said. “Having said that, there are two business aspects why we are directly into it – one is of course to show the significance of the trucking industry and respect for the drivers, which they normally don’t get like those of cabs and buses.”

“Also, the race will not only be witnessed by the people from the trucking industry, but also normal citizens who are enthusiastic about racing and finally trying to connect with mainstream society to build that connection on how trucks are part of our daily lives –if they stopped even for a day, it could bring the economy to a grinding halt since it would aggravate supply side issues,” he explained.

Therefore, the event will not only witness the trucks racing against each other at high speed, unlike the usual sight of overloaded trucks, but it will also carry a message to the people and the trucking industry.

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