Tata trucks rev up for big race at Buddh

Ravindra Pisharody laughs when asked about the big event on the Ides of March. “It has been quite a while since I last read Julius Caesar,” responds the Executive Director (Commercial Vehicles) of Tata Motors. While March 15 (the Ides of March) is pivotal to William Shakespeare’s classic, it is an equally important date for the company. Sunday will mark the second season of the T1 Prima Truck Racing Championship on the Buddh International Circuit near New Delhi.

Motivation factor Pisharody recalls how employees were completely charged up last year when Tata Motors decided to enter the racing ring for the first time. “We were not too sure how often we would do it but looking at the tempo and levels of excitement, I decided that this had to be an annual event,” he says.

What clearly came though then was that the workforce felt proud about being associated with Tata Motors. More importantly, the event was something to cheer about in a gloomy environment where truck sales were badly hit during the slowdown.

Things are much better now, especially for the Prima whose numbers have been increasing since the launch of the LX in the multi-axle space. Pisharody says the trucks earmarked for the race have also been spruced up. “We had committed ourselves to doing something different every year and made changes in styling both in terms of aesthetics and aerodynamics. The truck looks different and it has more power and speed,” he adds.

It was also easier getting sponsors this time around compared to last year. Interestingly, some have timed the event to host their sales and customer meets in Delhi. One of them is having its annual South Asia conference this time which reflects the international community’s positive outlook towards India.

Last year also had some Tata distributors coming in from overseas but Sunday will see the entire fraternity landing up. This will include the whole team from Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicles (the Korean subsidiary) and an international distributor conference is scheduled in Delhi on Friday. “There has been a lot of word of mouth this time on truck racing and this is a novelty in many of the markets we cater to in Asia,” says Pisharody.

Transporters and drivers who attended the event in 2014 felt they needed more information about the company and its sponsors instead of merely seeing the race and heading back home. Since everything seemed so hurried and matter-of-fact, this year will see each of the six companies putting up a show at the event.

To that extent, it will be a mini expo where there will be stalls of Cummins, Prima trucks, JK Tyre etc which could be of enormous interest to visitors. In the process, there will be a lot more information at the venue “which will go beyond just fun and games”.

Beyond fun From Tata Motors’ point of view, this event is as significant for drivers, a community which continues to be neglected in India. “They do their jobs, transport stuff through the day but hardly get any benefits. On the other extreme, pilots in an aircraft are treated like captains whereas drivers are the butt of everybody’s annoyance,” says Pisharody.

As part of its endeavour to do its bit, Tata Motors will have something dedicated to drivers at the event where some of them will be honoured too. In addition, the company is working towards having Indian drivers participate in the event though this will take time. “Many of them told us that they would never get a chance to have a field day in the track. Hopefully, things will be different next time around,” hints Pisharody. The idea is to send them for training abroad as they “just cannot be let loose on this track”. “We are working towards it and may make an announcement on Indian drivers participating next year,” he says.

This will involve shortlisting a core group of 24-30 drivers who will then go for training and be part of the racing group in 2016.

Tata Motors will then need to assess when the drivers will be ready and to that extent their debut on the track may be postponed beyond next year.

Even next year, while there is no intent “to destroy the fabric of the race”, there could still be two races, one with Indian drivers and the other involving the regular overseas participants. “We need to work that out and the time schedule will have to be finalised. By that time, they will be very good hopefully,” says Pisharody.

There have also been requests coming in to conduct the truck racing event beyond India but it is “a bit premature” to look overseas for the moment.

“Perhaps our distributors could give us tips though we have already started selling Prima in markets like Oman and Indonesia. It is important to get a population of trucks on the ground first and we still have a lot of work to do in India,” says Pisharody.

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