It has been 111 years since motorsport was featured (for the first and only time) as a demonstration event as part of the Olympics -in the 1900 Summer Olympics at Paris. For a sport that makes technology obsolete once every three years that is a long time. While the rules of football, athletics or cricket have undergone only marginal changes in this time, motorsport as a discipline and an industry has been completely revolutionized.
While the automotive industry worldwide has benefitted from the cutting edge technology specifically engineered for motorsport, the collateral beneficiaries have been the fans and indeed folks like me, the drivers.
We are at an interesting crossroad in Indian motorsport, with a number of developments coinciding to create a robust outlook for the future of motorsport in India. October will witness a major watershed for us all with the Buddh International Circuit playing host to the FIA Formula 1 Grand Prix of India.
As with any Formula 1 event, the infrastructure, logistics and preparation levels will be of the highest standard.
However, in my view, the more significant accomplishment would be if the attention accruing towards the F1 Grand Prix in India, particularly from sponsors and brand marketers, translates into a strategic and sustainable trickle down towards the holistic development of motorsport in India. The Indian Grand Prix has already done much to reveal the aspirations of Indian racing fans and the deep interest with which they follow motorsport.
Over the past few years, we have seen automobile manufactures and companies from the automotive industry take a stronger interest in Indian motorsport. While companies like JK Tyre have been supporting Indian motorsport since the very inception and continue to do so even today, it has been heartening to see Volkswagen, Mercedes and other manufacturers enter the sport in India as well.
As India’s economy grows and with it our clout at the international level, the aspirations of the people escalate as do their expectations. As a nation of achievers and world-beaters, there is an increasing restlessness towards achieving excellence and settling for nothing less. This is precisely the reason why the Indian cricket team was “expected” to win the World Cup and was hung out to dry after their poor summer in England. Indian fans now are seeking not just the joy of participation but more critically the pride of winning. All the time!
Crucially, it is my belief that the growth of motorsport in India over the next decade will depend on the opportunities and success that come the way of Indian drivers. Just as tennis became really popular when Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza emerged as icons and more recently badminton came to the forefront with the advent of Saina Nehwal, motorsport will need its own icons who can compete with the world’s best and win.
It is not enough for Indian drivers to make up the numbers in international racing, we have to go out there and win and show the fans that we are among the best.
For this to happen, the immediate need is an attitudinal change at multiple levels.
For starters, drivers and sponsors have to disband the blinkered vision that presently struggles to look beyond Formula 1. At the higher levels of racing, every racing series is equally grueling and competitive. Formula 1 champion Kimi Raikonen is the ideal case in point. As a career race car driver Kimi thought nothing of moving out of F1 and racing in the World Rally Championship, a move that attracted a lot of attention and debate, but eventually Kimi’s sponsors, management team and fans stood by the decision. Kimi had strong results in the World Rally Championship and even set up his own team. Simultaneously, he looked towards American NASCAR racing and made a successful foray there to.
Kimi and several other drivers like Juan Pablo Montoya and Jacques Villeneuve have through their illustrious examples, demonstrated a simple principle that motorsport is not about a single series or format, it is in its bare essence, the need for speed!
Indian drivers and their advisers would do well to learn from these examples and adopt a more universal worldview towards their careers in motorsport. Opportunities exist the world over and the key is to finding the right racing series to slot oneself into and develop one’s career in a strategic manner.
Earlier in September 2011, I tested the Indy Lights Car at Indianapolis with the Bryan Herta Autorsport (BHA) Team. I have raced with Bryan before at the A1 Grand Prix and BHA are the reigning Indy 500 Champions. The test went really well and they were happy to offer us a two-year program with the first year’s drive in Indy Lights before progressing to Indy Racing League (IRL). The car is really solid and I had a great time driving it.
Over in America, Indy is a wildly popular racing series matched only by NASCAR and the passion with which Indy is received was an eye-opener for me. I remember waking up early on Sunday morning trying to catch the Italian F1 Grand Prix, except none of the 7 sports channels at my hotel in the US were interested it airing F1! Indy and NASCAR seem to satisfy American audiences well enough. Being the first Indian driver to enter Indy Racing, I feel confident that in the future more Indian drivers will take this route to top-flight racing.
The other important attitudinal shift that would be welcome would be for sponsors in India to get involved at the grass-root level and develop the sport in an organic manner with a definite timeline in place. A ten-year program that begins with investments in infrastructure, facilities and drivers at the entry level and nurtures it all forward would go a long way in making the foundations of Indian motorsport solid and throw up champions in the future. It would also be critical for this program to be truly nationwide rather than concentrated only in certain pockets as it is at the moment. This would allow motorsport to move beyond the limitations that Indian football currently faces -of being localized to a few pockets only.
October will tell us a lot about where Indian motorsport is headed in the immediate future, but the journey will only have just begun. The road ahead for Indian motorsport holds much promise but how good the ride is will depend entirely on the strategic steps we take from hereon.
On a personal note, I am excited about writing Speed Read for autoX and look forward to doing so every month, sharing with you, my views and insights into the world of motorsport (Armaan Ebrahim is the first Indian driver to enter the Indy Racing Series). |
