Visibility and funding woes continue to hinder motorsports in India

Jehan Daruvala

A warning board - Motorsports Is Dangerous - greets the visitors at virtually every racing circuit. It is an adrenaline-filled beast that can devour you in more ways than one or give you the ride of your life.

In India, there are hundreds of starry-eyed youngsters who are into motorsports, pumped up by their exposure to the outwardly glamourous Formula One or MotoGP or the World Rally Championship. They keep coming, generation after generation. For most, their dreams remain just that.

Kush Maini

In fact, the most populous country in the world has produced just two F1 drivers, Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok, while Gaurav Gill made a few forays into the WRC. It is not a reflection on the dearth of talent but of a sport that is languishing as it struggles for visibility and funding. Never mind the F1 India Grand Prix or the MotoGP or Formula E that were held in the country. These global events merely reflected their huge fan base but made no significant contribution to the development of sport in India.

At the other end of the spectrum, we have cash-rich cricket with a system that makes the sport a career option. The BCCI ploughs back revenues generated from various sources, notably the Indian Premier League (IPL), into the sport while retaining the rights for all its properties.

Geoffrey Emmanuel

In contrast, the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI), the governing body, auctions its properties (the various National Championships) to promoters who buy the rights for several crores. The competitors must purchase a Competition License (as opposed to a Driving License issued by the RTO) from FMSCI to participate in any event. The onus is then on the promoters, teams and competitors to raise the funds. Bank balance dictates their progress or the lack of it.

Back in 2014, inspired by the IPL, a young man from Chennai, Rasheed Khan, launched a franchise-based league for motorcycles. Labelled Indian Motorcycle League, it comprised eight owners who agreed to purchase the teams for Rs 10 lakh each, and three rounds of racing during the pre-season months. The ambitious project ran out of gas after just two rounds.

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"I managed to secure eight team owners. Riders were identified and everything else was in place. But, after two rounds, the IML had to be discontinued due to various reasons. The IML had potential and scope for expansion, but the promised investments did not happen, and I went out of pocket for about R20 Lakhs," rued Khan. This sorry episode holds a mirror to motorsport in India.

"In terms of sheer talent, some of our riders are comparable to those racing in major global competitions. The differentiating factor is funds," said former multiple National motorcycle racing champion Emmanuel Jebaraj whose elder son, Geoffrey plans to move up to FIM Moto2 Junior World Championship.

"You are looking at Rs 3.5 crore. Sponsorship is hard to secure, but somehow, I am raising funds, including mortgaging our home in Chennai, to help my son to pursue his dreams," said Jebaraj who also runs a team in the National Racing Championship.

Families cough up funds

Jebaraj's story is not unique. Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok went through similar grids. They managed to secure some sponsorship through TATA Motors and JK Tyre, but most of the funds were coughed up by their families. On their heels were the likes of Armaan Ebrahim and Aditya Patel whose racing careers ended when the funds ran dry after a few seasons abroad.

Among the next generation of talented drivers, Jehan Daruvala promised much with splendid showing in Formula 2, but again, yet to find a way to the next level. The Maini brothers, Arjun and Kush, face similar hurdles. Of the siblings, Kush is a step away from F1 after some fine performances in F2, but bigger battles are ahead of him, in terms of generating more funds. In their wake, teenagers Ruhaan Alva and Jaden Pariat, two of the hottest drivers on the domestic circuit, made a few attempts abroad, but are nowhere close to realising their dreams.

"Ruhaan has done 11 years of karting. At the entry level, it costs about R8.5 lakh per season. When you move to bigger teams and higher age group, the budgets escalate to about Rs 20 lakh and then R30-35 lakh per season. The outflows go through the roof when you race abroad and unless you have strong financial support, there is no way up," said Ruhaan's father, Umakanth Alva, himself a former National Rally Championship participant.

Rajini Krishnan, another multiple National motorcycle racing champion who runs a team, noted that many talented riders give up due to lack of funds. "It costs about R3.5 lakh per season in the Novice class. Even that amount is difficult to raise through sponsorship. We cannot promise any return on investments to a potential sponsordue to lack of visibility. I know that base price in the IPL is about R20 lakh, but we cannot even raise a small percentage of that amount!"

Krishnan pointed out that the likes of Sarthak Chavan, Chiranth Vishwanath and Rakshith Dave, three of the top riders (and all teenagers) have profited after being absorbed by factory teams like TVS and Honda which provide training and exposure abroad.

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IRL's work in progress

Meanwhile, the Indian Racing League (IRL), a privately promoted franchise-based single-seater series, along with the Formula 4 Indian Open offers a platform for home-grown talent, though it is still a work in progress.

Elsewhere, motorsport in India is thriving at the lower levels. The calendar is overflowing with events in various disciplines virtually every weekend and attracting sizeable entries. These are the base camps of the sport's Mt Everest and as you begin your climb, the need for "oxygen" (funds) grows exponentially. For most, the summit remains a mirage.

Streamlining calender is Ghosh's priority

Setting the house in order, streamlining the racing calendar as per the Indian climate and getting more homebred talent to compete in international events will be his top priorities, said new Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) president Arindam Ghosh on Saturday.

"I want to first go to the basics and streamline them. I don't want to say what was wrong and what it is. I want to streamline and put things in order so that there is more clarity," Ghosh told PTI.