Asian Motor Sports

ON THE face of it, it seems like a competition between the two big tyre companies. Although neither is ready to admit, the fact remains that two of the big changes in the last month or so in Indian motorsport circuit have come pretty close to each other.

Just a month ago, MRF announced their new Formula MRF 1600 cc to feature in their annual Touring Car championship. On Thursday, JK Tyre announced the introduction of pit stops (in Enduro with Formula Hyundai) in their National Championships. That apart, they said that it will be the first time that all the teams have got financial backing from companies.

The idea, both say, is to bring international quality racing to India.

“What we felt was that most of the cars that were racing in India were not of international class. They were indigenously produced. So we felt that it was necessary for us to import the best to India,” a MRF spokesperson said.

The car that they will be using will be of 2007 specification and has been designed by Elan Motorsports.

However, when it will see the light of the day hasn’t been decided as yet. “We will have to test the car before it can be used in our annual championship.”

The JK Tyre-backed Nationals will have a new look. Apart from the Enduro with Formula Hyundai, where there will be pit stops for the first time, we’ll see the introduction of reverse grids for the top eight teams like in GP2 series.

There will be six rounds in Chennai and Coimbatore of two classes Formula LGB Swift and Formula Rolon Chevrolet.

Asked whether the changes were a reaction to MRF introducing their Formula MRF 1600 cc, JK Tyre’s Vicky Chandhok, the brain behind the changes said, “No. There is no connection but I think it should make the races a bit more interesting.”

Formula LGB Swift - Based around a Suzuki Swift engine the engine is rear-mounted and has a displacement of 1298cc. Thanks to tweaks to the engine management system and a fabricated tuned exhaust system, in Formula spec it develops 99bhp of power at 6000rpm.

The car’s chassis is of the tubular type and has a fiberglass body enveloping it. The wheelbase is between 2190-2200mm and the weight of the car (minus the driver) is 450kg. Compare that to the Swift, which weighs 1010kg and is powered by a 87bhp engine. The Formula Swift rides on aluminium wheels and both front and rear tyres are 185/60.

Formula Rolon Chevrolet - This car has been designed to be close to international level racing and indeed, has a number of features designed to give Indian drivers a taste of what international F3 and FBMW cars are like.

The intention is to ease the transfer from racing in India to racing abroad. To this end, the car has adjustable wings and a pure racing gearbox rather like the Hewland gearboxes in F3 cars. The Formula Rolon is based around the 1598cc, 4-cylinder D TECH inline engine from Chevrolet Optra with external oil cooling.

The engine develops 120bhp currently at 6000rpm thanks to the fabricated tuned exhaust system. The chassis is of the tubular frame type enclosed within a glass fibre body and the car weighs 550kg sans driver. The top speed of the car is 220kph and it zooms from zero to 100kph in eight superfast seconds. The wheels are of aluminium with a central nut for quick change during pit stops. The suspension is adjustable with twin wishbones and a push rod while there are anti-roll bars at front and rear.