Motorcycle racing: India

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History

1905–2023

Adil Jal Darukhanawala, Sep 17, 2023: The Times of India

Jorge Martin and Pecco Bagnaia turn out for the Mahindra team at the Misano track in Italy in 2016. With three outright wins and 14 podiums, Mahindra Racing remains the only non-Japanese bike maker from Asia to have won on the world stage
From:

A grid full of Jawa 250s at the MMSC 250cc Clubmans race at Sholavaram in 1968. (Right) A 250cc race at the Lohegaon track in the 1960s
From: Adil Jal Darukhanawala, Sep 17, 2023: The Times of India

Ten years after abruptly bidding goodbye to Formula One, the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida will host top-draw racing again – this time on two wheels as MotoGP makes its Indian debut. This, however, is not the first time India is hosting a World Championship Grand Prix motorcycle race event. Long before F1, we had the Indian Grand Prix for the Rodil Trophy World Supercross Championship in Pune that ran for four years, beginning 1987. 


118 Years Of Racing


In India India saw its first motorcycle race in mid-1905, from Poona to Satara and back. The sport truly took off in Poona and Bombay, then worked its way to Calcutta and Bangalore. The early races were all staged on public roads and it wasn’t until the Deccan Motor Cycle Sports Club (DMCSC) organised the first race at the Lohegaon air strip in Poona as a oneoff in 1939 that the spark of motorcycle road racing was truly lit.


After Independence, the DMCSC led the way with motorcycle racing from 1948 to 1965 till the strategic Lohegaon airfield became off-limits after the India-Pakistan war. Racing stopped for good in western India, but Calcutta had many disused World War II-era airstrips that came in handy for enthusiasts. Bangalore also had some airstrips and got into the act. Madras hosted its inaugural race at Tambaram in 1953-54, but racers were politely told to ply their craft at the adjacent Sholavaram airstrip. Madras and Sholavaram kept motorsport alive in the country. 


Over 75 Years Of World C’ship


The World Road Racing Championship started in 1949, a year before F1, and it was a full complement of races for classes 50cc, 125cc, 250cc, 350cc and 500cc. There was a class for motorcycles with sidecars, and some of the greatest names on British, German and Italian motorcycles wrote their names in history books. Nello Pagani, Carlo Ubbiali, Geoff Duke, John Surtees, Giacomo Agostini, Phil Read, Barry Sheene, Kenny Roberts, Wayne Rainey, Mick Doohan, Freddie Spencer, Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez, to name a few. 


Safety Moves Up The Grid


Daring overtakes and dogged persistence give the sport its thrill and viewership. In a MotoGP race, the riders live on a knife edge, unleashing over 250bhp with just a 3-4 sq inch tyre contact with the tarmac. They hurtle down the straights and do dizzy speeds around corners using unbelievable lean angles. It’s at these angles that the greats emerge from the good.


Despite the risk, arbitrary race promoters ran the show with scant regard for safety in the early decades. Things changed as the great American triple World 500cc Champion Kenny Roberts got all the riders together to demand higher standards, better distribution of finances and a serious approach to safety.


Kenny found support from ev eryone, and when the teams picked up a young racer by the name of Mike Trimby to represent them, the International Race Teams Association (IRTA) was formed. Around the same time, F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone was eyeing the Grand Prix motorcycle scene with Carmelo Ezpelata, chief of Dorna Sports. The trio got together to reorganise motorcycle world championship racing and give it the form we see it in today. 


Bike Categories Standardised


The entry-level class went from 50cc to 80cc before these were jettisoned in favour of the 125cc class. The 250cc and 350cc intermediate classes were the bedrock of the sport until two decades back. Then the organisers decided to concentrate only on the 250cc class. The 125cc class became ‘Moto3’ as the entry level top-flight category, the 250cc intermediate category was rebranded ‘Moto2’ with 600cc engines (765cc for the last three seasons). The blue riband 500cc class was the preserve of manic two-strokes, which switched to fourstroke engines of 1000cc in 2002. This change brought into play the term MotoGP.


The Odds At Bharat GP


The Bharat Grand Prix will be the 13th race meet of the season and promises to be a thriller. Reigning world champion Pecco Bagnaia was running away with the series on his factory Ducati Desmosedici, but two races ago he had a massive highside on the opening lap of the Catalunya GP. This has thrown open the series for others. 
Jorge Martin, one of the most exciting stars to have come up the ranks on a Ducati run by the satellite Pramac Racing Team, is snapping at Bagnaia’s heels as is Marco Bezecchi on a Ducati Desmo run by yet another satellite team – Mooney VR46, owned by nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi. The Aprilias of Aleix Espargaro, Maverick Vinales and Miguel Oliviera are a potent force too. Then, there is the KTM brigade led by Brad Binder and Jack Miller that on its day can stun the fastest Ducati.
But what’s generating maximum pre-event buzz is anticipation that the Buddh International Circuit may blitz into the record books if the Bharat Grand Prix sees the fastest straight-line speed record by a MotoGP biker. South African Binder on his KTM clocked 366.1km/h at Mugello this year and later said he hadn’t even turned the throttle to the max. The Buddh International Circuit has as long a straight as Mugello. 
The writer is India’s pioneer automotive journalist, author and historian

Mahindra=

For 5 yrs, an Indian firm served aces

Miguel Oliviera, Brad Binder, Pecco Bagnaia, Jorge Martin and Marco Bezecchi all raced Mahindra Moto3 bikes in the 2011-2016 period. The Indian automaker wrote a fabulous chapter for itself before stepping out of the sport. Oliviera almost delivered the first wins for Mahindra Racing, only to be beaten on the line by half a bike’s length at Sepang in 2013. In 2014, Binder, riding the Mahindra MGP3 for Ambrogio Racing, took second spot at the Sachsenring and third spot at Motegi. In 2015 and 2016, Mahindra joined forces with the Spanish Aspar outfit to manage and run its team and rising star Bagnaia bagged a podium at Le Mans in 2015. He delivered Mahindra’s first win at the Dutch TT at Assen followed by a second spot at Silverstone and another win at Sepang in Malaysia.