Howrah News Service -  Latest news and headlines on Howrah,West Bengal and World: Where are the youngsters?

Where are the youngsters?
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ASIANAGE on 17 October, 2008 02:07:18
 
By C. Santhosh Kumar
Chennai
The 11th edition of the JK Tyre national formula car racing championship, which
concluded in Chennai last week, was entertaining. The incident-packed
season-ender was dramatic. Chennai youngster Saran Vikram who had sealed the
Swift title at the end of the penultimate round itself was stripped of
championship points by the stewards for "unsporting on-track incident" after
analysing the video footage.
As a package, the event was, undoubtedly, a big hit. But did the championship,
which has a big reputation for churning out new faces, really achieve the
objective this year?
Scampaigner Gaurav Dalal’s title triumph in the Rolons was testimony to the
fact that a bunch of youngsters on the grid failed to live up to expectations in
the country’s premier racing event. Dalal, who has been regular since the
introduction of Fissme (Formula Maruti) 10 years back, dominated the second half
of the championship, while 45-year-old V. Rajaram won a race in the first half.
Ashwin Sunder’s absence in the Rolon category made life easier for Dalal.
Ashwin pulled out of the championship after the second leg and went on to drive
in the German Formula Volkswagen.
Karun Chandhok says it was surprising to note that there were not many few
faces at the track. "The final leg of the nationals was my first day at the
track all year. Dalal, Sarosh Hataria and Rayomand Banajee all should ideally do
saloon cars or endurance racing to make way for youngsters," he informs.
The GP2 driver wants an improvement in the standard of motor sport in the
country. "There must be an age cap of 20 at the nationals so as to encourage the
young guys. We are at a stage where the three new categories — Formula Swift,
Hyundai and Rolon introduced by B. Vijaykumar — have reached a plateau. He
deserves a lot of credit for investing money from his pocket to the project when
there was no support from any sponsor or manufacturer. It’s high time that we
take the next step," he explains.
Karun suggests a new single-seater Formula car championship in line with ADAC
formula Volswagen or Formula BMW. "A manufacturer or sponsor has to come in and
invest in the sport. A car manufacturer would be ideal if they can supply the
engines and underwrite the initial capital investment cost of building the cars
that would be about Rs 20 lakh per car.
"The manufacturer then can work with the promoters of the championship.
Road-car suppliers can come on board and sponsor 3-4 cars each so that all the
drivers have sponsored drives," adds Karun.
The 24-year-old says there is no point in blaming the tiff between the two
associations — Motor Sports Association of India and Federation of Motor
Sports Clubs in India — for the problems the sport is confronted with. "We
don’t need to depend on FMSCI or MAI to do anything. They just issue a permit
for an event and nothing else. It should be a private project between the
organising club, MMSC, the manufacturer and the sponsor," he says.
"One has to win at least 50% of the races in Asia including Renault V6 and FBMW
to do well in Europe. It may sound harsh but what I’m saying is true. I won
eight out of 15 in Formula Asia and seven out of 12 in Renault V6 in my first
year en route to the championship," he explains.
Karun says the youngsters should keep personal battles away from racing. "It
was sad to see that a lot of guys taking on one another on the track as a result
of personal issues. Even though Saran was in my team, I have to admit that he
made a mistake to cause an unnecessary accident. Whether the penalty was
justified is something I shouldn’t comment on but I just hope that the
youngsters learn that they must race clean, fair and with respect for each
other," he adds.