Q'S TO THE PRESIDENT
Zayn Khan answers your motorsport queries
CCan you throw some light on the two rally championships this year? - Jyotish Mohinani
In reality there are three championships running concurrently and one cup. The confusion was in declaring the overall winner, which needs to be done as per the General Prescription irrespective of car / class and championship.
The touring cars in the ITC are not even manufactured any more. Shouldn’t there be some regulation to retire such old machines? – Omkar Soman
The racing commission has revised the cc to weight factor for 2017 which then equalises the weight disadvantage the modern cars were having. In addition, a new Turbo class is being introduced for up to 1200cc and up to 1600cc for 2017. The existing IJTC class is also being revised to encourage new generation cars to compete.
The female series in the two-wheeler categories are not championships, why is that so? – Juhi Bagaitkar
Over the last few years, we've had very few female riders taking part in the national championships. Now there are a few racing schools and we are very happy to see that a lot of new and aspiring girls have enrolled. It is felt that proper race training has to be given to these female riders before they enter the national championship. This year we will have an all women's racing series and next year hopefully, we will have a separate category in the national championship. Let me also mention that applying or bidding for a national championship status is the prerogative of the promoter. How many of our young drivers do you see progressing to F1? – Huzaifa Bhojawala
On drivers making it to F1 is a very difficult question for anyone to answer. I think participating in F1 will always remain a driver's aspiration but a whole lot of skill, money and luck is required to make it. Armaan and Aditya have moved to GT cars and Armaan has had four podiums in six races. All our other young drivers such as Jehan Daruvala, Arjun Maini, Tarun Reddy, Kush Maini, Akhil Rabindra, Krishnaraaj Mahadik, Akash Gowda, Mohammed Nalwalla and Mahaveer Raghunathan have been doing well in the junior and intermediate level formulas and we are very hopeful of them progressing to higher levels with distinction.
Do we have a rally raid championship in India? – Gaurav Mehta
The simple answer is... no. The idea was never formalised and efforts are on to do so at the earliest. All stake holders need to be comfortable with the concept.
I would like to recommend a Rally Star Cup kind of category in the INRC so that fresh talent can again be unearthed. – Neville Shroff
The Rally Star Cup was a very successful category and we have many senior drivers today who came through the RSC. Today we have the FMSCI cup which is almost identical but without any subsidies from the FMSCI, or any other sponsor. We are talking to manufacturers and aiming to start a single make cup which will be identical to the RSC. When this will materialise is very difficult to say now, but there are some positive steps happening in the right direction.
"The existing IJTC class is being revised to encourage new generation cars to compete"