ARUN MAMMEN
Speaking to Arun Mammen, managing director, MRF Limited
We find out how MRF is helping Indian motorsport grow nationally as well as worldwide
We supported the Indian Grand Prix for three years
We did a support series for Formula 1, the first F1 race in Delhi. That was when we got involved in racing in a bigger way. Then we decided to upgrade our car and we got into F2000.
That time the championship was more or less in India. Then we went overseas, to Bahrain. We did a support series for WEC. Then we went to Dubai, we have gone to Abu Dhabi, we did a night race in Qatar. Then also Delhi and Chennai. We have been evolving.
The reason why we are focused on Asia and Middle East is because racing in this part of the world is still a very untouched area. Europe is a very saturated market for racing and this part of the world is still reasonably young in motorsports and we have great facilities in India and Middle east. Most of the tracks we drive on are Formula 1 facilities.
Most of the components are made in India
Dallara gives us the chassis. Until last year we were using Renault engines, this year we have upgraded our car with Ford Montune engines which makes 250bhp. Apart from that most of the other components are developed and made here (in India). Quite a bit of the car is carbonfibre because it has to be strong and light so that is the direction we are working on. Next year we are taking further steps. They are looking at probably making it into a paddle shift. These are the challenges we have to tackle as we go along.
MRF is in this for tyre development
MRF has been in motorsports for over 2530 years and we have been developing tyres for practically all categories of motorsport, whether it's go-kart racing or motocross or rallying and of course circuit racing. Even in the Formula 2000 cars our tyres have evolved. The tyres we raced last year are not the same tyres we race now and for the following year we are working on a new range of tyres. In fact Narain was here yesterday and he was testing the new tyres that we will introduce into these cars next year.
We sell our motorsport tyres
Currently we are the control tyres for the Honda Civic European Championship. We are also giving tyres for individual people for rallies and races and we are looking into getting into some kind of gravel racing in Europe. We are sponsoring the (rally) championship in Australia and the control tyres will be MRF.
We sell our motorsport tyres in Europe, in Asia and that is a great avenue to get into the regular street tyres because racing is something that needs a lot of passion, speed and power. It’s a very young sport so it's a great avenue to get into various markets in Europe and maybe Middle East or even African markets.
Rallying has always been our backbone
We have been in the INRC and were looking at other championships. Then ten years ago we decided to go outside and that’s when we got into APRC. We have evolved with our cars – first we were driving the Evos and then we moved on to the Skodas. Even the Skodas we drove last year and this year are different – this year we drove the R5. We're always driving new cars, and are constantly adapting to the change. The tyres are evolving, they're not the same tyres. We are developing our products to cater to the needs of these vehicles.
Biking is big
We do a lot of biking in Asia because Asia is big and India also is a huge market for two wheelers. Most of our biking is in India, we haven't really gone international on the biking front but there is always an opportunity.
Demonetisation is a challenge, DEfinitEly
There has been a slow down in the economy as well as the automobile market. Also there was a setback in their sales so nationally they will have a setback.
Tyre companies will also have a little bit of strain on their sales. We are slowly coming out of demonetisation but the duration, how long it will take, it will probably be another month or two. But we should be fine.