Kickstarter
Abhik Das was in Coimbatore to witness a new season of the Volkswagen Motorsport India 2018 Ameo Cup Championship and gets a glimpse of a new race car
Volkswagen Motorsport India (VWMI) has been at the forefront of tin-top racing in India. The Chakan-based factory outfit has been organising one-make events over the past few years with the Polo and Vento cars while the Ameo is their latest weapon of choice. The races have seen a plethora of participants as the programme discovers and helps nurture young racing talent year after year.
2018 sees a full grid of 20 participants comprising of 13 new drivers of which two are women and seven are from previous seasons. But before the racing begins, the par- ticipants will have to prepare for the many laps that they’ll have to complete and compete in. Driver coaches Rayomand Banajee and Karthik Tharani took the 20 participants through the rigorous training courses, preparing them for the 10 races over four race weekends.
Not just participants but they also had another task in hand. Sirish Vissa, head of Volkswagen Motorsport India, put his team to work in developing a new class of racing saloon cars. Based on the Vento and using the current turbo-charged, 1.8-litre engine from the Ameo Cup cars, TC4-A was devel- oped. Fine tuning of the package was to be done at the race track, for which VWMI has selected former cup champions Ishaan Dodhiwala and Tharani, who will test the two cars as part of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Championship this year among its India Touring Car (ITC ) grid.
TC4-A is a new class that is currently being experimented with. It lays the foundation for future ITC cars as the current grid comprises of Maruti-Suzuki Esteems and Honda Citys from years gone by and have been modified to their maximum potential. Thus the regulations for the class are based
on the ITC rules although allowing turbocharged engines up to 2,000cc. Minimum weight is restricted to 1,150kg while power is restricted with a turbo inlet restrictor of 30mm.
Back to the 2018 Ameo Cup and Round 1 at the Kari Motor Speedway in Coimbatore, TN saw close racing action. Dhruv Mohite was the star of the weekend with back-to-back wins. He started in eighth place in a reverse grid format in Race 1 and made his way up to the top in four laps. He led the race then on and finished on the top step of the podium. Race 2 saw even more action as Manoj Yanamdala’s car was involved in a major crash during lap 6, fortunately walking away from it without injuries. Ayush Tainwala went into the gravel at turn 1 in a spectacular fashion requiring the safety car to come out. Once the race resumed, Mohite’s consistency saw him grab the top spot again.
During the races, we also got a taste of the roadgoing sibling of the Ameo in its 1.5-litre, turbo-diesel trim. It’s surprising that the car is comparable to the more powerful Ameo Cup car simply because of the engineering DNA that the two cars share. Of course, the stock Ameo 1.5 TDI may not be able to put down the same lap times as its racing version but the stiff chassis, taut suspension and surprisingly, road tyres offered ample grip around the tight Kari circuit.
The second and third round of Volkswagen Ameo Cup 2018 will be held at the Madras Motor Race Track in Chennai in July and August respectively, followed by the fourth round which will be held at the Buddh International Circuit, Greater Noida in October.
ROUND 1 OF THE 2018 VW AMEO CUP AT THE KARI MOTOR SPEEDWAY, COIMBATORE SAW CLOSE ACTION AND RESULTING SAFETY CAR OUTINGS