THE EVO ITC CAR
Introducing the evo ITC concept, the tintop racer that, we imagine, will add a touch of modernity and a whole load of style to Indian race tracks
The esteem has been the cornerstone of Indian motorsport for, like, forever. Be it on rally trails or on the racetrack, the Esteem has seen over two decades of devout patronage. Even at the pinnacle of Indian tin-top racing, the ITC, Esteems continue to dominate. Don’t get me wrong; these aren’t your everyday grocery-run cars. These Esteems are tuned to an inch of their lives, spit out over 160bhp from the 1.3-litre mill and weighs in at just 800kg. Wild!
Here is the thing about cornerstones though. At some point, once the foundations are laid and things are set in motion, cornerstones are to be left in the corner. To be revered and respected. Keep re-using them and like that brilliant song that you ruined by playing it a billion times, it gets played out. This brings us to the concept on these pages. Now before you fly off the handle and fill our mailbox with letters about when our car will hit the track, full disclaimer: this is a concept and like all great concepts we will leave the evaluation and implementation open-ended.
Building an ITC concept is harder work than it sounds. For one, I can hear the collective groan from the boys who have been racing Esteems for over two decades. Yes, it is expensive; yes, the Esteem is the cheapest and most viable option when you are racing with your own funds. But the sport has to move on, use cars that guys on the road drive.
Race cars have to look good so we got professional help in sketching out our tin-top racer. Mood board set with fighter jets, legendary race cars and sharks, the work started. Many Red Bulls, expressos and several beakers of “Chemical-X” later, the evo ITC concept was born, on the Verna’s body shell.
The next step was a matter of the spec-sheets, this was my territory. This, of course, involved poring over pages and pages of literature that outlines the modifications that these cars are allowed to have. Speaking to a host of tuners – all of whom think I am clinically insane - and ultimately formulating our own speculation based on intricate calculations and a lot of approximations (mostly the latter). Quantifiable things are my best friend as far as concept drawing is concerned, like weight for example. We know that a factory stock-Verna weighs exactly 1071 kg. Following this, the Verna will be gutted of all things that bear no relevance: carpeting, air-conditioning, door pads, seats. This is a rather pointless exercise considering that once the rollcage is put in, the weight goes back up.
According to ITC rules the car is allowed to weigh in not a gram less than the cubic capacity divided by 1.65 (which in his case works out to 1400/1.65 = 970kg) with the driver in tow. Assuming that the driver weighs in at an 70 kilos, the car needs to be closer to 900kg to be competitive against the Esteems. Composite fibre doors and the composite panels for the fenders, bonnet, boot and the doors in addition to plastic windows should – in theory – bring the weight down to our prospective figure.
We are using the 1.4-litre naturally aspirated Verna engine which puts out about 105bhp. The engine is what will take up every rupee we’ve saved, and every waking hour. The unit will be blue printed; get racing cams, pistons, rods, valves; have a motorsport ECU; shaved head; new intakes and exhaust; apart from the cast iron block and crank everything else will be tuned to make this engine perform. With the best tuners working on the motor we expect around 160bhp from the engine (and hope it is reliable enough to last a race).
Of course this is all in an ideal world. Tons of work will have to go into making it fast and reliable, and to work with the single-spec 15inch tyres. But it does look fantastic - and what do they say about race cars? If it looks fast it is fast.
CARBON FIBRE
On the bonnet, boot lid, skirts, everywhere to get weight down. However in the interests of costs all the carbon parts might be replaced by cheaper fibre panels
HEADLIGHT BLANKS
Races aren’t held at night so makes sense to throw away the heavy headlights and replace them with blanks. These also have air intakes that feed cold air directly into the air-box, like ram-air intakes
ROOF SCOOP
It gets plenty hot in a race car, continuously looping a track on a hot day. The roof scoop sucks cool air into the cabin so that the driver doesn’t suffocate in the 50 plus degrees
BODY PANELS
Reducing the overall weight of the car is essential. Steel body panels make way for light and strong fibre panels. ITC races see a lot of argybargy, we don’t want to be replacing panels every race!
FIBRE WINDOWS
Believe it or not, glass is heavy. Fibre windows save a lot of weight and lowers the centre of gravity. The windshields remain glass though