Controlled chaos
Some of the country’s fastest machines went all-out at the ninth edition of the Vroom Drag Meet
FAST MACHINES GOING FULL SEND ON AN AIRSTRIP!
HOW DOES A WEEKEND WITH some of the country’s fastest machines going full-send on an empty airstrip sound? Well, it’s a lot better than you can imagine! The Vroom Drag Meet edition 9.0 took place on November 25-26, 2023 at Taneja Aerospace and Aviation Limited near Bangalore, and it was my first experience of the drag-racing world. And boy was I in for a big surprise! Vroom Motorsports is one of the pioneers of drag racing in India and over the last nine editions, this event has seen a huge rise in popularity. This year saw the participation of 287 competitors.
The weekend started with a scrutiny check of all the entrants. All the machines were stickered and checked for safety for the madness that lay ahead the next day. The four-wheeler (4W) and twowheeler (2W) categories had five sections each and the event commenced with the latter. As expected the entrants turned up on everything from homemade electric scooters to drag-prepped litre-class superbikes to see how fast they could sprint across a quarter mile (402m). With a time of 11.979 seconds, it was Salman Khan who clocked the fastest time in the Indian twowheeler category, on his custom Yamaha RD350. The fastest time on an electric twowheeler was set by Shuheb A on an Ola S1 Pro. But it was 10x Indian national drag race champion Hemanth Muddappa, of Mantra Racing, who just left everybody else in the dust. He piloted his modified Suzuki Hayabusa onto a record time of 9.564 seconds and also set the fastest time of the
Darshan’s Stage 3 M340i produces 600bhp; JK Tyre Motorsport’s stunt-spec Balenos on two wheels; Hemanth Muddappa on his Hayabusa; Salman Khan is a multiple-time drag race winner; Race Concept’s manic 700bhp Accord; India’s drift king, Sanam Sekhon, kicking up a cloud of dust in his Lexus GS 300; the event also had a wheelie category
entire event. The 4W category saw many new entrants as well as a fair few veterans of the sport putting on a good show. Multipletime national champion Joel Joseph, of Race Concepts, returned to drag racing after a four-year hiatus in his legendary drag car — the country’s most powerful, 700bhp, Honda Accord. But it was a Bimmer, a Stage 3 M340i driven by Darshan Saasalu and prepped by Harmonixx Tuning, which topped the 4W time charts with a commendable time of 10.808 seconds.
The Vroom Drag Meet edition 9.0 was an eye opener — even as a spectator, drag racing is one of the most thrilling forms of motorsport. And I can’t wait to go see it again next year. ⌧