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Drivers' delight
Rayan Rozario
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Spurred by its racing track's success, LG Sports is to rollout the Formula Rolon car
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The track acts as an R&D facility for my company.B. Vijayakumar, LG Sports
VROOMING AHEAD: Racers blazing the track during the JK Tyre national racing championships at the Kari Motor Speedway. Photo: K. Ananthan.
Two years ago, when an emotional G.K. Sundaram inaugurated the Kari Motor Speedway Circuit at Chettipalayam, it was a dream come true for motor sport enthusiasts.
Some criticised the idea saying it was a sheer waste of space and money as the sport was at its lowest ebb. Today, B. Vijayakumar, the brain behind the project, is a proud man because the circuit has turned out to be every driver's delight.
International series
Says Vijayakumar, the Managing Director of LG Balakrishnan & Bros. Ltd: "The Coimbatore track is the second best and most modern circuit in India. Besides national events, there is scope for international racing. If the Chennai circuit is resurfaced on time, we can have an international series in Sri Lanka, Coimbatore and Chennai. We are in touch with the Sri Lankan officials and drivers who visited our driving school. It's only a matter of time before an Indo-Sri Lankan championship takes place."
He says the Sri Lankans also showed interest in buying Formula LGB cars. "For promotion of motor sports we should have more tracks." He says that the Coimbatore circuit will have more training classes.
"We'll keep the track as active as possible. New cars will run in all the tracks. "
Vijayakumar says: "the track acts as an R&D facility for my company. When I come up with a new product, where else can I test it? It's good that I have my own test circuit and training classes." Talking about racing cars, he says: "India had only the 800cc single-seater cars, which have been in operation for a decade. As advanced cars never came on to the track, it was fine. Now, with the advent of go-kart tracks all over India and go-karting becoming popular, we have new two-stroke karts that are far ahead in terms of reaction speed and competitiveness. When the boys are used to these two stroke engines, driving a Formula India Single Seater Maruti Engine (FISSME) is like a step down for them. So, we'll have to bring out something faster. Even the Formula LGB is only an equivalent. We plan to rollout a Formula Rolon car by the end of July. I want to get the grid going for Formula Rolon before the year-end and run two support races to find out their performance."
He says LG Sports plans to increase the number of events held at the Speedway.
"We had 14 events last year and this year we are thinking of having an event once in 20 days."
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