Motor sport in the country is poised for a shot in the arm with Toyota’s Etios Motor (EMR). We get a foretaste both of the event to be held and the race car made for it
MOTOR SPORT IS growing in India and seems to be headed in the right direction too. There was a time when racing was an elite sport that very few people enjoyed and even fewer had access to. But then things started changing with the one-make series being conducted by Volkswagen in the form of Polo R Cup and became even better with Toyota announcing their own Etios Motor Racing (EMR). What Toyota are aiming at with EMR is simple: pick up the young racing talent from India, pit them against one another, make racing extremely affordable, grow in terms of motor sport as a whole and put the top racer among them in an international series.
Toyota announced EMR earlier this year at the Auto Expo and promised a couple of exhibition rounds to start with in 2012 before the full championship in 2013. Following several rounds held across the country Toyota have selected 25 fi nalists, who will compete in the championship. These fi nalists have been short-listed through various rounds of karting and driving the actual race car. There is a good mix of drivers, which varies from the experienced to the fi rst-timers. And with everyone competing in identical cars, it is going to boil down to individual skill when it comes to delivering results.
The cars used in EMR, as the very name suggests, are Etios sedans in a race avatar (we have driven the race car and a report on it follows this story). Red Rooster Racing’s tuner and veteran racer, Leelakrishnan, is the man responsible for setting up and tuning the cars for the championship. Toyota’s racing branch, Toyota Racing Development (TRD), developed the fi rst Etios race car in Japan and brought it to India, which was then replicated by Red Rooster Racing for the race drivers of EMR.
That is about the drivers and their cars. What next? Well, Toyota have also organised a couple of exhibition rounds for 2012, of which the fi rst one was held at the Madras Motorsports Race Track (MMRT) last month wherein the 25 fi nalists raced against each other. Since these races are a part of the exhibition rounds, there were no points given to the top fi nishers, but these races played the vital rôle of building up EMR’s popularity. The whole event focused on making the racing weekend an enjoyable experience for the spectators. Toyota set up various areas where outsiders could come and experience Toyota products themselves. These included an off-roading section where Toyota’s SUVs were available to be tried and the complete range of Toyota products, which were accessible to one and all to feel and get to know them at close quarters. In order to make it interesting for the children, there were karting sections, a remote-controlled car section and a set of racing simulators.
To make the exhibition round even more exciting, Toyota conducted a race for the journalists, which, unfortunately, could not make it to the chequered fl ag because of heavy downpour that forced the red fl ag to come out. Similarly, international drivers Akira Iida (Lexus LFA development driver and a professional racer) and Ben Collins (who doesn’t know the ex-Stig?) were invited to drive in the exhibition races along with Indian drivers. Overall, Toyota scored full marks in conducting their first race weekend in India and promised much more in the forthcoming events and championships.
What appealed most to us is the fact that Toyota are making every effort to give racing and motor sport a shot in the arm in this country. And they are doing so by making racing affordable. How? They are charging only Rs 1.7 lakh to the drivers for the complete season in which the drivers are being provided with the race-prepped cars, driving gear (which alone would cost upwards of Rs 1.5 lakh) and technical back-up and support. A lot of money has been poured in by the Japanese marque and their efforts are laudable. Kudos to Toyota and we hope they succeed in making motor sport a mainstream sport in the country.
What Toyota are aiming at with EMR is simple: pick up the young racing talent from India, pit them against one another, make racing extremely affordable, grow in terms of motor sport as a whole and put the top racer among them in an international series
Story: Adhish Alawani
Photography: Sanjay Raikar
