The Red Bull Moto Jam was a night of action-packed motor sport and jamming beats, all packed into one euphoric moment
Story: Gaurav Davare
Photography: Ali Bharmal
What would be the best way to describe a festival of high-octane motor sport? Some would say the smell of burning rubber or shredded tyres, others would say the high one can experience with the smell of petrol. There are also things like cool stunts, fast cars, and the pleasure of going sideways, all of it complemented by enthusiastic beats to hype up the ambience. What if there was a way to have all these factors come together in one euphoric setting? The Red Bull Moto Jam is exactly that.
Consider the Red Bull Moto Jam the ultimate pilgrimage to celebrate everything that one loves about motor sport. It’s only fitting that this takes place at the Island Grounds in Chennai, a city that many consider the motor sport capital of India.
Before all the crazy action kicked off, the packed crowd was greeted with the athletes dressed in traditional Chennai attire and onboard a rickshaw. Red Bull didn’t hold things back for the opening act as we had Adulrahman Ahmed Alraeesi behind the wheel of a tricked-out Jeep, pulling off two-wheel sideways driving. Essentially one could consider it an SUV handstand. It wasn’t just at one angle as he pulled it off at different speeds and even had his SUV at a standstill on two wheels.
Next up we had none other than Abdo Feghali, the Guinness World Record holder for the longest drift (11.18 kilometres), gracing the venue with incredible precision drifts piloting a BMW M4. Highlights included an incredible J-turn that doubled as a parking tactic in style. Of course, this was no ordinary BMW M4; the car has been remapped to put out 650 hp, installing a hydraulic handbrake to help him lock the rear tyres to initiate a drift or change direction and, of course, a custom exhaust and the rear wing set-up to give it more of an aggressive personality.
The secret to such precision drifts isn’t a simple process. As Abdo Feghali puts it, ‘The art of controlling the car, managing the speed with the steering angle, how you can be in touch. It’s the chemistry between your foot on the throttle and the steering wheel that keeps the momentum going all the way.’ Some honourable mentions go to a multitude of drift-spec Mercedes-Benz machines going sideways and burning rubber.
Outside the main action there was a lot for the crowd to appreciate as well. It included a number of drift simulators and some gems of Indian motor sport on display such as an old Formula LGB Swift car, Vijay Mallya’s Black Beauty, and Vicky Chandok’s Kari Special.
Like the closing act of a rock concert, everything culminated in a blaze of glory as a tandem combination of drifts and stunts by cars and motorcycles made for a euphoric moment and had the people on their feet. Thus ended quite an exciting night of high-octane motor sport and jamming to cool beats with the Red Bull Moto Jam. If this was how exciting things could be in its first iteration in India, sky seems to be the limit for the those to follow in the future.
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