Introduction
Trucks are meant to haul. Haul anything and everything that can fit in and needs to be transported. Speed is not particularly a forte. They do have the firepower but then if they are off the leash, it means commercial losses. The truck drivers hence, just know the grind – away from home, family and driving across the country with loads often more than they can carry. Obviously, motorsport for them is Greek. But Tata Motors thinks they can get these boys to run and run fast around a racetrack. Here is how.
TRP 2.0
In the second season of the truck racing program, TRP 2.0, 3300 everyday truckers have been nominated to participate in the annual extravaganza of truck racing, unique only to the Tata trucks in India. With help of Accenture and Motorsport Management, the painstaking process of choosing the best of the best has already started. After the initial screening rounds of fitness and driving talent, the selected 200 drivers will go through a detailed four-level programme.
They will be trained mentally, physically and dedicatedly to turn your everyday nondescript truckers into real truck racing drivers. No, this is not a dream but a reality that we have also seen last year. It is heartening to see the TRP 1.0 finalists to battle it out on the track like thoroughbred racers. And the fact that they are just a few seconds shy of the international drivers that have decades of experience to back them up, speaks volumes of the talent and the training process involved.
So we got a taste of what these drivers undergo. Like the Level 1 drivers, we were handed over the Tata Xenon pickup trucks to race through a slalom course. The most interesting part was that the marshal at the finish line would indicate at a very last moment as to what braking point we had to park out truck in. And it had to be in the one opposite to the one he has indicated.
Well, for those who know, even if it is a little truck, it can be quite a handful. After giving us a glimpse of what it takes to be a truck racing driver, we were given a demo of a real one. Hot laps around the circuit in a Tata T1 Prima racing truck added one to the racing enthusiasts bucket list immediately.
You have to be in the truck and experience what I went through to actually understand how capable this machine is. The race truck is based on the T1 Prima 4928. It gets the same engine, the same tractor chassis but which has gone under heavy modifications. The racing seats have five-point harnesses and the cabin is cocooned by a massive roll-cage built inside the cabin. The suspension has been lowered for a better centre of gravity and the chassis has gone on a strict diet. The brakes that would burn out after a couple of laps are now being cooled by water sprays. This is a pure-bred race truck.
As we went around the corners, blasting down the main straight, the only feeling I have is of exhilaration. The T1 Prima championship will be held at the BIC coming March and this year we have one more class of races. You will have the foreign racers competing in the Pro Class. The Super Class will have the 10 racers shortlisted from the 3300 nominations from this year. Also, the 24 drivers from last year’s Super Class will now go through the paces again and the ten drivers shortlisted will form the Champion Class.
If you want to see what a real race truck can do, you have to see them in action in real and BIC is the place you would want to be. It gives you immense satisfaction seeing these Indian drivers and their claim to fame steering the massive trucks across the finish line and the best part is, they are off the veteran foreign racers by just a few seconds, the gap that can only be scaled by practicing the craft.
