Toyota India Aims to Spread Motorsports Experience Amongst Indians

Toyota Etios Motor Racing Series is a platform made to help talented young racers to develop their skills and further training them to shape up their future in the world of motor-sports. The racers are mentored by experts and given an opportunity to compete against the best of the country. The series has not just helped Toyota to highlight its technological competency, but has shown the rashness level of the Etios series vehicles. To closely understand the motive and admiration of Toyota Kirloskar Motor behind such an exciting initiative, we spoke to Mr. Sandeep Singh, Deputy MD, Marketing, TKM.

1. Could you tell us briefly about the driver selection process; what it involves and how it is implemented?

Ans : For the driver selection process, we accepted registrations online for a month between Jan 15 & Feb 15, 2012. A thorough selection process was implemented in order to select the most talented racers in the country belonging to the age group of 15 to 24 years old followed by the 3 driver selection camps as briefly described below:

Camp 1

A record number of 3300 online registrations was received which were sifted through to get to a number of around 900 eligible participants. They were then invited to compete in the first round of auditions in four cities – Pune, Delhi, Kolkata and Bangalore.

The arduous task of selecting 70 young drivers from around 900 was given to experts in the field of racing and rallying – Leelakrishna, Farad Bhathena, Nawaz Sandhu, Karandeep Sandhu, Amittrajit Ghosh and Karna Kadur.

As selections were held across the country at different tracks, the following was put into place to achieve the intended result:

- Tracks at all venues were redesigned by Red Rooster Racing to bring out driver skills
- Benchmark lap time on each track was set for reference
- Each participant drove eight laps
- Each participant was rated on 10 by the evaluators

Camp 2

The top 70 competitors were put through a more rigorous second round of selections where they were individually trained and judged by five top evaluators/ instructors with a motorsport background – Leelakrishna, Ram Narayan, Rahul Kantharaj, Karna Kadur and Anish Rathnam. The camp was held over two days in Bangalore with a total of three rounds for a batch of five candidates in each round. Participants were judged on their go-kart driving skills with importance given to their lap times and consistency in lap times in Camps 1 and 2.

Camp 3

40 drivers were selected from Camp 2 who then went on to attend Camp 3 where for the final selection and training with the Etios Motor Racing cars. The participants were driving the EMR cars for the first time, hence were put through extensive training sessions over two days at the Madras race track (MMSC), and mentored by acclaimed motorsport drivers – Leelakrishna, Ram Narayan, Rahul Kantharaj, Amittrajit Ghosh and Karna Kadur. The final 25 drivers (+10 reserves) were selected based on the consistency in lap timings and fastest lap timings set by the competitor on the race track.

2. This is Toyota's first attempt at organizing a motor sports event. Do you think it will generate as much interest as the Polo R-Cup that is already in its 3rd year running?

Ans : At Toyota, our aim is to spread motorsports experience amongst our customers and general public. The biggest difference from any other one-make racing championship in India would be the reach of the series, not only through the races themselves but also through a number of support activities. In short, EMR will provide interactive experiences of motorsports to a wider reach of people. The expertise of TRD in each of the cars that will be raced, and the overall support structure from experts in the field will be another very important advantage of EMR.

3. Safety regulations for such events in India are still under-developed. What steps will Toyota be taking to ensure that the safety regulations match their level of requirements?

Ans : As long as Toyota is a part of organizing body, we strictly follow FIA's standard for safety. Based on discussion with TRD, Red Rooster, FMSCI and Toyota's motorsports divisions, we will put all necessary/ mandatory measures in place for conducting a safe event.

4. The Etios Motor Racing event will be "dealer activation based." Could you briefly explain this?

Ans : The Etios Motor Racing series is not only “dealership activation based” as it was only at the onset of the project this year was dedicated to popularizing EMR brand through the dealership activations in 14 cities and 24 dealerships. As already mentioned earlier, our main aim at Toyota is not only to reach out to motorsport enthusiasts but also to our customers and the youth of the
nation. The dealership activations helped us achieve the same as our customers and motorsports enthusiasts witnessed a host of motorsport based activities at the dealership including racing simulators, remote controlled cars on race tracks, children’s automotive learning area, and other relevant contests and activities.

5. What according to you are the core benefits that young racing enthusiasts will get from participation in Etios Motor Racing?

Ans : The drivers who will go on to compete at the Etios Motor Racing Series will have bigger and brighter opportunities opened up to them in the field of racing both in India and overseas. Apart from the fact that the drivers will be put through rigorous training processes to meet both FMSCI standards and international standards of rallying, the drivers have also be mentored by the best experts in the field of racing and rallying in India. Also, winners of the EMR trophy will be exposed to numerous Toyota racing events overseas.

6. What is your take on the motor sports situation in India?

Ans : Motorsports is gaining popularity in India, commanding a growing audience among the young, educated and dynamic; the demographic that the Etios Brand also reaches out to. We aim to exceed our customers’ expectations, and create many more happy customers. Recently, Toyota laid down its global mission, called WAKU DOKI which is to provide ‘excitement’, ‘joy’ and ‘fun’ through its products. We would like to take this opportunity to promote motorsports in India through EMR and capitalize on our global motorsport heritage

7. Toyota has roped in TRD and Red Rooster Racing for technical know-how. What impact are you hoping to get on the education of the young racing enthusiasts?

Ans : A.Toyota has a long history of motorsports internationally, and we have drawn inspiration for the Etios Motor Racing from this rich legacy. Continuing the company’s global legacy of motorsports, the EMR tourney will be supported by one of the most accomplished and acclaimed engineering companies in motorsport history – TRD (Toyota Racing Development), the corporate brand from the Toyota affiliate, Toyota Technocraft Co. Ltd. TRD has been an integral part of Toyota Formula Racing School in Japan, and Red Rooster has expertise based on their long history of racing and rallying. The training program we develop for EMR drivers are the fruit of collaboration between the two experts. We believe the impact (or effectiveness) of our program should be no less than the ones provided by other established racing schools, if not better.

8. Tell us something about your Racing Simulator plans.

Ans : We have just finished our dealer activation program - covering 14 cities and 24 dealership showrooms - in order to popularize EMR across India. Racing simulator is one of the key components of dealer activation program, but it is meant for fun like TV game. We have no plan to use simulator for our driver training at this moment, but will bring some again for our exhibition races so that visitors could have some fun with it.