IRUNGATTUKOTTAI RACE TRACK

For a racing enthusiast, there is nothing to beat the smell of burnt rubber and the sound of screaming engines...and what better place than the Irungattukottai Race Track to catch the racing excitement in Chennai.  The Irungattukottai race track is the only international racing circuit in India.  Owned by the Madras Motor Sports Club (MMSC), the track is the pride of racing aficionados in Chennai, and has justified Chennai being called the epicentre of motor racing in India.

Irungattukottai - The Track

It was sometime in the early 70's, that the effort towards acquiring a land near Sriperumbudur, for putting up a world-class race track started.  Thanks to the untiring efforts of the Madras Motor Sports Club, construction of the track finally began towards the fag end of the 80's.  The Irungattukottai race track, which is the first of its kind in India was inaugurated in 1990. On 8th February 1998, Irungattukottai witnessed Formula Campus cars in action, for the first time in India. Sixteen single-seater cars, using 1350cc Renault engine with a five-speed gearbox, built by the Frenchman Claude Fior were raced.

The track is 11 meters wide and has 10 major curves, apart from a number of minor ones. A smaller club circuit of 2.1 kms is also available for shorter events. The main track has three straights, with the longest one being 250 meters. The main circuit is about 3.717 kms long, while the club circuit is 2.010 kms long.  The circuit conforms to the two international bodies - the Federation Internationale de Automobile and the Federation Internationale du Motocyliste, who lay down the norms for racing and racing circuits. The track is licensed to race up to and including Formula-3 for cars, as well as all classes of two-wheelers. The record for the fastest lap time on the track, belongs to Martin O Connell who finished the distance in a time of 1: 34:124 minutes in the Formula-3 class in 1996. 

Speaking to Chennaibest.com, MMSC Secretary, Pramod Kumar said, "This record which was set way back in 1996 is just a few minutes more than the average timing in the recently concluded Macau Grand Prix.  This goes to show that given the right kind of machinery even our track will record such timings.  But there are quite a few things that need to be done to attract F-1 racing to Chennai.  The main constraint is that of money. Of course for both, the sports bodies like us and for racers; the other constraint is that of infrastructure.  For example, F-1 racing would mean that we need a full-fledged helicopter hospital, two medical centres with operation theatre facilities on the track, signaling and certain other safety aspects.  We can fulfill all this but it is money, which is impeding us.  Apart from that we need 400 hotel rooms of five star class within an hour's drive from the track.  We need a 24-hour operational airport, with the facility to park 60 wide-bodied jets, which bring the riders and the cars and remain for the duration of the event.  Most of the top riders will fly in on their private jets so at least 30 to 40 jets will be there for an F-1 event.  But that is not all; the local community will experience a heavy influx of money as the visiting teams do spend a lot".

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