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 tothe 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".
4:11:26 AM 
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.
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".
