Indian truck drivers shine

Racing trucks for the first time, Jagat Singh and Nagarjuna A made it to the top among the 12 Indian truck drivers selected for the third season.

Story by: Ashish Bhatia

The third season of the Tata T1 truck racing championship will go down in history as the one that helped Indian truck drivers make an indelible mark. Held on March 20, 2016, twelve Indian truck drivers put out a stellar show at what would be their first truck racing experience ever. Reflecting on a rigorous selection and training program, the drivers provided enough reason for the audience to look up to them; to acknowledge the fact that truck racing has truly arrived in India, and is here to stay. Some two months before the race, which is run under the aegis of FIA (Federation Internationale De L’Automobile) and managed by FMSCI (Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India) and BTRA (British Truck Racing Association), Tata Motors took the wraps off the Indian drivers and offered a glimpse of how they were selected and trained.

The qualifying race

Media was conspicuously kept away as the six Indian drivers climbed into their racing Primas on March 19, 2016, at the Buddh International Circuit. Until the final race was over, interaction with the Indian drivers was embargoed. Starting under an open sky, the tempo began to build as the pack of six — Jagat Singh, Malkeet Singh, Rabinder Yadav, Rajkumar Mahato, Mohammed Parvez and Syed Akram Pasha cautiously rounded the first corner and began their qualifying journey as part of the Batch 1 race. The drivers speeding down the straight at speeds of no less than 130 kmph, Rabinder Yadav proved to be the fastest in lap 2. Malkeet was fastest in the next lap. The season 3 Primas, treated to modifications to lower their weight and increase their speed and handling (see box), seemed to be at their best. In lap four it was the turn of Jagat Singh to set the fastest lap time. Malkeet followed close on his heels. Rajkumar Mahato also set the fastest lap time. His average speed was 78.92 kmph. At the end of the last lap (Lap 6) Jagat Singh was firmly in lead, and clinched the Batch 1 qualifier title at an average speed of 79.40 kmph. A close second was Malkeet Singh from Gurgaon with a gap of 0.058 seconds. He did an average speed of 79.36 kmph. Rabinder Yadav came third with a gap of 0.295 seconds. He clocked an average speed of 79.19 kmph.

By the time the other six drivers climbed behind the wheel of their trucks for the Batch 2 qualifier race, the tone was set. A six lap race between six drivers – Bhag Chand, Nagarjuna A, Anand, Bacchu Singh, Mohammed Iliyas and Jitendra Singh got off to a good start. Providing a sence of the drivers observing restraint, born perhaps out of the fact that it was their first such outing ever, the group accelerated out of the first corner without an incident. Bhag Chand picked up the lead. He would retain it till the end with Nagarjuna breathing down his neck. A ferocious Nagarjuna continued to build pressure on Bhag Chand as the duo negotiated corners. In Lap 2, Jitendra Singh, who would finish last, set the fastest lap time. This race was beginning to look more exciting than the one before or it seemed. The fight for lead was intensifying between Chand and Nagarjuna. Not the one to give up easily, Nagarjuna, exerted pressure on Bhag Chand till the end. Would Bhag Chand buckle under pressure? By the time the race entered Lap 4, Bhag Chand set the fastest lap time. He was however not the only one. Placed third, and pursuing Nagarjuna, Anand also set the fastest lap time in Lap 4. Pursuing Bacchu Singh, Mohammed Iliyas, placed fifth, also set the fastest lap time in Lap 4. It was evident that the confidence levels of the Batch 2 Indian drivers were quickly rising. The way they raced reflected upon a new-found ‘josh’. Something that was until the last two seasons the territory of the foreign drivers. Nagarjuna clocked the fastest lap time in lap 5, placed second. Bacchu Singh recorded the fastest lap time in Lap 6. Bhag Chand held on to the lead with Nagarjuna hot on his heels. Bhag Chand won. Nagarjuna came a close second with a gap of 0.411 seconds. Anand came third with a gap of 0.859 seconds.

The final race

The final race on March 20 began at 1.25 pm for Batch 1. It would be an eight lap race. Having won the qualifying race, Jagat Singh rolled to the front of the grid. Malkeet Singh came to a halt next to him. Rabinder Yadav, Rajkumar Mahatao, Mohammed Parvez and Syed Akram Pasha made up the rest of the grid. Putting their qualifying experience to good use, it was Jagat Singh who grabbed the lead from the start. Malkeet Singh occupied the second place. A sense of caution seemed to prevail though, and was visible when negotiating corners. Perhaps a part of their training or as per the instructions they were receiving from their team managers, the drivers seemed to avoid bottle-necking in corners. They seemed to play it safe. This was especially visible as the pack negotiated the first corner. The order did not change in Lap 2 with Jagat Singh in a firm lead. Malkeet Singh was seen upping his ante to exert pressure on the leader. He tried to gain from the air resistance (rafting) by closing in on Jagat Singh’s racing Prima. Jagat Singh however did not let Malkeet Singh succeed.

Placed fourth, Parvez was beginning to exert pressure on Mahato with Yadav pulling close behind. Both Parvez and Yadav (placed fifth) clocked the fastest lap time of 1:54.522 seconds and 1:54.458 seconds respectively in Lap 2. In a bid to overtake Jagat Singh, Malkeet Singh, while negotiating a corner ran wide and off the track. He had a 360-degree spin but quickly regained control and was back on the track – down to fifth. Keeping calm, the next lap and a half would leave him to fight back, which he would. By the time the race entered Lap 3, action was on at the second, third and fourth level with Malkeet Singh beginning to exert pressure. In Lap 4 Malkeet Singh set the fastest lap time of 1:54.458 seconds, displaying a surprising calm and a determination to get back up. By the end of Lap 4, Malkeet Singh began moving up. By the end of Lap 6, he overtook Rajkumar Mahato and Rabinder Yadav to regain the second position. With pressure building up — with Malkeet Singh back to the second position, it was Jagat Singh who set the fastest lap time in Lap 6 at 1:54.305 seconds.

In a twist of events, Rabinder Yadav fell down two more places as Mahato and Parvez overtook him to grab the third and fourth position each. Doing speeds of up to 131 kmph on the straight, the Indian race drivers were burning some serious rubber by now. In Lap 7, it were Mahato and Pasha who set the fastest lap times of 1:53.913 seconds and 1:55.366 seconds respectively. By the time the race entered the last lap, Jagat Singh took a firm lead with Malkeet Singh in hot pursuit. Jagat Singh won the race by completing it in 15:33.241 seconds with an average speed of 77.15 kmph. He was a good 15 seconds faster than the rest of the pack. Malkeet Singh fought a fierce battle to regain the second position. He put up an impressive time of 15:48.985 seconds. Rajkumar Mahato came third, and Parvez came fourth. The top three winners took home a trophy and a prize money amounting to Rs.10 lakh, Rs.6 lakh and Rs.4 lakh each.

The Batch 2 final race began at 4 pm. Bhag Chand rolled over to the front with Nagarjuna A besides him. The rest of the field was made up of Anand, Jitendra Singh, Bacchu Singh and Mohammed Iliyas. Bhag Chand took the lead coming out of the first corner. Racing in front of a crowd of 50,000 people, the 3.1 km track would provide the Indian racing truck drivers ample opportunity to showcase their skills. By the end of Lap 1, Nagarjuna, using slipstream effect to his advantage, overtook Bhag Chand to grab a firm lead. Speeding past the grandstand on the long straight with the audience cheering him, the fight between Nagarjuna and Bhag Chand proved to be fierce as the two seemed to pull away from the rest. Anand clinched on to the third position. Despite much effort, Bhag Chand, could not pass Nagarjuna to gain the lead. In Lap 4, the duo clocked their fastest lap each at 1:52.952 and 1:53.078 seconds respectively. Nagarjuna kept the lead over Bhag Chand by a good four seconds and over Anand by a good twelve seconds.

At the back of the field, Jitendra Singh continued to be in the fourth place; Bacchu Singh continued to be in the fifth place, and Mohammed Iliyas continued to be in the sixth place. The action, limited to the top, saw Nagarjuna set the fastest lap time of 1:52.952 seconds in Lap 4. Starting his love affair with trucks on a Tata 2515 Ex, Nagarjuna shone like a bright star. Claiming to have learnt the skill of driving a truck by merely observing his father drive one, Nagarjuna, working for a logistics company as one of their fleet drivers, did not relent to continued pressure from Bhag Chand. On the contrary, Anand, placed third, upped pressure on Bhag Chand by clocking the fastest lap in Lap 6 at 1:54.033 seconds. Anand was not the only one; two other drivers clocked the fastest time in Lap 4 as well. Jitendra Singh clocked a fastest lap time of 1:54.069 seconds, and Bacchu Singh clocked the fastest lap time of 1:53.735 seconds.

Nagarjuna kept the lead. In the last lap he further consolidated his position with Bhag Chand firmly entrenched in the second place. Iliyas, placed sixth, clocked the fastest lap time of 1:53.183 seconds in the last lap even as Nagarjuna went on to win the race. Admitting to driving a truck by sheer gut as his biggest strength and at good speeds, Nagarjuna became the second Indian truck driver (after Jagat Singh) to clinch the top title at the Tata Prima T1 racing championship.

Foreign drivers up the ante

If the Indian drivers made an indelible mark at the Tata Prima T1 racing championship Season 3, the ‘pro-class’ drivers elevated the game to a new level.

Story by: Anirudh Raheja

There was an amount of trepidation. If the ‘pro-class’ race would be as involving and exciting. It was some time before the Season 3 races would be held that an announcement was made: foreign truck racing drivers Stuart Oliver (who won the Season 1 and Season 2 races), Steve Thomas and Steven Powell would not make it. The fear was misplaced as twelve foreign race drivers – David Jenkins and Brian Burt from Team Tata Technologies, Mat Summerfield and Adam Bint from Team Castrol Vecton, Rick Collett and Graham Powell from Team Cummins, Ben Horne and Paul McCumisky from Team Dealer Warriors, Ray Coleman and Simon Cole from Team Dealer Daredevils and Olly Janes and Tony Smith from Team Tata Motors Finance, climbed behind the wheel of their racing Primas. While four new drivers – Ray Coleman, Adam Bint, Brian Burt and Tony Smith, made it to this season, the Tata Motors Finance team replaced the Allied Partners team from the last season.

Held on the same day as the two qualifier races for the Indian drivers, it was the truck 16 of Rick Collet from Team Cummins, painted in a shade of bright red, that clinched the title. Running for 8 laps and reflecting on the experience and wit of the foreign race truck drivers, duly roped in by Steve Horne, it was a display of fierce competitive spirit as the trucks roared off the start line and gunned the first corner. If the Indian race drivers looked cautious, these were all out to clinch the title and make a mark. David Jenkins, in Lap 4, clocked the fastest lap time. In Lap 5, it was the turn of Summerfield, Bint and Cole to record the fastest lap time. Olly Janes, Graham Powell and Rick Collett were fastest in Lap 6. Collett grabbed an early lead, and ensured that he stayed ahead. In Lap 7, Paul McCumisky clocked the fastest lap time. In the final lap, it was the turn of Ben Horne and newcomers Tony Smith and Brian Burt to set the fastest lap time. Rick Collect grabbed the title with an average speed of 81.08 kmph. Powell came second with a gap of 0.213 seconds, and McCumisky came third with a gap of 0.243 seconds.

First final race

At 3 pm on March 20, the first of the final two races of international drivers sprinted off in style. Collett started off well and kept the lead for the first three corners of the track. Powell, using slipstream to his advantage, overtook Collett to grab the lead. By the end of Lap 1, Powell was firmly in lead. Posting the fastest lap in Lap 2, Summerfield continued to exert pressure on Powell. He grazed against McCumisky’s truck at the end of lap two to gain a track position. McCumisky went off the track and dropped down. Summerfield’s aggressive driving style bore fruits in Lap 4. He surpassed Rick Collett to grab the second place. Despite posting the fastest lap time of the race in Lap 7 at 1:50.880 seconds, Collet could not pass Summerfield. As the race entered the final lap, Summerfield was well entrenched in the first place. He won the race for Team Castrol Vecton with a 1.4 seconds lead over Powell of Team Cummins. Collet came third. Expressed Mat Summerfield at the end of this race, “I wasn’t pushing too hard. I wanted to see if we could win the race without pushing too hard because the next race would be of 20 laps. If you get used to racing by pushing too hard you are not going to have enough tyres left. You are not going to have enough brakes left.”

The final race

Starting at 5.15 pm, the 50 minute final race saw the emergence of animal spirit in the interest of winning. Unperturbed by smashed bumpers, broken windshields and injuries inflicted upon in the earlier race the foreign ‘pro-class’ drivers went flat out. Summerfield maintained the lead coming out of the first corner. In Lap 3, he clocked the fastest lap time. It was in this lap that Collett had a brush with Summerfield in an attempt to grab the lead. Summerfield lost a portion of his bumper. This would hamper his truck’s ability to cut through the wind. Jenkins grabbed the chance to close the gap and surpassed Summerfield to get behind Powell. Dealer Warrior’s driver Paul McCumisky had a go at his team partner Horne’s truck. He smashed into Horne’s truck almost and lost balance. The race was yellow flagged. This collision resulted in McCumisky retiring prematurely at the beginning of Lap 4. In mid-Lap 4, on turn four, Horne of Dealer Warrior was able to go a bit off the track to overtake Rick Collett. His efforts were wasted as Collett closed the gap and maintained the position. In Lap 4, Jenkins, Smith and Burt clocked the fastest lap time. By Lap 5, Summerfield was beginning to find the going tough with Collett breathing down his neck. David Jenkins brushed the wheel of his truck with Graham Powell’s truck. This lead to Powell losing the lead to Jenkins. Collett overtook Summerfield in Lap 6. Olly Janes, McCumisky and Cole clocked their fastest lap times each in Lap 5. By Lap 6, Summerfield fell to fourth position and Jenkins took the lead from Collet.

By Lap 6 Jenkins was firmly in lead. He was followed by Rick Collett and Graham Powell. Powell was firmly entrenched in the second position. The gap between Powell and Jenkins being a mere 0.323 seconds. Janes and Cole clocked the fastest lap time in Lap 7. In Lap 8, Powell closed in on Jenkins and almost overtook him. Jenkins did not let him succeed however. Not to let go, Summerfield, able to gain momemtum, closed the gap with Rick Collett. He managed to gain the second position from Collett and Powell for the next two laps. Rick and Powell continued to exert pressure on a wounded Summerfield. He went off the track. This gave Ben Horne an opportunity to make a comeback. He climbed up to exert pressure for the second place by Lap 11. Summerfield continued to fall back. Adam Bint clocked the fastest time in Lap 12. By the end of Lap 12, a fierce fight ensued between Powell, Collett and Horne. By Lap 13, Horne took the lead. Jenkins, at the front, extended his race lead by 12.35 seconds. Unable to maintain his track position, Horne, by Lap 16 lost the second position to Collett. Just before Horne could recover, Powell displaced him from third position. Fighting fiercely for the second place, neither could ironically displace Jenkins. He maintained a lonely lead and took the chequered flag for Team Tata Technologies at the end of Lap 20 with a 19.43 seconds lead over Team Cummins’s Rick Collett. Graham Powell came third with a 1.4 seconds gap. Said an elated Jenkins after the race, “Though the outright pace was not there, the truck, this time, was more consistent and better when compared to the earlier two seasons. There was a complete balance in the truck that gave us a top position.”

Truck tech

For Season 3, the race Prima 4038.S saw a change of 43 parts. These would help the truck, conforming to the British Truck Racing Association (BRTA) specifications, to go faster and behave better. The use of lighter parabolic leaf spring suspension with less leaves at both the front and rear helped to reduce the centre of gravity by 100mm and improve dynamic stability at high speeds. Anti-roll bar at the rear and re-calibrated shock absorbers would ensure higher stability on straights and during high speed cornering. Optimised brake cooling system with jet nozzles and a light weight (60×2) aluminum water storage tank would enhance braking prowess. Light weight rectangular 90-litre aluminum fuel tank would help with the weight distribution and safety. Lower aspect ratio tyres (315/70 R 22.5) tyres would help to improve road holding and cornering. Front wheel offset of 127 mm would help enhance manoeuvrability. Re-optimised front wheel rim would minimise damage due to wheel-to-wheel driving.

Changes for the Season four trucks are expected to be a higher hp engine to get the truck up to the global standards. Driving speeds could jump from 131 kmph to 160 kmph. Expressed Anant J. Talaulicar, CMD of Cummins India, that a significantly higher power engine was being worked upon. He said, “It all depends on the kind of leap Tata Motors is willing to take next year.” The new engine could produce 1000 hp of power, and feature advanced technologies like fuel cooling mechanism. Expressed Dr. A.K.Jindal, Head – Engineering Research Centre (Commercial Vehicles), Tata Motors, “The use of telematics is not far away if team owners decide to optimise race strategy and take it to the next level of performance. Things like ambient temperature would make a big difference on race day if it (race) were to be shifted out to another track or Indian drivers were to look at competing internationally. One has to fine tune for air intake temperature of the tank when the race is being held. In case of a sudden rain, telematics could help determine performance output and in-turn the race result.” Overwhelmed with the Indian drivers’ performances, Tata Motors hinted at the possibility of the Indian drivers competing with international drivers in a joint race in season four and going forward a few of them could compete in international racing events held the world over. Speaking on the development, Samir Yajnik, President Global Delivery and Asia Pacific COO, Tata Technologies, remarked, “The need of the hour is to look at each of the possibilities individually, and then fine tune the Prima race truck.” Tata Technologies has inked a five year contract with Tata Motors called “isourcing’. As per the contract, Tata Technologies has turned execution partner to the ‘Horizonnext’ strategy of Tata Motors. Speaking of product evolution, Yajnik added that the tear down and benchmarking facility being built at Hinjewadi (Pune) would enable them to eventually build a database, and from there-on diversify into consultation; into providing consultation services for OEMs like Tata Motors. Said Sanjay Sharma, Head – Motorsport, JK Tyre & Industries Ltd., “Surface temperatures and usage parameters are different in motorsports. Currently, the tyre that has been designed can handle a slight drizzle like it did in the last season race. Going forward, we can also develop wet racing tyres or intermediate tyres so that the drivers can go flat out in any kind of weather conditions.”