TVS Motorsport is revolutionising Indian motorsport and promoting inclusivity

TVS Racing has been a pioneer in the motorsport landscape in India for the last several decades. The organisation has made sure to leave no stone unturned in redefining the sports and racing culture in India.

TVS started racing in 1982, just two years after it was established. The organisation has multiple firsts to their name - they started the One Make Championship in India, they have a championship for women, and they were the first Indian manufacturer to participate in the Dakar Rally, among many others.

As motorsport takes a gradual shift in India for the better, Vimal Sumbly, Head of Business, Premium at TVS Motorsport, opened up on a variety of topics on the sidelines of the Apache Racing Experience GP Cup Finale at the Madras Motorsport Race Track in an exclusive interview with BizzBuzz.

From pioneering initiatives to foster a safer racing environment to breaking new ground with innovations in motorcycle technology, here are the highlights from the conversation.

What role does TVS play in changing the motorsport landscape in India?

If you honestly look in India, people race. People do a lot of things on roads and streets that jeopardise the life of others and themselves. So, what we have done through our programs is that we have taken it to a safe environment. We are trying to create small racing forms through go-karts first. We don’t ask motorsport enthusiasts to come with a motorcycle and ride. We do online classes for them, we scrutinise them, do a health check-up, and then there’s a trainer who will take them lap by lap by lap. Once we see that they are comfortably trained, then we allow them to race. And from there, we are building up the talent. This competitiveness will fuel the next set of adrenaline. That is where we believe there will be a lot of talent that will come out. We see good growth in motorsports, it’s not just TVS that has been doing motorsports; we can slowly see other companies getting into it, and with MotoGP coming into it, it’s a perfect platform for youngsters to come up.

I’m sure over a period of time, people will get into racing a lot. But, more than being expensive, I think it’s more about mindset. It’s not about racing with your friend on an open road, overtaking a bus or a truck. Racing is about you and your machine. Our objective is to bring that fun part of it, the competitive part of it, the engineering and R&D part of it to the rider.

We have seen Aishwarya Pissay or Alisha Abdullah prove that motorsport is not a gender-based sport. How is TVS going ahead to be an all-inclusive gender sport?

We do women's racing championships for which we have put a lot of emphasis on. We are increasing the number of cities we’ll go to for participation. Last year in Pune, I saw 65 people participating. In one of the races, there was a mother and a daughter. The mother, when her father did not allow her to race, used to race in private. And she was so proud to bring her daughter, and she participated to support her. So, that one change, according to me, is a very strong one. It shows how this is going to come up. These are only signals of what is going to happen. It is something phenomenal. We are proud to say that we are the only Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) to have a woman factory racing team; nobody in the world has that. It is not easy, as there is investment, there is training and there is the environment we need to create. There is a huge program of training, motorcycle riding, building up of the bikes, giving them opportunities to get trained outside India, supporting them and taking care of their mental strength. It is a very holistic program we run.

What are the innovations TVS has gone through in recent times with their bikes and in general motorsport?

As an engineering company, our core philosophy is to democratise racing. We are proud of our state-of-the-art R&D (Research and Development) department. How can one say we have good R&D or are a good engineering company? It is when we race. So, for us, racing is a reflection of what TVS engineering and R&D stand for, and through this, we get a lot of technologies out of it.

We launched the RTR 310. We got the RTDSC into it, which is Race Tuned Dynamic Stability Control. We got a climate control seat on our motorcycles. We got a bi-directional quick-shifter. These additions or innovations come from our racing, striving for continuous improvement in racing. If you look at what we are able to do with these machines, which are race-tuned, is completely different than the stock ones. So, it helps us to also build our stock bikes to these levels too.

With all these, we are winning almost 85 to 90 percent of the podiums. Now, when we compete in India, it’s not just TVS that is competing with TVS, there are other competitive players and within them we are doing extremely well. To that extent, I would say we have made a huge leap.

How do you think the broadcast media can change the landscape of motorsport?

First, we are live streaming our Apache Racing Experience (ARE) races on YouTube. This was the first step we have taken towards racing live. We can see a lot of people connected to our live stream across India. There were thousands glued to it, which is very good for our particular kind of race time. I believe this will add up. Our first step was to make it live. That is what we have done. Yes, of course, it will help over a period of time to make a longer and stronger fan base. Because then people can connect and see it.

Speaking about ARE, talk us through why TVS started the Apache Racing Experience?

The Apache Racing Experience (ARE) started way back in 2007. It was one of the ways we wanted to connect with our consumers. Through this program, we wanted to search for talent in India. Initially, when we started this program, it was more focused on metros because we thought people in metros are more educated, they have more money to experiment with, and the willingness to be part of motorsports would be very large. Then we realised, as we saw our Apache sales, that they had been happening around tier one, tier two, and tier three customers. We recently crossed 5 million sales of Apache. People buy Apache because it’s a race-ready bike in a way. And people can connect with that adrenaline rush. So we started this.

In ARE, we conduct the program on one of the good go-kart tracks. Because a go-kart track is the place where you can lean your bike, you can experiment with your bike very well. You can integrate yourself with the bike much better. Then the racetrack is where you fully experience it. However, everybody cannot afford to go to a race track and run on it because there are a lot of requirements - right from the riding gear to the motorcycle specifications and more. So, we thought we should bring some Cup (championship) to recognise them and then bring them to a race track so that they also know how to connect to the race track.

How has the ARE grown to what it is today?

I am seeing the enthusiasm and sheer thrill of the customers from 20 cities across India. It is a sheer pleasure to say that this talent of motorsport has hit even tier-2 and tier-3 cities, which was, probably a few years ago, difficult to imagine. As we say in Motorsport, there is no gender definition. Similarly, I can happily tell you there is no difference between urban, rural, tier-1 and tier-2. I think we have made huge progress towards it. It is more about camaraderie, community and culture.