[Rtech]

The following press release has been published in papers across the country today.

The Motorsports Association of India, the ASN of the FIA in India and the Federation Francais du Sport Automobile (FFSA) the ASN of the FIA for France have reached a working arrangement that will permit budding Indian Drivers to take part in the FFSA FRENCH CHAMPIONSHIP with the single seater FORMULA CAMPUS RENAULT ELF for 2006.

This arrangement has been arrived at with ‘LA FILIERE FFSA’.

To enable an Indian driver to assess his capability, if he so desires, an aptitude test would be conducted at La Filiere FFSA at their Le Mans track. The driver then can then take part in the above Championship or return home at his option.

The following services are included which will be conducted in English:
- Private tests with experienced instructor : 5 days
- Races (7 meetings with two races per meeting)
- Technical assistance on private tests and races with mechanics, engineers, tyres, fuel
- Participation to the training program including marketing and technical courses
- Shuttle from Le Mans to the track for each race
- Hotel accomodation and meals on each race
- Equipment for the driver (includes overalls, pull-over, shirts, jacket)
- Prize money (around 140 000 Euros) at the end of the year to enable the best drivers to step up into a higher category

The Calendar of the races are:

- Nogaro : 16 April (Super Série)
- Lédenon : 30 April (Super Série)
- Dijon : 21 May (Super Série)
- Pau : 4 June (Super Série)
- Val de Vienne : 25 June (Super Série)
- Le Mans : 30 September (World Serie by Renault)
- Magny-Cours : 22 October (Super Série)

This is the finest programme ever made available to young Indian Drivers to race in Europe.

A new chapter in the history of motor racing in India is about to begin.

Looks like a great way for curent drivers to move beyond the National racing going on.

[khaadu75]

hey, Great news !! This shud really give the younger drivers something to look forward to after the National racing scene ... Things are finally changing for the better and lets hope we see a whole lot of Indians making a mark at various levels across the world ..

Cheers

[mclaren1885]

Thats a brilliant initiative .. Any idea how much would the entire thing cost ???

[Rtech]

The aptitude test would be 1,000 euros (Approx Rs.55,000)
The entire season of 7 races would work out to 50,000 Euro's (approx 27-30 lakhs).

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by Rtech

The aptitude test would be 1,000 euros (Approx Rs.55,000)
The entire season of 7 races would work out to 50,000 Euro's (approx 27-30 lakhs).

I knew it will be something like that. Mclaren, try to get into KBC-2...

[Rtech]

Samurai, thats still "cheap" by racing standards. Whats that they say about racing....If you want to make a million dollars in racing, you have to start with 5 million!!

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by Rtech

Samurai, thats still "cheap" by racing standards. Whats that they say about racing....If you want to make a million dollars in racing, you have to start with 5 million!!

That means the entry barrier for professional racing is really steep. Does that mean Schumacher, Alonzo, etc., are best only among the people who could afford to get into racing? If anybody could sign up based on merit or raw talent and allowed to develop further skills, that would really throw up some new super stars. Ah, only in our dreams...

[Rtech]

isn't that how it is for anything Samurai? there would be thousands of undiscovered sportsmen out there, but only a select few ever get to reach the higher levels. Out of those few, you will have people who made it purely on merit (minority these days), those that made it partly on merit and partly due to contacts/financial backing (90%) and those who made it only because of financial backing (Alex young!!).

however, in Europe, it is easier to get into the sport and progress as you are exposed to racing on a wider scale. Hence, things work out a bit cheaper. Also, we have to contend with the euro:rupee conversion rate.

[nitrous]

Samurai, the other way to look at it is that they're trying to avoid bad quality drivers.

If racing is that important, they'll somehow find the money.SOMEHOW!

[Neel]

That's awesome, people with that kind of interest can definitely afford it. I bet there will be a good number of people who might be interested

I could start a training centre to help interested ones clear the aptitude test !! LOL, anyone game.
[...as an alternative to KBC-2]

[Mpower]

Originally Posted by Rtech

The Motorsports Association of India, the ASN of the FIA in India and the Federation Francais du Sport Automobile (FFSA) the ASN of the FIA for France have reached a working arrangement that will permit budding Indian Drivers to take part in the FFSA FRENCH CHAMPIONSHIP with the single seater FORMULA CAMPUS RENAULT ELF for 2006.

Does this mean that Indians were not permitted to race in this series before?
The British FF2000 and the F3 championships have always had budding drivers from all over the world. (eg. NK himself)

As far as the cost, it a big jump from and FLGB. I guess F-Asia seems to be the next logical step (considering that so many Indians are doing it), but there is too much travel involved in F-Asia (imagine flying all the cars from Indonesia to Bahrain). Any idea how much a season is costing there?

30 lakhs is not a big deal if you have 2-3 big name sponsors, but to get there you should have dominated FISSME and FLGB in your first year.

[Rtech]

Does this mean that Indians were not permitted to race in this series before?

this is more than just racing. The FFSA will basically provide everything from the practice to the driving suit etc. Not just the races. They will also provide constant training. For the French, they have a complete schooling system which enables the young drivers to devote their time to racing but yet not miss out on studies. Also, this is the fist time the training will be conducted in english.

As far as the cost, it a big jump from and FLGB. I guess F-Asia seems to be the next logical step

yes, this is a big step over LGB, but so are the cars and level of racing. Lets not kid ourselves about the level the LGB really is. Racing in India in these cars will never provide the benchmark for someone to pit himself against the rest of the world.

Also, there is no such thing as formula Asia anymore. That was discontinued a couple of years ago. The asian Formula BMW championship comes close, though those costs are much higher than what they are for this F. Renault deal.

[Mpower]

Yeah, we really need another level of racing below F-BMW. Its really complicated and $$$ now with carbon fiber chassis and races spanning from Bahrain to Australia.

All we need is to go back to the old F-Asia which was based loosely on the FF-1600 Kent engine and do tracks like Sepang, Sentul, Bira, Subic bay, Shah Alam, Chennai(hopefully!)

[mclaren1885]

I dont think that 30 L is that big an amount considering the kind of exposure u get to racing at the various tracks and not to mention the training etc which is right up there with international standards..

Yes it certainly is a big step ahead from the FISSME's and the FLGB's .. But heck , the standard in india aint that great either .. So we arent actually gaining anything BIG in terms of international standard exposure by racing in our local events.. However i agree its still a good initiative than having none.. Had i had the money i certainly would never have thought it to be a waste of money to race at Le-Mans and Magny-Cours ..

What we need in india is something better than the LGB's and i think from this year on we will be having the 1600 class too .. So lets see how this works out at getting that much closer to the international standards ..