Prima truck racing ready to kick off

Get ready for some heavy duty motor racing, quite literally, as the first season of the Tata T1 Prima Truck Racing Championship is about to kick off. The first event will be held at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida on 22-23 March. 

The Competitors

Competing for the championship will be a total of 12 racing drivers in six teams. These drivers have been hand picked by two time British Truck racing champion and now organizer of the British Truck Racing Association (BTRA), Steve Horne. Since Tata Motors didn’t have enough time on their hands to train Indian nationals for the inaugural season, British drivers will be participating but Tata Motors tells us that in the next season, there should be Indian participation.

The Racing Trucks

These Prima race trucks have been readied for the championship at Tata’s Jamshedpur plant under guidance of Gopal Madhavan, Chairman of the Homologation Committee of FMSCI. The trucks adhere to guidelines set by the BTRA. While the 4038S tractor-trailer Primas aren’t totally purpose built racing trucks, there are considerable modifications to the road truck. First up is the engine. Tata Motors has fitted the Cummins engine that goes to export markets like South Africa in the race Primas. It develops 375PS of power at 2100rpm (about 100PS more than the Prima trucks on sale in India) and 1550Nm of torque between 1200-1400rpm. The race Primas come fitted with an elaborate roll cage, racing steering wheel with quick release mechanism, racing seats with 5-point harness, larger brakes and a jet-cooled braking system, reduced ride height, relocation of critical components like the fuel tank and tubeless racing tyres from JK Tyre.

The Track

Since the trucks have a maximum top speed of 110kmph, a whole lap of the Buddh would have been too long. Hence the championship will be held on the small loop for the first time that includes only six corners. The first four corners of the standard circuit followed by a slow right hand hair-pin and then the final left-hander back to the start-finish straight. The short loop circuit is 2.1km long with lap times expected in the region of around 2 min 10 seconds. 

The British truck racing drivers are accustomed to a lot more power so the lower power, lower speed, same spec trucks, and straights dominated circuit layout in the short loop should see some neck and neck racing.