Tag: Superbikes

  • Mahindra MGP3O Bikes to Debut in FIM CEV Repsol Championship

    A file photo from Mahindra Racing.
    A file photo from Mahindra Racing.

    Mumbai, 17 March 2014: Mahindra Racing will extend its international racing programme to include the competitive FIM CEV International Championship in 2014. The ground-breaking Indian constructor will supply two MGP3O Moto3™ racers to the Spanish Mahindra TMR Competicion team for a new programme in the Dorna-run, Spain-based series that has become the main feeder of new riders into Grand Prix motorcycle racing.

    Mahindra Racing has been competing as a factory team in the Moto3 World Championship, part of the MotoGP™ series, since its inception in 2012. But this year the factory pairing of Portuguese Miguel Oliveira and Australian Arthur Sissis are joined by six ‘customer’ MGP3O bikes in the World Championship. The addition of two further bikes in the CEV programme is aimed to assist with the development and set-up of the MGP3O, while also giving Mahindra the opportunity to assess some exciting new racing talent.

    The Mahindra TMR Competicion team has secured the services of 17-year-old Spanish rider Albert Arenas and exciting 15-year-old Italian Stefano Manzi. Both riders are bright prospects who come to Mahindra with excellent pedigree: Arenas was a race winner in the CEV Championship in 2013 while ex-Red Bull Rookie Manzi won a race in the CIV Italian Moto3 Championship.

    “Our new involvement in the CEV series is an exciting addition to our growing racing programme,” explains Mr SP Shukla, Chairman of Mahindra Racing and President of Mahindra Group Strategy. “In addition to the technical benefits, it gives us the chance to keep an eye on new emerging talent in motorcycle racing. Mahindra’s corporate philosophy of ‘Rise’ is perfectly embodied in this new initiative which seeks to help realize the potential of young riders. We will be keeping a close eye on the progress of Albert and Stefano in Spain.”

    “It has been a very busy winter for us,” adds Mahindra Racing CEO Mufaddal Choonia. “The excellent performance of the MGP3O in the World Championship led to a lot of interest from customer teams and so it will be great to see eight Mahindra bikes on the grid in Qatar.

    Adding Mahindra TMR Competicion’s CEV programme makes sense for us as it is a great opportunity to gain even more data from our bike that will feed into our development programme. It also enables us to assess the Moto3 stars of the future. We had great success with our Italian racing programme, winning the 2013 Constructors’ and Riders’ titles, and I hope that Mahindra TMR Competicion can replicate that in Spain.”

     

    Mahindra Racing’s World Championship season gets underway on Sunday 23 March in Qatar while the CEV International Championship begins on 6 April in Jerez.

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  • The California Superbike School returns to India

    Chennai, 9 January 2013: The most successful  motorcycle racing school in the world, the California Superbike School (CSS), is all set to return for its fourth successive year at the Madras Motor Race Track (MMRT) in Chennai come January 2013. Having produced World Champions such as Wayne Rainey, James Toseland, Thomas Luthi and Chris Vermuelen, the school founded by the legendary Keith Code returns to Chennai after three very successful stints since arriving on Indian soil for the first time in 2010, according to an

    Keith Code with TT Varadarajan. Photo by Adrenna

    Adrenna Communications release.

    The California Superbike School was founded in 1980 by Keith Code and has trained over 1,50,000 riders in 27 countries including riders in MotoGP, World Superbikes (WSBK) and various other road-racing series. An initiative that helps one evolve his or her riding skills into a safer yet faster rider, the school had all of its 126 slots for 2013 booked within a day of opening its registration to the public. The school offers comprehensive training for riders of GP and Sports bikes to full dresser Harleys and Cruisers. TVS Motors and BMW Motorrad are supporting CSS India with the former providing track ready Apache RTR 180 bikes for the students and the latter providing BMW S1000RR bikes for the coaches.

    The first year of CSS’s presence in India in 2010 marked the school’s very first foray into South East Asia and TT Varadarajan, the man spearheading the entire operation is proud of the growth it has achieved since its inception, “We brought the school to India to satisfy two main goals: One is to provide the right skill sets that are necessary to perform at the highest level of motorsport to talented youngsters who do not have access to world class training. The other is to improve the riding skills of every motorcycle rider to make him/her conscious of safe riding practices, which is the responsibility of any motorcycle rider on the road.

    “India being a country which has the highest number of road fatalities in the world, needs initiatives such as CSS to help educate riders on safe & skilled riding practices. The Indian motorcycle industry is evolving and with bigger displacement bikes on offer, attending CSS will help new riders cope with the increase in power of these larger and faster bikes. Over the past 3 years, I’m really pleased with the response we’ve had and we’re all really looking forward to taking it to a new level once again in 2013.” added Mr. Varadarajan.

    In 2012, out of the 10 qualified Seminarists worldwide, 5 were part of the Chennai School. In addition, all three of CSS’s chief riding coaches and their deputies were also present. As a result, the 2012 Chennai school had the largest gathering of qualified coaches in one location amongst the thousands of schools that have been delivered worldwide. Leon Camier, the 2009 British Superbike Champion who currently rides for Crescent Suzuki in WSBK, was a guest coach for the 2012 Chennai School. This year CSS India has attracted another phenomenal talent to help local riders at the school, with Joe Roberts on board as Guest Coach for 2013. Joe is a 15 year old racing prodigy personally coached by Keith Code since 2008. Joe started competing at the age of 7 and is now a front-runner in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, a series designed to discover future MotoGP racing talent that runs as a support series at Grand Prix events.

    The legendary Keith Code was thrilled to have CSS return for the 4th consecutive year and said, “The Chennai camp is one of the most sought after school weekends in our calendar and the coaches love coming back year after year. Unfortunately we have only a limited number of seats so we like to focus on the upcoming riders. Hopefully we’ll continue to produce some of the country’s best riding talents. Having Joe Roberts on board this year will give Indian riders some great new insights and definitely add a new dimension to their riding. He is an exceptional young talent and we’re glad to have him work with us in 2013”

    TT Siddharth, an avid motorsports fan and competitor himself, was excited at the prospect of CSS returning in 2013 and spoke of the bigger picture, “CSS has trained 250 students in its first 3 years in India and the camp has a larger objective of using revenues earned to support the discovery, mobilization and training of talented youngsters. Sarath Kumar, who trained at CSS Chennai, took part in the 2011 125cc class in Moto GP and became the first Indian to do so. Initiatives such as this are needed to ensure that, one day, India would have more of its very own riders competing in the International Motor Sport arena.”

    The school runs over 2 weekends and offers four different levels of training over 3 days on each weekend. Students receive the most effective progression of skill sets ever devised for learning the techniques of riding and cornering, to help ride safely and responsibly on the road as well as on the track. The 2013 CSS in Chennai kicks off with a 3 day course from January  18th – 20th followed by another 3 day camp from January 25th – 27th.

    Please visit www.superbikeschoolindia.com for more information regarding the school.

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