In a run-up to Government College of Engineering, Barton Hill’s annual auto show, ‘Full Throttle’, to be held from March 15 to 17, the college teamed up with city-based M&N Racing, to launch an awareness campaign against speed racing on city roads.
Jose Pottamkulam, racing enthusiast and team principal of M&N Racing, perhaps the only Malayali-owned racing team in the country that fields cars for popular races such as Formula One support races and the MRF Championship, gave a lecture on the hazards of racing on city roads without customised racing cars.
“This practice of racing on roads in the city with cars/bikes needs to be stopped. Of late, the Kowdiar-Kuravankonam stretch has become a haven for racing and consequently there seems to be a lot of speed-induced accidents on the stretch. Perhaps, these accidents happen because these youngsters do not know the technicalities behind racing regular cars as opposed to racing cars.
“For instance, the latest two accidents on the stretch – as is evident from tyre marks left behind – occurred because of lift off under-steering when these cars tried to take a corner at high speed. In such instances, the drivers would have taken their leg off the accelerator and applied the brake. But due to the momentum and the cars being front wheel drives, they would have lost traction (grip) and continued going straight instead of taking the turn. Don’t try it, but the trick is to continue going full throttle and touch the break with the left leg,” explains Jose, on the sidelines of the inauguration of the campaign at the college’s auditorium.
In the next few weeks the organisers plan to take the lecture to all the colleges in the city.
On the final day of ‘Full Throttle’, they hope to bring down racer Arjun Balu to demonstrate the same.
