Fireside Chat w/ Aditya Patel

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Raw Transcript with Timestamps

[00:00.000 -> 00:04.720] As a race driver, when you're watching it, you always put yourself in that seat and you're just like, whoa.
[00:05.320 -> 00:08.800] You can feel the speed going through the corners.
[00:08.800 -> 00:21.040] You feel that little bit, that element of danger is what you feel on these circuits that you just, I guess, don't feel on these new age tracks that like you see like Budh in Shanghai and Malaysia.
[00:21.000 -> 00:27.440] Malaysia.
[00:31.920 -> 00:32.360] Hello, and welcome back to another episode with F1 Fan Fiction.
[00:37.600 -> 00:42.480] Folks, we've been monitoring your listening and thank you for all the love you've been giving us on this side series called F1 Fireside Chats.
[00:42.760 -> 00:49.120] And based on that, we will continue to bring these, these amazing shows with amazing people
[00:49.120 -> 00:50.120] on the podcast.
[00:50.120 -> 00:52.200] Let's get the show started.
[00:52.200 -> 00:53.200] We are your hosts.
[00:53.200 -> 00:55.720] I am Akash and I'm Saran and I'm Aditya.
[00:55.720 -> 00:56.720] I'm my host.
[00:56.720 -> 00:57.720] Oh yeah.
[00:57.720 -> 00:59.720] I guess you are today.
[00:59.720 -> 01:00.720] Yes.
[01:00.720 -> 01:03.200] Today we have a third host with us.
[01:03.200 -> 01:06.600] Um, Aditya, I mean, he needs no introductions.
[01:06.600 -> 01:14.400] If you've been following the Indian motor scene recently, more so, this is one name that you just cannot skip.
[01:14.400 -> 01:16.200] Aditya, take it away. The floor is yours.
[01:16.200 -> 01:20.200] Thanks, guys. Sorry, I jumped into your...
[01:20.200 -> 01:38.000] No, no, no, no, this is a... Thanks, yeah. Thanks, it's great to be here on this show and you know, there has been a lot of interest that we've been receiving from a lot of motorsport fans actually in the last couple of weeks since we launched Formula Regional, Formula 4 and IRL.
[01:38.000 -> 01:45.300] So it's been a busy couple of weeks, but we're looking forward to to it's just two weeks in and there's
[01:45.300 -> 01:48.880] another five months to go before we actually have the first race. So it's
[01:48.880 -> 01:54.640] going to be super hectic but looking forward to it. Same here man. Awesome. Yeah I mean I
[01:54.640 -> 01:59.440] think like y'all launched your Insta page maybe right about the time when you
[01:59.440 -> 02:03.920] launched the whole thing and it's already shot up so much and I'm like oh
[02:03.920 -> 02:09.760] this is I love the traction this is getting because I wasn't sure how many people are actually following the scene.
[02:10.120 -> 02:10.400] Right.
[02:10.400 -> 02:11.360] So I just love that.
[02:12.880 -> 02:25.440] To be honest, because we did the Exxon Racing League in 2019 and there was decent traction, but in this last year and a half with the pandemic, I think the number of Formula One fans and motorsport fans,
[02:25.440 -> 02:31.280] particularly in India has just shot up hugely and it's probably a lot to do with Drive to Survive.
[02:31.280 -> 02:35.040] But we can thank them for that. Yeah.
[02:36.880 -> 02:42.240] Why not, you know, you just tell our listeners a little bit about yourself so they know who you are.
[02:46.540 -> 02:51.940] yourself so they know who you are. All right, so well basically I am a racing driver more than a businessman. I started racing when I was pretty young, I
[02:51.940 -> 02:55.420] must have been four years old when I first drove a go-kart, 11 when I first
[02:55.420 -> 03:00.640] did a go-kart race and I used to do it more like a weekend hobby, just kind of
[03:00.640 -> 03:04.380] pester my parents to take me to the go-kart track, made friends at the go-kart
[03:04.380 -> 03:08.800] track who were doing the same back at the time. So every weekend it was the same bunch of guys who'd be
[03:08.800 -> 03:16.960] there and we used to just participate in races for fun but I guess that competition just kind
[03:16.960 -> 03:23.920] of grows on you and then you want to go further and then since my dad used to race as well, he
[03:23.920 -> 03:25.520] kind of used to take me to the racetrack.
[03:25.520 -> 03:29.680] Yeah, he used to race touring cars in India, he used to prepare cars at race them as well.
[03:29.680 -> 03:30.160] That's awesome.
[03:30.160 -> 03:34.640] And so I used to go to the track as a kid. And at some point, I'm guessing that bug had to bite.
[03:34.640 -> 03:40.160] So yeah, when it did, I guess I was then old enough to jump into a race car 16 years old.
[03:40.720 -> 03:46.640] And there's no looking back really once you're in a race car. You like the feeling of winning,
[03:47.200 -> 03:52.720] you want to do it again and again, it's an addictive feeling. So and then it kind of just
[03:52.720 -> 03:58.480] led to international motorsport after winning the national championship. I raced in a championship
[03:58.480 -> 04:05.500] called the Formula BMW in 2008. Post that I was picked up by Volkswagen Motorsport to race in the
[04:05.500 -> 04:10.020] Polo Cup in Germany, which was a big change for me because as a
[04:10.020 -> 04:14.340] youngster you guys know everyone dreams to be in Formula One but after one year
[04:14.340 -> 04:18.060] of single-seater racing, I knew it's going to be very expensive, we can't
[04:18.060 -> 04:27.080] afford to do it. I took that chance and I jumped into touring because it was fully sponsored. So I said, hey, why not?
[04:27.080 -> 04:33.200] I mean, no one really has done it yet. So let me give it a shot. So yeah that kind of led to
[04:33.840 -> 04:35.840] a good relationship with
[04:36.440 -> 04:38.440] Volkswagen and then with Audi and
[04:38.720 -> 04:49.060] still with Audi in many ways doing many events for them. Motorsport has kind of taken a backseat in the driving side of things. We've been busy now organizing races and
[04:49.060 -> 04:53.820] obviously the next big thing being from the regional Formula 4 and RR.
[04:53.820 -> 04:59.580] Yeah, I mean that's really awesome you know just to hear your story
[04:59.580 -> 05:06.480] into racing in general like it's pretty awesome that you got the exposure at the right age to this
[05:06.480 -> 05:14.240] awesome sport and you were able to pursue it and make a career out of it. So yeah, that's pretty
[05:14.240 -> 05:22.320] awesome. I've heard this thing from one of your interviews where, for folks, Mr. Kamlesh's,
[05:25.280 -> 05:26.320] for folks, Mr. Kamlesh's, Aditya's, I'm saying that right, right? Like that's your father.
[05:26.320 -> 05:34.400] And he's, he's, he started off his career by sort of working as a mechanic.
[05:34.800 -> 05:37.520] Please stop me, correct me if I'm saying anything wrong.
[05:39.080 -> 05:44.320] And, and that got him into the whole wheel where he eventually became a
[05:44.320 -> 05:45.840] legend that he is right now.
[05:46.460 -> 05:52.460] Having heard those stories, do you think you've also had a sort of contradiction
[05:52.460 -> 05:57.660] that do you want to go towards the engineering side or do you, was cockpit always the love?
[05:58.400 -> 05:59.420] I was always cockpit.
[05:59.420 -> 06:00.360] I'm not an engineer.
[06:00.360 -> 06:01.460] I never want to be an engineer.
[06:02.000 -> 06:18.120] I mean, I am fascinated by how a car works and the physics of driving more than anything else. So, you know, I like how I like to study the suspension, how the suspension works, because that, at the end of the day, relates to how you drive the car and how you need to drive the car.
[06:18.120 -> 06:18.720] Right.
[06:26.920 -> 06:31.000] side of it yes but engineering is just not my thing. So completely I mean my dad it started with the engineering the mechanics of the car and then he started
[06:31.000 -> 06:35.600] to drive the car after that but for me it was just driving and then he made
[06:35.600 -> 06:38.880] me work on the car because if I don't know what goes through what goes into a
[06:38.880 -> 06:45.360] race car then I shouldn't be racing. So that's kind of what he taught me. Fair enough. Nice.
[06:45.360 -> 06:51.360] Talking about touring cars, I guess, as you mentioned, like you kind of realized early
[06:51.360 -> 06:57.000] on that you want to switch to touring cars and that's where you decided to kind of pursue
[06:57.000 -> 06:58.000] your career.
[06:58.000 -> 07:06.160] And so let's talk a little bit about the 24 hours of Nurburgring, you know that is obviously like one of the
[07:06.160 -> 07:11.760] really great events in the you know motorsport calendar and you know just
[07:11.760 -> 07:14.640] tell us a little bit about your experience there. And that track man.
[07:14.640 -> 07:21.920] I remember, I so clearly remember the first time I actually drove around the
[07:21.920 -> 07:25.760] track and it was in that Audi TTS race car that I actually
[07:25.760 -> 07:32.560] raced in. I'd never driven around the Nürburgring in a road car before that even so I was shit
[07:32.560 -> 07:37.120] scared. I was honestly, I had never been scared on a racetrack before and this time it was what,
[07:37.120 -> 07:48.240] it was already like six years into a proper racing career and suddenly I'm like, this is scary. What is this? But there's something about that fear
[07:48.240 -> 07:52.880] that kind of really that you start to enjoy. Like everyone says yeah, motorsport it's scary,
[07:52.880 -> 07:58.000] you know, drivers enjoy the fear. But I think I just didn't know fear till I actually got on to
[07:58.000 -> 08:02.880] the Nurburgring and then you're scared because you're going so fast around that circuit and
[08:02.880 -> 08:08.400] the barriers are right next to you. And I'm sure you guys may have seen accidents in Nurburgring when they happen that big.
[08:08.400 -> 08:10.240] There's no such thing as a small accident.
[08:13.280 -> 08:16.720] And unlike any other racetrack, you just go into the gravel trap and yeah,
[08:16.720 -> 08:22.720] I know you hit the tire barrier and not much happens. But Nurburgring, it gives you a fright.
[08:22.720 -> 08:26.700] So yeah, I mean, the first time I drove around it is
[08:26.700 -> 08:31.320] scary and it still continues to be scary when I drive around the track. But what's
[08:31.320 -> 08:35.060] what's interesting is that any other racetrack that I was going to would take
[08:35.060 -> 08:39.760] like maybe seven, eight laps to learn the track and then you just get out of the
[08:39.760 -> 08:43.040] car, close your eyes and you can drive around the circuit. But Nürburgring took
[08:43.040 -> 08:46.480] me about 30 laps. I'm not much of a gamer or a
[08:46.480 -> 08:53.120] sim racer, so I didn't do much of that before going there. So it took me 30 laps on the Nürburgring, which if you
[08:53.120 -> 08:56.320] calculate 30 laps on the Nürburgring is three hours of driving.
[08:57.480 -> 09:03.360] I was just gonna say like, did that just consume your 24 hours because that track is so huge.
[09:03.200 -> 09:04.480] Just consume your 24 hours because that track is so huge.
[09:10.480 -> 09:16.480] Yeah, I mean, honestly, I hadn't even done 30 laps by the time the race started. I had only done, I think, about 24-25 laps in total around the Nürburgring before I actually got to the race. So
[09:16.480 -> 09:21.840] only at the end of my first stint of the actual 24-hour race was when I could sit back, close my
[09:21.840 -> 09:28.560] eyes and I knew the track from corner to corner. But before that it is just so hard to learn. But yeah, it's an amazing
[09:28.560 -> 09:32.640] experience. I meet a lot of people who say they want to drive around
[09:32.640 -> 09:37.440] that track. I mean, if you haven't, you should. The good thing about it is it's
[09:37.440 -> 09:41.240] not just like any other race track where you have to make a booking. If you
[09:41.240 -> 09:48.000] happen to be fortunate enough to be in Germany, you can just drive to it, buy a ticket and it's like a toll road and you just get on the circuit.
[09:49.440 -> 09:51.640] That is on the bucket list now, I guess.
[09:53.160 -> 09:53.660] Exactly.
[09:54.640 -> 10:00.120] So talking about Audi, let's talk about a little about the records that
[10:00.120 -> 10:01.560] you have set with Audi recently.
[10:01.600 -> 10:08.320] I guess you hold two records, one is for the fastest lap in a SUV
[10:08.320 -> 10:17.600] at the international circuit as well as gaining the top speed with the Audi R8 V10. So you know
[10:17.600 -> 10:22.000] why don't you tell us a little bit about your experience by breaking those records. How do you
[10:22.000 -> 10:25.180] even prepare for those events and yeah
[10:25.180 -> 10:32.600] just walk us through it. First of the two was the top speed one which Audi and
[10:32.600 -> 10:35.900] Autopower both actually had spoken to me when we went to an event and they said
[10:35.900 -> 10:40.320] you know I think you know this is cool idea and we want you to drive so I said
[10:40.320 -> 10:48.520] yeah sure but I can't think of a single road in this country where we can do it. And there's probably no airstrip long enough or safe enough
[10:48.520 -> 10:49.360] to do it as well.
[10:49.360 -> 10:50.520] So they said, don't worry.
[10:50.520 -> 10:52.280] We're scouting for something right now.
[10:52.280 -> 10:54.160] We have a few things in mind, a few places.
[10:54.160 -> 10:55.920] And then they got back to me.
[10:55.920 -> 10:57.480] They said, we found this road.
[10:57.480 -> 10:59.200] It's not open yet to public.
[10:59.200 -> 11:01.000] And it's long.
[11:01.000 -> 11:03.600] They've completed more than 15 kilometers of it.
[11:03.600 -> 11:04.800] And we don't need that much.
[11:04.800 -> 11:09.640] So I said, that sounds good. then let's give it a go. So yeah, we went
[11:09.640 -> 11:14.200] there one morning and put the car on the road and I thought okay, it's not going
[11:14.200 -> 11:19.600] to be easy because I hadn't, at that point I hadn't hit even 300 kilometers
[11:19.600 -> 11:24.560] per hour yet while driving a car because the race cars would do about 270 to 280
[11:24.560 -> 11:25.760] but that's
[11:25.760 -> 11:30.440] a race car right, so it's got its aerodynamics and suspension everything to kind of
[11:30.440 -> 11:37.480] handle the speed but yeah just the first run itself I think we hit the speed and
[11:37.480 -> 11:43.720] this is during the trial, it was not that difficult between 250 to 300
[11:43.720 -> 11:46.160] kilometers per hour the car was moving around a little bit
[11:46.160 -> 11:49.600] and then when you hit 300, I think the car just gets sucked into the ground.
[11:49.600 -> 11:56.480] And then it becomes easy. So between 300 and 330 kilometers per hour was actually the easy bit.
[11:57.440 -> 12:09.560] And it's just that in-between moment where you're like, oh what's's happening now? And then it's so yeah, it was, uh, it was nice. It was, uh, it was not as scary as the Nürburgring or anything like that.
[12:11.120 -> 12:13.400] How would you want to hit that speed at Nürburgring?
[12:14.520 -> 12:15.400] I don't know. No way.
[12:18.320 -> 12:21.520] That's interesting to hear like a description for downforce.
[12:21.520 -> 12:27.200] I've never heard anyone say like, that's how you feel that downforce hitting after a particular speed. That's interesting.
[12:27.760 -> 12:45.260] Yeah, because basically it's, it's both sides of the car, right? It's the flat underbody of the car, as well as the aerodynamics that you see on the outside of the car, that kind of work together to suck the car into the, to push the car and suck the car into the ground. It's doing both at the same time. And then you feel it at a certain point.
[12:45.260 -> 12:50.120] And then suddenly it feels like the car is just not, normally you're moving with
[12:50.120 -> 12:53.060] the wind, you're moving because the car is light, et cetera, et cetera.
[12:53.060 -> 12:56.160] But suddenly it's sucked into the ground and then it's not moving around
[12:56.160 -> 12:57.740] anymore, just staying where you want it.
[12:57.780 -> 12:58.660] It's like, it's on rail.
[12:59.280 -> 13:00.020] Interesting.
[13:00.460 -> 13:01.200] Interesting.
[13:01.900 -> 13:02.320] Yeah.
[13:02.360 -> 13:03.700] So that was the top speed.
[13:30.240 -> 13:36.480] Yeah. And I think, yeah, then we're getting to the racetrack. That was more recently in an SUV. But to be honest, I mean, SUVs these days, yes, they're still big, they still weigh a lot. That particular car that I drove the RS Q8, 2400 kilos or something like that. So still a heavy, heavy car. But behind the wheel, it just felt like a normal touring car. It's so pointy, handles really well because of the quattro system as all wheel drive steering wheel. And it puts out some 600 and something bhp.
[13:36.480 -> 13:46.000] So it's really, really quick. Yeah, so I was surprised even the brakes, considering it's so heavy, I could stop the car
[13:46.560 -> 13:52.640] so so late and get it slowed down and turned into the corner and get back on the power.
[13:52.640 -> 13:58.240] It just felt like I was driving a normal size touring car. That's awesome because I can't
[13:58.240 -> 14:03.120] imagine like driving a SUV around a track and just thinking about like the center of gravity of the
[14:03.120 -> 14:07.640] car being a little higher up and yeah it's pretty awesome to hear from you that yeah
[14:07.640 -> 14:10.920] that car still performs that well.
[14:10.920 -> 14:12.920] Yeah especially on both.
[14:12.920 -> 14:14.920] Your favorite track.
[14:14.920 -> 14:16.920] That's what you heard, your favorite track.
[14:16.920 -> 14:18.920] In quotes.
[14:18.920 -> 14:20.920] Yeah in quotes.
[14:20.920 -> 14:26.320] But yeah the only thing that I found interesting again came down to aerodynamics.
[14:26.320 -> 14:33.280] I hadn't really driven a big car or a non-sports car around that circuit at such speeds.
[14:33.280 -> 14:39.160] And that's when I realized when I went through the twisty bits turn 5, 6 onwards that there's
[14:39.160 -> 14:41.520] just this car is just so light.
[14:41.520 -> 14:43.360] I have to really hold on to it for dear life.
[14:43.360 -> 14:51.040] And then I realized there's no rear wing on this car. Front aerodynamics on this car. So I really needed to hold on.
[14:51.040 -> 14:55.200] So yeah, I mean it's not that easy when you have to do that but I think when
[14:55.200 -> 15:01.040] I think when Gormaz, who's the editor of AutoCar, he drove the car. He did one lap and he came
[15:01.040 -> 15:06.760] back and he's like, it looked so easy when we saw it from the outside, but how the hell did you drive that car around the track?
[15:06.760 -> 15:09.840] Because it's just not meant to go around corners that quickly.
[15:11.240 -> 15:12.040] Yeah. Yeah.
[15:12.040 -> 15:17.360] I mean, you've had the famous, like you've had some people tell you, right?
[15:17.360 -> 15:19.920] Like, no, I'm not going to sit next to you.
[15:21.320 -> 15:21.920] I've had that.
[15:22.440 -> 15:22.800] Yeah.
[15:22.920 -> 15:23.240] Yeah.
[15:23.400 -> 15:23.680] Yeah.
[15:24.880 -> 15:26.000] How do you know all this?
[15:26.000 -> 15:28.000] We've looked into this a bit.
[15:28.000 -> 15:32.000] Don't remember saying any of this publicly.
[15:32.000 -> 15:36.000] I want to go back in time a bit.
[15:36.000 -> 15:38.000] To NK Racing.
[15:38.000 -> 15:40.000] How did that come about?
[15:40.000 -> 15:44.000] How was that as a journey start?
[15:44.000 -> 15:46.240] To the whole career being. How did that come about and, you know, how, how was that as a journey start to, you know,
[15:46.240 -> 15:51.760] the whole career being like, if you can walk our audience through the whole NK Racing and
[15:51.760 -> 15:53.720] then everything else.
[15:53.720 -> 16:00.520] NK Racing started basically, I think Narend formed this team in 2006.
[16:00.520 -> 16:08.120] So early 2006, he did a shootout to select four drivers for the team. Back at the time, it was sponsored by Bharat Petroleum and Speed.
[16:08.720 -> 16:11.720] And Amaron batteries. So he had four cars.
[16:12.440 -> 16:16.720] Two cars running with Speed, two cars running with Amaron. So he was looking for four drivers.
[16:16.960 -> 16:18.640] So I took part in the shootout.
[16:18.640 -> 16:25.760] I was selected among the four drivers in 2006. And it was a big learning year for the team itself with regard to the car
[16:26.320 -> 16:32.400] uh it was the first year for the formula roll-ons no one really knew what to do with it so we took
[16:32.400 -> 16:41.200] that year to learn and uh 2007 Naren worked over the winter with Arjun Balu and Sanjay Balu and
[16:41.200 -> 16:47.600] I was in school so I couldn't really go there and work on the car. I was just kind of, I landed up on the first race of 2007 and drove it
[16:47.600 -> 16:53.680] but they made massive changes over the winter and the first race we were just
[16:53.680 -> 16:59.840] on pole and by a huge margin. So suddenly it felt like between that, between the
[16:59.840 -> 17:05.840] last race in 2006 and the first race in 2007 in my mind I was like, maybe I don't know how to drive.
[17:05.840 -> 17:10.720] And then I go there for practice and then I'm just, what just happened, I didn't do anything
[17:11.520 -> 17:16.320] between that race and this and suddenly I'm on pole by a huge margin and the car's doing
[17:16.320 -> 17:21.440] everything that I wanted to do. So that's when I realized that yeah, the car plays such a big role
[17:22.000 -> 17:27.140] as well apart from the driving side of it. But it's a gave us a
[17:27.140 -> 17:31.160] great experience to be with Naren and we've had a close relationship ever
[17:31.160 -> 17:38.020] since then as well. He has given me some sponsors and continued over the years.
[17:38.020 -> 17:45.840] Okay, I wanna come to the whole event that India is hosting.
[17:45.840 -> 17:58.720] Again, the floor is all yours. But for folks, India is finally having after a long break, an FIA certified event, the Formula Regional.
[17:58.720 -> 17:59.520] Not just one.
[17:59.520 -> 18:02.000] Yeah, not just one. Two of them.
[18:02.000 -> 18:09.080] Formula 4 and Formula Regional. Exactly. So Aditya, can you just walk our audience through what's happening?
[18:09.080 -> 18:12.440] What are you doing and like, what should they look out for?
[18:14.080 -> 18:22.200] I think for a lot of people, I've noticed who are saying, who are excited about Formula Regional and coming to India, etc, etc.
[18:22.240 -> 18:29.240] I don't think a lot of people actually know what Formula Regional is. Realistically Formula Regional is a Formula 3 car. So
[18:29.240 -> 18:33.120] you have a ladder in motorsport, you have go-karting, you have then Formula 4,
[18:33.120 -> 18:37.320] Formula 3 which is your regional Formula 3. That's why they call it Formula Regional
[18:37.320 -> 18:42.160] which will be Formula 3 in America, Formula 3 in Europe, your regional Formula 3 in each of
[18:42.160 -> 18:48.720] these parts of the world. F3 Asia has been given the title of F3 Asia because it's more for the continent.
[18:50.520 -> 18:55.720] And of course, then after that, your next step is FIA F3, which is a faster version
[18:55.720 -> 18:59.960] of the Formula regional F3 car, post that F2, F1.
[18:59.960 -> 19:05.160] So in the last, I think, five, six years, I think is when the FIA has actually
[19:05.520 -> 19:11.100] just made it a lot easier to go up this ladder because before that, it was quite
[19:11.100 -> 19:11.680] confusing.
[19:11.680 -> 19:14.420] I mean, there was first you didn't have super license points.
[19:14.520 -> 19:17.980] So to get to formula one was a completely different story.
[19:18.360 -> 19:22.140] Then when you got out of go-karting, you had 10 different junior
[19:22.140 -> 19:23.640] formula options to choose from.
[19:23.960 -> 19:26.780] You had to figure out which one was the right one, or you made two,
[19:26.780 -> 19:28.880] three different junior formulas over the years.
[19:29.300 -> 19:30.440] Then you'd go to formula three.
[19:30.440 -> 19:31.700] You had British formula three.
[19:32.080 -> 19:36.640] You had, I think it was European formula three, formula Euro series,
[19:36.640 -> 19:39.460] different types of formula three, different cars, different manufacturers,
[19:39.460 -> 19:40.320] et cetera, et cetera.
[19:40.880 -> 19:44.000] Different engine suppliers, all that, blah, blah, blah.
[19:44.380 -> 19:47.800] Then you had at a time GP3, GP2, you
[19:47.800 -> 19:54.800] had the World Series by Renault, you had all these different championships going on. So
[19:54.800 -> 19:59.200] it was great, but what was happening was because there were so many, so many championships
[19:59.200 -> 20:06.880] coming about, there were small grids everywhere here and there. So you never really had like a good proper, proper racing grid.
[20:06.880 -> 20:11.680] So then I think the FIA, along with the Super License Point system,
[20:11.680 -> 20:15.280] they've also kind of streamlined this entire process going upward.
[20:15.280 -> 20:21.280] Yes, while there are a few other championships, there are less serious drivers
[20:21.280 -> 20:27.280] I can imagine in these championships, which are, as against, say, Formula 4, Formula Regional, Formula 3 and so on.
[20:27.760 -> 20:36.000] And what these championships enable youngsters to do is receive these points, which help them on their way up to Formula 1.
[20:36.640 -> 20:39.520] And also it's a standardized kind of platform.
[20:39.520 -> 20:41.680] The cars are standardized around the world.
[20:41.680 -> 20:47.680] So whether you drive Formula 4 here or Formula 4 there, you're driving in more or less the same car wherever you are in the world. And then the
[20:47.680 -> 20:53.440] same goes for Formula Regional, you're driving in more or less the same car. Formula 3, FIA F3 is
[20:53.440 -> 20:58.080] slightly different, it's a different engine, different manufacturer. But either way, it's been
[20:58.080 -> 21:04.080] standardized, there's a proper ladder, a proper structure. Even now, if you race in India now,
[21:04.080 -> 21:09.280] you can get FIA super license points, which if you win, yeah if you win, you need
[21:09.280 -> 21:14.320] 40 to get to Formula One. If you win F4 in year one and if you win Formula
[21:14.320 -> 21:20.800] Regional in year two, you have the opportunity to receive 30 super license
[21:20.800 -> 21:28.760] points which means now you just need 10 more to receive a Formula One super license. Of course, what's more important is you need the experience before getting a Formula 1.
[21:28.760 -> 21:32.460] You need to perform. You need to do well in FIA F3 and F2.
[21:32.460 -> 21:37.800] But at least this enables youngsters to receive that opportunity.
[21:37.800 -> 21:49.280] And what it will do is, I think, there are so many more youngsters around the country who want to get in the sport, who've never done it before, who now have like a clear picture, clear path in their mind and their
[21:49.280 -> 21:51.720] parents and themselves, they can say, Hey, look, okay, good.
[21:51.720 -> 21:54.280] Now, if I want to get in the sport, I know this is my ladder.
[21:54.280 -> 21:55.280] That's it.
[21:55.280 -> 21:57.280] Before it was like, Oh, where do I go next?
[21:57.280 -> 21:58.280] What do I do next?
[21:58.280 -> 21:59.280] Does that exist?
[21:59.280 -> 22:00.280] Oh, there's this championship.
[22:00.280 -> 22:01.280] Oh, there's that.
[22:01.280 -> 22:02.280] Oh, I didn't know about this.
[22:02.280 -> 22:04.600] You know, so that's out of everybody's minds.
[22:04.600 -> 22:07.440] You know, your budget, you know, the championship and you know where you're going to go.
[22:07.440 -> 22:12.640] Yeah. I mean, I completely agree. Like even, even after being like a fan of the sport in general,
[22:12.640 -> 22:18.560] for a long while, it has been a huge mystery for me as to, I know FIA F3, F2 and F1. Like I know
[22:18.560 -> 22:23.200] how that goes on, but it's always been a mystery to me. How do people even reach there? Like if,
[22:23.200 -> 22:26.240] if somebody like, you know, how did even Nayan Karthik can reach F1? Like, it's always been a mystery to me. How do people even reach there? Like if somebody like, you know, how did even Nayan Karthik can reach F1?
[22:26.240 -> 22:30.120] Like it has always been a big mystery to me. So, I mean, I'm glad you kind of,
[22:30.520 -> 22:33.560] you know, explained it so well for everyone.
[22:34.080 -> 22:38.800] And I'm glad that finally somebody from India who wants to get into F1
[22:38.800 -> 22:43.040] has a very clear and defined path that they can follow. And yeah,
[22:43.200 -> 22:44.040] that's just awesome.
[22:44.880 -> 22:46.800] And you're also doing it in an exciting
[22:46.800 -> 22:52.160] way right like you've there's this this street circuit coming up so that sort of adds to the
[22:52.160 -> 22:58.320] whole fascination factor so what is that thought behind having like a Hyderabad street circuit
[22:58.320 -> 23:06.280] to the addition of the mix? Well I think when we started with the X1 Racing League concept itself, we were very
[23:06.280 -> 23:08.320] ambitious first of all to start.
[23:08.320 -> 23:12.280] But street circuits were part of what we wanted to do.
[23:12.280 -> 23:18.680] Because there are a few circuits in India right now and they're all so far off from
[23:18.680 -> 23:22.000] the people who you actually want at the circuits to be watching.
[23:22.000 -> 23:27.040] So it just kind of, it loses you a lot of audience. So,
[23:27.040 -> 23:31.920] that's why we wanted to do that for the X-1 Racing League. And that kind of, that idea kind of stuck
[23:31.920 -> 23:38.000] in a few people's head when we went back then and met them. And then when we started planning
[23:38.000 -> 23:43.200] for Formula Regional and Formula 4, that's when we received the support from them and a few other
[23:43.200 -> 23:46.960] people saying, hey, you know what, this was an idea then, why don't we implement it now?
[23:46.960 -> 23:51.840] Because if we do it on the streets of a huge metropolitan city,
[23:51.840 -> 23:55.040] people will know about the sport.
[23:55.040 -> 23:56.480] People will want to come and watch it.
[23:56.480 -> 24:00.240] And then it will suddenly become India's next big sport.
[24:00.240 -> 24:04.000] You don't have to only have cricket stadiums everywhere in the country.
[24:04.000 -> 24:06.900] You also have your racetrack on your very own road.
[24:06.900 -> 24:11.700] It shows everyone also that we have good quality roads.
[24:11.700 -> 24:17.900] But yeah, I mean, the kind of eyeballs Street Circuit will get you is huge.
[24:17.900 -> 24:19.700] And it's a challenge that all drivers love.
[24:19.700 -> 24:24.200] You have to be on the top of the game to be able to drive well on a street circuit.
[24:24.200 -> 24:27.500] So, there's a lot of pros that come with street circuits.
[24:27.500 -> 24:32.140] So few cons is that if you do hit a wall, you can damage a car heavily, but the
[24:32.140 -> 24:36.980] drivers will be safe because, uh, you know, you have to build a street circuit
[24:36.980 -> 24:39.980] to a certain specification given by the FIA.
[24:40.260 -> 24:43.620] So your barricades have to be, uh, made a certain way.
[24:43.620 -> 24:45.080] You have to have fences, you have to
[24:45.080 -> 24:49.720] have all the safety parameters in place and the cars are extremely safe as well.
[24:49.720 -> 24:56.240] So we're going with all that and we just hope now that it's a huge success.
[24:56.240 -> 25:02.640] In terms of these tracks then, FIA graded tracks is sort of like what you need to have
[25:02.640 -> 25:04.480] these cars race on them.
[25:04.480 -> 25:11.160] And then for F1,'s obviously both and I think like Kari in Coimbatore is F3
[25:11.160 -> 25:17.040] graded but do we have more tracks that we don't know about which are FIA
[25:17.040 -> 25:22.320] graded and you can have you know those certified races? Well in India right now
[25:22.320 -> 25:25.800] we've got three tracks that people know of and can go and
[25:25.800 -> 25:29.440] drive their cars around, whether it's racing or not racing.
[25:29.440 -> 25:32.200] We have heard of more tracks coming up.
[25:32.200 -> 25:36.000] Obviously, I'm sure you guys have been reading about it as well.
[25:36.000 -> 25:39.840] For those who are listening, yeah, there are, there is news of more tracks coming up in
[25:39.840 -> 25:41.080] different parts of the country.
[25:41.080 -> 25:43.440] So we're eagerly looking forward to that.
[25:43.440 -> 25:52.720] A street circuit, on the other hand, is it it can be FIA grade 3, 2 or 1 but it's assembled during an actual race weekend,
[25:52.720 -> 25:56.000] leading up to race weekend and then is dismantled after that for the public track.
[25:57.120 -> 26:07.280] But like Curry for example is an FIA grade 3 circuit where you can race your regional Formula 3 cars, Formula 4 cars, etc.
[26:07.600 -> 26:11.280] Then the Chennai circuit, the MMRT is FIA grade two.
[26:11.660 -> 26:14.920] You can race pretty much anything except Formula one cars.
[26:15.840 -> 26:19.200] And then the Booth international circuit is FIA grade one.
[26:19.200 -> 26:21.960] So you can race every race car around that circuit.
[26:23.640 -> 26:23.960] Awesome.
[26:28.840 -> 26:33.880] every race car around that circuit. In general, you got into the sport majorly as a racer, that's what got you into the sport, that's what you
[26:33.880 -> 26:39.080] have been pursuing for the past many years and recently everything that we
[26:39.080 -> 26:42.840] have heard and learned about you is that you have been on the other side of the
[26:42.840 -> 26:50.640] whole enterprise where you're organizing things now. So why don't you just give us some insight into how did this shift happen of
[26:50.640 -> 27:00.480] going from racing to organizing these racing events. So basically in 2018 when we started
[27:00.480 -> 27:06.040] planning for the racing league, I was still racing full-time in the Blancpain GT series in Asia.
[27:06.400 -> 27:10.040] So it's kind of like doing the two together simultaneously.
[27:10.040 -> 27:13.640] And the idea came about basically because Armaan and I, we used to travel
[27:13.640 -> 27:19.200] together quite a bit for races abroad, right from 2015, 16, 17.
[27:19.580 -> 27:24.120] And on these travels, we talk about how we could do different things to make
[27:24.120 -> 27:29.280] motorsport in India, bigger, better, more accessible and things like that and obviously all
[27:29.280 -> 27:33.480] these were just conversations over those few years and we'd always like talk
[27:33.480 -> 27:36.800] about it, laugh about it but we knew at some point we wanted to implement
[27:36.800 -> 27:41.680] something at least and then at some point in 2018 we said, hey you know we've
[27:41.680 -> 27:48.900] spoken about it for so long, let's try something. Let's try and do something about it and make things work.
[27:48.900 -> 27:53.440] So, we met another friend of ours, Abhinandan, who has been in sports leagues before.
[27:53.440 -> 28:02.140] And together, we just kind of put some pen to paper, figured something out and then started going out to investors and said, this is our plan.
[28:02.140 -> 28:03.140] Nice.
[28:03.140 -> 28:07.500] Obviously, we want to make, we want to grow this sport in the country.
[28:07.500 -> 28:10.980] There's huge potential for growth for motorsport in India.
[28:11.380 -> 28:16.340] And if we work together, I'm sure we can come up with something that can change
[28:16.340 -> 28:18.600] the way people look at the sport.
[28:19.300 -> 28:24.480] And then, yeah, that kind of consumed most of our time in 2019.
[28:24.780 -> 28:27.760] So both of us didn't do any racing in 2019.
[28:27.760 -> 28:31.240] We just focused full time on, on setting up the racing league.
[28:31.960 -> 28:38.000] And then in 2020, the pandemic hit after we did one season.
[28:38.400 -> 28:42.880] And then that meant we were even more full time into planning and, and
[28:42.880 -> 28:47.920] bringing people on board to, to make this even bigger. And somewhere in
[28:47.920 -> 28:57.200] the middle of 2020, towards the end of 2020, things clicked and Formula 3, Formula 4, Formula 4 and IRL fell into place.
[28:57.840 -> 29:08.800] Sweet, sweet. You couldn't have given us a better transition onto the next topic. And before having some discussions on F1, like we want to talk about this
[29:08.800 -> 29:14.160] Blupent GT series and the ADAG GT Masters that you went for.
[29:14.800 -> 29:20.240] I mean, the whole story, as at least we've looked into is no short of a
[29:20.240 -> 29:24.600] Bollywood movie towards the whole end with the whole drama of the
[29:24.600 -> 29:25.840] tire bursting and everything.
[29:25.840 -> 29:31.040] So, but before we go there, can you, can you walk us through like, what is
[29:31.040 -> 29:35.460] the series because for me, like as a layman, it's more like you see red
[29:35.540 -> 29:40.580] Ferraris and F1 and you know, that side, but what you've done is more like a
[29:40.580 -> 29:43.940] need for speed gaming sort of, you know, visual.
[29:43.920 -> 29:49.760] is more like a need for speed gaming sort of, you know, visual.
[29:54.720 -> 29:56.040] So then what is, what is this GT series and then walk us, walk us through the whole thing.
[29:56.360 -> 30:01.880] All right. So, I mean, when I started racing, I used to love watching motorsport programs on TV.
[30:01.880 -> 30:08.720] And back then we used to get something on Star Sports called international Motorsport News and and a few other motorsport programs which are
[30:08.720 -> 30:14.480] half an hour programs and they used to show Formula 3, Porsche Carrera Cup, the
[30:14.480 -> 30:17.960] GT1 series or something like that. There were different you know and then you had
[30:17.960 -> 30:25.000] these saline S7s goings. Now you're talking.
[30:25.000 -> 30:28.000] Yeah, so that was also quite fascinating.
[30:28.000 -> 30:32.000] But I never dreamed that I would be in a world where we'd be racing those cars.
[30:32.000 -> 30:35.000] Because in India, we had S-Teams and we had Sulu-Teams.
[30:35.000 -> 30:38.000] You had Naren who went abroad and did F3.
[30:38.000 -> 30:43.000] You had Karun who went abroad and did F3 and made their way up World Series, blah, blah, blah.
[30:43.000 -> 30:45.520] And then Armaan did that. He did A1GP
[30:45.520 -> 30:51.040] in Formula 2 and he was going up that same ladder. And then when I did that Polo Cup for one year,
[30:51.040 -> 30:54.240] just to see how things would turn out. Obviously, I was still at the time
[30:54.880 -> 31:01.840] wanting to get back into single-seaters at some point. But this was on DTM weekends and we were
[31:01.840 -> 31:07.360] watching the generation of DTM car which was created last year. We were watching that generation of DTM weekends and we were watching the generation of DTM car, which was last year, that generation of DTM car over the years.
[31:07.360 -> 31:10.920] And then it just suddenly opened my eyes to a completely different world
[31:10.920 -> 31:16.840] because I'm now watching these supercars going around the track and in 2009 and
[31:16.840 -> 31:21.560] 10 supercars weren't that, I mean, if you saw a supercar in India, your eyes would
[31:21.560 -> 31:21.840] pop.
[31:27.440 -> 31:28.320] Now you see a Ferrari every other day.
[31:33.600 -> 31:39.520] So, it's changed so much since then. But that's when I kind of said, hey, you know what, this would be cool. I get to drive these cars. I can work my way up this ladder. I'll get to drive
[31:39.520 -> 31:44.160] Porsches, Ferraris, Audis, Mercedes, whatever, you know, that this world has to offer.
[31:46.540 -> 31:50.700] Ferraris, Audis, Mercedes, whatever you know that this world has to offer. So yeah, continued up that ladder. The first year with Audi, we did the Nurburgring 24
[31:50.700 -> 31:54.520] hours. So there was a lot of prep work going up towards the 24-hour race and
[31:54.520 -> 32:00.060] then post the 24-hour race, I did a race on the Nurburgring again but in a GT3
[32:00.060 -> 32:10.320] car. That one was tough and scary but it was a super experience and then the year after that I did the ADAC GT Masters. Now just to put it in
[32:10.320 -> 32:13.760] perspective for those who are listening and they don't really know what this is,
[32:13.760 -> 32:19.440] the ADAC GT Masters was just a bunch of supercars racing against
[32:19.440 -> 32:26.320] each other. It was, it's Germany's biggest GT championship where you've got manufacturers like Lamborghini,
[32:26.320 -> 32:32.680] Audi, Mercedes, Porsche, Ferrari, McLaren, Bentley, you name them.
[32:32.680 -> 32:34.960] They're all there with their supercars.
[32:34.960 -> 32:41.520] So you've got the Lamborghini Huracan, the Audi R8, the Mercedes at the time was the
[32:41.520 -> 32:47.760] SLS AMG, Ferrari was the 458 Italia, so there were all these cars now
[32:47.760 -> 32:52.400] on the grid and you're going bumper to bumper with cars like that, which you would never dream of
[32:52.400 -> 32:58.320] even in your wildest dreams on the road. So those are the kind of championships I then began to
[32:58.320 -> 33:03.760] participate in over the years. I then went into a single make championship after two years racing
[33:03.760 -> 33:05.720] in Europe in GT cars because again
[33:05.720 -> 33:09.720] I was with Audi so they wanted me to race the Audi R8 LMS Cup in Asia
[33:10.800 -> 33:13.320] The LMS Cup was single makes all the cars were
[33:13.620 -> 33:16.980] Audis and then two years after two years through that
[33:17.080 -> 33:23.720] Then the Blancpain GT Asia was introduced and Blancpain GT series was a very well-known series worldwide
[33:23.920 -> 33:27.160] For being one of the best GT championships.
[33:27.400 -> 33:30.520] There is, this used to be the GT1 world championship.
[33:30.560 -> 33:31.960] Then GT1 got phased out.
[33:32.000 -> 33:35.560] That became the Blancpain GT3 championship in Europe alone.
[33:35.680 -> 33:38.800] Then they expanded to Asia and now it's called the GT world challenge actually.
[33:39.400 -> 33:41.680] And yeah, the first year was great.
[33:42.040 -> 33:47.680] We had a few wins, lost the championship by one point for multiple reasons, but that's racing.
[33:47.680 -> 33:52.080] Yeah, isn't it? Heartbreak is a part of it.
[33:52.080 -> 33:58.400] It's a part of it. I mean, you look back at it and we still had some great races. We still ended the year on a high.
[33:58.400 -> 34:00.880] So, it was super fun.
[34:00.880 -> 34:05.400] You had what, I think like 8 out of 12 or like some crazy number of podiums, man.
[34:05.400 -> 34:08.880] That's, that's just, yeah, we got lots of podiums.
[34:08.880 -> 34:10.200] We had three wins.
[34:10.320 -> 34:11.360] We should have had more wins.
[34:11.360 -> 34:14.600] I think another two wins at least, but one was the tyre blowout.
[34:14.680 -> 34:16.080] The other one was just all on me.
[34:16.080 -> 34:18.680] I just leading the race on slick tyres.
[34:18.680 -> 34:20.160] It was wet and I spun by myself.
[34:20.160 -> 34:20.880] So it was second.
[34:21.800 -> 34:21.960] Yeah.
[34:21.960 -> 34:22.680] So, but that's okay.
[34:22.680 -> 34:23.480] That's part of racing.
[34:24.240 -> 34:26.840] So I guess Mitch Gilbert was your teammate.
[34:26.880 -> 34:31.120] Why don't you tell us a little bit about, you know, having teammates in it?
[34:31.120 -> 34:35.320] Because I think in general, anybody who thinks about motorsports knows about F1
[34:35.360 -> 34:39.320] and you know, like they think that they are in two separate cars, but here
[34:39.320 -> 34:43.840] you are sharing a car, so you know, how, how different is it when two different
[34:43.840 -> 34:48.740] drivers probably obviously have different driving styles and how do you try and,
[34:48.740 -> 34:50.440] you know, match up with your teammate?
[34:51.960 -> 34:54.720] But I mean, it's always about finding compromises, right?
[34:54.800 -> 34:56.600] For people who are married and in relationship.
[35:00.440 -> 35:03.880] You have good days, you have bad days, but it's the good days that make it all
[35:03.880 -> 35:13.000] worth it. But, um, so yeah, I mean, with Mitch, he actually approached me in 2016 when I was racing the LMS Cup.
[35:13.200 -> 35:14.520] He was there at one of the race weekends.
[35:14.520 -> 35:19.360] He said, you know, I'm working together with someone to put something together in an Audi next year.
[35:19.360 -> 35:22.480] So speak to Audi India and see if it would be of interest to them.
[35:23.400 -> 35:24.720] Audi India said, yeah, sure.
[35:24.720 -> 35:29.440] You know, go for it. It sounds interesting, it's a mix of a
[35:29.440 -> 35:33.920] Malaysian and Indian pairing driver. He's also half, he's also Australian but
[35:33.920 -> 35:38.120] living in Malaysia but we got along well all the time. So he said, no it'll be fun
[35:38.120 -> 35:43.200] to be teammates. He has a very different driving style as a personality, he's
[35:43.200 -> 35:46.080] great fun but super aggressive. So you
[35:46.080 -> 35:49.960] know, we always had to balance each other out. I had to be the calm one here, he had
[35:49.960 -> 35:56.360] to be the aggressive one and but we made it work. I mean, it was a little difficult
[35:56.360 -> 35:59.680] in the beginning trying to find a balance between the two of us and our
[35:59.680 -> 36:04.240] driving styles because it's almost like endurance racing but in a sprint format.
[36:04.240 -> 36:08.040] So you've got to drive flat out all the time, you can't drive two three seconds
[36:08.040 -> 36:13.440] off the pace. So we had to find that balance, it took us a little while but we
[36:13.440 -> 36:18.040] straight away we won the first race. In the second race I think we finished
[36:18.040 -> 36:22.040] second or third. So it was a great weekend to start, we started on a high and I can
[36:22.040 -> 36:29.800] I think we just kept that going through the years and we're still great friends still today. I mean, we have a, I think if
[36:29.800 -> 36:32.600] they had to document that would be more fun than Lando's.
[36:41.440 -> 36:44.680] The actual bromance hasn't been covered by DTS yet.
[36:45.720 -> 36:47.720] Yeah. Awesome.
[36:47.720 -> 36:52.880] Now that you talk about Lando, let's switch gears and talk about
[36:53.200 -> 36:56.440] what we usually talk about. You know, let's talk a little bit about F1.
[36:57.120 -> 37:00.760] That's what people also do like to listen. So,
[37:02.080 -> 37:09.240] yeah. So I think I kind of wanted to get your sense of, you know, from a layman's perspective,
[37:09.240 -> 37:15.640] I have my favorite tracks, but I have my favorite tracks for different reasons, you know, because
[37:15.640 -> 37:21.140] for me, it's what about how fancy the car looks in the track, but from, from perspective
[37:21.140 -> 37:25.520] of a racer, why don't you tell about, you know, what is probably
[37:25.520 -> 37:31.600] your favorite track on the calendar and why and what like, what about it is that
[37:31.600 -> 37:33.000] really, you know, attractive?
[37:34.760 -> 37:40.680] I think tracks like Spurs, Zandvoort, Nürburgring, all these historic circuits
[37:40.680 -> 37:45.400] really that came about that were built back then which were just built for
[37:45.400 -> 37:51.120] speed for that rush for racing you know like Zandvoort is such a short circuit
[37:51.120 -> 37:55.440] it's only a minute and 10 seconds or something but if you just look at the
[37:55.440 -> 37:59.680] circuit the kind of corners it has, as a race driver when you're watching it you
[37:59.680 -> 38:07.560] always put yourself in that seat and you're just like whoa, you can feel the speed going through the corners. You feel that little bit,
[38:07.600 -> 38:11.160] that element of danger is what you feel on these circuits that you just,
[38:11.320 -> 38:16.080] I guess, don't feel on these new age tracks that, uh, like you see,
[38:16.080 -> 38:18.760] like Bhutan, Shanghai, Malaysia.
[38:21.240 -> 38:23.800] Exactly. There's a lot of elevation change in everything,
[38:23.820 -> 38:25.600] but your barriers are just so far away.
[38:25.600 -> 38:33.840] I guess maybe if they put it all close by, have like corners which are nicely banked and things like that, which you don't see so much right now.
[38:33.840 -> 38:39.680] That would probably bring out an element of excitement in a driver because drivers love stuff like that.
[38:39.680 -> 38:45.320] There's so much talk about Arooj and Rally last week. Yeah. Oh, man.
[38:45.320 -> 38:51.040] It's a dangerous corner but no driver would ever, ever want you to take it away.
[38:51.040 -> 38:55.720] Because every time you go there, you want to conquer that mountain.
[38:55.720 -> 38:58.840] Yeah. I mean, totally.
[38:58.840 -> 39:03.400] And I think like, with Xanderwood too, the whole banked turn that they've got it.
[39:03.400 -> 39:04.360] I think like turn 3.
[39:04.360 -> 39:05.280] Looks awesome, right?
[39:05.280 -> 39:05.780] Yeah.
[39:05.780 -> 39:08.400] I was seeing, right.
[39:08.400 -> 39:16.560] And I mean, you go a bit late into that corner and your car is not aligned to the bank and you've lost the whole corner to begin with.
[39:16.560 -> 39:21.560] So there's so much planning going on in that split second to get into that corner.
[39:22.200 -> 39:27.200] And you were right, like with drivers loving these old tracks like Portimao
[39:28.160 -> 39:34.560] last year when it was introduced it felt such a roller coastery undulating track but everyone
[39:34.560 -> 39:40.880] came back with like hey we love this track why don't we make this a mainstream track. Yeah, no
[39:40.880 -> 39:46.880] and there's a lot to it with these circuits. It's, it's just that every other circuit, you know, there's more or less one line
[39:46.880 -> 39:52.040] through a corner, but tracks like Potamau, Zanvod, even Spa on many corners.
[39:52.440 -> 39:54.200] There's no one line through some corners.
[39:54.200 -> 39:57.760] You've got to find, there are a hundred good lines through that corner, right?
[39:57.760 -> 40:00.480] You just got to find what suits you around that corner.
[40:01.280 -> 40:01.560] Right.
[40:01.600 -> 40:01.760] Yep.
[40:01.760 -> 40:02.040] Yep.
[40:03.160 -> 40:05.040] Um, in terms of like street circuit,
[40:05.040 -> 40:08.160] which one's your favorite street circuit? Macau.
[40:09.680 -> 40:11.040] But it's not on the calendar. Yeah.
[40:12.800 -> 40:16.680] That's a new one actually. Yeah. That's an interesting one.
[40:17.440 -> 40:19.640] What about that you really like?
[40:21.880 -> 40:26.680] Macau is just, again, it's, it's a historic track and it's flowing.
[40:26.680 -> 40:27.840] The in section is fast.
[40:27.840 -> 40:32.080] You're going up and down through that hill.
[40:32.080 -> 40:35.960] I just know, I mean, yeah, there's tracks like Monte Carlo, which people love, but I
[40:35.960 -> 40:39.280] think drivers also love Monte Carlo for the atmosphere.
[40:39.280 -> 40:42.920] But you ask any Formula One driver and I'm pretty sure they'll also say Macau if they
[40:42.920 -> 40:43.920] live there.
[40:43.920 -> 40:47.080] Because it's got a mix of high speed. It's got a mix of twisty corners, it's
[40:47.080 -> 40:52.280] wide in some places, it's really narrow. You can overtake, yes. You can overtake, yes.
[40:52.280 -> 40:56.320] And you just have to be on the ball all the time through that circuit.
[40:56.320 -> 41:02.480] You can't lose concentration for a second. So, in many ways, if Macau was built
[41:02.480 -> 41:07.200] today, the race, the street circuit, if it was proposed today, I'm guessing the FI wouldn't even let it.
[41:12.000 -> 41:13.400] So, yeah, it's one of those.
[41:13.760 -> 41:14.040] Right.
[41:14.120 -> 41:20.600] Is there an interesting thing you want to get from a driver's perspective is like the whole rules change that's going to come about, right?
[41:20.600 -> 41:30.000] Like so many teams have already committed that they're going to now start looking into 2022 with budget caps and the whole new regulations that are coming in.
[41:30.000 -> 41:50.200] And this year itself, the mid-packs got in so tighter. So what are your thoughts and what are your expectations going into 2022 with everything that's about to come. I mean, like I said, I'm not so much a technical kind of guy, but from the driving aspect, I really do hope it makes racing a lot closer.
[41:50.200 -> 41:53.840] You can see right now that they can't really follow each other close enough.
[41:53.880 -> 41:57.000] Yes. They can't really line up a proper overtaking move.
[41:57.800 -> 42:03.760] You know, in Formula 1 tracks, sometimes you've got only, in a Formula 1 race, you have only two or three corners where you see them overtaking.
[42:03.760 -> 42:04.000] Yes.
[42:03.680 -> 42:04.180] only in a Formula One race, you have only two or three corners where you see them overtaking. Yes.
[42:04.400 -> 42:09.120] I remember when I raced in Singapore in 2008 on the same weekend in a single-seater car,
[42:09.120 -> 42:13.840] which is obviously a lot slower. And you watch Formula One, there was only one or two
[42:13.840 -> 42:16.640] corners they were overtaking, but I found six corners where I could overtake.
[42:17.440 -> 42:24.560] So if Formula One can become that where every circuit that has that, you go to Hungary and
[42:24.560 -> 42:25.080] you say,
[42:25.080 -> 42:26.680] okay, they can only pass down the street.
[42:27.320 -> 42:30.680] But if you suddenly start to see four places or five places where cars are
[42:30.680 -> 42:34.600] overtaking, that'll make it so much more exciting. And then the new rules,
[42:34.640 -> 42:37.720] at least it seems like you can follow that much closer. And if you can,
[42:38.120 -> 42:41.760] then you can pile on an overtake very easily between one corner and the next.
[42:41.960 -> 42:43.200] So I'm hoping that happens.
[42:43.880 -> 42:46.360] And even I think these modern cars are so long.
[42:46.360 -> 42:51.200] Like if you take a look at, you know, older cars, they were much,
[42:51.200 -> 42:52.320] much shorter than these.
[42:52.320 -> 42:56.320] So it was, I think a lot easier to overtake with these shorter cars and with,
[42:56.440 -> 43:00.840] you know, the increasing reliance on downforce with aerodynamics in general,
[43:00.880 -> 43:02.200] in F1, I think, yeah, you're right.
[43:02.200 -> 43:06.000] Like following is such a issue right now that needs to be fixed.
[43:06.000 -> 43:10.000] And I guess that's... And you see drivers complain about it all the time as well.
[43:10.000 -> 43:16.000] Not able to follow. It's horrible when you're trying to follow a car and you have just no downforce.
[43:18.000 -> 43:25.480] I think we've heard that your favorite driver currently on track is Alonso, correct me if I'm wrong, but
[43:31.120 -> 43:34.440] other than Alonso, I wanted to know like from all these rookies and youngsters who are currently on the grid and there are many currently, you know,
[43:34.440 -> 43:38.560] whom do you see the most potential in overall and you think might become a
[43:38.880 -> 43:41.040] future champion sometime down the line?
[43:41.120 -> 43:46.080] There's obviously a bunch of them I could imagine would become future champions. Nor is Russell.
[43:46.080 -> 43:50.460] But Lafleur would probably be my favorite among them.
[43:50.460 -> 43:56.800] I guess also because I was watching a lot of junior formula racing when Lafleur was in junior formula.
[43:56.800 -> 44:02.200] Just watching him go through, I think it was GP3 when he raced it.
[44:02.200 -> 44:06.120] And then F2. And he just the sheer dominance.
[44:06.160 -> 44:10.680] He was just like, at the time, weirdly enough, he reminded me of Bianchi.
[44:11.160 -> 44:14.800] Because I used to race on the same weekend that Bianchi was doing Junior Formula.
[44:14.800 -> 44:18.000] And he would drive, he was doing the Formula 3 Euro Series, which was an
[44:18.000 -> 44:19.520] extremely tough championship.
[44:20.080 -> 44:20.680] Interesting.
[44:20.760 -> 44:21.360] Interesting.
[44:21.640 -> 44:23.080] Nine or 10, this was, yeah.
[44:23.240 -> 44:28.480] And, and he would, the second race was always a reverse grid and he'd always pass everybody at the front.
[44:28.480 -> 44:30.280] And you had top drivers on that grid.
[44:30.840 -> 44:36.040] So and then watching Leclerc do the same, I was like, wow, this kid is just like something else.
[44:36.320 -> 44:47.440] I agree with you in the sense that I remember this move that Leclerc made in Alpha on Sochi. On that huge Parabolica that they have, right?
[44:47.440 -> 44:51.600] Like the whole turn. He went on the outside and overtook. I forgot who he overtook now.
[44:51.600 -> 44:52.880] It's like, wow!
[44:52.880 -> 44:59.440] Yeah. No, and just, yeah. He would just… And I am just going back to his junior formula.
[44:59.440 -> 45:12.000] Even in Formula 1, he has done some amazing stuff. But yeah, I think he's got immense potential. Then obviously that season with Russell, Norris and Albon in Formula 2 was a superb season.
[45:12.000 -> 45:14.000] Oh yeah, I've heard a lot about that.
[45:14.000 -> 45:30.560] Yeah, I mean, young drivers coming from championships like that, they all, they have a completely different approach now towards motorsport than they did when say Hamilton got into it. Right, I think that leads us to the right topic as you said
[45:30.560 -> 45:38.800] that all these new drivers are trained differently in a way that eSports has become
[45:38.800 -> 45:46.760] a lot important part these days than it was before And obviously like having track time is not always easy for people to
[45:46.760 -> 45:50.160] gain. It requires a lot of money. And not just that,
[45:50.480 -> 45:53.120] even in like these F1 cars and everything,
[45:53.120 -> 45:56.040] you are not actually allowed to drive that car a lot in terms of practice.
[45:56.040 -> 46:00.640] So definitely sim racing has become a very important part.
[46:01.440 -> 46:04.320] You know, why don't just talk about a little, you know,
[46:04.320 -> 46:09.040] how important sim racing is currently and how much skills can you actually
[46:09.040 -> 46:12.320] translate from sim racing to actual racing?
[46:14.240 -> 46:18.320] Yeah. I mean, if you go back as far as gaming goes for anyone,
[46:18.320 -> 46:22.040] who's not really into sim racing, even say, for example, if you play FIFA,
[46:22.920 -> 46:28.240] try playing FIFA 2007 versus FIFA 2020 or FIFA 2021.
[46:28.240 -> 46:31.840] Gaming has come a long, long way.
[46:31.840 -> 46:39.160] I remember playing Formula 1 99, Formula 1 2000 on PS1 PlayStation.
[46:39.160 -> 46:43.200] Even on the computer, I remember playing it.
[46:43.200 -> 46:46.480] You can't imagine that would be a simulation right, it was just
[46:46.480 -> 46:52.720] an arcade game back then and but now the game developers have come so far you've
[46:52.720 -> 46:58.560] got professional games like iRacing, R-Factor and there's a lot of other
[46:58.560 -> 47:04.120] sims specific, simulation specific, I wouldn't call them games but simulators
[47:04.120 -> 47:05.560] for Formula
[47:05.560 -> 47:09.400] One drivers and they're able to replicate so much onto it right from
[47:09.400 -> 47:13.640] your steering inputs to your braking to your suspension to the movements on the
[47:13.640 -> 47:19.360] car. The technology so much has changed in the last seven, eight years that
[47:19.360 -> 47:23.840] they're able to replicate that all into a simulator which is why it's
[47:23.840 -> 47:28.840] called a simulator. It's almost like your aircraft simulator, right? Pilots learn in a simulator.
[47:28.840 -> 47:32.680] Drivers are now having to do the same because of like you said costs, it's
[47:32.680 -> 47:37.760] ridiculously expensive to take a car now to a racetrack. The Formula 1, Formula 4,
[47:37.760 -> 47:42.600] Formula 3 is very very expensive. So you'd rather than just spend that time on the
[47:42.600 -> 47:47.000] simulator because it's so advanced and you get data, you translate data to the team.
[47:47.000 -> 47:53.640] And then you can also actually translate it to your car, but it's not always a hundred percent, but at least it's still something.
[47:53.640 -> 48:05.960] I think like James Baldwin, he moved from e-sport champion to now racing for British GT. James Baldwin.
[48:06.400 -> 48:09.040] Is it? James Baldwin is a journalist.
[48:10.240 -> 48:11.920] I think I know who you're talking about, though.
[48:13.440 -> 48:14.360] Probably, I wasn't.
[48:15.480 -> 48:16.520] And I'm pronouncing his name.
[48:18.760 -> 48:19.880] James, let's call him James.
[48:19.880 -> 48:22.000] Yeah, James Baldwin.
[48:22.000 -> 48:24.880] Yeah, there's a James out there.
[48:22.080 -> 48:22.280] Yeah. James Baldwin. Yeah.
[48:22.280 -> 48:23.560] There's a James out there.
[48:23.560 -> 48:24.960] There's a James out there.
[48:24.960 -> 48:30.880] He's moved from sim to actual cars.
[48:30.880 -> 48:38.400] Do you see this sort of also boosting the interest in Indian racing?
[48:38.400 -> 48:44.600] Because you briefly touched upon it, like in 2020, that's where you sort of also channeled you and Armaan,
[48:44.600 -> 48:49.360] channeled your planning and, you know, promoting eSports.
[48:49.360 -> 48:59.200] So how do you think it's gonna help not just like cities like Chennai or Mumbai or Delhi, but like even someone with a computer in Nagpur, for example?
[48:59.200 -> 49:05.600] Yeah, I mean, if you're dedicated enough, sim racing at the end of the day is still an investment.
[49:05.600 -> 49:09.280] We have drivers who come from sim racing like Jan Mardenbro.
[49:09.280 -> 49:15.600] He was one of the early examples who came through the Nissan Academy, did a lot of racing in GP cars, GP3.
[49:15.600 -> 49:19.760] And was extremely successful, did Le Mans, still very active.
[49:19.760 -> 49:29.280] Then there's James, there's a few Indian drivers actually who are coming out of
[49:29.280 -> 49:33.960] sim racing right now. I know a few of them personally as well who are doing
[49:33.960 -> 49:37.240] extremely well in sim racing and when we put them in the race car which we've
[49:37.240 -> 49:41.840] done already, they are just ridiculously fast. It's crazy how they're able to
[49:41.840 -> 49:51.040] translate that into an actual race car whether it's a go-kart or a single-seater, they're just straight away on the ball, right and they know so much,
[49:51.040 -> 49:56.720] they have so much feel because when you're in a sim, you're relying a lot on artificial feedback
[49:56.720 -> 50:00.880] but then an artificial feedback but then when you actually get into a real car, you have real
[50:00.880 -> 50:06.040] feedback and they're able to translate that so much better into their driving, which is crazy these days.
[50:06.040 -> 50:06.800] I can't imagine.
[50:06.800 -> 50:09.880] I never imagined you'd be able to do that, but that's what these kids are doing.
[50:10.360 -> 50:16.200] And they are sometimes able to feel a bit more than what someone who's just
[50:16.200 -> 50:17.600] got the regular karting ranks.
[50:17.600 -> 50:17.840] Yeah.
[50:17.840 -> 50:18.320] Interesting.
[50:18.320 -> 50:18.840] Interesting.
[50:18.920 -> 50:19.440] Interesting.
[50:19.440 -> 50:24.040] So it's pretty cool because at some point you've got this guy who's now off sim
[50:24.040 -> 50:27.520] racing and then just starting his karting, but he's already driven a Formula 3 car.
[50:27.960 -> 50:35.240] I think is it because, I think is it because in sim racing probably, so in
[50:35.320 -> 50:39.240] actual racing, when you're actually racing your whole body like senses what's going
[50:39.240 -> 50:44.280] on and versus in sim racing, it's pretty much your hands or your palms that are
[50:44.280 -> 50:48.960] what, you know, you basically concentrate all your attention towards that.
[50:48.960 -> 50:53.960] And I think is, that's just my theory, but I guess that's what.
[50:53.960 -> 50:58.360] Something I find very tough as well, when I drive a sim, which doesn't have like,
[50:58.480 -> 51:03.160] which is not a fully built purpose built sim is you have only your sensation in
[51:03.160 -> 51:09.100] your hand, then it's just like a, it's vibration right it's not hundred percent accurate and a lot of
[51:09.100 -> 51:12.820] these kids are actually doing it with that so when they actually get the real
[51:12.820 -> 51:29.540] feedback from your actual tires your actual suspension, your actual steering then they're able to do so much more with it but you put me in a sim and I just don't know what's going on. Fair point. You can't feel the 5G on a Speedy and Broccoli going through turn 1.
[51:29.540 -> 51:31.540] Exactly.
[51:31.540 -> 51:39.520] I think we will see a few. Next year itself, I can tell you, I spoke to one guy yesterday and I know he is really quick.
[51:39.520 -> 51:42.000] You will see him next year in our championship.
[51:42.000 -> 51:42.500] Awesome.
[51:42.500 -> 51:45.520] And you will be amazed at how quick he is and his story will be big.
[51:46.320 -> 51:46.680] Nice.
[51:48.160 -> 51:49.200] Looking forward to that.
[51:49.560 -> 51:54.480] In terms of the ladder that we spoke about, like in actual car, is there, is
[51:54.480 -> 51:58.080] there a rough structure to someone in our audience who wants to get into
[51:58.080 -> 51:59.960] like sim racing or e-sports?
[52:01.480 -> 52:06.000] Well, I mean, e-sports apart from the programs that we do, obviously you can just do it from
[52:06.000 -> 52:08.000] your home, which makes it quite easy.
[52:08.000 -> 52:12.060] All you have to do is purchase a bit of extra equipment.
[52:12.060 -> 52:18.140] It's not very cheap, but I mean, if you can afford it, go ahead and do it.
[52:18.140 -> 52:22.020] There's a lot of games out there that are very, very good when it comes to replicating
[52:22.020 -> 52:26.440] real life racing. very good when it comes to replicating real-life racing and at the end of
[52:26.440 -> 52:31.080] the day, it is a lot of money saved compared to your actual karting and your
[52:31.080 -> 52:35.480] actual racing. You can sit at home and race on any racetrack in the world
[52:35.480 -> 52:39.560] really instead of going to your nearest go-kart track. You can almost race in any
[52:39.560 -> 52:44.560] car in the world instead of just racing a go-kart. So it gives you all
[52:44.560 -> 52:46.400] that from the comfort of your home,
[52:46.400 -> 52:52.640] it teaches you all the basics, you don't have to go to a racetrack and waste time
[52:53.280 -> 52:57.040] understanding what a racing line is, understanding the mechanics of a car,
[52:57.040 -> 53:03.120] you can do so much of that just sitting at home now. So yeah, I think for anyone who's even
[53:03.840 -> 53:07.000] remotely thinking about sim racing, just jump into it, do it.
[53:07.000 -> 53:13.280] And you'll straight away know whether you want to race or you want to be a race driver or not, or you just want to sit at home and do it.
[53:13.280 -> 53:14.920] I know a lot of guys who are like, I don't race.
[53:14.920 -> 53:18.920] I just want to sit at home and drive my sim and be world sim racing champion.
[53:18.920 -> 53:20.520] Fair point.
[53:20.520 -> 53:26.800] I think that's all we had.
[53:26.800 -> 53:31.480] Folks, this was an amazing conversation with Aditya.
[53:31.480 -> 53:35.880] I'm sure he's shared way too many insights.
[53:35.880 -> 53:42.080] You know what, we'll have our new host close out for you all with his parting thoughts
[53:42.080 -> 53:44.800] on FRI or anything he wants to share with you all.
[53:44.800 -> 53:48.280] So Aditya, take it away. and then we'll close after your thoughts.
[53:48.280 -> 53:49.280] Thanks.
[53:49.280 -> 53:54.840] I mean, it's been great to be on the show and I hope everybody listening has actually
[53:54.840 -> 53:57.480] managed to take something away from this, something to learn.
[53:57.480 -> 54:04.600] And we hope to see you all at our series next year, March Formula Regional, Formula 4 and
[54:04.600 -> 54:05.200] the IRL. So you want to get in touch with us, feel free, Formula 4 and the IRS.
[54:05.200 -> 54:08.480] So you want to get in touch with us, feel free to get in touch with us.
[54:08.480 -> 54:11.680] We'll happily run you through the process on Motoscope.
[54:11.680 -> 54:13.880] But now you know, there's a clear ladder.
[54:13.880 -> 54:15.880] You know your steps, you know what to do.
[54:15.880 -> 54:19.840] And we'll find our next Formula One driver soon.
[54:19.840 -> 54:20.840] Awesome.
[54:20.840 -> 54:24.880] Folks, find all these details in our show notes.
[54:24.880 -> 54:28.540] And until the next episode, this is F1 Fan Fiction signing off.
[54:28.540 -> 54:29.180] Bye-bye.