Reddy and setting Indian motor racing on the speedway

Hindustan Times

a day ago

What's the most attention-grabber way to introduce Akhilesh Reddy? Call him India's Bernie? Reddy laughs at the suggestion and says, 'yes, you can say that'. (Think circuits, lanes and pits and you'll work out which Bernie). How about his own definition of what he's been up to for the past three years – 'more of a madness' – heading into its fourth edition this week? Let's put a price on the madness – a spend of about €50-60 million (approx. ₹50-60 crore) over three years. The Indian Racing League (IRL), the world's first city-centric, gender-neutral motor-racing franchise competition is the flagship event, one of the festival's three categories of races. (HT)
Questions ranging from 'what', 'whatever for' and 'why on earth' come rushing. But Hyderabad-based Reddy is linked to creating, he says, ecosystems, pathways, and with it, an awareness of Indian motorsports at a time he believes is just right for his investment in finance, energy and emotion into his thought-through madness.
This weekend marked the start of the Indian Racing Festival, a season of five racing weekends, owned and promoted by Reddy's Racing Promotions Private Limited (RPPL). The Indian Racing League (IRL), the world's first city-centric, gender-neutral motor-racing franchise competition is the flagship event, one of the festival's three categories of races.
The IRL has six teams, with combination of superstar/businessmen owners – the Goa Aces (John Abraham), Kolkata Royal Tigers (Sourav Ganguly), Kichas Kings Bengaluru (Bengaluru-based movie star Kichcha Sudeep), Speed Demons Delhi (Arjun Kapoor), Hyderabad Blackbirds (Telugu film star Naga Chaithanya), and the Chennai Turbo Riders who are owned by Dr. Swetha Sundeep Anand of the Accord Group of Hotels, headed by its director Ranjith Amizdhan.
Each team fields four drivers, two per car, including one woman. The first three races will take place on Coimbatore's Kari Motor Speedway (Aug 15-17 and Oct 3-5) and the Madras International Circuit (Aug 22-24). The venues for the last two weeks are not yet announced but they could feature that rare sighting: an Indian street race, like the one held in Chennai in last year's IRL. Besides Indian drivers, this year's IRL features 2016 Le Mans winner Neel Jani, who test drove for Sauber F1, and GP2 winner John Lancaster. The women drivers include Alexandra Herve, who finished third in the 2023 Formula Renault Cup championship, Laura Campos Torras, a product of the Ferrari Driver Academy.
Reddy says, 'Motor racing is gender neutral and I wanted to push boundaries, putting men and women in the same category, and have them compete on the same platform. I want Indian girls to get into motor sport and want to participate.'
As a teenager, Reddy, 39, had to be a part of the sport, 'but it was really unreachable… We didn't have opportunities, nothing was available, nobody had really pushed towards the sport.' He says Kari was the only proper race track then with at the most three-four karting tracks in the country. The IRL was devised to create an extra layer of public knowledge and familiarise people with the sport.
Running alongside IRL is the pathway that Reddy believes will crystallise as the decade rolls over. RPPL has the FIA licence via the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) to run Formula 3 and Formula 4 in India. These are the first steps aspiring drivers must aim for after karting to make careers in international single-seaters.
In 2023, as part of the Festival, RPPL held India's first F4 races alongside IRL. The Formula LGB Series (F4) of the JK Tyres National Racing Championship – an entry-level single racing platform – is also part of it. F3 will come into the programme only after FIA releases its latest Generation-2 F3 car.
Reddy obtained licences for these two categories because, 'after karting, we don't have a ladder for our youngsters to get into motor sport…' Before 2023, Indian drivers needed to travel to Europe or the Middle East to race, spending between 150,000-180,000 Euros ( ₹1.5-1.8 crore) a seat. The Indian F4 seat costs only ₹50-70 lakh, he says.
Reddy believes his timing to dive into creating motor racing opportunities in India is right as 'there are 3-4 karting tracks in every city'– three in Chennai, five-six in Hyderabad and 3-4 in Bangalore.
The younger generation is also drawn to motor sport first lured by F1. By the time they enter working/earning adulthood, Reddy believes he will be at the stage 'where the whole league would be established'. More race weekends, 'year-round championships with 12 weekends, pre-monsoon and post monsoon.'
He anticipates that IRL Season Four could come close to marking the turnaround. 'When I got into this, I had made up my mind that this league will take at least five-six years to stabilise – in its running costs.' He hopes the league becomes 'self-sustainable probably by next summer, next year'.
His dream is 'by 2033 or 2034, we see at least one kid who has driven in RPPL… at least one female Indian driver in Formula 2 grid by 2032 or 2023.'
And the Indian Bernie (Ecclestone) parallel? Many may dispute but Reddy is the man on the start-finish line owning and flagging off the races.