DESI FORMULA

by Lance Alvers

The cacophony of thousand horse power engines tearing apart the silence and the smell of incinerated rubber burning the track will set the temperatures rising even more at the Thapar university campus come JUNE 2011. In what could be termed as the most bizarre move by the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile), the F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone announced the first ever college Grand Prix in over sixty years of the sport’s history, adding one more feather in the cap of the Thapar university. The race will be the sixth race of the season and the fifth ever street circuit after the Monaco, Melbourne, Valencia and Singapore circuits. The main gate will see the beginning of the race, and the lap will comprise of the straight hostel road, followed by a turn towards the massive J grand stands (yeah the balconies of hostel J will serve as the stands for the race, and let me tell you the spots are selling like hot cakes, thank God FNT has got some passes). The H hostel route will serve as the Pit lane for the constructors, to ensure easier and better fueling all the teams are given a common resource. The Tanki will be filled with gas and 12 outlets will be provided from the main body so that each team can take out a nozzle from it.

Well there is another piece of trivia attached to the story as of how Thapar managed to upstage the likes of Harvard and Oxford for this race. The entire credit goes to the Thapar guard fraternity, in the biggest incident of altruism the guards accorded to act as marshals in the race for no money (the mere thought of sharing the space with liquor baron Vijay Mallya was enticing enough for them). And there are others who are just happy waving the flags and living their moment of glory on the big screen. Though there is still a big question mark on who will wave the chequered flag to mark the conclusion of the race.

As if granting an entire GP wasn’t enough the FIA officials have allotted a wild card entry to local constructors Team Fateh. They have even issued a Super driver license to the team students so that they can race an F1 car. The team is all smiles and is not dismissing its chances to win this first, one of a kind race which will be a part of the regular F1 calendar from this season. “All we need is a good driver and a good car and I am sure nothing will come in our way to grab this coveted GP, our welding, our engine and our seat comfort they are all better than the likes of red bull, Renault and Ferrari”, said the head of TF in an interview to FNT. But this decision has also raised a few eyebrows in the other camp; team Hybrid another car making team from the varsity has been criticizing this policy from the word go and is vying for another wild card entry into the race.

Also the biggest problem to have popped up amidst this hum is the ban on powered vehicles inside the lush green campus, but the authorities are trying to figure a way out of this issue. They think that the rules can be twisted to accommodate an event of this stature and magnanimity. This decision just like any other has also come under a lot of flak from the F1 community, F1 commentator Steve slater believes that this act is frivolous, “you got to be kidding me, how can you make this a race track, there is no way you can overtake on this circuit.”. But there are others who believe that this gives a platform to teams to rethink their strategies and win this thing on Pit stops.  Support is also pouring in from the testing authorities, “This is like biking around in your living room”, said an F1 driver who was testing the track for safety reasons.

There is a buzz in the campus; people who are not much into motorsports are also looking forward to the race, who knows if Force India pulls up a massive one up its sleeve this June, we might be in for another siddharth-deepika show. :P