Sholavaram: the Golden Era of Indian Motorsports

(Source: A Nostalgic Look at the Indian Racing Scene, Team-BHP)

As January rolled around and everyone started settling into the new year, car and bike enthusiasts had something big to look forward to in the 1960s and 1970s. The first two weekends of February were reserved for the Sholavaram race, a carnival of speed that has been the biggest celebration of Indian motorsport to this day! Formally called the All India Motor Race Meet, it was best known as the “Sholavaram race” to the masses.

Set in the World War II airstrip located approximately 25 km north of Chennai, the event had more than 50,000 attendees each year. What started as a handicap racing event for Stock Fiats against Jaguars, the race later featured a variety of racing machines, from mopeds, scooters, and motorcycles to Ambassadors, Cadillacs, and even Ferrari and Mercedes cars. This was a very raw hobby racing event rather than a professional racing event. 

Maybe that’s what drew people to it! 

Not only was the raw racing exhilarating to watch, but it was also the best way for the commoners to witness exotic cars that were imported into the country by the wealthy.

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The layout of the Sholavaram races went through multiple changes before it came to be its iconic T-shape. Originally taking only half the airstrip in an L-shape, the track layout featured two hairpins and a chicane to slow the cars down. However, due to the track being an IAF airstrip, heavy tanks were also using the same track for testing during the rest of the year, damaging some patches of the track. In order to combat this, the layout was changed to the full T-shape, running upside down from the parking lot.

With the rawness and lack of television coverage, the only way people could witness this motorsport spectacle was by going to the track. The demand was high and there were a lot of tickets sold in the black market than officially. But this did not stop the government from contributing either! 

The Tamil Nadu state government sponsored buses to transport people from around the state and also tourists from other states to the track, sometimes at the same time as the competing cars. Not only did this serve as a teaser, but it also kept the excitement high year after year. 

While this is about the audience base, let’s talk a little more about who was racing on the track- The likes of Vijay Mallya, Vicky Chandok, legendary S Karivardhan of Formula Maruti and even Indy 500’s Jim Crawford raced their cars here. Maharaj Kumar of Gondal brought the luxurious side of the racing we know today with his fleet of imported cars as well as his presence itself drawing a chunk of the audience to the Airstrip. Though this wasn’t truly an international race per se, it did draw participants from around the world. Among the list were motorcyclists from Sri Lanka who participated regularly at Sholavaram.

Until Doordarshan, only those who knew about the race would attend it year after year. With the rise of television and visual broadcasting, Doordarshan took on airing the Sholavaram race in the 60s with an array of pre-event announcements to build excitement in the visiting crowd and entice other viewers to visit. All this hype around the race meant that the audience would need to go in person to witness the magnanimity of the event! This, of course, drew many celebrities to the track as well.

The Tamil Nadu government's support for these races was not just limited to transportation. Former Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran was in regular attendance, watching with the crowds and cheering on the racers. It’s not every day that a person with such a powerful position would not be among the crowds in the grandstand, but he is said to have loved being there! To counter this, current Rajya Sabha MP, P. Chidambaram, suggested that the Madras Motor Sports Club (MMSC) add special boxes to the venue where celebrities and high-profile individuals could have the best viewing experience. With the addition of these special boxes, sponsors, and corporate houses like MRF, JK Tyre, and Dunlop took over, making it similar to what we now know as VIP Suites.

Now that the Sholavaram races were pretty popular and had over 50 thousand people in attendance on the race weekends, there was a call to make things more stable and build infrastructure to aid motorsport racing within India. Before 1971, there were five main motor sporting clubs in India, each with its own set of rules and regulations: 

1. Madras Motor Sports Club, 

2. Coimbatore Auto Sports Club, 

3. Bangalore Motor Sports Club (renamed Karnataka Motor Sports Club), 

4. Calcutta Motor Sports Club, and 

5. Indian Automotive Racing Club in Mumbai. 

Post World War II, Western India Automobile Association Mumbai hosted the first All India Highway Motor Rally,  a 7000-kilometre-long rally based on the Monte Carlo Rally. Sanctioned by the FIA, this race attracted over 100 entrants from around the country, starting simultaneously from Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Delhi, all headed towards Nagpur. After this successful rally, when a group of riders from Mumbai went to compete in Chennai, the lack of consistent rules struck them and raised questions. 

To make it fair for racers from around the country to participate in different regions, the five motorsport clubs joined to create the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) in 1971.

Around the mid-80s, MMSC had asked the Madras Motor Sports Trust to raise Rs. 6 crores (~Rs. 70 crores in 2023) for a permanent race track at Sriperambudur. The hope for this track was to make it according to the guidance of the FIA and have more frequent races to nurture the competitive spirit of Indian racers. It was also going to be a way for racing enthusiasts to take on racing themselves and increase involvement from the audience. This was also when the Government of India recognised the FMSCI as the sole authority to control and conduct motorsport races and events, leaving no room for confusion.

However, due to this new track being built and the decline in attendance at the Sholavaram races due to accessibility through Doordarshan as well as some lack of interest, the iconic February race came to an end in 1988, the same year as the advent of Formula Maruti. During these last few years, the race became more directed towards sponsors for the Sriperambudur track. These high-speed vehicles on the racetrack became hoarding boards for the sponsors as they zoomed past the audience. The fame that the initial sponsors achieved from this would impact their continued support to organising such a race but also be a display of success for other potential sponsors to want to pitch in. 

Despite this support from the sponsors, the crowds seemed to lose interest as the races moved to the permanent track at Sriperambudur. Losing Sholavaram meant losing the rawness of racing, but it also translated into losing the hype and excitement around motor racing. Motor racing returned to being known as the rich man’s sport for a long time. However, it is making a comeback! With the latest efforts to grow Indian talent, on- and off-track, and host international series like MotoGP and Formula E, the racing scene in the country seems to be gaining momentum. With the rate at which new initiatives are starting up, it might not be long before India becomes a popular spot for motorsport lovers!