Those days We had to wait long beg & plead after paying full cash to someone to procure Spares from Singapore & Malaysia. That too it was super duper expensive then. This ultimately left to the Death of Group B's. So The Group C's were all done using only from Parts available from India. Hail the Fury for the Wheels & Brakes. Group A simply forget it. As long as The TZ 350's came we had Fancy parts for our RD's ... That too vanished. It was so bad to get Tyres at one point, MRF Introduced Slicks & todays Zappers then for racing, that could be bought only through great hardship. Infact, I had run them those days on my Road RD's .. Hand cut Slicks a lot of Fun. For one exclusive section they made a special super soft Tyre for Raju .. He did awesome time from them only to last 8 Laps. They were even send to Japan & UK for Training & Tuning Courses by their sponsors. Even Today both the brothers are still involved with Tyre testing for MRF. Further the races use to be more of a big one time show in Feb. Not many rounds. No small Fee Track days for Sundays. Exclusive use of Track cost 15 Thousand those days.
With Departure of MRF, Sheriff Dyan, Sad Demise of Centigo Sundaram - TVS racing the race's took a back step. Joel if I say the amount these guys were paid you heart will stop right now. The death of the RD class was due to Centigo Sundaram, who convinced the MMSC saying that The RD were not in Production anymore and should not be raced any further. When we came back after so many years ... TVS again pushed us right at the end so we couldn't get any lime light to come back. That was the Death of the RD's for the final time. The same story holds for the ZMA's too ( absolutely zero backing from Hero Honda ). Further the scurtiny use to be a lot harder. It was sad a couple of years back at the last championship round only 3-bike were running ( you need minimum-6 to start a race ... what a joke TVS could bend this rule. Where as not applicable for Privateer 250 Group B-4 strokers). Even if some guy would have wanted to race the P-220 he couldn't, because as per rules the manufacturer have to homologate by paying 2-Lakhs to MMSC. Most of the guys who invested alot on the ZMA's were left as fools ( Funny how the World is pushing for a Moto-3 4-Stroke & the 250cc Class that is the nearest to it in India is dead ). Most guys here have no more money nor trust to spend on anything to do with racing. The Factory backed one make series is lot cheaper & Fun. The 2-stroke class in MMSC is still run to please the local crowd & Mechanics as they have a huge following for it and that too for how long is another story.
Further being in racing you should be aware of how much Pacer was paid by Yamaha to race for them. Shekar was blessed to get that Factory deal and became so rich by doing that and Funny how it all stopped with the 4-Strokes. One thing must be appreciated, He also achieved the results for them. Most of the parts came from the RX135 King racing that were done in Asean at that time. The privateer RX 135 guys are now blessed to get these parts in Chennai itself through a couple of guys who sell them locally off the shelf for a reasonable price. Also the 2-strokes of Pacer & TVS racing has also some how landed to this class of people my friend. Slowly Parts for the R15 Group B may be flowing. Currently they are available with key Tuners and are way too expensive at this point of time.
Eventually when the 2-stroke class there too was being moved to 4-strokes the same idea was pushed by TVS here. That led to the Departure of the Factory 2-stroke Efforts ( as strokers are not in production anymore ) & 4 -Strokes stepped in. With out a bike called R15 ... racing would have been dead today as TVS would have been doing circle on others with out the involvement of major manufacturer's.
In the Group-D you can almost get most things from Yamaha Factory India today. Where as in the Group-B .. you still need to get parts from the Asean counter part... Tyres, Carbs, Cam Kit, Ignition Kit, 165 Bores, Close Ratio Gear Box, Clutch, Wheels, Brakes & so on. Does any one run F.I in this class. Then where are things Indian in it my friend. The Group D yes may be. TVS's promised race kits also never arrived as they were afraid of being kicked by privateers. Further these Days if you are really smart, you can procure the right parts you require by e-mail, Credit Card & Shipped directly to to your address from the right guys from the Asean Racing Series. We never had this luxury then. Only the big Sponsored guys could ever do it in those days & bring what ever they wished through their Sponsors.
Big Motorcycle Manufacturer's are now bothered more about their one make series than anything else as they spend far less to gain alot more. Hey, I am not blaming them ... It's business for them during this Economic Hardship. Hey they do it in the World Championship levels. I Truly wish, We had the Suzuki FX150R & the Honda CBR 150 R manufactured here, with their respective factory backing, bataling each other along the R15's so we could have one hot 150cc 4-stroke series. Hope M&M would also be involved in Motorcycle Racing in the Future through some ways. A series based on their 125cc 2-stroke show caused on the Delhi Motor Show for an affordable price would be an eye opener for many.
Cheers - TZ750.





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