The HDFC Bank Accelerate Time Attack 2021 event has been organised by the IARC (Indian Automotive Racing Club) with Chetan Shivram Motorsports and was held this weekend over the course of two days. This event as the name suggests is a time attack event that is open to everyone. The reason behind this initiative is to get more people involved in the world of motorsport and give them a safe platform to do so. The HDFC Bank Accelerate Time Attack 2021 event was held at the Pune Kartdrome in Wagholi. A special dirt track which is approximately 1.1km long was developed for this event that was specially designed by the man behind this event — INRC champion and ace rally driver, Chetan Shivram.
As aforementioned, this is a grassroots level initiative that is backed by the FMSCI to enable people to explore a whole new dimension of driving and motorsport. The event saw amateurs and professional rally drivers compete on the same platform. What this meant was that the newbies could learn first hand from the pros, the importance of lines, braking markers and a lot of other techniques and information that they wouldn’t have access to otherwise. Like Day 1, Day 2 was also split between a multitude of different categories — up to 1100cc, up to 1400cc, up to 1600cc, up to 2000cc (Amateur and Professional) to name a few. There were also categories for ladies, diesel cars and full-fledged 4x4s.
In terms of cars, you’d get to see everything from bone stock Maruti Suzuki WagonRs to fully rally-prepped Volkswagen Polos, Maruti Suzuki Balenos and even a kickass Maruti Suzuki Gypsy. To set a time you need to take two laps around the dirt track and at the end of the day, the three fastest drivers in each category are crowned winners. The event was organised extremely efficiently with everything with all parameters including on-site medical aid, should someone get injured.
The event saw participation from top rally drivers like Dhruva Chandrashekar, Khyati Mody along with well-known rally drivers who have represented the country on international standards, Sanjay Takale and Pradeep Nair. The response to the event was absolutely stunning, with around a hundred entries each day. The organisers of the event want to conduct such events more often and have plans to hold the next HDFC Bank Accelerate Time Attack event in February 2022. So, the next time they’re in town, definitely participate.
In the meantime, here are the best times from Day 2 of the event:
Amateur Up To 1100cc:
Iftheqhar Ahmed: 03:30.3
Tejas Chandrakant Hanjankar: 03:41.0
Pratik Desai: 03:41.5
Amateur Up To 1400cc
Pratik Desai: 03:36.0
Jeet Tapaswi: 03:37.4
Freddy Elavia: 03:45.9
Amateur Up To 1600cc
Jahaan Singh Gill: 03:19.5
Nikeetaa Takkale: 03:22.2
Warun Lall: 03:31.3
Amateur Up To 2000cc
Jahaan Singh Gill: 03:22.9
Zahaan Irani: 03:29.3
Warun Lall: 03:27.6
Amateur Ladies
Nikeetaa Takkale: 03:29.5
Sanjana Sanjay Takale: 03:47.6
Ankita Mital: 04:11.4
Professional Up To 1100cc
Ravinder Singh Assi: 03:29.2
Iftheqhar Ahmed: 03:30.3
Abhinay Virkud: 03:34.3
Professional Up To 1400cc
Jeet Tapaswi: 03:30.0
Abhinay Virkud: 03:31.0
Sanjay Lall: 03:32.2
Professional Up To 1600cc
Dhruva Chandrashekar: 03:09.2
Jahaan Singh Gill: 03:12.1
Mazdayar Vatcha: 03:19.3
Professional Up to 2000cc
Dhruva Chandrashekar: 03:09.3
Jahaan Singh Gill: 03:11.6
Mazdayar Vatcha: 03:17.4
Professional Ladies
Khyati Mody: 03:23.8
Nikeetaa Takkale: 03:24.7
Shivani Parmar: 03:30.4
Diesel Cars
Pradeep A Nair: 03:22.4
Nikeetaa Takkale: 03:22.6
Mazdayar Vatcha: 03:22.9
Rally Cars
Dhruva Chandrashekar: 03:06.8
Jahaan Singh Gill: 03:10.1
Khyati Mody: 03:26.2
SUV Open
Pradeep A Nair: 03:23.5
Sanjay Lall: 03:33.8
Nikeetaa Takkale: 03:49.3
Time Attack Open
Dhruva Chandrashekar: 03:07.1
Jahaan Singh Gill: 03:10.2
Mazdayar Vatcha: 03:18.9
Fastest on Day 1: Mazdayar Vatcha
Fastest on Day 2: Dhruva Chandrashekar
Fastest overall: Dhruva Chandrashekar