Around 12 years ago, the world's most prestigious motorsport event was organized in India. The Indian Grand Prix Formula 1 racing event was inaugurated in 2011. The event took place at the Buddha International Circuit near the Yamuna Expressway in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Formula 1 entered India on a contract of five years from the year 2011 to 2015, Formula 1 event was to be organized every year at the racing circuit developed by the Jaypee Group.
But something counter happened and the organizers were in such a situation that all the races were concluded in three years. After this, Formula 1 racing was never organized in India The Jaypee Group found itself amid a financial crisis. Because of the development of the racing tracks to promote the event Jaypee Group had invested a considerable amount of money. But a very big question arises here why did the Formula 1 racing event exit from India?
Why did the Formula 1 racing event stop taking place in India?
The Government of Uttar Pradesh was the biggest culprit behind this when the Formula 1 event was organized in India. Many problems were to be addressed before it was to be organized in India when Formula 1 cars and other stuff were imported to India. The organizers had to face heavy difficulties in getting clearance from the customs and the organizers had to cope with several bureaucrats as well even for minute jobs, this was also because both the central government and state government were not supporting the race organizers, but all these problems were minute.
The state government of Uttar Pradesh itself created the most significant problem Akhilesh Yadav was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh back then. The government of Akhilesh Yadav refused to consider Formula 1 racing as a sporting event and a 25% entertainment tax was levied on this racing event. According to the government of Uttar Pradesh motorsports is not any kind of sport. But it is an entertainment event due to this high amount of entertainment tax Formula 1 exited from India and has yet to return.
Now, from the beginning of this Mega event of racing that is Formula 1. We can observe that, the different governments of India were never interested in motorsports and how Formula 1 was completely burned in the dirty politics of India. But everything has not been completely finished because another significant motorsport event is being organized in India. Yes, here I am talking about MotoGP and do you know?
MotoGP Bharat
Things that hampered the growth of Motorsport In India!
This article will be related to MotoGP and will address the causes behind hampering this motorsport. As discussed previously the failure of the Formula 1 racing event and the state government of that time was responsible for that failure. I have done this because the state government was completely against the organizers for organizing this event at one time. But today as the government has changed, the BJP is in power in both the centre and the state of Uttar Pradesh. This situation has completely reversed today we can observe that if Yogi Adityanath was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. This event would have never been organized in India I am not making any of these statements on my own. This is told by the organizers of Moto GP the organizers of Moto GP have highly appreciated the enthusiasm shown by Yogi Adityanath and later in this article, we will understand step-by-step.
How state government has contributed heavily to organizing this motorsport event. But before that, I want to give you a disclaimer this article does not hurt any sentiments politically. Whether it is inducing a ban on car modifications or increasing taxes on cars. But being a motorhead we should definitely appreciate the government if something good is done by them. If these motorsports events are not organized in India. It is not a positive thing for India because today, India has the third-largest automobile market and Motorsport events act as fuel for these types of markets.
What is MotoGP?
First of all, let's understand the MotoGP and then we will discuss the other things. Motorcycle races have been organized for around 100 years. This means from the time motorcycles came into existence. But these races were considered motorsports in 1949 by FIM FIM (Fédération Internationale De Motorcycle). After the introduction of this organization in motorcycle racing everything started happening in an organized manner and motorcycle racing was converted into a worldwide championship event. During the early stages, many teams from European countries used to participate in these races, and today, countries all around the world participate in these sporting events. Races were categorized based on the size of the engine of the motorcycle bikes from 80 CC to 750 CC used to be a part of these races.
But during the late 90s, the premiere class that means the most powerful bikes. These bikes used to have an engine capacity of only 500 CC, these engines used to have 2 strokes only. But Moto GP was introduced in the year 2002 till now, the premiere class of motorcycles was not called Moto GP. This name was given in the year 2002 and in the year 2002. The capacity of the engine was increased to 990 CC and motorcycles with four-stroke engines were introduced.
Different Types of Races
Later, the size of the engines was modified many times but the size of the engine was fixed at 1000 CC or 1 Litre. And even if we observe today Bikes with engine capacity of 1000 CC or 1 Litre are the most powerful machines on the racing. But Moto GP is not alone in participating in the race. Moto 2, Moto 3, and Moto E are also organized along with the Moto GP. The size of the engines of motorcycles is smaller in Moto 2 and Moto E racing events and only electric bikes are a part of the Moto E racing event If we talk about the rules of the Racing Events.
The rules are very simple 22 riders take part in a race that belongs to different teams and they start the race from a grid position which bike has to withdraw from the front of the grid and the last position is decided by the qualifying speed. I talk about the Moto GP race, It is simple sprint racing. The team that completes all the laps early and stands at the first position at the end of the race as well. Is the winner of the race. The teams participating in these races could have different names like Ducati Corso, Gresini racing team, or Repsol Honda.
Who makes MotoGP Bikes?
However, the motorcycles used in these races are developed only by legacy motorcycle manufacturers. Because not all can perform this type of extreme engineering, Riders from any country can participate in these events. But they are exclusively bound to their respective teams and I take the name of the world's most respected rider. He is Valentino Rossi He is top-ranked in the Moto GP titles. Now all the history and rules that we have just got to know I have only provided you with a summary of these. If we would have gone into detail, the whole aim of this article could have been disturbed. You can get all the other details related to these motorsports events on the internet. You can read it from Wikipedia and after this, watch the Moto GP racing event on Jio Cinema on Sunday. Now let's talk about the main motive of this article and that is Moto GP Bharat.
How did Moto GP succeed despite Formula 1's failure?
Let's understand how the Moto GP event became successful despite the failure of the Formula 1 racing event. Similar to Formula 1, Moto GP is also getting organized by a private enterprise and Fair Street Sports is organizing this event. But unlike last time the central government of India and the state government of Uttar Pradesh have highly supported the organizers in organizing this event.
In an interview with the Hindustan Times, the COO of Fair Street Sports, Mr Pushkar Rajsrivastava said that Promoters have signed a deal for seven years with Moto GP and this is a huge fact. But he also said that he and his partner Got the inspiration to introduce Moto GP in India when Motorsports was announced as a sporting activity in the year 2019. Now unlike Formula 1, organizing this huge motorsports event does not require paying high amounts of tax. But Dorna is the commercial rights owner of Moto GP, It was not easy to convince Dorna to organize Moto GP in India because Dorna was not sure about the efforts of the Indian government as they knew what happened with Formula 1.
How Motor Sport was introduced in India?
But still, they entered India They met with the Cheif Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, and Union Minister, Anurag Thakur, and Dorna quickly realized that these people were highly passionate about organizing this motorsports event and this enthusiasm was not only visible in their conversation. However, we observed that all the approvals and compliance processes were very smoothly addressed by the government, and all the NOCs were issued on time.
Organizers did not have to visit multiple offices to get their processes done and recently Moto GP through their official X account thanked the CM of Uttar Pradesh and PM of India. For their help and last-minute visa approval for all the riders, the racing event could not have been organized without any riders. Here the government is mentioned many times because support from the government is highly crucial in organizing these events the government of many countries even funds racing events like Moto GP and Formula 1.
Advantages of Motorsport event in India
The Indian government also funds other sports but in a country like India where people have a low-capita income. It is not adequate to spend the money of the taxpayers on these types of events still the passion of the Indian government towards motorsports this time Is very positive whether it is including motorsports in the category of sports. Working dedicatedly to organize this event on time because tourism also increases by organizing these types of world-class motorsports events recently Shri Narendra Modi has also spoken about increasing tourism in India through sports as it is done in Qatar and not only tourism.
India is the capital of the world in terms of two-wheeler riders and that's why it is considered that India has more passionate fans of events like Moto GP instead of the European countries if you are also a big fan of these motorsports events. Do watch Moto GP on the Jio Cinema app.