NEW DELHI: You see the first signs well before you reach your destination. A fading signboard along the luxuriously-wide Yamuna Expressway that once directed fans arriving for Indian Grand Prix to their section of the track, with a worn-out Formula One logo as its centrepiece. As you get closer to the track, more such relics from the past keep intruding into the present without warning.
It may have been a full five years since the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel burned rubber on what the racing fraternity described as one of the most beautiful tracks in the entire series. But the ghost of F1 still haunts Buddh International Circuit (BIC). Last week, the race track was briefly back in public consciousness thanks to world champion Hamilton’s comments that it was difficult for him to drive in the Indian GP with so much poverty around. Backlash from Indian fans inevitably followed, and Hamilton was quick to issue a clarification.
“They spent hundreds of millions on that track that is now never used. That money could have been spent on homes for those in need. When we did have the race, nobody came because it was too expensive most likely or no interest,” he tweeted.
At first glance, Hamilton appears right about the white elephant in the middle of Greater Noida. It is unlikely that another F1 race will ever be held there. That’s thanks to what teams and officials describe as India’s “unfavourable tax regulations” and the financial trouble that Jaypee Group — which owns the track — finds itself in. There are even reports of the group possibly losing control of the track, with more than one creditor filing charges against them. Rajiv Murishwar does not want to go into detail about these issues. The only response the man who heads BIC now is to shrug his shoulders. “Look around you,” he says, as cars at JK Tyre National Racing Championship fly past him. “It’s business as usual for us.”
He does have a response to Hamilton’s “track that is now never used” jibe. “I would say that BIC is used 200-plus days a year.”
Post its tryst with F1, BIC has transformed more into a stage for ad shoots and commercial events, rather than a race track. Of course, races are still held here; the finale of JK Tyre National Racing Championship is an example. But when the race wraps up on Sunday, BIC will ready itself on Monday for a commercial event for Porsche, featuring Narain Karthikeyan.
“That was always the strategy, even though the circuit was designed for F1,” Murishwar says. “We always knew that was going to be for one week per year. We knew we had to keep the track occupied during other days to keep it afloat, given the enormous maintenance challenge.”
Now BIC opens its doors to corporates who can book it for a day for around `12 lakh. “They’ll get access to the track, two pit garages and the paddock. If they need more, they can pay extra. For individuals, we do open-track days almost every month. We invite any bike under 500cc, race cars and super cars to use the track. That is very affordable and ranges between `4,000 to `12,000.
But can all this cover the financial impact of not hosting a high-profile international racing series? “I don’t want to use the word ‘profit’ because maintenance costs are high,” Murishwar says. “But we definitely break even.”
vishnu@newindianexpress.com