(Continued from last fortnight)

Motor racing in India was synonymous with Sholavaram and should have been continued there. Unfortunately, the Club got caught up with Government bureaucracy. The Sholavaram land belonged to the Military Estate Officer (MEO) and the track to the Indian Air Force. The IAF was convinced that with just a one-mile straight track and no scope to extend the length, it would be happy to give the track to the Club on a lease, but the MEO wouldn’t agree.

The track was in a bad state of disrepair and the villagers were encroaching on the land and breaking up the runway, as there were no funds even for a watchman. Even then, the track would not be given to the Club. With an expense of just Rs. 5 million, the Club was ready to connect the ends of the three ‘U’ turns and build a track with a one-way traffic against the two-way track which the Club was using and considered unsafe as the cars became faster. But with the surface breaking up, the Club had no choice but to make alternative arrangements.

A search committee set up by the Club decided to buy 300 acres of land and KVS, J.N. Patel, Lt. Col. Chowdhary, A.J. Bhatia and B.I. Chandhok started the search, finally locating the present site. Since this was agricultural land, the Club got special permission to buy the land from 100-odd farmers. Indian Bank sanctioned a loan of one million rupees for the purchase of the land and all credit to Col. Chowdhary and JNP for registering the land quickly.

S.N. Patel and Gopal Madhavan did a layout for the new track and it was found that the Club could manage with just 200 acres. The balance 100 acres were sold to the members and from the profits made here and at Sholavaram, the Club cleared the loan quickly.

While plans of estimates for the new track were being drawn up, the seniors and founders of the Club thought it necessary that a Trust be formed to hold the Club properties. M.A. Chidamabaram and K.V. Srinivasan got Govind Swaminathan and S.S. Sivaprakasa to draft the trust deed whereby the land of the Club was given to the Trust on a 99-year lease.

K.V. Srinivasan and B.I. Chandhok were authorised to sign the trust deed as founder-trustees for life – the strength was to be a minimum of three to a maximum of eleven members, i.e. two founder-trustees, three other life trustees, and six others. The first co-opted life-term trustees, apart from KVS and B.I. Chandok, were three lifetime trustees, S. Muthukrishnan, V. Chidambaram and K.D. Madan, and M.A Chidambaram, A. Sivasailam, L.L. Narayan, Vinoo Mammen, Vijay Mallya and Venu Srinivasan made up the total of eleven trustees.

With McDowell and MRF chipping in with Rs. 5 and Rs. 4 million respectively and all others with Rs. 1.5-2 million towards advertisements at the track, the work on the new track started. Gherzi Eastern were appointed architectural consultants, and L&T were awarded the construction tender. Gopal Madhavan was requested to supervise the design and construction, which he did in consultation with FIA and FIM, to ensure conformity with International Rules. The old trustees have since been replaced by the next generation of younger ones and MMSC can now look forward to further development of the track and racing.

* * *

My experiences during my racing day got me thinking about the need for a body that would ensure fair play on the track and discussions with like-minded persons and laid the foundation of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI).

K.V. Srinivasan was the first Chairman of FMSCI and Ajaypath Singhania the President. Suresh Kumar of Calcutta, L.G. Ramamoorthy of Coimbatore, A.D. Jayaram of Bangalore and I were the other signatories to the creation of the Federation. From the word ‘go’ we decided to have FMSCI set up a separate independent judiciary system. A national appeals tribunal was created with Govind Swaminathan as its head and S.S. Sivaprakasa as the secretary. Though the tribunal was created by the FMSCI, it would act impartially and independently. A panel of eminent jurists and lawyers agreed to serve on it. Prominent among them were Nariman in the north, Krishnamoorthy, Alagariswamy and Habibullah Basha and V.P. Raman in the south, and similarly top lawyers in Bombay, Calcutta and Bangalore. It is a pity that the independent body was sidelined by later Presidents of the FMSCI and councillors became members of the tribunal. The first court of appeal for a competitor is the panel of stewards appointed by the FMSCI. The next court of appeal is the tribunal and often the appeal is against the decision of the stewards who represent FMSCI. Thus, the defendant, i.e. FMSCI, now also became the judge and this resulted in a loss of credibility in the FMSCI.

After the formation of the FMSCI, P. Ghyara, Suresh Patel and Nazir Hoosein helped to write the first national competition rules, carefully whetted by A.C. Muthanna and Chinnu Sivaprakasa.

The post of the President of the FMSCI was initially rotated among North, South, East and West, but this was changed to have a strong working President. The FMSCI got the recognition of the Government of India to conduct and control motor sports throughout the country. It is also the body recognised by FIM to control the 2-wheeler sport in India. When I was racing, I was also involved in the administration of the Club for a few years and then helped by serving as the Chairman of the races committee for 15 years. I was fortunate to get V. Chidambaram to take over from me. I then served as his Vice Chairman for three years. He picked S. Muthukrishnan to succeed him and then served as his Vice Chairman. We even got L. Ganesh to serve as Chairman for a few years, but his work prevented him from taking on responsibilities, though he was ready to help at all times. Thus, there has been no ego problem in MMSC and no one has refused to handle any task allotted.

When I see third generation family members of the Club conduct events, it fills my heart with pride because the transition has been smooth and peaceful.

(Concluded)