A different age of Indian motoracing: TVS Racing introduces an Apache Junior Programme

For over 40 years, TVS Racing has been at the forefront of pushing limits in the arena of two-wheeled motorsports, be it India’s very first stint at the Dakar Rally or with homegrown, factory racing platforms like the TVS One Make Championship (OMC) RR 310 Expert Category – Advanced Racing Development and TVS Racing International Championship which invites racing participation from around the globe. The brand has also been supporting the sport at the grassroots level with the TVS OMC Rookie Category giving riders in the age group of 15 years and above a taste of competitive circuit racing. This time around, TVS Racing fortifies the notion of nurturing racing talent at an even earlier stage – a junior motoracing programme for kids between the ages of 10 to 14 years, who will ride the purposefully developed RR200 MiniGP bikes. More on the bike later.

Objectives and purview of the junior racing programme

Circuit racing aside, road and riding safety has been one of the core pillars of both TVS Motor Company and TVS Racing. This initiative also plays an instrumental role in instilling not only fundamentals of racing on a track, but also imparting the importance of disciplined riding on public roads – focusing on control and safety, including the necessity of appropriate riding gear. This programme will utilise premier go-kart tracks across India like MIKA to build a foundation of racing in the kids of ages 10 to 14 years, in-keeping with the international standards of training and safety. In lieu of the same, the prospective participants will first be acquainted with the sport on simulators. TVS Racing has created an encompassing ecosystem which surpasses the confines of the race track.

KidZania – is a proposed cluster of outlets which will bring an indoors racing experience at the malls not only in tier 1, but also in tier 2 and 3 cities in India. TVS Racing has also partnered up with Gameloft’s Asphalt 8: Airborne mobile game to bring the kids closer to the Thrill of Riding in a fun, safe and forgivable manner.

Vicky Chandhok, Motorsport Veteran and Vice President, Madras Motor Sports Club also reflected on the significance of this pioneering step in promoting motorsports in India, “It’s great to have a confined atmosphere or a facility. The good thing from our side is that we’re not restricted to just running it here at MIKA. We’ve got a whole avenue, a menu card of the short loop, the long loop. We’ve got everything that’s needed to take the kids from 10 to be MotoGP riders. So that’s what MMSC looks out for, we are a not-for-profit body, Vimal (Sumbly, Head of Premium Business, TVS Motor Company), that’s why he keeps writing cheques to us even without us asking. All the money goes back into developing infrastructure.”

TVS Apache RR200 MiniGP: The miniaturised racing machine

Built on a modified RTR 2004V platform for better catering to the physique of young riders

Bodywork and chassis

This pocket rocket wears a lightweight aerodynamic body with CNC billet machined aluminium triple clamps, a proto aluminium tank with fibre cover for mass centralisation. Being a track-only machine, it does away with the usual road-focused gear like an instrument cluster, headlights, taillights and mudguards in the interest of weight savings.

The RR200 MiniGP is built on a modified RTR 2004V platform, significantly reworked to make the bike handleable for riders of 10 to 14 years of age. In the interest of downsizing the dimensions, it gets a shorter RTR 2004V swingarm, a lowered seat height of 690mm, with a 1180mm wheelbase. It’s raked at 23.5 degrees and has a trail of 64mm. The bike weighs 90kg.

The suspension is made of a 35mm inverted fork at the front with rebound, compression and preload adjustability. The rear shock is also fully adjustable. This setup lends the bike a wheel travel of 100mm at the front and 90mm at the rear. Braking duties are carried out by a 220mm front disc and a 180mm rear disc. It rolls on 12-inch wheels and is shod in Eurogrip BEE race compound tyres.

Engine

It cradles a 197.75cc, RTR 2004V engine which produces a peak output of 22.6bhp at 9500rpm and 20.1Nm of torque at 6500rpm. This setup is capable of 110kmph of top speed. It is also equipped with a race-spec free flow exhaust system which sounds bonkers!

As iterated before, this programme will first focus on the training and development of young talent in the targeted age bracket (10 to 14 years) and competitive racing for this category is reserved for the future.