Elite Octane organized India’s first International Drag Run at Aamby Valley last weekend on the 9th and 10th March, 2013 called the Valley Run. It took place at the Aamby Valley air strip. More than 200 participants took part in the drag races in various categories for both bikes and cars. Many high end supercars and superbikes raced at the event leaving the crowd enthralled. The attraction of the event was the iconic Y2K bike which was on display and did a run on the track as well.
The special guest at the event was Rickey Gadson who is a ten time world drag race champion from the USA. He did a special run with amazing burnouts and wheelies on a Kawasaki ZZR1400 and really got the spectators on their feet who cheered the celebrity on for more. The first day of the event covered the first rounds for motorcycles and stock cars. The categories ranged from basic stock 150cc bikes to bigger 650cc bikes and stock lower displacement cars to mid-size stock cars.
The second day, the 10th of March, was when all the action happened. The runs for the bigger sports and superbikes took place, which were dominated by Suzuki Hayabusas, Yamaha R1s and BMW S1000RRs. A couple of Ducati Diavels too made their appearance. The bikes did really amazing times and were a treat to watch as they raced off the line popping wheelies and reaching incredible speeds. Of course the amazing screaming exhaust notes were quite a pleaser too. There was even a modified Royal Enfield Machismo 500, which covered the quarter mile in a respectable time.
Then came the turn of modified cars which included the most favourite Indian tuners cars, the Maruti Suzuki Zen, Maruti Suzuki Esteem, Maruti Suzuki Baleno and the favourite first generation Honda City. The car modifications ranged from stock looking basic ones to full fledged race spec modifications like turbo chargers, loud exhausts and special suspension and stripped out body and interior. These cars were very fast and some of them put bigger Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar sedans to shame. There were also a few tuned Mitsubishi Lancers and Lancer Evolutions.
As the sun climed overhead, came the special runs of the high end luxury and supercars. The crowds jumped to the side barriers as a Lamborghini Gallardo lined up at the track and revved in anger. Then came an onslaught of Porsche 911’s and Porsche Cayenne’s followed by a Mercedes C63 AMG, BMW M5 (V10) and Audi RS5. After giving the crowds some mind blowing viewing and aural pleasure, a Rolls-Royce Phantom and couple of Bentley Continental Flying Spur’s lined up. It was a sight to behold as these limos drove past at incredible speeds with almost a haunting silence!
The performance cars raced against each other and were joined by a Toyota Supra, Porsche Boxter, BMW Z4, Nissan GT-R, Audi R8 V10 cabriolet and Mercedes SLK which zipped past smoking tyres and howling awesome exhaust notes. Noted celebrity in the automotive world, Mr. Gautam Singhania too made an appearance and raced the R8 V10 cabrio.
A special mention has to be made about a special team from Chennai, The Mars team, who had brought a fully custom car. It was based on an old Peugeot 309 and the full chassis was modified to make it a rear-engined rear-drive car with a massive rear wheel and low slung front. The engine was a 2.4-litre turbo-charged Honda motor. This drag racer was mind bogglingly fast and smoked quite a few performance and sports cars.
The run of the special turbine engined Y2K bike was the most anticipated event for the spectators. So when it lined up there was a loud roar from the crowd expecting to see one of the most rare and powerful bikes scream past with a loud jet engine whine. The run was jinxed though and the bike failed to gather speed. The bike stopped in the middle of the track with smoke pouring out of the exhaust. With some adjustments, the Y2K ran the whole length of the track at walking speed and a muffled jet whine and then was packed to be transported back.
The event overall was a huge success and the participants were pleased with the high quality of management and so was the crowd with the amount of rare powerful cars, amazing bikes, superb tuned and modified everyday machines and the drag racing they got to witness. But the star of the show, the Y2K run, was a bit of a dud and there was otherwise a some lack of entertainment value for spectators. A few stunts or special appearances could have taken the event to another level. Thankfully there were no mishaps and the whole event went through smoothly.
Valley Run Winners –
Bikes –
1) Indian Bikes 100 to 225 CC 2 Stroke – Iqbal N Shaikh – Yamaha RX-135
2) Indian Bikes 250 to 350 CC 2 Stroke – A Antony – Yamaha RD-350
3) Indian Bikes 100 to 225 CC 4 Stroke – Purshottam L Jukenti – Bajaj Pulsar 220
4) Indian Bikes 250 to 350 CC 4 Stroke – Mirza Jahanjir Baig – Bajaj Comet 250
5) Foreign Bikes from 600 to 750 CC – Zubair A Jung – Honda 600cc
6) Foreign Bikes from 650cc Twin cylinder 4 stroke – Varad More – Hyosung GT650R
7) Foreign Bikes from 751 to 1000cc – Amit Sharma – Honda CBR1000RR
8) Foreign Open Bikes above 1000cc – Sundeep Singh Sokhi – BMW S1000RR
9) Indian Open Bikes upto 400cc – A Antony – Yamaha RD 350
10) Foreign Cruiser Bikes – Vivek Soni – Ducati Diavel
11) Indian Cruiser Bikes upto 500cc – Manan Patel – Royal Enfield Machismo 500
12) Wheelie /Stunt Show – Neeraj Kumar Sharma – BMW S1000RR
Cars –
1) Indian Car Street Stock upto 1150 CC – Vineet Mirpuri – Maruti Zen
2) Indian Car Street Stock 1151 to 1450 CC – Manan Patel – Maruti Esteem
3) Indian Car Street Stock 1451 to 1650CC – Mustafa Bhiwandiwala – Honda City iVTec
4) Indian Car Street Stock 1651 to 2050CC – Fahad Kutti – Toyota Corolla
5) Indian Car Street Stock above 2051CC – Sagar C Dangat – Honda Accord Vtec
6) Indian Car Prostock upto 1150 CC – Satish P Deo – Maruti Zen
7) Indian Cars Pro Stock 1151 to 1450 CC – Fahad Kutti – Maruti Esteem
8) Indian Car Prostock 1451 to 1650 CC – B Bala Vijay – Honda City Vtec 1.5
9) Indian Cars Prostock from 1651 to 2050 CC – Fahad Kutti – Maruti Baleno
10) Indian Car Prostock above 2051 CC – Nagesh S Naik – Honda City
11) Zen upto 1400 CC – Rajeev D Balan – Maruti Zen
12) Zen upto 1600 CC – Jervis D’souza – Maruti Zen
13) Indian Cars FIN from 1101 to 1400 CC – Winston B Brito – Maruti Swift Petrol
14) Indian Cars FIN from 1401 to 1600 CC – Madhusudhan Reddy – Honda City 1.5 V-Tec
15) Indian Cars FIN from 1601 to 2000 CC – Francisco Ivo R D’costa – Skoda Laura vRS
16) Indian Cars FIN above 2001 CC – Arjun Parikshat – Peugeot 309
17) Indian Car with Foreign Engine – Jitendra Suri – Honda City 1.3Dx
18) Indian Open – Rajsekhar – Peugeot 309
19) Foreign Car Street Stock upto 2000 CC – Sujeet S Pardeshi – Toyota Ceres
20) Foreign Cars Streetstock from 2001 to 3000 CC – Ashutosh Punekar – Honda Accord
21) Foreign Car Pro Stock above 4001 CC – Rishabh Shah – AUDI RS5
22) Foreign Car Pro Stock upto 2000 CC – Amish A Shah – Honda Civic
23) Foreign Car Pro Stock from 2001 to 3000 CC – Prathamesh Y Guram – Toyota Supra
24) Foreign Car Pro Stock from 3001 to 4000 CC – Dr Amjad Khan – NISSAN GTR
25) Foreign Car Pro Stock above 4001 CC – Amish A Shah – Porche 911 Turbo
26) Unrestricted – Amish A Shah – Porche 911 Turbo
27) Diesel Open upto 1800 CC – Bhavik N Shah – Hyundai Getz
28) Diesel Open 1801 to 2500 CC – Abhineet V Aggarwal – Mercedes Benz C250
29) Diesel Open 2501 to 3000 CC – Indra C Azaredo – Jaguar XF
30) Diesel Open Above 3001 CC – Dr Amjad Khan – AUDI Q7
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNBLAF7o9lI& 540 375]
