Powerboat racing to make India debut at Marine Drive
Mirror Sports Bureau
The spectacle of powerboat racing is all set to take the city by storm with the launch of the Nexa P1 Powerboat, Indian Grand Prix of the Seas, scheduled to be held along the Marine Drive from March 3-5.
The one of its kind initiative, promoted by Procam International under the aegis of Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM) and P1 Global, will have seven teams (with two boats each) competing on a tailor-made 5.2 km course — something that is being done for the first time.
“We are privileged to partner with P1 Global, where we are seeding a global sport structure from Mumbai. Procam created a national movement in running, and now we are aiming to create a global movement on water,” said Anil Singh, Managing Director, Procam International.
The unique feature of this newly launched series is that all the teams would have to compete in completely identical P1 Panther boats specially designed to be able to race in just sixfeet water and can reach a maximum speed of 120km/hr on water.
“The boats in the competition are all stock boats and it will boil down to the skills of the pilot and navigators,” said James Durbin, Powerboat P1 CEO. “Though the India Grand Prix is a standalone event this year, we plan to have a full circuit of 12 events by 2021 with India hosting as many as five events.”
Organisers believe that the inaugural Grand Prix can kick-start a water racing revolution in a country that has a vast coastline and have arranged various events on the side-lines of the races to involve the spectators and introduce them to the potential of water sports in the country.
In a nutshell
♦ The race will see seven teams with two boats each competing over the weekend
♦ The races will be held on a specially-designed 5.2 km course. The first race on Saturday will be of 15 laps with two long laps and Sunday’s race will be over 20 laps with 3 long laps
♦ The organisers have roped in the world’s best pilots for the event with two from India
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