Gladiator's Arena

- Agasti Kaulgi

You know it’s no normal day at the Buddha International Circuit when the recovery vehicles are massive trucks and not regular vans, and when the race vehicles run on diesel rather than high-octane petrol.

Lined up in the pits of this Formula 1 racetrack is a slew of humongous trucks. No ordinary trucks, mind you, but race-prepped ones. For the fourth season of the T1 Tata Prima truck racing, Tata has tweaked the trucks to make them more race track-friendly. The suspension has been stiffened and the 12.0-litre six-cylinder engine that used to churn out 370bhp in 2016, now pumps out 400 horses. With increase in power and better dynamics, not only are the exit speeds on corners faster but the top whack of these five-tonne behemoths has gone up from 115kph to 145kph.

This time around, the race weekend saw four races in three categories – Super, Champions and Pro. Apart from prepping the trucks, Tata auditioned more than 3,400 truck drivers to select just 10. And these selected drivers were trained over the last four months.