February 03, 2014: The Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) today confirmed that Mr. J Prithviraj will serve as the new President while Mr. Tutu Dhawan will be the Vice-President. The FMSCI also announced the formation of the new Governing Council for 2014-15 which will see the introduction of two new members. With Indian motorsport on the rise the change of guard promises a new direction that will focus on taking the sport to a higher level.
Ace rallyist Farooq Ahmed from Chickmagalur will be the four wheelers rally commission Chairman he will take charge from the out going Chairman Ashwin Pandit from Nashik who was instrumental in bringing the APRC round to India this year.
Sanjeev Rajan from Coimbatore will take charge as the Chairman for Go-Karting
Praneet Perumal who had been the Chairman for two wheeler rally Comission earlier will take charge of the post for 2014-15.
The Ace racers Pair of the famous brothers Raju Rajendran which had dominated the two wheeler racing for over a decade and took up Kart manufacturing trade, one of the brother RajKumar shall head the Two wheeler racing commission he shall take the charge from the outgoing Chairman Amit Arora also from Chennai.
Akbar Ibrahim well know for promoting young Karters since a decade and half shall now be the Racing Comission Chairman.
FMSCI President J Prithviraj has been a part of the rallying scene for over two decades, both as a participant and organizer. Prithviraj has been a councillor since 2007 and the Vice President of FMSCI for two years, being Chairman and a member of various FMSCI sub committees. Prithviraj was humbled to be elected President and commented, "I am honoured to be elected FMSCI President by my fellow councillors. Firstly I would like to thank the outgoing President and team for all their efforts over the years. As part of the last council our biggest achievement was bringing Formula One to India. Now our role will be to ensure we maximize the benefits of that to build national motorsport events across the country. The newly elected council is extremely excited of the task that lies ahead and I am confident that this is the perfect team to take the sport The newly-elected Council will focus on the following few areas for the year ahead. The first area of focus will be the fact that policies and procedures will take precedence and not just the people involved. Secondly the council will select the best man for the job to ensure that seamless running of the sport comes first. The third objective will be to ensure total access to all information with regard to all aspects of the Federation. The FMSCI will also continue to partner with the auto and auto ancillary manufacturers to increase their involvement in the sport.
The FMSCI announced that they will launch an interactive website which will aim at making all event details easily accessible. From entry forms to regulations to schedules to officials to penalties everything will be made available on the website for everyone to see. Most importantly the online platforms will be interactive and open to queries and suggestions. There will also be an effort to ramp up marketing activities to ensure there is more reach and visibility for events. Prithviraj commented, "We will look at coming under the ambit of Rights to Information act. The sport has been built to this level with the help of the media and we are looking forward to their continued support as we march on. All these factors will help us in offering better support and returns to our promoters, sponsors and partners." The FMSCI will also continue to make sure motorsports reaches all ends of the country from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Kutch to Kohima. The North-East has already proved a popular motorsport venue with one of our promoters holding rallies there under the aegis of the FMSCI.
The FMSCI will continue to give more importance to the region. Prithviraj also announced the forming of a advisory body which will work with auto manufacturers, partners and government. He commented, "The dedicated committee will be entrusted with the task of working closely with auto manufacturers and government officials. Motorsport is the perfect platform for auto majors to showcase their products and get maximum visibility out of it. We are very happy by the government's decision to modify the trade policy to facilitate easy import of cars and motorcycles for racing events. We still feel there is a lot of work to be done" Two new member clubs made their entry into the council joining the three founding members.
The eight members of the council are: 1. Coimbatore Auto Sports Club 2. Karnataka Motor Sports Club 3. Madras Motor Sports Club 4. Performance Cars Racing Trust 5. Meco Motorsports Pvt. Ltd. 6. Spitfire Motor Sports Pvt. Ltd. 7. Motorsports Club of Chikmagalur 8. Himalayan Motorsports Association.