Rockstar Racing

In a homely rustic workshop opposite Svedam, Luca and Ami are diligently working on a sleek-looking racing motorbike. This one is a Yamaha model, and they are getting it ready for the Madras Race Track near Chennai, where Ami regularly competes against two dozen other racers. Their dialogue is minimal as the growing heat of mid-day rises, but they are used to it; both have been living in Auroville since they were 9 and 8 years old respectively. Their love for bikes and racing has not only formed a great friendship between them, but has also materialised into a full-scale workshop where Luca customises motorbikes. This is the place where Rockstar Racing was born.

Being his classmate, I know that Luca never enjoyed school as much as doodling bikes. To the dismay of our teachers, the pages of his notebooks were filled with them on a daily basis. When he built his first go-kart at the age of 14, his first solo ongoing project, he visited bike shops in Chennai to purchase a Suzuki engine for it. A little before his 18th birthday he received his first motorbike, and he has been obsessively taking bikes apart and putting them back together ever since. To finance his passion, he regularly makes trips to Switzerland to work for a few months.

So far, he has constructed around 20 custom bikes, both for himself and others. He admits that although the future plan is to turn it into a business, at the moment it’s more a passion. The two young Aurovilians believe that there is a huge growth market for custom bikes in India. Ten years ago, custom bikes were a rare sight. Today, you’ll often see one. “In Delhi there are at least 5 custom shops that I know of, and maybe 20 around the country,” says Luca.

Ami’s love for bikes also began when he was very little. He remembers that his mom showed him a bike shop in Spain, where he found a small white mini bike that he admired for hours. Ami’s brother Edgar (Eddy) who was then working in Rève with Boris, Chris and Velu, told him that if he came to Auroville he would see to it that Ami got to ride a bike for real. In fact, he even promised to make him one of his own. Ami admits that this offer greatly sparked his curiosity and enthusiasm for Auroville.

In their early teens, Ami and Luca often spent their free time at Mani’s workshop on the ECR, watching him work on bikes. Eventually, they got him to put a 100cc engine in Ami’s Explorer. At that point, Ami’s love story with bikes truly began. Talking about their first customised bikes, they say: “No mechanic wanted to touch those bikes, often exclaiming ‘alteration bike, alteration bike!’”. According to Ami and Luca, mechanics get confused if they do not work on ordinary bikes.

Besides fixing and customising bikes, Luca is also involved in giving mechanics classes to the younger kids of Auroville schools. He mentions that he missed this apprenticeship opportunity while he was in school, so now is happy to contribute in that way. While Luca has also tried racing, what he loves is the technical and mechanical aspect of building and customising bikes. Ami says: “I also like the technical part of it, but I love to race them, that’s my passion. If I build them, it’s to drive them.”

The Beginning

After having seen the article ‘How to Become a Racer’ in Bike Magazine, (the only good bike magazine in India according to them), Ami got his racing license in Chennai at 18. After a medical check he was entered into his appropriate category. From then on, he has been regularly seen at the Madras Race Track near Chennai, one of three race tracks in the country. Ami and Luca have been to all three tracks, one of them being the F1 track, which is as large as Auroville. Ami’s favourite track is the one near Chennai. “It opened in 1990, but it was resurfaced in 2007. New tar, bigger exits, and to have one so close to us.... We’re very lucky.”

Every year there is racing on five weekends. That’s 4 days of racing including practice, official practice, qualifying, and the main race. He adds: “The bike has to be got ready, tested and improved each time. Each round has different groups, such as TVS, Yamaha, or Suzuki. Between rounds, bike mechanics such as Luca and Eddy have the time to get the bike ready, make new pieces, and do all the necessary adjustments.”

Ami started racing 2 years ago, and has raced two seasons: “I met a few racers such three time national champion Emmanuel Jebaraj, who inspires me and gives me useful tips after each race.” Luca intervenes loudly: “When it comes to building the bikes they’re not as helpful! They all have their secrets that they don’t want to share, and deliberately try to confuse me!”

Talking about their race history, Luca mentions: “The first bike Ami raced was a Yamaha R15 that we made into a racing bike. We joined the Honda One-Make, which is part of the Indian National Championship calendar, with a CBR 250R in the expert class, in 2014. There, all the racers have to ride a semi-stock bike. So, we are provided with the Honda motorbike and we can then change a few things such as the ‘mapping’ (these bikes are fuel-injected and have an in-build computer (ECU) that tells the engine what to do) and the suspension can be adjusted for the rider.” With that bike, they achieved the fastest lap time during qualification in the expert class against professional racers such as a MotoGP calendar racer, a national champion, and race academy instructors.” Despite a problem during the race when one of the mechanical pieces of the front suspension broke, Ami made it to the podium in third place with that bike,” Luca says, proud of his friend.

“For the past month, I have been building our own race bike from scratch! It will be a group C bike for the Indian Nationals in the expert class, which means it’s relatively modified and we are quite free to customise it.” The Federal Motor Sports Association of India has a rule book that is followed in order to keep the costs down, as well as for safety reasons. For example, teams cannot use imported parts. “We chose a Yamaha R15. They sponsor us in stock bike parts. They are motivated by the fact that the current winning bike in the National Championship is their rival Honda.” The bike has been tested already in the last round of expert races in 2015. Although they had no expectations, they finished with four other bikes behind them. Ami adds: “Next season, we will fight for a podium finish.”

The race

I ask Ami about what goes on in his mind when he races. He answers: “I try to eliminate any weird thoughts from my head, I meditate and relax, and think of nothing else except what is happening.” He continues: “Before the race, we even dance! Luca hits me on the helmet, and we sing weird songs to release any stress I have. During the race, I have no exterior thoughts. The machine dances under me, and at every corner I think of the next braking. Each little detail of the track is a reference point.” Ami explains to me that practice makes you learn the track by heart. The success of a race lies 50% in the bike and 50% in the rider. The key is how much courage and confidence the rider has as both rider and bike are pushed to their utmost limits. In Chennai, bike and rider reach a top speed of 170 km/hour. The role of the tuner (i.e. Luca) is to make sure that the bike responds exactly to the cues of the rider. Each rider has a different style, some like to break harder, lean more, give more gas, or like more suspension. Ami explains: “I’m also heavier than most racers, and I’m quite aggressive on the track, so Luca makes sure that my bike is perfect for me. Even one second difference is hugely important, a race is won and lost by tens of seconds.”

Ami and Luca explain to me that because there is no exposure for sponsors – there is no live television coverage on the races, they are on a tight budget. They are grateful for the three sponsors that they do have: Yamaha provides them with spare parts, Auroville-based INDI Surfboards is making the Rockstar Racing team the first custom carbon fibre bike body, and Race Dynamics, a company in Bangalore, provides them with tunable ECUs.

Ami and Luca are no doubt materialising their dreams, and have found a perfect fusion between their skills and their passion. Their thoughts for the future? To provide the next generation with eco-friendly competitive electric bikes, and enter an ebike race with a bike 100% made in Auroville.