A Friday Spent in the Right Way

TVS flew us down to the Madras International Circuit to attend the selection round for their Young Media Racer Programme. Read on to know how we got selected for it

- Charan Karthik

IT WAS FIVE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING and the alarm was ringing. I just could not get up because I had not got proper sleep the night before. Race day jitters? Not so much. I was just too excited to sleep and kept imagining scenarios. Anyway, an hour later, I went down for breakfast and, by 8.00 am, we were on the racetrack, drooling at TVS' race-spec Apache RTR 200 4 Vs.

Let me rewind a little and tell you what the TVS Young Media Racer Programme (YMRP) is. The initiative was started by the TVS Motor Company in 2017 and this year marks the eighth edition. The YMRP, as the very name suggests, is a programme wherein the country's youngest media personnel gear up and race against one another. This was the selection round and, as per TVS' briefing, this was the highest turnout they had witnessed so far. As many as 39 of us were going to be pitted against one another under the hot Chennai sun.

The day started with all of us assembling inside a classroom for a briefing by Pradeep H K, Brand Manager, Brand Experience, TVS Racing, who took us through TVS' history, how the TVS Racing Team was formed, and what the YMRP is. Later, he was joined by Harry Sylvester, our trainer, who told us about basic track riding etiquette along with the meaning of various flags. He also spoke about racing lines, acceleration, and the importance of gearing. Soon we were joined by Jagan Kumar, KY Ahamed, and a few other TVS Racing Team riders who assisted us on the track.