Speed records in sight as revamped Buddh International Circuit all set to host Moto GP Bharat

Chennai's Buddh Int'l Circuit homologated for MotoGP race; modifications made to corners, air fences & foam barriers added for FIM compliance. Track resurfaced, kerbs changed, turns 5 & 6 made one corner; 1006m straight expected to hit top speed of 370kph.

With just ten days to go for the inaugural MotoGP Bharat, a significant landmark was achieved with the Buddh International Circuit situated in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, homologated for motorcycle racing.

The circuit hosted three Formula One races from 2011 to 2013 and will welcome the premier motorcycling championship next weekend from September 22 to 24 as the 13th round of the 2023 MotoGP Championship.

Though the track was built to accommodate cars and bikes, modifications were needed at some corners apart from adding air fences and foam barriers to make it FIM compliant, which is required to hold a MotoGP race.

On Tuesday, the first images of the track after the face-lift showed some changes, like extending the gravel traps outside turn one to slow the bikes if they go off.

During a recent chat with The Hindu, Pushkar Nath Srivastava, the chief operating officer of the race promoter Fairstreet Sports, gave an insight into the work done at the circuit to get it ready for the race.

“It was important to get FIA and FIM to agree on common ground around what can be done to make it suitable for cars and bikes. So, for example, at turn 1, we reduced the asphalt run-off and made the gravel trap bigger to reduce the speed when a rider goes off the track for better rider safety. We have done the same on the right-hand side of Turn 2 by replacing the grass with a huge amount of gravel,” he said.

“We have also increased gravel on the exit of turns 3, 4 and 5 to make it safer for bikes. The inner loop is also ready for bikes in turns 9 and 10. Turn 12, the penultimate corner, had the barriers pretty close to the track and has been moved back quite a bit to make it safer for the bikes on hard acceleration at the exit towards the final turn. All the turns have been changed in some way to make this circuit safer for motorcycle racing. Rider safety is the priority, and there is no compromise,“ Srivastava explained.