Dirt and fun

There are those skeptics who will say there is no “proper” automobile culture in Bangladesh, and that we are an insignificant blip on the map of countries where car culture exists. They might have been right 5 years ago, but now, we're at a place where we are breaking new ground every day in terms of automotive culture.

Motorsport in Bangladesh is almost non-existent here. Other than late night top speed runs and trips outside the city, the thirst for speed and control over an automobile has never really been quenched for car enthusiasts in the country. Now, though, Bangladesh Motorsports, an organization aimed at bringing legal, organized motorsport events in Bangladesh to the automobile enthusiasts in the country, have entered the scene with a bang.
On Saturday, 19th April, with sponsorship from Nitol-Tata, the first motorsport event ever held in the country took place. Set up on the PDW field beside the BICC venue, where a Nitol-Tata organized Dhaka Motor Show 2014 was taking place, the one day event was a rally cross event, with participants doing timed laps of the makeshift course. Best time in each class took the win.

The day started with Group D, which featured all the corporate entrants having a go at the track. One of the first few entrants, Md Ershadullah, set a blisteringly fast time of 88.550 seconds with Suzuki Swift Dzire. With a relatively flat and smooth dirt track and thus enjoying more traction than the other cars which did laps after it, the manual transmission and 1.3 liter  90 horsepower engine equipped Swift sedan held the record time for quite a while, till the more powerful cars made it onto the track.
Group C featured cars below and up to 1500 cc, and Bappy Rahman in his Toyota Allion NZT240 held the fastest time in this class, at 87.696 seconds. His time also benefitted from an early lap on a relatively flat dirt track, and he won the third place overall. More was expected from the supercharged, race ready Toyota Vitz RS, which was driven by Mohammed Tysir Khan, who managed a 91.409 seconds.
Group B featured modified cars above 1500 cc capacity, and everything from a Honda Civic EF with a K20A engine to a Toyota Mark II with a 1JZGTE Supra engine found their way onto the track. First place in Group B was held by HM Taufiq Anwar, driving an EP3 Honda Civic Type R (91.995 secs). Second place went to the aforementioned engine converted Honda Civic EF, driven by Dr. Sarwar Hossain Chowdhury to a time of 98.864 seconds. Despite the relatively slow time, the Civic EF proved to be a crowd pleaser, powersliding around every corner with a loud exhaust burble. Salman Ali Khan's famous golden Civic Ferio came in third with a time of 101.887 seconds.

Group A had the biggest, baddest machines out there. Our last feature car, Joy Alam's 500 whp + Subaru Impreza STI, set one of the fastest laps of the first round, crossing the line after 87.586 seconds, which was the second fastest lap overall. Sourav Mahmud with his Lancer Evo VIII managed a time of 89.570 seconds.  Interesting fact: the rally-bred machines set times which were slightly faster than a seemingly bone stock Allion.

HM Tauhid Anwar Avik, founding member of R3V and director of Car House Limited, brought his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X to the track and secured fastest lap in Group A as well as overall, with a time of 87.455 seconds.
Overall, the event was quite successful, considering Bangladesh has seen very little in terms of actual organized motorsport events. We can only hope these will turn into regular events so that the automotive enthusiasts can get their fill of speed and horsepower in regular doses.

Official Results & Winners of the 1st ever

Nitol-Tata Rallycross Championship 2014

Position                          Team / Driver Name                            Best Time

** The above results are officially timed results and final, calculated on the Best time of the 3 runs