VW Pre season Testing

Volkswagen Motorsport India conducts fitness camp, pre-season test for Vento Cup drivers

VW Pre-season Testing 2015_3

Volkswagen Motorsport India has announced a premium one-make touring car racing series called the Vento Cup 2015. The racing season will start from August 2015 and is a part of the 18th JK Tyre Racing Championship. For the drivers who will take part in the Vento Cup 2015, Volkswagen Motorsport India has arranged for a fitness camp and a pre-season test.

VW Fitness Camp 2015 (2)

The camp included various sessions on fitness drills and every driver got a dedicated session with the trainer on what would be the best fitness regime for him/her throughout the racing season. The racers also got a session with a nutritionist, who suggested the diet they need to follow, and the recommendations were based on the BMI results of the participants’ lifestyle. The participants of the Vento Cup 2015 had to endure two days of rigorous Fitness Camp in Bangalore and Olympic boxer Sumit Sangwan was present tp impart vital insights on the importance of fitness in an athlete’s career. Meanwhile, fitness trainer Deckline Leitao was at hand to specially train the racers for motorsport fitness and Leitao put them through a number of challenges over a period of two days.

VW Fitness Camp 2015 (1)

The racers would be accompanied by the fitness trainer on the Thursday of each race weekend and will see them do push-ups, plank, abs and other basic tests. The trainer would then compare the latest results to the last session to check progress and recommend new regimes, if deemed necessary. Debutant Chewang Lama, who hails from Sikkim, was handed the “fittest driver of the camp” award and Delhi-based Neha Dabas was given a special mention for her outstanding performance during the sessions.

VW Pre-season Testing 2015_1

After the completion of the fitness camp, the racers headed to Coimbatore for a pre-season test, where they will drive the Vento race car at the Kari Motor Speedway. The three-day programme saw the drivers being acquainted with basics of car racing such as getting into a race car, putting on the safety harness to racing lines and driving around a circuit in race environment. Rayomand Banajee, a driving coach and multi-national karting champion was present to impart theoretical as well as practical sessions to the participants, while race engineer Ranjit Penmetsa educated the drivers about the technical side of the race cars.

VW Pre-season Testing 2015_2

At the initial phases of testing, the racers were handed over the keys to the Polo race cars that come powered with a 1.6-litre MPI engine and get manual transmission. Once the racers got familiarised with driving lines, braking points and other aspects such as pit-lane entry/exits etc., they were transferred to the actual race machines that they would be racing in through the season – a Volkswagen Vento race car. This one gets a 1.4-litre TSI engine that makes 180 PS of power and 250 Nm of torque, and comes mated to a 6-Speed DSG gearbox. All the racers were provided with lessons on flag rules and race regulations. Mock sessions were conducted to ensure that everyone understood the various situations that can arise during a race, and if required, were well-aware of how to react to the situation.

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