The 2014 Valley run: A report

Amir Tarik Gore, driving the Nissan GT-R, clocked the fastest time of 10.508s in the J unrestricted class. The H4 class (foreign cars from 4001cc street stock) was won by Kaviraj Bhadari with a time of 12.27s in an Audi R8. In the H3 class (foreign cars from 3001cc to 4000cc), Neeraj Sharma took first place with a time of 14.544s in a Porsche Boxster. The top honour in the H2 class (foreign cars from 2001 to 3000cc) went to Naazir Kazi with a time of 14.211 clocked in a BMW Z4. 

Among the bikes was an electric motor-powered street prototype from Tork Motorcycles, which conducted a demo run - with a 40bhp DC motor, it completed the run in 17.31 seconds. In the M8 class (motorcycles from 751 to 1000cc 4-stroke), Abhishek R set a time of 10.389s to claim first place. In second place was Rizwan Khan, who clocked a time of 10.53s on a Yamaha R1. Mohammad Riyaz, riding a Suzuki GSXR 750, completed the run in 11.442s and secured first place in the M7 class (600 to 750cc 4-stroke). The M2 category (motorcycles from 251 to 360cc 2-stroke) saw A Anthony come out tops with a time of 12.843 on the Yamaha RD 350. Iqbal Shaikh completed the quarter-mile in a scant 13.115s astride a Yamaha RX135 to finish first in the M1 class (100 to 250cc 3-stroke).

But it was 11-time world drag race champion Rickey Gadson who really got the crowds cheering hard. Many couldn’t control their excitement and jumped over the barricade to get closer to his demo runs. On the first couple of runs, he rode a NOS-equipped ZX14R. Owing to the dust on the airstrip, the tyres had difficulty in laying down power cleanly. Gadson then switched over to a ZX14R tuned by

Mumbai based 7^th Gear Customs. He completed the run in a time of 9.843s with a reaction time of 0.068s and an exit speed of 233kph! And that now is the fastest drag racing time on Indian soil. Republic Day couldn't get more exciting than this.