Aces of Speed: Suzuki Hayabusa, Nissan GT-R set fastest times

For years now, The Valley Run has been the crowning glory of the Indian drag racing scene. But organisers have now taken it a step further by introducing the Elite Cup, which will see three high-profile drag racing events across the country.

The first of this was Aces of Speed, held at Taneja Aerospace in Hosur on February 17-19. Round 2 will be the Hyderabad Speed Fest, followed by the final round, which will be this year’s The Valley Run.

• Nissan GT-R (Imran Majid) fastest car of the event – 9.496secs
• Suzuki Hayabusa (Faheem Zahran) fastest bike – 9.298secs
• Shwetha Chithrode fastest female rider – 10.447secs

2023 Aces of Speed: fastest cars and bikes

The inaugural edition of Aces of Speed saw a total of 546 participants across 73 classes. A tuned Nissan GT-R, driven by Imran Majid, was the fastest car of the event, with a quarter mile time of 9.496secs. The fastest overall time of 9.298secs was set by Faheem Zahran aboard a Suzuki Hayabusa.

The titles for fastest Indian car and bike were determined based on whether the vehicles were CKD (completely knocked down vehicles) or CBU (completely built-up vehicles). Darshan Saasalu, driving a BMW M340i, set a time of 10.909secs to pick up the title of ‘Fastest Indian Car of the Event’. The ‘Fastest Indian Bike of the Event’ title, meanwhile, went to Shahrukh Khan and his Kawasaki Ninja 400 with a time of 11.749secs.

There was plenty of female representation too. Sarah Khan, riding a KTM 390, was the fastest Indian female rider with a time of 12.538secs. Shwetha Chithrode set a time of 10.447secs on her Suzuki Hayabusa to win the accolade of fastest foreign female rider.

Action wasn’t just limited to the drag strip as JK Tyre Motorsport put on a show run with a bunch of Maruti Suzuki Balenos, while the Monster Energy Zone hosted two-wheeler drifting segments by Sanam Sekon.

“We wanted to give the community a series, and Elite Cup is our next big step to take the sport to greater heights,” said Rongom Mukerji, director of Elite Octane. “Coming back to Bangalore after 2017 was special and with Aces of Speed, we have truly stuck to our tagline of ‘Faster than the Fastest’ by smashing all records. We are eagerly looking forward to Round 2 in Hyderabad, and also have some special announcements to give back to the community who have helped make this the premier festival of speed platform in India.”

Aces of Speed – Round 1 of the Elite Cup - was Powered by AMG-Driving Performance Bangalore, Petronas Sprinta India as the official Lubricant Partner, JK Tyre as the official Traction Partner, Monster Energy as the Energy Partner, and SafeTree as insurance partner.

2023 Aces of Speed results