Race bikers at Chennai’s Napier Bridge
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

For motorheads, Chennai is the place to be this weekend.

The city will host the Red Bull Moto Jam, which is one of the biggest motorsport festivals in India, featuring daredevils doing wheelies and heart-stopping stunts on two-wheelers and four-wheelers.

Leading the line-up is Lebanese rally champion Abdo Feghali. His drift act on the BMW M4 is something to look forward to, as is Lithuania-based Arunas Gibieza’s (Aras) stunts on his Triumph Street triple stunt bike.

Showcasing their impressive fleet of vehicles, the Moto Jam team’s parade at Chennai’s Marina Beach on Thursday evening gave the city a glimpse of things to come. Passing through the city’s important landmarks, including Napier Bridge and the Lighthouse, the revving cars and bikes were quite a sight to behold. The highlights include S Karivardhan’s custom-built DAX Caterham and Vijay Mallya’s Janspeed custom-built Fiat, both restored by Vicky Chandok. Also wooing the gathering at the Marina with wheelies and speed were stunt riders Sebastian Westberg, Vivian Ganther and Thomas Wirnsberger on their freestyle motocross bikes.

Abdo Feghali
| Photo Credit:
S Shiva Raj

Riding the BMW M4 drift car and trying to strike a conversation with a Chennai auto-rickshaw driver was Lebanon-based drift athlete Abdo Feghali, who holds the Guinness World Record for the longest drift (11.8km). Drifting, a driving technique where a car is made to slide sideways through a corner, while maintaining control, will be among the special acts that Chennai will get to witness live. “I’m super excited. I’m happy to introduce drifting to new countries. While the weather might not be too ideal, the passion for motorsports in this part of the country is amazing,” says Abdo, who got into motorsport at a young age, watching his father, a racing driver, operate a car workshop under his house at Lebanon.

It is only fitting that all this motorsport action is happening in Chennai, widely regarded as the motorsport capital of India. The city hosted the country’s first night street F4 race last year, the Moto Jam presents exciting possibilities to further popularise motorsports. “I’ve seen a lot of social media videos of Tamil actor Ajith’s races, and am happy that there’s a lot of hype and interest for cars and bikes here,” says Abdo, adding, “While motorsports is expensive and needs to be done only after exercising safety precautions, it is heartening to see India hosting and showing interest in such events.”

The Red Bull Moto Jam 2025 will take place on April 12, 6.30pm, at Island Grounds, Chennai. Tickets available on bookmyshow