Kolis roped in to give local flavour to powerboat racing

The organisers of the P1 Power Boat Racing Indian Grand Prix, featuring 12 boats and scheduled at the Marine Drive promenade here from March 3-5, have roped in the original inhabitants of this metropolis, the kolis, to add some local flavour to the hi-tech event.
Eight koli hamlets, with five rowing boats in each team, are to take part in a separate race to find out the winners on the last day of the P1 event carrying USD 125,000 in prize money, it was announced at a media conference today.
"They wanted to field 16 teams, but we have told them let's start with eight for this year," said Vivek Singh of race organisers Procam International.

The P1 powerboats have been brought here from England's Southampton after stripping them of their UK branding and then rebranded for the three-day event.
The 28-foot boats, powered by a 250 HP engine, reach a maximum speed of 120 kmph on water, translating to 240 kmph on land, and the races will cover a distance of 5.2 kms.
Each team will consist of two boats, each raced by a driver and a navigator, and the cumulative total of the two boats will decide the placings.

In the six teams already announced, two Indian rally car drivers - last year's Dakar Rally participant C S Santosh (Booster Jets) and Gaurav Gill (Ultra Sharks) - are in fray.

The other four teams are HVR Racing, Lloyd Dolphins, MoneyonMobile Marlins and Team 6.
The teams will participate in time trials on March 3 to determine their start position for race 1 on March 4. The boat with the fastest qualifying lap on day one will start at pole position on day 2 followed by all subsequent boats in descending order.
Race 1 winners will earn 20 points while the second and third boats would get 17 and 15 points respectively. Each boat to finish subsequently would get one less point than the previous one.
The grid position will be reversed for race 2, with the boat that finished last in race 1 taking pole position.

Points earned by boats from race 1 and 2 will determine the start grid for the finale on March 5, it was announced.