Madras International Circuit

The Madras International Circuit lies at Irungattukottai near Chennai. It is owned and operated by the Madras Motor Sports Club; built in the late 1980s and inaugurated in 1990, it is India's first permanent racing circuit, and it has carried its current name since July 2022. The main layout measures 3.717 kilometres with 12 turns and three straights, the longest of them 250 metres; the club layout comes to 2.067 kilometres with 7 turns. Both are 11 metres wide on average and 12 metres at the start line, and both run clockwise. The surface was resurfaced in 2018. The circuit is FIA and FIM certified and has held an FIA Grade 2 licence since 2014; motorcycles of all categories and cars up to Formula 3 specification are permitted. On access the club states that passes are issued only to people over 18, that minors are admitted only with a parent or guardian, and that registering does not guarantee a pass - it depends on availability. Twelve turns over that distance, with straights you only sit on briefly, produce a rhythm of almost continuous turn-in. The bike has to settle quickly and precisely on the line you picked, or you drift wide corner after corner and lose the exit. When it will not hold a tight line, top of our cause list is too little rear ride height: it makes the steering lazy - raise the rear or drop the front to sharpen turn-in.