An international drag racing event, known as Valley Run 2013, was held at the Aamby Valley air strip in Ambavne, Pune on 9th March and 10th March. It was held in conjunction with the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI). Interestingly, drag racing takes place when supercars, superbikes or modified cars and bikes race in pairs of the same category to set the best quarter mile timing. The event was opened to both professional drivers and novice, who was interested. It was an audio visual treat for both car and bike enthusiasts as a sparkling line up of Porches, BMWs, Audis, Bentleys, a Lamborghini and stock cars participated in the event. Many participants were part of such an event for the very first time with tremendous interest in having modified vehicles for suiting the specifications of race.
Ten time world Drag Race champion, Rickey Gadson was the main attraction of this event, who was doing runs on the ZZR1400 (Monster Energy) superbike. It was also the maiden run of the Y2K bike on a drag strip in India. Expressing excitement about coming to India for this event, Rickey had said, “I am definitely looking forward to making my maiden voyage over to Mumbai, India for The Valley Run 2013. India has a huge and thriving drag racing fan base. So I'm honored to be the first US Champion Drag Racer to come over and be a part of this event.” A Stunt group by the name RSA performed spectacular wheelies and stoppies, much to the excitement of the present crowd.
Bike categories ranged from 100 cc to 225 cc and 250 cc to 350 cc for two stroke ones, while the categories for Indian/Foreign diesel engine vehicles had capacities of more than 3000 cc. Among cars, there were classifications for Indian Pro-Stock, Zens of up to 1600 cc, Indian classes with forced induction, Indian cars with foreign engines and then for various Foreign cars.
Other categories for bikes were 4-stroke 100 cc to 225 cc (M3), 4-stroke 250 cc to 350 cc (M4). M5 was from 600 to 750 cc, while M6 and M7 were for 4-stroke 650 cc twin cylinder and from 751 cc to 1000 cc, respectively. There were classifications for Indian/Foreign Open bikes, up to 400 cc for Indian bikes and above 100 cc for foreign ones. Categories for Indian/Foreign cruise bikes were also provided, for each of the M classes. In the event, 1st prize was a Trophy + Rs. 15,000. 2nd prize was a trophy with Rs. 10,000, while the 3rd prize was a trophy with Rs. 5000. Same prizes were available in the Open Category (O1) as well.
For cars, there were categories from A1 to A5, which included Indian cars up to 1150 cc, Indian cars from 1151 cc to 1450 cc, Indian Cars from 1451 to 1650 cc, Indian Cars from 1651 to 2050 cc and Indian Cars above 2051 cc. In category B, the same classification was done for Pro-Stock vehicles. Categories for Indian cars with forced induction and with Foreign Engines were also present. Similar categories had been organised for foreign vehicles, except that the capacities were higher. Trophies and money for the different categories in Indian and foreign were also the same as those for bikes.
