Tata Motors has a strong following in the global commercial vehicles market. To showcase its core competence in truck manufacturing, Tata has been competing in the Prima Truck Racing Championship. This writer was fortunate to have witnessed this behemoth when Tata Motors PH brought in a racing version of its popular Prima truck in racing trim.

Dubbed as the most powerful truck in India, the 1000-bhp Ti Prima race truck successfully competed in the fourth season of the Prima Truck Racing Championship last year. The 1,000-bhp race truck makes over double the power in comparison to the T1 race trucks that competed in the championship in 2017 and is an example for the automaker to showcase the capabilities of its world truck – the Prima series. Tata said its 1,000-bhp T1 Prima race truck is similar to the race trucks that compete under the FIA in the United Kingdom and Europe.

The engine of the 1,000-bhp T1 race truck was developed in collaboration with the US-based Cummins. The Prima T1 race truck is based on a 12-liter ISGe Cummins engine that has been mounted in the center of the chassis for equal weight distribution, enhanced fuel delivery and airflow. The diesel motor has been tuned to produce 1,000 bhp at 2,600 rpm and 3,500 Nm of torque between 1,600 and 2,200 rpm. Power is managed by a 16-speed transmission sourced from ZF of Germany, which helps make it the fastest race truck developed by Tata Motors. With all that power, the race truck accelerates from 0-160 kph in 10 seconds. Several performance parts on the engine have been made of special materials that are meant to withstand high temperature and pressure. Tata said the new T1 race truck will be the most powerful truck built in India by far.

Tata Motors Executive Director for Commercial Vehicles Ravindra Pisharody said: “After having hosted three successive T1 seasons, we at Tata Motors are happy to announce this next big innovation in the form of the 1,000-bhp T1 Prima race truck. Built with specifications similar to that of trucks that race globally, the vehicle was developed in a record time 12 months – a demonstration of teamwork, speed and capability.

“With this track based machine, Tata is truly ahead of the contemporary and we are future ready. And through T1, we’ve proved time and again to showcase a distinctive partnership between sporting and technological excellence for the Tata Motors brand,” the company said.