Racer is to Tata Motors, what N Line is to Hyundai, a high-performance division – More Racer versions of Tata cars are expected in the future
Tata Motors recently had a mic drop moment when they launched the new Altroz Racer. Essentially, Altroz Racer offers the taste of a race-bred car for mainstream audience. Just how race-bred is it? That question was demonstrated by India’s first F1 driver, Narain Karthikeyan, at CoASTT High Performance Centre in Coimbatore. Read along to know more about it.
Altroz Racer Track Review – Drive and Handling
Challenging Hyundai i20 N Line, Altroz Racer aims to “Race Past The Routine” and offer an exhilarating performance to thrill-seeking Indian car buyers. In that journey, Tata Motors teamed up with Narain Karthikeyan, who gave valuable inputs to developing the car’s dynamics and overall handling, especially on a race track.
As part of the media drive event, Tata Motors arranged a thorough track session with Altroz Racer at CoASTT High Performance Centre, Coimbatore. Narain Karthikeyan demonstrated Altroz Racer’s capabilities first-hand. We could see how playful and fun the car can get in skilled hands and also experienced how much more capable it was than standard car.
Tata Altroz had a great baseline on which Racer has been built. However, to add that extra Racer sauce, Tata Motors has worked on the suspension in regard to damping, bump absorption and rebound to achieve sharper handling characteristics. When compared to most FWD hatchbacks in India, Altroz Racer promises to keep the body movement to the minimum.
In the pursuit of fun and handling, Tata Motors hasn’t compromised regular road-going characteristics. In Karthikeyan’s words, “Adaptation of Altroz Racer to the race track is unbelievable”. Demonstrating Racer’s neutral handling characteristics, Narain chucked the car into every single corner, even provoking it and kicking the tail out.
Altroz Racer tackles the race track with ease. The tuned steering mechanism on Racer needs very little input to carve high-speed corners. When driven properly, there was not a lot of tyre squeal too, but fatter and grippier tyres would have unlocked Altroz Racer’s true potential. Tata is offering a re-tuned hydraulic clutch which is light and quick to respond.
The best hot-hatch in India?
At the high-speed sections of CoASTT, Narain Karthikeyan managed to achieve around 140 km/h in the Altroz Racer, which was truly impressive. We managed to achieve similar speeds too. Shows just how friendly and easy-to-drive Altroz Racer is. Lap after lap, Altroz Racer went on to demonstrate its agility and capability to stay relatively flat on the track.
With i20 N Line as the benchmark, Narain mentioned that Altroz Racer surpassed the rivals in terms of performance and other metrics. Speaking of, Altroz Racer now gets the i-Turbo+ powertrain in the form of a 1.2L 3-cyl turbo petrol engine that is capable of kicking out 120 PS of peak power and 170 Nm of peak torque, mated to a sole 6-speed manual transmission. 0-100 km/h sprint is claimed to be 11.3 seconds.
Visual treats ln Altroz Racer like the side skirts, black bonnet, racing stripes, larger spoiler and other attributes along with throatier exhaust further ups the hot hatch quotient. With Altroz Racer, Tata Motors intends to nurture the hot hatch culture in India, something that JTP twins were less successive at.
At the price point, it is being offered, Altroz Racer is the most affordable hot hatchback in the country. Tata Motors is not actively promoting fast and reckless driving. But the appeal of mass-market hot hatch is strong with Altroz Racer and we should see more people foraying into this niche.
