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Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Fans went to Sholavaram, a former wartime airstrip about 25 kilometres north of Chennai, because it was the one place in the region where they could see imported racing cars and motorcycles, well-known drivers and close competition in person. Most people had no other way to see international motorsport. A 2017 Scroll.in feature reports an estimated crowd of 40,000 to 70,000 across the annual February meets, a figure based on retrospective recollections rather than an official count.
How big were the crowds?
The 70,000 figure is the upper end of a reported estimate, not a verified headcount. The table below lists the figures attached to the event and who gave them.
| Source | Figure | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Scroll.in feature, 14 July 2017 | 40,000 to 70,000 spectators | Range reported in the article from interviews with former spectators, racers and a motorsport journalist |
| Vicky Chandhok, racer (quoted in the same 2017 feature) | Roughly 40,000 to 50,000 | Personal recollection |
| Official attendance records | Not stated | The feature cites no ticket counts, gate records or event programme |
Entry numbers follow the same pattern. Chandhok estimated more than 800 entries across the car and motorcycle categories. That is a participant’s estimate, not a published entry list.
Why people made the trip
The feature points to five overlapping reasons. Together they explain why a dusty airstrip could draw crowds on the scale described.
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Machines that were rarely seen in India
The attraction was the cars themselves. The feature says imported Formula 2 and Formula 3 cars, along with turbocharged vehicles, were brought to the meets. Journalist Anand Philar, who covered domestic motorsport, explained the draw in these terms:
“So when the word spread that guys were bringing all imported cars including your Formula 3 and Formula 2 cars, you had some turbocharged vehicles, that’s one reason why you used to get such large numbers of people to the races.”
In a period when imported high-performance machinery was uncommon on Indian roads, seeing them run flat out was an event in itself.
Racing with no television substitute
The feature stresses that Formula One and MotoGP were not broadcast into people’s homes in this period. To watch fast racing live, a spectator had to go to the track. Sholavaram was that track, and the February weekends were the only dependable occasion each year.
Drivers who were personalities
The feature names Vicky Chandhok, Vijay Mallya, S. Karivardhan, Jim Crawford and Tiff Needell among the racing figures associated with the venue. It also mentions the Maharaj Kumar of Gondal, whose arrival and distinctive style became part of the stories told about the races. Spectators were watching people as much as machines.
A date fans lived for
Because the meets ran over the first two weekends of February, they became a fixed point in the year. Former young spectator Ranvir Ranjit recalled counting down to them. He said: “I would say Sholavaram had a magic to it.”
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A carnival crowd that was easy to reach
Access was not difficult for large numbers of people. The feature describes rudimentary bamboo stands, state government buses carrying fans, visitors travelling from other parts of India, and a black market for forged tickets. Those details come from the recollections in the article and are best read as colour rather than measured fact.
The setting and the racing
Sholavaram’s track was laid out on a disused Second World War airstrip. The feature gives its length as 3.5 kilometres and says drivers completed as many as 50 laps. The facilities were basic, which the crowd size makes more striking: the event worked as a mass gathering on minimal infrastructure, because the racing itself was the main attraction.
How the meets developed over time
- Wartime airstrip. The site was an old military airfield about 25 kilometres north of Chennai before it was used for racing.
- Two February weekends each year. The meets became an annual occasion, and the feature says the tradition ran until the late 1980s.
- 1990 move. Racing shifted to the purpose-built Madras Motor Race Track.
- Television expands. As broadcast access grew, fans could watch established international racing at home. The feature presents this as one reason travelling to local meets lost its appeal for some spectators.
The feature describes the meets across their years of operation, not one specific season. Its account therefore does not confirm that the crowds of tens of thousands happened in the early 1970s, as the question’s wording implies. The source is clearest about the late 1970s and 1980s as the period of the meets’ popularity, and even that is drawn from memory.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What changed in 1990
The move to Madras Motor Race Track professionalised the sport, but it also changed what racing meant to spectators. Chandhok put it this way:
“We definitely lost that mystique part, or the crowd-pulling part of the sport,”
He also accepted the trade-off:
“While people like me are hardcore historical guys, we also have to acknowledge the fact that the change was for the better ultimately. Yes, we lost live spectators. But we gained a lot in the sport,”
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The feature frames the change as a shift from informal, crowd-driven meets to structured racing with a purpose-built venue. The earlier Sholavaram model drew its strength from rarity: unusual cars, famous names and a single annual weekend that no television schedule could replace. Once those conditions changed, the crowds changed with them.
Why the answer holds up
The 40,000 to 70,000 range is best understood as a memory of a large, unusual gathering, not a ledger entry. What the 2017 account supports is the explanation for the draw: imported machines that were rarely seen, live racing with no broadcast alternative, drivers with reputations, a fixed annual date, and an easy, carnival-style trip to the track. Those factors, rather than any single headcount, are what make the crowds plausible.
Readers who want a precise attendance figure for a particular year will need an archive that the 2017 feature does not cite.
In the original 2017 article, Scroll.in names the source of each recollection. Readers looking for the feature itself should search Scroll.in for its July 2017 coverage of Sholavaram.
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