The Red Bull Moto Jam came across as the best example of Red Bull knowing how to put on a show, having the folk in Chennai on their feet
Words: Gaurav Davare
Photography: Ali Bharmal
If there is one way to create awareness about something as niche as motor sport, Red Bull certainly knows how to do it with a number of cool show runs across the world. Even in India, we’ve been treated to something as large-scale as the Red Bull Show Run in Mumbai back in 2023. But there’s a lot more diversity to motor sport than having a screaming V8 Formula 1 racer zip its way through the streets of Bandra. There are always ways to up the ante and here’s where Red Bull Moto Jam, held at the Island Grounds in Chennai, enters the picture.
Just as how idli and sambar go well together, high-octane motoring and jamming to exhilarating beats is a match made in heaven and that’s what the Red Bull Moto Jam is all about. Before we get to all the juicy bits, we were taught the art of going sideways at the Royal Enfield Drift Clinic astride the Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450. You may read all about it in this very issue on page 62. Main event apart, the paddock had some nice gems of Indian motor sport as well as some drift simulators.
Now to the main event where the Red Bull athletes greeted the packed crowd in a fashionably local way, onboard a rickshaw and dressed in traditional Chennai attire. The opening act had some mega stunts by none other than Aras Gibieža on his custom Triumph Street Triple. For those who don’t know, he’s been a part of many Red Bull events in recent years and holds the record for the longest no-handed wheelie (580 metres). There was every stunt you could possibly imagine, which also included some lucky members of the audience getting as close as humanly possible to Gibieža’s stunt skills.
All this may look easily doable to the naked eye, but a lot of skill and experience go into it. In our chat with Aras Gibieža, especially on the topic of pulling wheelies, he said, ‘There are a lot of things happening at the same time. You have to clutch it up. You have to brake. You have to throttle. Then you have to control the balance and all these things combining together. I think it’s quite a hard task, but, for me, it’s natural because I’m doing it every day.’ Also, to push the boundaries, he watches a lot of other sport to find inspiration and pulling this off can take trials that could go up to a year or two. Another important aspect is to have the right tools and Gibieža’s custom Triumph Street Triple has many modifications to make those stunts possible such as a stunt tank, bigger brakes, larger sprocket, rear foot-plate, and a crash cage.
After the opening act, there were a bunch of stunts by Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450s that literally set the tarmac on fire and doused it too. We also saw some incredible flying FMX bike stunts, courtesy of Sebastian Westberg, Vivian Ganther, and Thomas Wirnsberger. Wrapping things up was a tandem combination of drifts and stunts by cars and motorcycles, all wrapped up in a euphoric blaze to glory to conclude the final act.
Overall, the Red Bull Moto Jam was a great night of showcasing the thrill of action-packed motor sport with some jamming beats as a cherry on top of the incredible environment. One can only imagine how much further the bar can be raised next time and we’re eagerly looking forward to it, even though we’re yet to recover from the hangover of what’s already happened.
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