Racing in open wheeled, made to order, specialised cars is easily the purest of all motorsports, has been from the very beginning of the sport. In Calcutta, this was a popular discipline, till it was shut down by laws and regulations in 1982.

Formula India racers with Fiat Premier engines

 

Formula racer skids out of control, but no one was injured in the crash

Excitement 
The racing and the competition peaked in the 1970s – thanks to some noted rivalries that emerged across the nation due to several factors.
First, the authorities were a bit averse to providing venues for car racing. As we know, there are many air strips in West Bengal which can be used for racing. They provided a concrete racing surface, good infrastructure and adequate safety measures for fuel storage and firefighting.
Calcutta had two such strips, one in Behala and one inside the armed forces establishment in Barrackpore. Behala was used at first but the really classy venue was Barrackpore, which offered great racing options. The congested Behala locality lost out.
Barrackpore track was set in a gentle triangle with good corners and long straights for high speeds. This led to overenthusiastic drivers spinning off, or really high speed battles. Either way, it was great for spectators.

Formula 1 racers that competed at Barrackpore

 

Formula 1 racers that competed at Barrackpore

 

Formula 1 racers that competed at Barrackpore

Types of racers
The Federation controlling motorsports in the country had in a stroke of wisdom, brought in a Formula India category. It was introduced, for special racing vehicles using Indian components like engines and gearboxes. Many car outfits fielded these Formula racers. This encouraged original designs and innovation in a big way. Rear engined racers were unheard of in the country before this was introduced.
Sadly, innovation in design and suspension was let down by poor quality of Indian engines. At that time, if meant using either the 1500 cc Morris engine from the HM Ambassador, or the 1100 cc Fiat engine by Premier Auto, or the sub 1000 cc Triumph engine from the Standard Herald. All three were poor performers.
 Only the Fiat engine had some promise and was favoured by almost all tuners and builders. Though slow, it allowed a low cost entry into motor racing, and as engines were closely similar, provided some excitement in actual racing. 

The USA racers with V8 engines were strong competitors against the Formula racers from Europe

 

The USA racers with V8 engines were strong competitors against the Formula racers from Europe

Rivalry
Thirdly, there was great rivalry between three racing drivers to spice up life and racetracks. The first was Rajkumar Gondal, a businessman cum landowner from north India who imported racing cars from the USA to drive in India. The second, Vijay Mallaya, was a young ex-Calcutta businessman from Bangalore who imported a Formula 1 style racing car to take on the racers of USA origin. And finally, there was Sundaram Karivardhan, a racer from Chennai who raced different racers with great success. 

The USA racers with V8 engines were strong competitors against the Formula racers from Europe

 

Formula India racers with Standard Herald engines

Different types
As indicated, this was an open-wheeled racing but the programme usually lasted for a full day. It started off with two-wheelers, then unmodified India made cars, then Indian cars with modification to engines and safety features like roll cages. Then came the glamour of open-wheeled racing. The cars were rolled out of the paddocks in batches for the Formula India racers for qualifying events. Then, the fastest of the Indian racers were thrown in with the imported racers for a ‘free for all’ event. In the end, results were declared in absolute terms, and also according to category. 
This actually followed international practice for general events at that time. It allowed talented novices and younger drivers using slower cars to display their skills, and learn from talented senior drivers on the racetrack.

End notes 
The government for some reason cracked down on such racing. Despite availability of better Suzuki engines in Maruti cars, Indian built racers faded out because of the ban. The local government discouraged such events as well. The Barrackpore infrastructure was closed to motor racing. There was an attempt to revive it at the Kalaikunda Airforce base but that failed as well. Since then, open-wheeled racing has not been seen in the city or state. Sad.