The Global Face of Indian Motorsports
With 3 Dakar Rally finishes and multi-discipline wins across Supercross, Motocross, Dirt Track, and Rally Raid, the charismatic CS Santosh emerged as the Flag-bearer of Indian Motorsports in the new millenium. A ‘Motorsport Man of the Year’, young Santosh achieved what many only dream of – he turned his childhood passion into a successful career and emerged as a Role Model for millions.
This year, will mark his rebirth as a phoenix. In 2021, Santosh suffered a high-speed crash at the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia that left him with brain trauma, vision issues, loss of motor skills, partial memory loss, and depression. Three years on, he’s not only ready to compete again, but is also immensely proud of his firm – BigRock Dirtpark.
“Motorcycle riding enables us to feel emotions that are true to our nature of being human. This is the most important and crucial point that we enable as an experience at BigRock Dirtpark. We create an environment that allows our customers to learn to overcome obstacles on ground or in the mind and that captures a sentiment that all our customers love,” he says.
Based in Bangalore, Santosh studied at St. Joseph’s Boys High School, and then attended college where he couldn’t secure enough attendance to get a hall ticket for the Final exams. As it happened, he had convinced his father to buy him a second-hand bike to go to college.. which he never did, after discovering the joy of riding!
One day soon thereafter, he happened to catch a round of the National Supercross Championship in Bangalore and saw that the man who won was greatly admired and respected by everyone. He was also featured in The Times of India talking about his upcoming races in the Asian Motocross Championship.
“At that moment, I felt like this was my calling. To earn the respect of the world and leave behind a story that’s worth telling!”
Driven by passion and fortitude, Santosh soon emerged as the Best Rider in India with an avid fan following. From Raid De Himalayas (2012) to innumerous Motocross and Supercross in India and abroad, he literally won them all. He was declared the Motorsport Man of the Year – 2015 and FMSCI’s Motorsport Man of the Year – 2016. He became the first Indian to finish 4th in one of the 2 Moto races in Iran, achieving the highest ever finish by an Indian rider on the international circuit.
However, with motorsports still in a nascent stage in the country, he couldn’t earn enough money to make a career out of it. He thus decided to compete at his last race – Raid de Himalaya, a cross country rally in India.
While there, he met for the first time a few white-collar gentlemen who endorsed their love for adventure on 2-wheels while holding regular jobs. During their conversations, they told Santosh about other rallies they wanted to participate in. He decided to enable them with the right mindset and techniques to do better and enjoy the experience.
This led him to his entrepreneurial venture – BigRock Dirtpark, a one-of-a-kind off-road training facility. Listing some salient features of BigRock, he shares:
● We have a state-of-the-art Hanger that has all the motorcycle brands in the adventure segment in India. We also have all the necessary tracks, obstacles, and a pyramid area where people get together in this experience.
● We are always curating, adding, and changing our tracks and courses for our annual members.
● We provide good, healthy, fresh food for all our customers.
● We host special race events including the Red Bull Ace of Dirt which is the hardest enduro race in India.
● We work with all manufacturers from domestic to international.
● This year, we put together a supercross team at the 1st ever IPL format bidding for international riders at the CEAT supercross racing league, and won!
“No man can achieve anything by himself. I am proud to say that I have Uday who went from being a customer to enabling BigRock as a Private Limited Company. It’s his ethics and principles that govern this organization and allow us to ask for more within ourselves as a company.”
Santosh’s vision for BigRock Dirtpark includes developing the culture of motorsports in India. He wants BigRock to become THE one-stop-shop for off-road riding. His venture isn’t just about competing with the big players in the industry. It’s about making adventure biking accessible and affordable for everyone so that anyone can aspire to thrilling adventures on two wheels. He runs a business looking for people who align with his work culture. His place is where manufacturers test their adventure bikes, and he provides a safe and productive environment for off-road racing.
Sharp and fearless, Santosh also serves as a Brand Ambassador for
Redbull, Royal Enfield, Sidvin Core Tech I(P) Ltd. and Scott.
He truly holds that ‘How I do one thing is how I do everything else in life’ – which is to be the best in all he does. Santosh may not have obtained ‘good grades’, but he has gained immense respect for being a leader in his industry. Summing up his adventures, he says, “We are ultimately the sum of what we achieve, not what we intend. I’m going to leave a legacy with BigRock Dirtpark… we have only just begun!”