The dreams of the entire Indian motor sporting fraternity to see Indians driving at the Formula 1 circuit is fastly turning to be a reality.

It was, initially Narain Karthikeyan from Coimbatore, followed by Parthiva Sureshwaren of Chennai who laid the foundation stone for this.

Now its time for Karun Chandhok.   Yes, Karun, just 17 years old, by winning the first round of the Formula Asia 2000 series, has turned the face of the entire world motor sporting fraternity towards India.
 

Karun Chandhok, the 'like father, like son' of none other than the racing and rallying champion Mr.Vicky Chandhok has racing in his blood.  Coming from a family, which is into motor sports, three generations (Grand father - Mr.B.I. Chandhok - former racer and founder of The Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India ; Mr.Vicky Chandhok - now the vice-president of the FMSCI),  has always been interested in motorsports since his childhood.

But, how it all started ?

I used to watch my father race, when I was 2 years old.  While all ther kids used to watch Mickey and Donald on TV, I was watching Formula 1 videos which I got from UK.  For my 6th birthday, my dad got me a go-kart from UK that basically kick started my career.

How was your parent's reaction to your interest in motor sports ?

Everybody knew that someday I would eventually start racing so it was'nt really surprising to my parents.  My mother has been watching my Dad race for the last 3 decades and so she knows that the sport is not as dangerous as people make it out to be.  So she's been very supportive.  My Dad, ofcouse, was behind me all the way as well.

Karun Chandhok's first event was in UK and his experience :

Yah ! my first race in Go-Karts was in the UK at the new Daytona Indoor Karting Centre.  I won there and that set the ball rolling.  My first event in cars wasn't really anything nerve wracking because I had been fastest in pre-racing testing.  So I wasn't particularly nervous.
 

After Karting for a while, Karun thought fit to enter the Indian National Racing Championship held at the Sriperumbudur race track at Chennai and as one would expect did exceedingly well.  Then entered the Indian Formula Car (FISSME) - Formula India Single Seater Maruti Engine.  How did this experience helped him ?

Says Karun "FISSME is very useful, because it teaches you the basics of how to handle a racing car.  The FISSME's are not the best handling cars, so you can get good car control by driving them".

From FISSME, it was straight to Phillipines for Formula Asia 2000 Series.  This series consists of 8 rounds with 15 races starting in Philipines, then 3 rounds at Johor Baru, Shah Alam and the Sepang F1 Circuit @ Malaysia, then to Thailand (Birla), Korea (Street circuit), China (Zuhai) and the grand finale at Macau.

About the Cars in Formula Asia 2000 ?

It has a 2 litre Ford engine producing 185 + bhp with a 5 speed Hewland gearbox.  We use 2 sets of slick tyres per weekend.  Down the back straight at Subic Bay, we were doing about 235-240 but we expect to do about 250 at some of the faster circuits. (He is rightly termed as "fast boy")

Sponsorship is the big hurdle for motor sporting aspirants.  How did Karun manage his ?

I was fortunate to be sponsored by JK Tyres and Kingfisher, who needs no introduction in the World.  They have been the key members for the success of the "Fastest Indian in the World" - Narain Karthikeyan.  JK also run a very successful rally team and have Hari Singh (Asia zone champion) and Karamjit Singh ( Asia Pacific Champion) as part of their team, Parthiva Sureshwaren is also part of the JK brigade and am really proud to be associated with such a team.

Karun's father Mr.Vicky Chandhok, runs a workshop as well as an investment company.  He also runs a race and a rally team.  It was Mr.Vicky Chandhok who started the MRF team (way back in the 80's) and the JK Tyre Team (in 90's), the only two full fledged rally teams in India.  How was his inspiration ?

Oh ! he has been really supportive and really helped me both on and off the circuit.  He's been very helpful especially when it comes to driving techniques and setting up of the car.
 

About your manager ?

Akbar Ebrahim, (Aku as he is more popularly known as) is one of the finest drivers the Country has produced.  He finished 2nd in the 1994 Formula Asia series and so has a great deal of experience in this side of the World. He has been really helpful and given me a lot of good advice all through last year and this last weekend as well.  It's a unique situation actually having him as a manager because when he did the same series back in 1994, he was driving with my Dad as his manager / driver coach !!

Karun has reached a level in motorsports.  Just like Narain, Parthiv, now young motor sports enthusiasts has another role model to follow. Karun's advice to them :

Eat, Sleep, dream, live - Motorsport - that's the only way you can make it.  My friends say that I am obsessed with the sport, in fact I would prefer to go to the gym to get fit rather than go for a movie.

Karun, your vision on future of Indian motor sports ?

No idea........honestly !!! - till this whole political problems get solved.

Your plans for the future ?

I am taking things one at a time.  I would ideally like to do the British F3 next year, but it all depends on this year's performance and sponsorship at the end of the day.

Before signing off, we wished him all the very best in his career and pray God that this piquant situation in Indian motor sports is solved amicably, so that we could see many more Narains', Parthivs' and Karuns' in the near future.