Chennai: It’s been a long and bumpy drive for Narain Karthikeyan. From embarking on a trailblazing journey to the UK for the Pilote Elf Formula Renault series in 1992 to till date, Narain has competed in 13 different championships across the world.
Formula One, Nascar, LeMans and World Series, the Coimbatore man has seen it all. Barring F1 where the machine takes precedence over man, he has tasted success in every series.
Ahead of his 24th season as a professional racer, Narain, who will be competing in Japan’s fastest single-seater racing — Super Formula — spoke about his career and the current scene in Indian motorsport.
Excerpts:
It’s been such a long journey in a sport where money plays an important role… Motorsport is addictive. I’m just glad that I’m probably one of the very few people in Asia to make a career out of motorsport. It had something to do with a stroke of luck as well; when I did well in junior single-seaters Tata came on board to back me.
It’s been a long partnership with them and I also do other things such as helping them develop their road cars. I want to be in single-seaters for two more seasons, till the end of 2016. I feel my fitness level is good; perhaps I’m in the best shape of my life. I raced in Japan’s Super Formula last year and I am doing it again.
There are a lot of ups and downs in your career. What's your biggest regret?:
Crashing out of the Macau Grand Prix (Formula 3 class) in 2000 after starting on pole and leading the race by almost seven seconds. I was the fastest driver all weekend. Had I won I would have probably got an F1 contract straightaway, instead of waiting five more years. I was young and had too much fire in the belly. I didn’t know when to back off. I will never forget the crash.
What has motorsport taught you in life?:
It’s a cut-throat environment. It makes you strong, mentally. There are more downs than ups. And, I have become a very good businessman because of motorsport. I owe
everything in my life to it.
Does the motorsport scene in India looks rosy?:
For any youngster to say ‘I want to be a professional race car driver’ is a brave decision. In the current scenario, it’s extremely difficult. The sport is very political. There are a lot of factions with people trying to stab each other from behind. It’s not a clean environment to thrive for a young driver.
Unless he is funded well and manages to stay out of all this, it’s not easy to make it big. Nowadays, young boys who are supported well are spending up to one-and-a-half crore per season on karting. Let’s not fool ourselves. It’s impossible for a small-town boy coming to motorsport and pursuing it as a career. Indian motorsport can’t produce a Dhoni.
What’s the way forward?:
Motorsport in India is still insignificant for the manufacturers to pump in money. We thought F1’s entry would change a lot of things. It had lot of hype, but died down completely. And, I don’t think it’s going to come back ever. Even if the miracle happens, it’s not going to make any impact at grassroots level.
Also, young drivers have to take part of the blame for not working hard. They are not marketing themselves. Out of all young drivers, I think one or two have got the will to succeed. Drivers have to be more dynamic, go out and knock on the doors of the corporate world.
The sponsors won’t come to you. I see few of them doing that. Aditya Patel made a great decision to switch to sports cars when he realised that it was impossible for him to make a career in single-seaters. Saloon cars and sports cars have a lot of potential in India now. There are manufacturers such as Volkswagen backing drivers in tin-tops.
Has any youngster impressed you off late?
Arjun Maini (Bengaluru) and Jehan Daruvala (Mumbai) are doing well in single-seaters. They have a nice attitude and most importantly they have good backing. They surely have the talent to be professional racers. Formula 1, however, is still a long way to go for them. There are only 18 seats in F1 now. It’s getting more and more difficult.
