Category: Indians Abroad

By George Francis, Scorp News

Chennai, 3 August 2003: Karun Chandhok’ India’s fastest teenager’s created history on the 3^rd August 2003, when he won the seventh race in the Rockingham Motor Speedway, becoming the most successful Indian driver in the British Formula 3 ( Scholarship Class) Championship. This win makes him India’s most successful international formula 3 drivers ( in terms of career wins) and also takes him back to the top of the championship points standings. Karun’s exploits in the field of motor racing, can be compared to a ride in the elevator, as to the fastest Indian in the world, Narain Karthikeyan, who seems to have taken the staircase, He got into racing at the right age, made the right moves, won every championship, that he participated, and is now leading the British Formula 3 Championship. What’s it that made his teenager so successful in racing at a young age? Why was he not bothered to spend his time with girls and the like as other teenagers and ‘freak out’ at some college? Karun, who was on a high after five wins ( two at Silverstone, two at Oulton Park, and one at Rockingham) in the last eight starts, spoke to Scorp News in a telephonic interview about his interest in the sport and his exploits and what it that makes him different from the others in the same field.

Karun, son of the famous racer, rallyist, and tuner, and the current president of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India ( FMSCI), Mr.vicky Chandhok, and grandson of one of the founder members of the Madras Motor Sports Club, and the FMSCI, Mr. BI Chandhok has a racing line in his blood. His first Birthday cake was shaped like a car, and as he grew, his bed was car-shaped, and as his mother, Chitra puts it “Convalescing from a childhood illness, he converted his bedroom into a race track, and spent time ‘racing’ with the family doctor”. Born on 19^th January 1984, the 19-year-old Karun, never went to a formal racing school. Having finished his 12^th Standard at the Sishya School, in Chennai, the teenage dare-devil has put a full stop to studies and is all concentration on his racing career. In fact, it is interesting to note that he is a vegetarian in food habits.

“ I grew up on the racing track”, says Karun. Who has accompanied his father on all his racing, testing, and rallying jaunts. “ My goal was always to become a racing driver, and I was just waiting for the mandatory age, to get my Competition License”. But if anyone had seen him, when he was fifteen, they would have written off the 94 kilogram bulks of a Karun. With this bulk, he participated in a Karting event in the Daytona race way at Buckmore, Park, UK, in the year 2000. That was his first ever race. This was after he did a stint at the Bill Sisley Karting School there, He got back to India and drove in the All India Motor Race Meet (AIMRM) at Sriperumpudur. “With my bulk, I was faster than others in testing”, remembers Karun.

It is then that the grind started. Karun, who decided that it was time that he started racing, started a strenuous daily workout, Running, Swimming, and dieting, the 16 year old, was preparing for the assault in the JK Tyre National Road racing Championship, that would start later in the year. It was when he reduced 14 kilograms, to start the season, that  he sent a clear message ti his parents and the racing community that he meant ‘ serious business’.” I clipped another 12 kilograms by the end if the season and was feeling fit enough to race the rest of my life”, says Karun.” We were really surprised with what he did and hen decided come what may, we have to back this kid in the career”, says Vicky.

Not having attended any formal Racing course, Karun feels that “ none can teach racing to anyone. Its in the blood, and one can only fine-tune it. In fact I feel that the Racing Schools that are very famous in the UK cannot give the king of attention that our racing drivers require in India. Someone like Akbar Ebrahim ( the first ever Indian to race abroad), and his Advanced Driving Corporate Academy, ( ADCA), can give more personal attention and shape our talents in the early stages of our career”. In fact, Akbar was Karun’s Coach, in 2000 and 2001.

Starting his racing career, in the year 2000, Karun, won the JK Tyre National Road Racing Championship, 2000, in the Salon Cars, Nevertheless, he also drove the Formula Maruti Indian Single- seater car, and won both the race on debut. Karun had arrived, and the mtorsporting community started looking up to his younger, who was making waves. Having won the Indian Championship, the logical step was to move to the next level of Asian Motorsports, the Formula Asia series ( now the Formula BMW). The JK Industries who have  the commitment that they would send the National championship winners to the Formula Asia series, stood by Karun and the 17 year old entered the Formula Asia series in the year 2001.” This was a big jump that I wasn’t asking for. Slick tyres, wings, gearboxes that were different, and car set-up planning. I was thrilled”, says Karun,” The Formula Asia cars were great fun, after driving the Esteem and the formula Maruti. But the Championship itself was a lot easier than I expected. The competition was not fierce”..

Karun Chandhok, started making waves in the Formula Asia ( FA) series like Narain Karthikeyan. He went one step further and won 8 out of the 14 races, and erased Narin;s record of seven wins. Karun, was well on the way to racing stardom. He became the youngest Formula Asia Champion at 17.”I could not have done what I did in the FA series if not for some very important people who helped me on the way. My parents, Akbar Ebrahim my coach, Patrick Roberts my race Engineer, and the mechanics” ,says Karun. In fact, Patrick who is fondly called,’paddy’ has been there in the FA circuit right from the days of Akbar Ebrahim, to Narain, to parthiva Sureshwaran, to karun.”in this series, I learnt how to go about studying new tricks, how to make full use of tyres how to plan your race and how to pace yourselves, and most importantly, how to be a team player”.

While he was still on his way to the FA Champions title, Karun tested for Formula 3 with Carlin Motorsport., the leading F3 team. Driving a TMF Dallara 398 Mugen Honda, ( the same car that has a earlier been driven by Jenson Button, Narain Karthikeyan , and Takumo Sato among others), Karun drove the fastest lap at 51.9 seconds shattering the 52.7 seconds benchmarks, assigned to him by the Carlin Motorsport Race Engineer Antmony Hyiet.” The first day of testing was a real Baptism by fire as it was held in typical Welsh weather – cold, windy, and very wet. The initial few laps were difficult for me and I spun off on more than one occasion during the first few laps. From there on I got more and more comfortable with the car and conditions, and thanks to the team Narain and Rob Wilson ( the driver coach), we ended with lap times far better than we expected to achieve before the test. Thankfully, the next day was dry and Narain and and Boyo ( the race engineer) had told me that if I did  a 52.7 that would be a very good effort for a first day out. By lunchtime, we had managed a 52.4 and after a run in new tyres managed to do 51.9 at the end of the day. The team was happy with the progress made  through the day”,says Karun. Extremely impressed by the young Indian’s performance, Martin Stone, Team Carlin Motorsports’s co-owner said, I am delighted that our long standing (20 years) relationship with India is continuing and I will be taking personal interest in overseeing Karun’s F3 season”. Sanjay sharma, Head Motorsport, JK Industries said, “ it is really heartening to see the recognition Indian Motorsport talent is getting today. Its good to see Karun starting his F3 career with Carlin following in the footsteps of Narain”.

Now was the time of reckoning. Have got to where he wanted, Karun had to now decide the future course of action for the next season, 2002. there were two classes for the F3 Championship, namely, the Scholarship class and the Championship class.” The Scholarship Class is for cars which are one year old, and a good training ground for new drivers as they learn the car and the circuits for less money compared to doing their first year in the Championship Class”. With these choices in front of them, Boyo, Martin Stone, Akbar and Vicky started their discussions on the P.O.A. for the year 2002. “ we decided that we would go in for the scholarship Class that would cost us 2.3 Crores to run the full Championship. They were now faced with a problem, because Carlin Motorsport had decided not to run in the Scholarship Class.

Finally, they chose, Team T- Sport, and Carlin’ agreed to sell their present cars and give all the data and setups to Russel Eacott ( the owner of T-Sports), in 2002. with his mission accomplished for a berth in the F3 team, Karun returned to do the rest of the Formula Asia series.

Karun continued his FA exploits until he became the youngest winner of the Championship and the top Asian Rookie. At the end of the year at the famous Macau Grand Prix in the ‘Casino city’, there is an one-off racing weekend for F3 cars and the supporting races have the FA series, motorcycles, Salon cars and the lot. It is in this Macau GP that Narain qualified as the first Indian on pole in the 2000 GP in Formula 3, and ,missed a victory when he crashed while he was leading. However, he went on to win the Korea GP which has been running in the next weekend, from 1999 onwards. Karun was all prepared for the Macau GP of 2001.” According to Narain and Parthiv, it is undoubtedly the best circuit that they had driven on. Macau is probably the most prestigious race for any driver who isn’t in Formula1. It has a very long history and the circuit is still rated as one of the most demanding and challenging in the world. Over 7 kilometers in length, with over 20 corners, the circuit was a thrill. We got only an hour session to learn the circuit, before qualifying, and after that were still wondering which way the next corner would go”. Karun, who was a rookie at Macau, was not looking for any fancy results in the first three at the podium

Karun qualified 7^th at Macau, of  which he was “dissatisfied”. But when the actual race started,” I had the best start of the year. Starting 7^th, I managed to get into 4^th at the first corner, and squeezed into second position after the first lap of 7 odd kilometers. The person on third was nudging me from behind and knowing the circuit, I eased off and allowed him to pass quite tamely and held on to my third spot”. Karun Chandhok, became the first Indian to ever grace the podium at Macau.” This was the Best Race of the Year for me”, he said. Having accomplished the inevitable, as a rookie in Macau, Karun  returned home for a short break before resuming the F3 tests at the UK.

In February, 2002, Karun moved to the UK, on his F3 mission. Starting his test, the 18 year old saw stars. “ I had four accidents in my first ever test and realized that things are not the same in Asia and Europe. Weather conditions hardly change in Asia, whereas in the UK, the morning to afternoon climatic changes and the wind speed changes, has us on our toes all the time. The whole method of working is different- the technique, the weekend, and the testing. It is physically more demanding, and the cars are technically more advanced”. The first race of the weekend came up at Brands Hatch.

“ The whole weekend seems a blur to me even now”, says Karun, “I qualified on 5^th and 6^th for the two races and finished 6^th and 5^th. After being in the top three and winning races. I was disgusted. The whole chapter was disheartening. I realized that I underestimated the task at hand, and by the end of the third lap in a race wanted to be competitive. I was I on the back foot and was hardly enjoying myself. I understood that the learning curve is going to be much more harder than expected. The team decided that we start concentrating on miles covered, and the lap timings. This changed my attitude towards the whole thing. I started gaining confidence and worked on building up my performance”. Karun was racing in the one year old chasses which had the H pattern five speed gear box, as against the six speed sequencial gear box in the Championship Class cars.

“It was the Croft circuit that changed my attitude. It was a major turning point. I was quick in tested and qualifying on pole, I missed a gear shift and finished 6^th in the first race. I knew that the potential was there to finish on top. In Silverstone, next, I was genuinely fast,” says Karun in the 2002 championship, there were 13 racing weekends ( rounds) for the class, and each of  the weekends had two races each. Getting 3 second positions and 3 third positions and two DNF (did not finish), the young Indian finished 6th in the British Formula 3 Scholarship Class Championship, 2002. This is not exactly where I wanted to finish at the end of the championship but I learned a lot about the car and the set-up,” he quipped.

Once again it was that time of the year when decisions are made regarding the next season.” We looked at how Karun had performed, and knew that if he has  to make it he has to do it in the next year. We started working on how to give him the financial support that he needed, because what he got from his sponsors was not enough”, says Vicky with a smile, “ we decided that it is best that he drives one more year in the Scholarship Class”. Once more team T-Sports signed up with Karun and the new season is the make or break year for Karun in this class. Karun started working on his promos and Castrol Limited invited him for a meeting with Juan Pablo Montoya, his idol in Formula 1, at the Wiliams F1 team factory.

Karun Chandhok, the teenage racing sensation of India, decided that he put his best foot forward and went into the championship with all that he could muster to prove himself, this year. The Championship runs 12 two race rounds and eight of them have already been run. 7 wins, 3 second places, 2 third placings, one fourth place, and 3 did not finishes, has put Karun Chandhok on top of the Championship standings this year. In the early part of the British Formula 3 Championship 2003, Karun was leading in the Scholarship class early in the season, but the DNFs put him backward and he had to work his way up again to lead from the front. The championship offers 20,15,12,10,8,6,5,4,3,2,and 1 point to the top 11 finishers in each of the 24 races that from the Championship and an extra point to the driver who records the fastest lap in a meet. Karun leads the championship by 2 points now, with teammate steve kane behind him and Ernesto Viso 20 points behind, Karun spoke about his chances of winning the championship this year, “ There’s definitely a good chance for me. There are 8 race more and we are in the final one third of the Championship. There are 189 points up for grabs to go and so a lot can happen still. It’s going to be hard but I’m going to give it my best shot”. Commenting on the competition, Karun was realistic “ it’s going to be really hard for sure. All of us ( Steve, Ernesto, and myself) and are all capable of winning more races. Mental strength is going to play a big part in the races to come”.

What are his ambitions? “I really go only one year at a time and my interest is to so the British Formula 3 Championship class next year. Last year has already seen my father selling his garage in Karapakkam near Chennai to support my racing. The next year the budget is a whooping 3.8 crores and I hope more sponsors come by”. Karun now lives in a small town Brackley, about 10 minutes from Silverstone, and says that his team is family for him. He cycles, runs, swims, does light weights and floor exercises, in addition to Yoga. He also doubles up as an instructor at Silverstone.

Karun unlike Narain says, that he does not miss family and Indian food. “ I do not miss home. I miss a good dosa once in a while”, he says. Karun has Alain Prost and Montoya as his heroes in “ on track driving’ and Michael Schumacher, for handling the 400 odd people that form the Ferrari team in such a dominant style.’I admire him for that”, he says.

Karun ,who started with JK Industries, as a sponsor in 2000, now has Kingfisher, JK, Amaron Batteries, Ucal Mikuni, Rolon, AVT, and Parx to support him in his racing venture.” Last years we managed 86 lakhs out of the sponsorship and the rest of the 1.5 Crores was financed by selling the Karapakkam property. This year out of the 2.5 Crores budget, we have made up 1.13 Crores through our consortium of sponsors. We still need 1.27 Crores and we are knocking at all the doors possible”, says father Vicky Chandhok, who is not leaving any stone un-turned to get his son’s racing career going. “ I am happy with the consistency that he ha shown oin performance. His consistency in performance combined with speed and the mental make-up to attack and race has made me very happy. Gentlemen have no place on the track during a race. We expected him to do well and the podium finishes and prizes have re-confirmed it. He is performing not beyond or under our expectations. I hope as the years go on should become better and launch himself into the ultimate….Formula1”.

Karun’s ambitions is Formula1, but he dare not mention when he would did in a Formula 1 car. A perfectionist in his day to day lifestyle, and an expert on etiquettes, Karun Chandhok, is all concentration on his rest of the 2003 season in the F3 Scholarship class. “If he does well in the Championship standings at the year, he should be in the British Formula 3 Championship Class next year. This will mean a whooping 3.8 Crores and I really hope that I can fine the sponsors for that”, says Vicky. It is interesting to note that Karun handles his PR himself, amidst his busy and demanding life-style. “ The moment the race is over, as I start driving home, he is all set with his laptop and writing the story of the races that he just ran. Even if he has had the worst of the day of his life at the track, he finishes the story, sends it to the media the and then un-winds himself.  I am happy that he is an independent boy and does no depend on anyone for anything”, says Vicky.

Karun’s ambitions are clear. “ Narain needed more time to get his feet in this world because he was the pioneer in the Indian motor racing scene. I went to be faster and I hope to be there ( Formula 1) before I turn 20”, he says. “Further, I am the luckiest of the lot in India to come from a family of racers and am sure that this would take me to my goal”, he confirms. One thing is very clear, that with the likes of Narain, and Karun, the Formula I teams should be looking at India and the first Indian who would get into a Formula 1 team. For the record, Narain who has tested for two formula One Teams, is now running second in the World ( Formula Nissan) series championship standings.

In July 2003, Karun was invited by Bernie Ecclestone, the Bossman behind the Formula 1, to the start grid ( which is a very exclusive place in F1 races ) of the Formula 1 British Grand Prix, where Karun met many of his racing heroes and among others had a personal audience with the Royal Crown Prince of Bahrain ( the Next F1 destination), Sir Jackie Stewart, Damon Hill, Mark Webber, and many more people who mattered in the world of Formula 1. writing an emotional piece about this whole episode, Karun concluded,” with the support of Mr.Ecclestone, as well as of course my sponsors back in that very same paddock as a driver is a realistic possibility. Let’s wait and see…..!!” when asked a whether his connections and the recent developments in his Motorsporting career has brought him closer to his dream…Formula 1 …He modestly says, “who knows!! Time will tell….”

eom/georgefrancis/written in 2003, published 11 March 2010