Category: Women in Motorsport (WIM) India

Deeksha Srivastava is an off-roader from Pune. The 27-year techie, is born in a middle class family in Allahabad, UP. Daughter of a government employee and a home-maker, the bubbly youngster convinced both her reluctant parents, as she took up riding, considered as a male domain, back home, in those early days. But the Software Engineer at Nagarro is a self-made motorsports athlete taking part in the FMSCI Nationals for the first time and did prove her to parents that she is better than many boys and slowly they started supporting her. It is indeed an achievement winning the Ladies Class in the Indian National Rally Sprint Championship which concluded in Goa on December 5 as it is her first experience in an FMSCI event.

The rally rider is a bike lover who owns KTM Duke 250 and acquired a Hero Impulse for her motorsports exploits. “I used to go for off road trails and some basic off-road level training at a company called Pro Dirt Adventure. I utilised all the resources they provided to max and trained myself hard for the rally. From basic body positioning to fast trails and other minor riding techniques, I used practice everything. For around three months, I trained myself before the rally apart from keeping myself physically fit,” said the rider who qualified from the West Zone in Belgaum, Karnataka for the Sprint Finals held in Goa from Dec 3 to 5.

Excerpts from an interview:

As a child what were you interested in? Did you parents support your interest in bikes?

I always had a thing for bikes when I was a kid. My friends used to call me a Nerd and Tom Boy. My parents didn’t like , that I am developing interest towards the things that boys do , like playing cricket, riding bike, going out to places. But later on as they saw, I proved my capabilities, have started paying my own bills and taking responsibilities as an elder daughter, they let me persue whatever I wish for.

When did you first start riding?

I was placed in a multi-national company in Pune in 2017 through college placement. That’s when I came to a metro city and saw the city-lights and its culture. While commuting to and fro on my work, I would often see some girls riding bikes. I also developed an urge to buy my own bike and a year later I bought a KTM Duke 250 in 2019. I used to go off road trails on duke with 70/30 tyres installed.

Later, I bought a Hero Impulse when I started following rally life on social media and wanted to pursue it. I prepared for the rally for about three months. I also learnt the techniques, and would then go on technical and enduro trails to understand the judgement.

Where did you qualify for the grand finals?

The Sprint Nationals 2021 is my debut and my first official rally as an FMSCI registered rider. I qualified from the West Zone which was held in Belgaum on 30-31st October. I bagged the podium at first place in Round 7 and 8. And again winning the championship in INRSC 2021 finals is a huge turn over for me. The feeling can’t be explained in words. I was immensely pleased and felt very much overwhelmed.

How did you feel going into the first day of the finals?

The day before the final two rounds, it started raining in Goa on Friday night. We were staying at Morjim around 15kms from the race location, Arambole. I was concerned about it and was wondering if there will more slush forcing me to be slower or what if I had a crash or a fall… I will lose time, these were some of the thoughts I was pre-occupied with. But I prepared myself mentally for the worst scenario, and buckled up for next day with confidence.

How was the terrain and the recce?

We reached the location in the morning and saw it was a little slushy and slippery. It was all red soil and so the rear tyres were slipping out. We needed to have ultimate control on the bike. We geared up around 11:30 for the Recce so that we can have a better idea of the track, the hurdles, sharp corners and the likes. I was making calculation in mind to visualise everything and to attain the fastest time.

Saturday, the big day, how did it go?

At around 2pm, I went for my lap, riding around 100 meters there was a tight right turn and it was deep dry slush where I took the bike smoothly and at a lesser speed. Throughout the race, my objective was to complete the race without having a fall or a crash. At many corners where it was slushy, I slowed down and lost some time on some of those corners. The track also had four MX (Motocross-type) jump bumps. As I did not have any experience on the MX jumps, I decided to go smooth over those bumps, and took a calculated risk losing some time. And in the end I felt good as things turned out and I was happy with my pace and my run. First day in the first of the two final rounds, I completed the lap in 16 minutes 00:771seconds and topped the Ladies category.

And the final run for championship?

Next day on Sunday, it was a sunny day. But we had to report early at around 8:30 am at the parc farme. The track was worse than the day before due to the mist and fog which made the red soil slippery. The rear tyre was washing out this time around. And it happened on the way to reach parc farme, too. The rally started at around 9 and I went for my lap at 9.29 am. I kept calculating in my mind as I started the race and knew that I needed to be fast in the corners and make some time. I tried to be on pace at every corner and did cut down my time, relatively to Saturday’s run. I also had a few jumps in between as there were two back-to-back table-top jumps midway on the track. And as I was proceeding there was a left tight turn, where my rear tyre slipped and I fell to the ground. Within a second I realised, it’s my only chance to have a go at the championship and hurriedly got up in less than 10 seconds, started the bike and shot ahead. I am glad that I completed the lap in 14:41:812 and stood third among the ladies. The two final round times were aggregated to decide the championship. I also had more points as I got overall 40 points, 25 for first on Saturday and 15 for third on Sunday. I won the championship by 4minutes 42 seconds.

What next?

This is my first rally and winning it is the best thing that happened in motorsports life. I am looking forward to more exploits and will take rallies seriously. There is much more to learn and there are more technicalities which needs to be practiced. I will continue to work on improving my riding skills.

The petite champ, promised to be back in full throttle for the next rally. Watch out!