Akbar Ebrahim, the first Indian to race abroad, narrates the evolution of Indian racing from grand old Sholavaram days to historic Indian GP. In this two-part series, the former F2 driver also talks about how the rivalry between the two tyre majors — JK Tyres and MRF — helped the sport
How and why racing originated in Sholavaram (near Chennai) is something I still do not have a clue about, but for sure the airstrip is part of world racing history. In many countries, abandoned airstrips were later modified into full-fledged race tracks and it was unfortunate, in hindsight, that the same was not done to this glorious temporary circuit as it had all the space and the charm of iconic tracks such as the Silverstone (England).
My memory takes me back to the early seventies, when I used to go to Sholavaram as a kid and watch the races. To start with, it was the Mopeds, then the Scooters followed by the Javas, Yezdi’s and the Enfield’s in the Indian Motorcycle class after which came the crowd pullers — the 2-stroke 125/250cc Yamaha bikes from Sri Lanka, India and the UK. Post the bikes came the absolute amusement park cars in the form of the Heralds and the Ambassadors which was followed by the more serious Indian car races, the A1A and Group 2 Fiat Class and the Formula India-Herald Engine, which was later substituted by the Fiat Engine.
In the mid seventies, bigger boys came in with more sophisticated Formulas and Sports Cars. Dr Rossi’s Ferrari, late Maharaj Kumar of Gondal’s Formula 5000, Karivaradhan’s 65 Special, Vicky Chandhok’s F2 and Vijay Mallya’s F1 Ensign were the highlights.
In 1988, Kari revolutionised the single-seater racing by building the first Indian purpose-made Formula Car with a Maruti 800cc engine. Yours truly won that inaugural race which is still a huge landmark in my life.
In 1989, a landmark for Indian motorsport happened and that was the birth of the race track at Irungattukottai. This was a result of a lot of hard work, time and money put in by the Madras Motor Sports Club headed and supported by passionate members. There was huge speculation on what this track would bring to the growth of the sport in the country, with legendary Jackie Stewart flying down to lay the foundation stone.
The inaugural race was sponsored by McDowells and it was a grand affair. The Formula Maruti had made a mark in Indian racing and no one would have thought that this class would be in existence for 22 years. I am sure this has to be some sort of a world record. The same chassis and engines being rebuilt to last 22 years.
In 1990, two significant things happened. One was the entry of JK Tyres and the other was the introduction of the Formula 3 class into the yearly Indian GP held every February. Unfortunately, the first year of the Formula 3 class was called off due to the Gulf war, which ironically was supposed to get further affected if we had used a mere 200 litres of fuel.
Things started to hot up as till then it was a one-make tyre sponsor and team owner, the Chennai based MRF. Now, with the growing presence of this bright Yellow, attitudes and relationships started to change a bit. All of a sudden the pre-event parties were missing and the jokes across the pit lane were in hushed tones. And suddenly one realised why.
On one side there was this big MRF tent and on the other side of the pit lane was this Big Lakshmi Mills/JK Tyre combine pit making it two big groups competing against each other with the poor privateers getting sandwiched.
Gautam Singhania, a close friend of mine, requested me to set up a meeting with the late Mr Karivardhan and Mr Vikram Pathi Singhania. This meeting proved significant with JK Tyre-Lakshmi Mills joining hands top form a team.