Unlike cricket, the pioneers of other sports in India aren’t remembered or receive tributes.
Who was the first captain of free India’s cricket team? Ask this question, and several cricket enthusiasts will be able to answer. However, when it comes to the pioneers of other sports, especially motorsports, the majority of India neither remember nor pay tribute.
In this article of the ‘India On Wheels’ series, we remember Sundaram Karivardhan, fondly known as Kari, who laid the foundation for Indian motorsports.
Born on June 20, 1954, in the humble town of Coimbatore into the family of Lakshmi Mills, Kari was expected to take care of the family business. And he did so as he assumed the role of managing director. However, he also came from a family of racers, so his heart was into racing. Since money wasn’t a problem, Kari attended Quebec’s Jim Russell racing school in Canada.
Kari raced in several cars in India, ranging from Fiats to Datsuns, but he wasn’t satisfied. After all, those cars were never meant for racing. Therefore, he often modified these cars himself to increase their performance in races. In his final year of racing, he even tried to build a Formula 3 car.
After his racing career, Kari ventured into the world of building various forms of racing cars. The man knew his machines, and therefore, he built a 300BHP Formula Monoposto based on the Formula Atlantic Chevron B40, as reported by Better India and EVO India.
(Credit- Better India)
However, Kari realised that these cars were too expensive for young Indian racers, who mostly hailed from the middle class and could not afford to race. Therefore, it became Kari’s mission to make racing affordable in India.
According to Vicky Chandhok’s words in an Evo Report, Kari wished to build a single-seater race car with a Fiat engine, but it had a gearbox issue. Around the same time, Maruti was gearing up to launch the 800. That’s when Kari struck a deal with Maruti to get 35 mechanical kits. In record time, Kari and his team built 28 single-seater race cars. The incident also led to the formation of Formula Maruti in 1987, an affordable racing event in India.
(Credit- Evo India)
The Formula Maruti became the cornerstone of Indian racing in the world of Formula One, as racers like Narain Karthikeyan, Akbar Ebrahim, Gopi, Karun, Kamlesh, and Parasuram were all products of this racing event, thanks to the affordable cars.
At the age of 41 on August 24, 1995, Kari passed away in a plane crash while piloting a Pushpak trainers’ aircraft. The Kari Motor Speedway in Chettipalayam, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, is named after him. Had he been alive, India probably would’ve progressed much faster in the field of motorsports.
Today, apart from motorsports enthusiasts, the name of Kari is not known to many. However, he was a crucial part of Indian racing and automobile history. The next time you hear India achieving anything in car racing, do not forget to remember Kari.
