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LIFE in the FAST lane
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Making it to Formula 1 is Narain Karthikeyan's greatest dream. SHALINI UMACHANDRAN talks to the world's fastest Indian
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SMILING POLITELY into cameras and answering questions from fans and journalists may not be what he enjoys most, but it's "all part of the package" of being what motor magazines like to call `the world's fastest Indian'. But for Narain Karthikeyan, who has lived and dreamt racing for as long as he can remember, nothing else will ever make it to his list of things-I-like-to-do.
"I have no other interests. I even play racing games on my PlayStation," he says sinking into a settee at The Park Hotel after an exhausting day of releasing coolant-green balloons and shaking hands with starry-eyed fans.
In Chennai to inaugurate a pit stop (read battery showroom) in Nandanam for Amaron batteries, Narain Karthikeyan spent an afternoon scribbling autographs and posing obligingly with assorted admirers. "Every other person is talking about F1 now. They tell me it's the second largest sport after cricket."
And according to him, for India, that's an almost unbelievable conversion. "When I started, wanting to be a professional racer was a crazy dream. No one had even heard of Formula 1 racing." That was about 12 years ago. Since then, India has become a huge market for F1 racing and with a television audience of around 400 million people, there's talk of India hosting a Grand Prix. "But no city in India is ready to host a race. It requires huge infrastructure development. It's an investment of at least Rs. 350 crores — that's tough for any government."
However, if it does happen, Narain will be in the right place at the right time and have a better chance at being the first Indian Formula 1 racer.
Just back in India after three days of testing at the Vallelunga Circuit near Rome, for the European Formula 1 team Minardi, Narain says it has not been a bad season, despite missing races because he was sick and because his car ran into trouble. His non-start in the last race meant his ranking in the World Series slid to four.
Though he has tested for Jaguar and Jordan, and Minardi "haven't yet said yes or no or anything" to taking him on as a driver, the whole experience has brought him that much closer to realising his dream. "It's a great feeling driving for F1. Every time I drove I just felt so happy. There's no experience quite like it," he says with child-like enthusiasm. "I have to work on getting back in shape. I'm not fit right now," says Narain, still recovering from dengue fever that made him miss the Macau Grand Prix. "In a way it has been one of the worst times — not being able to race, not being completely fit."
Sponsorship is of course, a major talking point — and probably one of the reasons why he won't be on Minardi's team this year. Despite having Tata, JK Tyres and Amaron Batteries behind him, money is still a problem. "For any Indian company that wants to go global, there's no exposure better than F1. The numbers of people watching F1 is even greater than football. And with an Indian driver, even more Indians will watch."
Though Ferrari is his dream team, for this racer who idolises Ayrton Senna, just making it to F1 would be a dream come true. "Ever since I sat in a car, I wanted to be professional racer. But it was hard. Lots of people told me I was going to be a failure. I'm not. And I'm definitely not going to stop driving for at least another four years. India will have an F1 driver. I'm here to make it happen."
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