Drive devil

Narain Karthikeyan’s passion for racing has put India on the world motorsport map. Akbar Ebrahim, who guided Narain on the fast track, writes about the racer and his winning Formula

To start with, Narain was a very shy kid. He didn’t want to talk to anybody who had nothing to do with driving fast cars. As far as those with fast cars went, all he wanted to do was to drive their cars.

As a 10-year-old, he was zipping around his backyard in a home-made go-kart, which would look obsolete today but it definitely served the purpose at that point of time.

Narain had an obsession for racing and driving as fast as possible. From a young age, one could make out that this boy was a charger. He would enter the corner at a speed, which was higher than what the machine would permit, and then find his way around after entering the corner. What happened at the end of the corner was not his concern. Whether he would be stuck in a tyre barrier with a crashed car or whether he would land up with broken legs and hands too was not his concern. What mattered most was how fast he could go in.

Yes, in many ways this was not the best thing to do and it was not going to result in quick and consistent lap times. And, the result of such a driving style would always be a spin or a crash. That was what happened to Narain in his early racing days. But this obsession with speed was something that very few drivers possessed and that is why Narain stood out at a very young age and none of the seniors dared to change his driving style. The fine-tuning, they felt, was going to be a simple task. They all knew that this was one racer who was going to make a name for himself.

When the legend of Indian motorsport, the late S. Karivardhan, asked me to train Narain and show him round the Sriperumbudur track, it was a week of fun, amusement and anger as well as affirmation that another genuine talent had arrived on the scene of racing.

Despite whatever I tried to inculcate into Narain about "slow in and fast out", with him it was always "fastest in and sliding out." I would feel angry when he would not listen but he also earned my appreciation and respect when he, against all odds, pulled the car out of the corner. This car control is Narain’s most significant driving skill.

In stage 2, while I was teaching him how to overtake and how to defend, wherein we were both driving the Formula Maruti cars, he would try to overtake in impossible situations. Finally I had to put up the tyre barriers for him to realise that there was a limit to everything one could do despite talent and control over the car.

From then on, one could only sit back and watch this youngster’s progress. At 15, he drove his first Formula Maruti Race and this was when I was at the peak of my driving career. All I was worried about was that this was his first race and he would not be able to hold it together for the whole race.

But I was pleasantly surprised. He drove splendidly in both races and finished behind my gear box in both races. He made his mark and I immediately knew that a star was born.

Narain made a sensible move by going to the Winfield School of Racing, France, since there was no such training facility in India then. I had also moved on to the British Formula Ford and then to the Formula Asia Series, British Formula 3 and the British Formula 2.

Narain, at that point of time, did the Formula Ford winter series and won the Championship. He then went to do the Vauxhall Lotus Championship and did exceedingly well. It was then Narain started to learn the tricks of international motorsport — how to select a good team and a good engineer. One wrong move and you were doomed, however good you were.

Luckily for Narain, he had a very supportive father who stood by him through all ups and downs and believed in his abilities.

Narain came into the Formula Asia Championship as a rookie. But after a couple of races, none of the competitors wanted him around. He just ran circles round them all and won the Championship with such ease that his name still shatters the confidence of those who drove beside him in 1996.

Rightfully, Narain moved up to the British Formula 3 Season and in his first year had many problems. The Team was extremely arrogant and the engine had not enough horsepower. Narain made the right move by quitting the team half way through and signed up with Trevor Carlin. This was when Carlin Motorsport was formed and the Trevor Carlin-Narain Karthikeyan relationship started.

From then on Narain won many a F3 Race with drivers such as Jenson Button and Takumo Sato.

Narain’s most powerful drive was in Macau in November 2000. He was leading the race by 14 seconds and true to style, crashed into the wall trying to go quicker. His dad was in tears. We all were. One could only walk away from there knowing that he had got the stuff to be in a Formula 1 Car. But would he and when next would he get the golden opportunity to make the cut.

He proved his mettle by winning in Korea the following weekend and that put the Macau crash out of his mind. It was back to business for Narain. It has been five long and hard years of Motorsport for Narain after that: two years in the Japanese Formula Nippon and three in the Telefonica World Series. It has also been five long years of criticism, five long years of fighting his mental battles. In the last two years he had been completely written off by most. But, nay, not by himself and those close to him.

To see him wake up and work on his fitness was the most encouraging sign I saw of Narain for a long time. He took the bull by the horns and decided to fight it out. He bought a Rotax-powered go-kart and kept plundering down the Kari Motor Speedway day in and day out. He took part in the Asian Zone Karting event in Coimbatore and thrashed everyone in sight. And the result, he blasted his way to take the first place in the Telefonica Nissan World Series.

And suddenly, it was Narain, Narain, Narain again. The critics took a nose-dive, the sponsors sat up and the media got behind him to help him make that final push. And he did it in true Narain style. A style which makes him a very well-liked person. Very humble, non-assuming and helpful.

The rest, of course, is history in the making.

One can be sure to see Narain pull Jordan up the ranks with his flamboyant driving style and you can be sure those TV cameras are going to start focusing on his yellow Jordan F1 Car.

Straddling motorsports as well as cricket, the writer has participated in the British Formula 2 and Formula 3 Championships and played for Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy. He trained Narain at his Advanced Driving and Corporate Academy in Sriperumbudur.