S. Karivardhan
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S.Karivardhan or Kari was a legendary figure of Indian Motorsports,from Coimbatore,India. Apart from being a successful formula car racer, was also a designer and constructor of several Formula car .His most famous design being the Formula Maruti open wheeled race car .His Low cost Formula cars helped Narain Karthikeyan, Karun Chandok, Armaan Ebrahim made their entry into Motorsports.He was also a wealthy industrialist later killed in an air crash in 1996.He is often quoted as the Father of Indian Motorsports by the Indian motoring press.
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[edit] Early days
Sundaram Karivardhan often known as Kari or SK was born on 20 June 1954 in [[Coimbatore]to noted Indian freedom fighter G.K.Sundaram from the Lakshmi Mills textile family He did his schooling in Coimbatore and after graduating in Mechanical Engineering from PSG College of Technology, he completed his MS in UCLA, Los Angeles.
[edit] Motor Racing
Being quite and shy in nature from a very young age he showed keen interest in bikes and cars. In UK he attended the Jim Russel racing school. Later when he returned to India in mid-70’s he started participating in the Chennai’s Sholavaram races and Calcutta’s Barrackpore track. His first race was 1973 Sholavaram Grand Prix mett,later he appeared every year in newly constructed Formula Car from his own garage.He raced until 1995, the year of his demise. Cars he raced ranged from Premier Padmini.Datsun 510,Sipani Dolphin,Formula Atlantic,Several Formula Cars of his own design and in final years Formula 3.His last race was in a Formula Ford, in McDowell’s livery in Chennai’s MMSC track.
Apert from Sholavaram he has also raced in Calcutta Barrackpore Track and in Delhi.
[edit] Race Car Constructor
One if his early complete in house design was the 300BHP Formula Monoposto based on Formula Atlantic Chevron B40 model nicknamed “Black Beauty”. But till late 80’s Motorsports was only for wealthy drivers in a view to make Motor racing more affordable in India and improve grassroots level racing he designed and tested a small single seater,dubbed as India’s Formula Ford, by mating a Maruti 800 engine, and adapting easily available parts, sometimes made in house. His second design was a two seater car named McDowell 1000 using a Maruti Gypsy 1.0liter engine.
[edit] FISSME
FISSME(Formula India Single Seater Maruti Engine) widely known as formula Maruti was launched in 1988 in Chennai’s Park Sheraton just before the Annual Grand Prix races in MMSC track. Notable drivers taking part in the Inaugural race were J.Anand, Akbar Ibhrahim and R.Gopinath all of them would later become national champions in Formula 3.The inaugural race was won by Akbar Ibhrahim.
Later years saw drivers like Narain Karthikeyan, Karun Chandok, Armaan Ibhrahim, and several future national champions making their debut races in a Formula Maruti series, till the class was discontinued from the Mainstream championship in 2006.Still these cars race in junior championship, and is the most affordable open wheeled formula car in the world costing not more than Rs10, 000 ($300), for a single race.
[edit] Motor Rallying
Kari entered in very few rallies; notable ones being the Karnataka K-1000 in Bangalore. He later launched the JK Rally team in 1992, when JK Tyres wanted to enter into National Rallying which was till then dominated by MRF Tyres.In 1990 season he spotted a young Hari Singh from Chandigargh taking part in the Coimbatore Rally, later offering them to tune their car, making him win the National Championship title 5 times. In early 90’s he quickly converted all Maruti Gypsy Rally car to Fuel Injection when tuned chips yet to gain popularity.
[edit] Racing Team
His Racing team was Super Speeds with main sponsor being Lakshmi Mills. Early cars had White and Blue livery later switched to Black and gold livery. The company that built his cars was P&B Engineering. J.Anand and N.Leela Krishnan were some of the notable drivers from his team before the duo switched to rival Team MRF.
[edit] Aviator
Kari was interested in many areas of Mechanics, and that included his interest in Aviation as his family owned a Cessna airplane. In 1989 he started a small manufacturing plant near Coimbatore to manufacture Power Gilders using a Yezdi 250cc Motorcycle engine, later a Rotax Engine. He would often test his gilders flying to Ooty Mountains, Dindigul, Kovilpatti, Kayattar; near Tirunelveli.The small airstrip in Coimbatore later became Kari Motor Speedway.
[edit] Other Projects
In early 90’s he was promoted to Managing Director in Lakshmi Mills and held key management posts in several of his group companies. Also he ventures into new avenues like development of Aerators for Prawn Breeding. One of his other earliest venture was to manufacture small farm tractors, but later intending to manufacture Sportscar.During the early 90’s he purchased rights from a British based kit car manufacturer, to build replica models of Ford GT40 (using a Ford Cosworth), Lotus 7 and AC Cobra. But before commencing production he died in an Aircraft crash in Coimbatore.
[edit] Fatal Crash
He died on 24th August 1995, while flying a Puspak Trainers Aircraft. The purpose of flying was to log some additional flying time as required to retain his flying license. The accident was a freak one that sent shockwaves among the racing faternity.He was about to make a full mark in the Automobile scenario and his last press interview was with Car and Bike magazine and BBC Motor Show programme days before his crash.
His demise almost created a vacuum in Indian Motorsports with dwindling crowds in Chennai track and after 1997 season making the MMSC to scrap the All India Grand Prix Meet altogether. In 2002 his long-time friend and co-racer B.Vijaykumar stepped in to build and launch Formula LGB and Formula Rolon race cars and also constructed a race track in his hometown which is a major Motorsports hub.
[edit] Character and Legacy
Widely known as a gentleman racer his unselfish ways and dedication to the development of Indian Motorsports attracted many new talents into Motorsports.Till 80’s Formula Car Racing in India was only for the extremely rich which he changed with the launch of Formula Maruti making racing cheaper than Saloon Stock car racing.
Kari also earned admiration from several quarters more for his character than his racing talents. Tough born in one of Coimbatore’s wealthiest families Kari was easily approachable by several people irrespective of Social barriers. Kari was nevertheless considered a unique man wills his soft-spoken nature and publicity shy nature.
He was good in spotting new talents and training them to become professionals like Akbar Ibhrahim and five time national Rallying Champion Hari Singh.
Kari’s Team Super Speeds later became a Limited Company now a part of L.G.Balakrishnan Brothers and today has a Motorsports division which constructs the Formula LGB and Formula Rolon cars.
The Race Track in Coimbatore is named after Karivardhan (Kari Motor Speedway).
In Karamadai in Coimbatore an Industrial Training school is named after Karivardhan
Some of his former employees have their garage s named in his honour.
His Intended Caterham based car was named Kari 65 in his honour with 65 being his racing number.
[edit] See Also
- Sholavaram
- FISSME (a.k.a.Formula Maruti)
- Kari Motor Speedway
- Madras Motor Sports Club [1]
[edit] Sources and Links
- Article and his Photo in The Hindu
- Race track dedicated to Kari, The Hindu, Dec 01, 2003
- [2]
- [3]
