S. Karivardhan
Encyclopedia
Sundaram Karivardhan or short Kari (June 20, 1954 Coimbatore
, India
–August 24, 1995 in the same town) was a legendary figure of India
n motorsports. Apart from being a successful formula car racer, was also a designer and constructor of several formula cars, his most famous design being the Formula Maruti
open wheeled race car. His low cost cars helped other racers, notably Narain Karthikeyan
, Karun Chandhok, and Armaan Ebrahim
, to their entry into motorsports. A wealthy industrialist, he was later killed in an air crash, aged 41.
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 master of science
at the UCLA, Los Angeles
.
he attended the Jim Russell racing school. Later, when he returned to India in the 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 meet, later he appeared every year in newly constructed formula cars 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 cars of his own design and in the final years Formula 3 cars. His last race was in a Formula Ford
, in McDowell
's body shell in Chennai's MMSC track.
Apart from Sholavaram
he has also raced in Calcutta'S Barrackpore
Track and in Delhi
.
Chevron B40 model nicknamed “Black Beauty”. But until the late 80's, motorsports was only for wealthy drivers. In an effort to make racing more affordable in India and improve grassroots level racing he designed and tested a small single seater, dubbed as India's Formula Ford, with 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
1.0 liter engine.
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 Ebrahim and R. Gopinath, all of them would later become national champions in Formula 3. The inaugural race was won by Akbar Ebhrahim.
Later years saw drivers like Narain Karthikeyan
, Karun Chandhok, Armaan Ebrahim
and other future national champions making their debut races in a Formula Maruti series, until the class was discontinued from the mainstream championship in 2006. Still these cars race in junior championship, and are the most affordable open wheeled formula cars in the world costing not more than US$
300 for a single race.
, among them the Karnataka
K-1000 in Bangalore
. He later launched the JK Rally team in 1992, when JK Tyres wanted to enter into rallying which was previously dominated by MRF Tyres. In the 1990 season he spotted a young Hari Singh
from Chandigargh taking part in the Coimbatore Rally and, seeing his talent, offered him to tune his car, enabling him to win the Indian Championship title 5 times.
During the early 90's he quickly converted all Maruti Gypsy
Rally cars to fuel injection when tuned chips gained popularity.
, and the main sponsor was Lakshmi Mills
. The early cars had a white and blue body shell which was later switched to black and gold. 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.
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 gliders flying to the Ooty Mountains, Dindigul, Kovilpatti
, or Kayattar near Tirunelveli
. The small airstrip in Coimbatore later became the Kari Motor Speedway
.
and held this key management position in several of his group companies. Also he ventured into new areas like development of aerators for prawn
breeding. One of his other earliest ventures was to manufacture small farm tractors. During the early 90's he purchased rights from a British based kit car manufacturer to build replica models of the Ford GT40
, using a Ford Cosworth
, Lotus 7, and AC Cobra
. But before commencing production he died in an aircraft crash in Coimbatore
.
trainers aircraft. The purpose of flying was to log some additional flying time as required to retain his flying license. The accident was widely mourned by the racing scene. 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 the Chennai track and after the 1997 season made the MMSC 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.
's wealthiest families, Kari was easily approachable by several people irrespective of social barriers. Kari was nevertheless considered a unique man with his soft-spoken nature and publicity shy nature. He was good in spotting new talents and training them to become professionals like Akbar Ebrahim 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
), and in Karamadai in Coimbatore an Industrial Training school is named after him. Some of his former employees have their garages named in his honour. His Intended Caterham
based car was named Kari 65 in his honour with 65 being his racing number.
Coimbatore
Coimbatore , also known as Kovai , is the second largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a major commercial centre in Tamil Nadu and is known as the "Manchester of South India"....
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
–August 24, 1995 in the same town) was a legendary figure of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n motorsports. Apart from being a successful formula car racer, was also a designer and constructor of several formula cars, his most famous design being the Formula Maruti
Formula Maruti
Formula Maruti is a single-seater, open wheel class in motorsport made and raced in India. Many of the top teams in Indian motorsports have run in the series, including Team Lakshmi Mills Superspeeds, Team JK, Team MRF, Gabriel Racing, WSRF Racing, McDowell Racing, and Team Valvoline...
open wheeled race car. His low cost cars helped other racers, notably Narain Karthikeyan
Narain Karthikeyan
Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan , is the first Formula One motor racing driver from India. He has previously competed in A1GP, and the Le Mans Series. He made his Formula One debut in with the Jordan team, and was a WilliamsF1 test driver in and...
, Karun Chandhok, and Armaan Ebrahim
Armaan Ebrahim
Armaan Ebrahim is a car racer from Chennai, India. He is the son of the ex-Indian F3 champion Akbar Ebrahim.-Career:Touted as the most promising racing driver in India today, Armaan Ebrahim started his career in karting and became Formula LGB Champion in 2004. He later moved to Formula BMW Asia...
, to their entry into motorsports. A wealthy industrialist, he was later killed in an air crash, aged 41.
Early days
Sundaram Karivardhan was born on 20 June 1954 in CoimbatoreCoimbatore
Coimbatore , also known as Kovai , is the second largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a major commercial centre in Tamil Nadu and is known as the "Manchester of South India"....
to noted Indian freedom fighter
Indian independence movement
The term Indian independence movement encompasses a wide area of political organisations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending first British East India Company rule, and then British imperial authority, in parts of South Asia...
G.K.Sundaram from the Lakshmi Mills
Lakshmi Mills
Lakshmi Mills Company is a major textile yarn and cloth manufacturer in Coimbatore, India. The company was established by G.Kuppuswamy Naidu in 1910....
textile family. He did his schooling in Coimbatore and after graduating in mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the...
from PSG College of Technology
PSG College of Technology
PSG College of Technology is an autonomous, government aided institution, affiliated to Anna University. The college offers a total of 48 full time and part time programs in Science, Engineering and Management at Undergraduate & Postgraduate levels. The College was founded in 1951 by...
, he completed his master of science
Master of Science
A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...
at the UCLA, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
Motor racing
Quiet and shy in nature from a very young age, he showed a keen interest in bikes and cars. In the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
he attended the Jim Russell racing school. Later, when he returned to India in the mid-70's, he started participating in the Chennai's Sholavaram
Sholavaram
Sholavaram, a quiet town 24 km north of Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It is primarily known for its Lake and the motor racing track.Sholavaram lake is one of the many water bodies that are used as water sources for Chennai....
races and Calcutta's Barrackpore track. His first race was 1973 Sholavaram
Sholavaram
Sholavaram, a quiet town 24 km north of Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It is primarily known for its Lake and the motor racing track.Sholavaram lake is one of the many water bodies that are used as water sources for Chennai....
Grand Prix meet, later he appeared every year in newly constructed formula cars from his own garage. He raced until 1995, the year of his demise. Cars he raced ranged from Premier Padmini
Premier Padmini
'Premier Padmini' was an automobile manufactured in India from 1967 to 2000.Premier Automobiles Limited, the erstwhile flagship company of India's Walchand Hirachand Group, assembled Fiat's Fiat 1100 cars from the 1950s until 1997...
, Datsun 510
Datsun 510
The Datsun 510 was a series of the Datsun Bluebird sold from 1968 to 1974, and offered outside the U.S. and Canada as the Datsun 1600. According to AutoWeek's G.D...
, Sipani Dolphin, Formula Atlantic
Formula Atlantic
Formula Atlantic is a specification of open wheel racing car developed in the 1970s. It was used in professional racing through the IMSA Atlantic Championship until 2009 and is currently primarily used in amateur racing through Sports Car Club of America Formula Atlantic.-History:The history of...
, several cars of his own design and in the final years Formula 3 cars. His last race was in a Formula Ford
Formula Ford
Formula Ford is a single seater, open wheel class in motorsport which exists in some form in many countries around the world. It is an entry-level series to motor racing....
, in McDowell
McDowell
-People:* Charles S. McDowell , interim governor of Alabama* Charles T. McDowell , American academic and military officer* Derek McDowell, Irish politician* Edward Alexander MacDowell, American composer...
's body shell in Chennai's MMSC track.
Apart from Sholavaram
Sholavaram
Sholavaram, a quiet town 24 km north of Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It is primarily known for its Lake and the motor racing track.Sholavaram lake is one of the many water bodies that are used as water sources for Chennai....
he has also raced in Calcutta'S Barrackpore
Barrackpore
Barrackpore or Barrackpur is headquarters of Barrackpore subdivision in North 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal. The town was a military and administrative center under British rule, and was the scene of several acts of rebellion against Britain during the 19th century...
Track and in Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
.
Race Car Constructor
One of his early complete in-house designs was the 300 BHP Formula Monoposto based on the Formula AtlanticFormula Atlantic
Formula Atlantic is a specification of open wheel racing car developed in the 1970s. It was used in professional racing through the IMSA Atlantic Championship until 2009 and is currently primarily used in amateur racing through Sports Car Club of America Formula Atlantic.-History:The history of...
Chevron B40 model nicknamed “Black Beauty”. But until the late 80's, motorsports was only for wealthy drivers. In an effort to make racing more affordable in India and improve grassroots level racing he designed and tested a small single seater, dubbed as India's Formula Ford, with 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
Maruti Gypsy
The Maruti Gypsy is a four wheel drive SUV based on the long wheelbase Suzuki Jimny SJ40/410 series vehicles.-History:It is manufactured in India by Maruti Suzuki. It was introduced in the Indian market in December 1985 with the 970 cc F10A Suzuki engine and while sales were never very high it...
1.0 liter engine.
FISSME
FISSME (Formula India Single Seater Maruti Engine) widely known as formula MarutiFormula Maruti
Formula Maruti is a single-seater, open wheel class in motorsport made and raced in India. Many of the top teams in Indian motorsports have run in the series, including Team Lakshmi Mills Superspeeds, Team JK, Team MRF, Gabriel Racing, WSRF Racing, McDowell Racing, and Team Valvoline...
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
J. Anand
J. Anand is former racing driver from Coimbatore, India who was active during the 1980s and 90's. He currently runs a rally car team and provides automobile R&D services to various automobile manufacturers.-Background:...
, Akbar Ebrahim and R. Gopinath, all of them would later become national champions in Formula 3. The inaugural race was won by Akbar Ebhrahim.
Later years saw drivers like Narain Karthikeyan
Narain Karthikeyan
Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan , is the first Formula One motor racing driver from India. He has previously competed in A1GP, and the Le Mans Series. He made his Formula One debut in with the Jordan team, and was a WilliamsF1 test driver in and...
, Karun Chandhok, Armaan Ebrahim
Armaan Ebrahim
Armaan Ebrahim is a car racer from Chennai, India. He is the son of the ex-Indian F3 champion Akbar Ebrahim.-Career:Touted as the most promising racing driver in India today, Armaan Ebrahim started his career in karting and became Formula LGB Champion in 2004. He later moved to Formula BMW Asia...
and other future national champions making their debut races in a Formula Maruti series, until the class was discontinued from the mainstream championship in 2006. Still these cars race in junior championship, and are the most affordable open wheeled formula cars in the world costing not more than US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
300 for a single race.
Motor Rallying
Kari entered in very few ralliesRallying
Rallying, also known as rally racing, is a form of auto racing that takes place on public or private roads with modified production or specially built road-legal cars...
, among them the Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
K-1000 in Bangalore
Bangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
. He later launched the JK Rally team in 1992, when JK Tyres wanted to enter into rallying which was previously dominated by MRF Tyres. In the 1990 season he spotted a young Hari Singh
Hari Singh
Maharaja Hari Singh was the last ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir in India.He was married four times...
from Chandigargh taking part in the Coimbatore Rally and, seeing his talent, offered him to tune his car, enabling him to win the Indian Championship title 5 times.
During the early 90's he quickly converted all Maruti Gypsy
Maruti Gypsy
The Maruti Gypsy is a four wheel drive SUV based on the long wheelbase Suzuki Jimny SJ40/410 series vehicles.-History:It is manufactured in India by Maruti Suzuki. It was introduced in the Indian market in December 1985 with the 970 cc F10A Suzuki engine and while sales were never very high it...
Rally cars to fuel injection when tuned chips gained popularity.
Racing Team
Kari's racing team was Super SpeedsSuper Speeds
Super Speeds is a company in India which designs and constructs open-wheeled Formula Cars for Indian National championship series. For more than three decades this outfit has been the only full-fledged Indian company entirely dedicated to indigenous design and construction of race cars in...
, and the main sponsor was Lakshmi Mills
Lakshmi Mills
Lakshmi Mills Company is a major textile yarn and cloth manufacturer in Coimbatore, India. The company was established by G.Kuppuswamy Naidu in 1910....
. The early cars had a white and blue body shell which was later switched to black and gold. The company that built his cars was P&B Engineering. J. Anand
J. Anand
J. Anand is former racing driver from Coimbatore, India who was active during the 1980s and 90's. He currently runs a rally car team and provides automobile R&D services to various automobile manufacturers.-Background:...
and N. Leela Krishnan were some of the notable drivers from his team before the duo switched to rival Team MRF.
Aviator
Kari was interested in many areas of mechanics, and that included his interest in aviationAviation
Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...
as his family owned a Cessna
Cessna
The Cessna Aircraft Company is an airplane manufacturing corporation headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, USA. Their main products are general aviation aircraft. Although they are the most well known for their small, piston-powered aircraft, they also produce business jets. The company is a subsidiary...
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 gliders flying to the Ooty Mountains, Dindigul, Kovilpatti
Kovilpatti
Kovilpatti , also known as Covilpatti, is a special grade municipality in Thoothukudi District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Belongs to Kovilpatti constituency...
, or Kayattar near Tirunelveli
Tirunelveli
Tirunelveli , also known as Nellai , and historically as Tinnevelly, is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the headquarters of the Tirunelveli District and the sixth biggest city in Tamil Nadu...
. The small airstrip in Coimbatore later became the Kari Motor Speedway
Kari Motor Speedway
Kari Motor Speedway is a purpose built auto racing circuit or race track, located in Orratukuppai, Chettipalayam, Coimbatore, India. The track's length is currently 3.2 km. It was inaugurated in 2003, in memory of Late Shri. S...
.
Other projects
In the early 90's he was promoted to be the Managing Director of Lakshmi MillsLakshmi Mills
Lakshmi Mills Company is a major textile yarn and cloth manufacturer in Coimbatore, India. The company was established by G.Kuppuswamy Naidu in 1910....
and held this key management position in several of his group companies. Also he ventured into new areas like development of aerators for prawn
Prawn
Prawns are decapod crustaceans of the sub-order Dendrobranchiata. There are 540 extant species, in seven families, and a fossil record extending back to the Devonian...
breeding. One of his other earliest ventures was to manufacture small farm tractors. During the early 90's he purchased rights from a British based kit car manufacturer to build replica models of the Ford GT40
Ford GT40
The Ford GT40 was a high performance sports car and winner of the 24 hours of Le Mans four times in a row, from 1966 to 1969...
, using a Ford Cosworth
Cosworth
Cosworth is a high performance engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in engines and electronics for automobile racing , mainstream automotive and defence industries...
, Lotus 7, and AC Cobra
AC Cobra
The AC Cobra, also known colloquially as the Shelby Cobra in North America, is an Anglo-American sports car that was produced during the 1960s.-History and development:...
. But before commencing production he died in an aircraft crash in Coimbatore
Coimbatore
Coimbatore , also known as Kovai , is the second largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a major commercial centre in Tamil Nadu and is known as the "Manchester of South India"....
.
Fatal crash
He died on 24 August 1995 while flying a PuspakHindustan Aeronautics Limited
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited based in Bangalore, India, is one of Asia's largest aerospace companies. Under the management of the Indian Ministry of Defence, this state-owned company is mainly involved in aerospace industry, which includes manufacturing and assembling aircraft, navigation and...
trainers aircraft. The purpose of flying was to log some additional flying time as required to retain his flying license. The accident was widely mourned by the racing scene. 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
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Motor Show programme days before his crash.
His demise almost created a vacuum in Indian Motorsports with dwindling crowds in the Chennai track and after the 1997 season made the MMSC 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
Formula LGB
For specific models see*Formula LGB Hyundai*Formula LGB SwiftFormula LGB is a series of single seater, open wheel class race cars manufactured by Super Speeds for LG Sports in Coimbatore, India...
and Formula Rolon
Formula Rolon
Formula RolonFormula Rolon, also known as Formula Rolon Chevrolet is an open wheel single seater Formula Racing car made and raced in India. They run in the single make championships held in the tracks of Coimbatore and Chennai. The car is similar to Formula Asia and is powered by Chevrolet engine...
race cars and also constructed a race track in his hometown which is a major motorsports hub.
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. Kari also earned admiration from several quarters more for his character than his racing talents. Though born in one of CoimbatoreCoimbatore
Coimbatore , also known as Kovai , is the second largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a major commercial centre in Tamil Nadu and is known as the "Manchester of South India"....
's wealthiest families, Kari was easily approachable by several people irrespective of social barriers. Kari was nevertheless considered a unique man with his soft-spoken nature and publicity shy nature. He was good in spotting new talents and training them to become professionals like Akbar Ebrahim 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
Formula LGB
For specific models see*Formula LGB Hyundai*Formula LGB SwiftFormula LGB is a series of single seater, open wheel class race cars manufactured by Super Speeds for LG Sports in Coimbatore, India...
and Formula Rolon
Formula Rolon
Formula RolonFormula Rolon, also known as Formula Rolon Chevrolet is an open wheel single seater Formula Racing car made and raced in India. They run in the single make championships held in the tracks of Coimbatore and Chennai. The car is similar to Formula Asia and is powered by Chevrolet engine...
cars.
The race track in Coimbatore
Coimbatore
Coimbatore , also known as Kovai , is the second largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a major commercial centre in Tamil Nadu and is known as the "Manchester of South India"....
is named after Karivardhan (Kari Motor Speedway
Kari Motor Speedway
Kari Motor Speedway is a purpose built auto racing circuit or race track, located in Orratukuppai, Chettipalayam, Coimbatore, India. The track's length is currently 3.2 km. It was inaugurated in 2003, in memory of Late Shri. S...
), and in Karamadai in Coimbatore an Industrial Training school is named after him. Some of his former employees have their garages named in his honour. His Intended Caterham
Caterham Cars
Caterham Cars is a manufacturer of specialist lightweight sports cars based in Caterham, Surrey, England and part of the British motor industry. Their only current model, the Caterham 7 , is a direct evolution of the Series 3 Lotus Seven designed by Colin Chapman and originally launched in 1968. A...
based car was named Kari 65 in his honour with 65 being his racing number.
Sources and links
Madras Motor Sports Club- Article and his Photo in The Hindu
- Race track dedicated to Kari, The Hindu, Dec 01, 2003
- Indian Motorsport and Kari
- Kari's Power Glider
- Raj Hansa Ultra Lights
- http://www.snehah.com/forum/view_topic/66/dare_devil_ace_car_racer_late_kari_form_psg_cbe/
- http://www.atlasf1.com/2001/jan24/ganeshan.html
- http://app1.chinadaily.com.cn/star/2005/0303/sp28-1.html