Karting the trophy

Shooting into the lead on a wintry New Delhi evening, Rayomand Banajee won for the second time the JK Tyre National Karting Championship, becoming in the process the only driver in India to have claimed this honor twice. As part of his prize, Banajee (see "From pole to podium,” Parsiana, November 2002) won a brand new Opel Corsa Sail, which he has pledged to donate to charity. Banajee also wins an entire season in Formula racing in India, sponsored by JK Tyres.

Banajee has been invited to take part in the first round of the Formula BMW Asia Championship in Dubai this March. He has succeeded, he says, in raising the required sponsor­ship for round one. As the reigning Indian Rotax Karting Cham­pion, Banajee was in Spain in January 2005 to officially repre­sent India at the World Rotax Karting finals, but an unfortunate accident in the first heat put paid to his hopes for that event.

Banajee: excellent racecraft

The National Karting Championship, Banajee explains, is a very tough event with 1,400 drivers from all over India taking part in the various rounds, with the top two finishers from each region making it to the finals. At the new purpose built track at Gurgaon, Banajee had a subdued start, posting a disappointing qualifying time. Starting third on the grid in the semi-final, he steadily built up the lead after lap one, finishing well ahead. Starting second on the grid for the finals, as the karts came around the corner in a rolling start formation, Banajee seemed to have lost ground. As the karts braked for a treacherous corner, pole sitter Deepak Chinnappa of Bangalore ran wide, Banajee describes. Rightly gauging the grip available, Banajee exited faster to power into the lead. From then on, it was a head down, fast lap after fast lap, but with just three laps remaining, Banajee developed a problem with his kart: "I was really worried... after my rear wheel hub-key broke. Luckily, I had a good lead and managed to nurse the kart to the finish line. It feels great to win the title second year in a row. I am really thankful to JK Tyres for all their support and also to my new sponsors Tata, the Poonawalla group and Peekay Wines.”

Earlier, in August 2004, Banajee tasted sweet success at the JK Tyre Asia Zone National Kart Open at the Kari Motor Speed­way in the textile town of Coim-batore, overcoming stiff challeng­es from experienced karters from Indonesia, Philippines and Malaysia, as well as the fastest Indian racing car driver Narain Karthikeyan. Describing the thrill of the race in the September 2004 issue of Overdrive, Adil Jal Darukhanawala writes under the headline "Rayomand blows ’em away!” "It was a glorious day for Indian karting and an even greater one for Poona lad Rayomand Banajee who covered himself in glory by driving a stunning race from second on the grid to win the prestigious Senior Rotax race. Rayomand, the reigning JK Tyre National Karting Champion, not only saw off the challenges from the better funded and more experienced outfits from South East Asia but he also quelled the challenge from none other than Karthikeyan to emerge victorious.

"The 125 cc liquid cooled engines used by the big boys are full blown units screaming to 13,000 rpm and delivering around 28 bhp — no wonder they were timed at close to 160 kmph down the straight!... At the start of this 25-lap race it was Rayomand who... dashed into the lead... not getting overawed by Narain’s sniping in the least. In fact, Narain made contact with the leader’s kart on more than (one) occasion leading to his own kart suffering damage. To com­pound matters, the engine began to lose power and by lap eight the fastest Indian in the world (Karthikeyan) had to park it, his race coming to a premature stop... Rayomand’s handling of his Arrows kart coupled (with) his excellent race craft and mastery of the circuit saw him take top honors.”