Shifting gears

His speed and skill as a racer won him eight national championship titles in karting and formula racing, as well as a second place finish in the Asian Rotax Karting Championship 2007. Yet in 2006, at the peak of his prowess, Rayomand Banajee opened up a new track: "I took a sabbatical from racing go-karts myself. I wanted to concentrate more on Formula racing at that time. However I was very keen to give something back to the sport. The intention was to give drivers with potential the correct direction and facilities to become future champions,” the racer says. Thus the ignition came on for team Rayo Racing (RR), whose drivers have won 10 championship titles and over 110 trophies in India and abroad so far, both in individual and team categories.

One of the winning drivers in karting is young Jehan Daruvala. "He came to us for basic training when he was just 10 years old. A lot of hard work has gone in from all of us. The lad and his family are very committed towards his racing career,” Banajee states. Within two years of starting to drive a kart, 11-year-old Daruvala secured first place last year in the Micro Max (eight-12 years) category in the JK Tyre Rotax championship. "Subsequently, after a lot more hard work, he is running amongst the top drivers in Asia. Recently he won a race in the All Stars karting series in Malaysia,” says his mentor. "This year will be his first as a junior (12-15 years category) which is going to be very tough for him, but we are hopeful he will do well in spite of being one of the youngest drivers in the group.”

The thrill of speed (top); Rayomand Banajee (ext left) with eighth national title trophy and Jehan Daruvala (above, center) with JK Tyre Rotax Micro Max cup

Banajee sees a good road ahead. "I would like my team to enter Formula racing soon as well. We also intend expanding into numerous other motorsport activities,” he declares. RR recently organized one of India’s largest rallies. "This was for the Bohri community to celebrate their leader’s 100th birthday. We are also dealers for numerous motorsport related products in India,” Banajee adds.

RR conducts basic level training in Bombay and Goa. "Due to a lack of proper facility in this region, we conduct professional level training (intermediate and advanced) in Kolhapur. We also train our drivers for specific events in Malaysia once in a while,” he elaborates. Financing is a major road block. Bharat Petroleum (BP) provided the funding for the first two years and so the team was initially called Speed Rayo Racing (Speed being the oil major’s premium fuel brand). "They stopped after the oil crisis. BP, Cinthol and Tropicana Telecom have been my personal sponsors in the past. At the moment we do not have any sponsors, but are hoping to get a couple of companies on board,” explains Banajee.

Tucked into team seat belts are experience and several podium place finishes at Senior Rotax as well as World Formula Junior and Senior races, as per their website. "Expanding at the international level is also on the cards,” he asserts. Banajee can be contacted on rayoracing@gmail.com