Karting world championships

The Madras International Karting Arena: Though they managed to represent the country in the top echelons of motorsports becoming the country’s first two Formula 1 drivers, Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok did that without going through the grind of participating in a go-karting circuit. That was because there was no global standard karting track in the country and therefore no go-karting ecosystem.

Infact they have never participated in karting races during their formative years. Though they did manage to reach the pinnacle of motorsports and participated in prestigious circuits like Formula 1, NASCAR (Narain) and Le Mans 24 Hours, they want the next generation of drivers in the country to come up through the go-karting circuit, just like the lines of the current lot of drivers including Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and old-timers like Mika Hakkinen.

To remove the anomaly in the Indian motorsport ecosystem, Karthikeyan and Chandhok along with Hakkinen on Thursday came together to inaugurate the first internationally-certified go-karting track in the country at the Madras Motor Sports Club here.