Karting
Sneha Sharma, a pathbreaker in Indian motorsports
An airline pilot and racing champion, Sneha Sharma proves that while racing may seem male-dominated, it's actually an even field for anyone ready to play.
Sneha Sharma’s love for motor racing began in 2004.
Now aged 27, and a very well-accomplished pilot with one of India’s top domestic airlines, Sneha remembers the first time she sat in a go-kart as a wide-eyed teenager.
“When I was about 14 years old I heard there is something called go-karting in town,” the Mumbai resident recalls. “I was always looking for different things to do; I used to love speed, cycling and everything."
“So the moment I got into the kart I fell in love with it. I clocked the fastest lap time of the day on that course. I just fell in love with the feeling of speed and adrenaline. I would spend all my days off from school over there. I would spend all my pocket money and lunch money just to do four laps.”
Sneha now ranks among the top woman racers in India, regularly competing in the national karting and racing championships. But her journey, like so many others, began only after she courageously went out looking for a new adventure and found a place for herself in motor racing.
Her dedication, which saw her skip breakfast as a school-going student just so she could save time and money to kart, was born out of a passion for speed. But the dedication only came about after her first step onto a karting track.
Starting young
Sneha’s early days at the track were all about leisure. But a chance encounter, watching national karting-level drivers on the same course she regularly zoomed around, got her interested in racing professionally.
It was at this stage that she upped her ante, while also acquiring technical knowledge of karting with the help of some supportive mechanics.
“After 10th standard, I saw two people driving on the race track very smoothly,” she said. “They were in sync with each other. I asked the mechanics, and they told me they are drivers in the national championship. I was mesmerised."
“I told the mechanics that I want to get trained. Since I had no access to anybody from motorsport, my first teachers were those mechanics. I paid one of them from my pocket money and got trained on racing techniques such as cornering skills, braking techniques and racing lines."
“I would practice a lot on that track, sit and talk about the engine, the tuning, and more.”
Sneha Sharma on track
© Sneha Sharma
After putting in enough miles at the now-defunct track in Powai, and gaining the technical know-how to race, Sneha began competing in small championships around the country.
At one such event, she caught the attention of Rayomand Banajee, a former racer who now runs the Rayo Racing karting squad.
Impressed by her skills, Banajee suggested she compete in the national karting championship. And she duly followed his advice, graduating to a fully-professional series for the first time.
But just as she was preparing to get more significant traction on the circuits, education and career led her down a different path. She spent 11 months in the USA to complete her training to earn a flying license and become a pilot.
“I went for my flying course at the age of 17 to California, US,” she recalls. “When I went there I thought my racing career was over. At the time, I didn’t know I would reach where I am today. But I wanted to come back and race.”
Sneha Sharma, during her early karting days
© Sneha Sharma
Despite securing a high-paying job on her return to India a year later, Sneha’s love for motorsport drew her back into racing.
In fact, 2009 turned out to be a breakthrough year for Sneha as she came back fitter and more competitive than ever to finish runner-up in the National Karting Championship.
A new path
Her racing career witnessed a seismic shift in 2010 when she took a different path than initially planned. Sneha got into karting hoping to venture into single-seater racing. However, she raced in the Volkswagen Polo Cup — a touring car series — in 2010, followed by a stint in the Toyota Etios series and a top-five finish in the Mercedes driver development hunt.
While she embraced the challenge of racing cars with closed roofs, the lure of formula cars drew her back in, and she raced in JK Tyre’s LGB category — an entry-level single-seater championship — in 2014.
Like many racers in India, Sneha’s early career choices were made based on what sponsorship she could secure. But once she started flying with IndiGo, she decided that she earned enough to invest in her own racing career, automatically going back into formula racing by choice.
At the Buddh International Circuit
© Sneha Sharma
“I finished fourth in my very first formula race. Then I got approached by JK Tyre for sponsorship and moved to the Formula 4 Nationals. Then I won various races in the formula junior racing 1,300 cars; I won five races. I also clocked the second fastest lap time in the whole championship.”
Sneha finished 10th in the 2016 LGB season and would have had hoped for a better showing in 2017 after signing up with Akbar Ebrahim’s Meco Motorsport team.
However, things didn’t go according to plan. A tight schedule of racing and flying took a toll on her body, and recovery attempts with yoga also failed. In the end, knee problems sustained during the period forced her to abort her 2017 racing campaign.
“I had planned on winning the championship, and I was working really hard between flying and racing. But my muscles were not recovering. So I hired a yoga trainer, who made me do certain exercises which pushed my body."
“That backfired, and I hurt both my knees. I had to do some hydrotherapy in the swimming pool and a lot of other physiotherapy exercises and rehab.”
She has won multiple awards; as a pilot and as a racer
© Sneha Sharma
Undeterred by comments
Over the ten years, she’s been racing in various categories, Sneha has worked hard on and off the track to establish herself in the Indian motorsport scene.
She has lost over 30 kg of weight since her school days and proved her fitness level in a 24-hour endurance race where she drove for over nine hours — even though her original shift was only meant to be a four-hour stint. However, Sneha has had to lobby against crude remarks, particularly when her racing acumen has been challenged.
“I’m a very swift driver. I make bold and sharp moves. I dive in if I see an opportunity,” she says when describing her racing style.
Unfortunately, those threatened by her racing style have regressively fallen back on incorrect statements that she is a reckless driver. There have been racing incidents when her aggressive driving style has been blamed even if she wasn’t at fault.
“If there are two-three drivers involved, the finger will always be raised on the woman. [They will say] that the girl doesn’t know how to drive.”
But Sneha ignores such statements. Her race wins and medals haven’t come from pandering to regressive mindsets — they have been as a result of her forward-thinking approach and passion for her sport.
She moved to touring cars before taking up single seater racing
© Sneha Sharma
Looking ahead
Now fully recovered from injuries, Sneha is contemplating between staying in LGB for another year or graduating to the Euro JK (Formula BMW) class of the JK Tyre Racing Championship. However, she doesn't want to rush into the decision, saying she will only choose to do so if she feels fit enough to make the jump.
“I’ve driven it, but mainly for a photoshoot. It’s an amazing car,” she said about the formula-class car.
With the new season of JK LGB and Formula BMW still several months away, Sneha's immediate focus remains on training and fitness.
Red Bull Catch Up is a one-of-its-kind amateur go kart tournament for women. To read more about the ongoing competition, click here.
Sneha spoke at TEDxSurat in June 2017
© Sneha Sharma