S. Karivardhan
Sundaram Karivardhan or short Kari ( June 20, 1954 Coimbatore, India – August 24, 1995 in the same town ) was a legendary figure of Indian 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 Chandok, and Armaan Ebrahim, to their entry into motorsports.
Sundaram Karivardhan was born on 20 June 1954 in Coimbatore 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. A wealthy industrialist, he was later killed in an air crash, aged 41.
He died on 24th of August 1995 while flying a Puspak trainer’s 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.
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 Coimbatore’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 Ibhrahim 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.