Motor Power For Indian Women

Khel Today Bureau

New Delhi: It’s no longer about women in power, it’s about women with motorpower. The governing body for motorsport in India; the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI), instituted the Women In Motorsport (WIM) commission in January 2017.

The aim of this commission is to engage, empower, educate and support all women who want to compete. Be it at as participants behind the wheels or behind the scenes in motorsport events, women’s motorsport has grown.

Beginning at the grassroot level and moving onto the National stage and then enabling them to step up to the world stage by providing guidelines, training and license / certification in all areas of motorsport, the WIM has been doing its job diligently.

The high for the WIM was in 2019 when bike queen Aishwariya Pissay won the first place in the women’s category at the FIM (Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme) Baja World Cup and second in the juniors. Aishwarya, based in Bengaluru, is passionate about racing and even over the weekend won in Bengaluru.

When the Corona virus pandemic broke out in 2020, Ashi Hanspal was chosen to represent India in the Girls on Track, a global talent development programme of the FIA(Federation International de l’Automobile) Women In Motorsport (WIM) . In 2021,Dr. Sweety Purushotham, was selected, trained and certified by the FIA as a Chief Medical officer. Divya Miglani ,our first women Deputy Clerk of the Course in India, is also certified by the FIA, and trained by them as Circuit Race Director. This was in a year when there were so many restrictions across all sport in the world.

The National Championships of Racing and Rallying scene was active in pockets during the 2020 season despite pandemic .In the Women’s category of the 2 two-wheeler MRF MMSC National Racing Championship the category was won by Ann Jennifer.

In the two-wheeler Indian National Sprint Rally Championship the winner in the Women’s category was Ryhana Bee, The two-wheeler Indian National Rally Championship winner was Aishwarya Pissay and the JK Tyre National Racing Championship was dominated in women’s section by Anushriya Gulati. She was the rookie champion in the FLGB4 category

Less than a week ago, Zena Lani Fernandez is the first girl to participate in the JK Tyre Royal Enfield Continental GT Cup riding a 650cc bike.

The efforts of the WIM during the pandemic was to focus on training and instituting a welfare policy and sustainability programme. The WIM continued to involve women in motorsport with webinars by experts – ‘Tune into your mind and body’, ‘Emotional Intelligence’, ‘Training of Volunteers and officials’ and was invited by the FIM to host a global webinar on ‘Yogic breathing and Meditation in motorsport’.

Further, Mira Erda was invited to participate in a FIA webinar on a career in journalism and Niharika Ghorpade ,on a discussion panel on F1 by FIA WIM in 2020.

There are four dynamic women spearheading the Women’s Commission in India , Sita Raina — her father was Suresh Kumar — the chairman of the Calcutta motorsport club and founder member of the FMSCI. She is the first woman councillor on the board of FMSCI , first Chairperson of WIM and represents India on the FIA WIM board. She is also a director of The Peninsula Studios.

Celebrated Para athlete Deepa Malik, Padmashri ,Arjuna Award and Khel Ratna awardee is also the chairperson of the Paralympic committee 2021 . Because of Deepa, WIM India will be inviting people with disability to train as Marshals and volunteers in motorsport.

Upon being asked why she was taking the initiative to involve herself in promoting motorsports, Ms. Deepa Malik, President of Paralympic Committee of India said “That’s a very good question. I wanted to join this initiative to change this perception about women and particularly about women about disabilities. I hope this initiative will encourage more and more career options for women in motor sports. There are lot of people who think that women cannot take up such career in racing or rallies and this step is aimed at changing such perceptions”

Anita Nanjapa, eight-time national champion as co rider represents India on the FIM WIM

Renuka Kirpalani has National Podiums for Circuit racing and rallies. She is an Executive Editor of Video Content on a well known car network and test driver.

WIM would like to Invite all girls and women who are passionate about cars, engineering and speed to come and be a part of our community, starting as young as young eight years of age.