COIMBATORE: That distinctive smell of fuel and burned rubber, racing drivers walking around with their overalls pulled down to the waist and spanner-wielding mechanics peeping from underneath cars, wiping grease and sweat from their foreheads. The pit area of a racetrack comes across as one of the most testosterone-heavy spots in the world of sport.
One might imagine that it must be tough to be a girl in this world, but Mira Erda begs to differ. “It’s actually a lot of fun,” says one of the two female drivers to race in the JK Tyre National Racing Championships. “Boys are scared of me now. It’s fun to show everyone what I can do,” she says.
For her age – she is a couple of weeks away from turning 16 – Mira has been around in Indian motorsport quite a bit, climbing into her first kart six years ago. But this season has been something of a breakthrough year for Mira in single-seaters. With a round left in the LGB Formula 4 category featuring some of the heavyweights of Indian racing like Vishnu Prasad and Raghul Rangasamy, Mira has managed to stay in the top 10 throughout the season. The Baroda girl plans to build on what she has achieved in the last twelve months. “It has been a very good season for me and my performances have improved throughout,” she says. “Next year, I want to move on to the Euro JK 16 class. If the financials are good and I get enough sponsorship, I want to drive in the Asia Cup as well.”
As is the case with every young racer, Formula One is one of the things on Mira’s wishlist. No woman in recent memory has managed to cement down a drive there, but that isn’t stopping Mira from dreaming big. “Even getting a test drive in F1 would be so huge,” she says. “And it’s not like I don’t have female drivers who have done well internationally to derive inspiration from. I am a big fan of (former Williams F1 test driver) Susie Wolff and (NASCAR racer) Danica Patrick.”
While still in Class XI, school is something that Mira has to juggle with her racing career. It has its benefits, though. “My classmates are in awe when I tell them about racing. Every time I come back, they ask about how the race went and where I finished,” she says. But ask her about what she wants to become if a career in racing doesn’t work out and pat comes the answer! “No one.” Some focus, that!
vishnu.prasad@newindianexpress.com
