Randolph Riedlinger becomes the 33rd International President in ...

Issue Nr.5 2008:Layout 1 18.03.2008 13:55 Seite 14
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IN MANY ways, they are
Chennai’s First Family of
motor sport, having produced
three generations
of champion racing and
rally drivers. Gregarious,
fun loving and hospitable,
the Chandhok clan, with
76- year old Indu presiding
over the brood, lives
and breathes motor
s p o r t .
Indu was among the architects
of organised
motor racing in India
when he, along with his
friends, ran a `War Memorial
to Guindy’ race
hack in the 1940s. In the
next decade, the action
moved to the abandoned
airstrip in Sholavaram on
the outskirts of Madras.
Sholavaram went on to become
synonymous with motor sport in
India .
At its peak, the Sholavaram
races attracted crowds of nearly
75,000 that were treated to
some hair-rais ing racing, involving
competitors from all parts of the
country in their hybrid and imported
cars and Bikes. By then,
Indu and his friends Babu Mathen,
K V Srinivasan,
M A Chidambaram, Genghi
Verghese and Partia Rao had
founded the Madras Motor
Sports in the 1950s .
“The Sholavaram races were
competitive but not hardcore.
We were all basically
amateurs and those days,
motor racing was limited to
the two weekends in February;”
recalls Indu’s eldest
son Bharat Vivek (Vicky for
skort), who competed from
1972 to 2000 .
Indu and his wife Indra, who got
married in 1956 at the Express
The “Fast” Past 41 International President
The racing Chandhoks,Indu,Past International President.
Vicky RT/OT Chennai,India and Karun.
Estates on Mount Road (now Anna
Salai), also sired Bharat Vibodh
and Archana. “My dad’s first
name is Bharat after India. The
reason was that my granddad,
Lala Indersen, was a freedom
fighter and so the Bharat‘. Also,
during the War years, our 11bedroom
home in Royapettah, opposite
Pilot cinema, was a hub of
activity as the women used to
knit and stitch clothes for the
army. We moved to our to individual
homes 1965 and until then,
our monthly rent was Rs 120!”
says Vicky.
Incidentally, Indersen founded
the Punjab Association in Madras
and subsequently the famous
DAV School.
The Chandhok family has roots in
Pakistan. Indersen was originally
from Bhera, a trading post in
Sindh province. Subsequently,
the family moved to Kolkatta and
then to Madras in 1931. Likewise,
Indra Chandhok’s family shifted
to India from
Lahore after the Partition.
It was in such an environment
Karun in the hot seat; with Berni Ecclestone; and victorious at Spa,
one of his best moments
AGM,. Gloucester GB 23rd - 26th April 2009
that Karun was born to Vicky and
Chitra on January 19, 1984. It’s