Women in Motorsport

About Us

Commission for Women in Motorsport, India

The Commission for Women in Motorsport, India; was established in January 2017 with the vision of harnessing the passion and talent of women in motorsport and preparing them for competition on the national and international stage. The commission enables this through a mission by providing guidelines, training and licenses/certification for women in all areas of Motorsport, not just driving and riding but for marshals, stewards, medical support and engineering to name just a few.

Further we now have two doyens of motorsports Arjun Balu and M R Dastur who have graciously volunteered their time to mentor sportswomen on two and four wheelers.

We are proud to share that India has perhaps the largest number of women participating in four wheeler rallies in the world – 845 in 2019. In two wheeler and four wheeler racing, karting, gymkahana, drag, autocross etc the total number is 202.

Further In 2019, Aishwarya Pissay won the World Cup at the Baja in Spain supported by TVS. JK Tyres and Meco Motorsports gave life to the international program FIA Girls on Track and Dare to be Different. This platform enabled girls to showcase their talent and the results have enabled us to identify our rising stars. Navaz Bathena Sindhu was a catalyst in bringing this program to India.

Since 2018 the Women in Motorsport Commission has been holding annual seminars where information is disseminated to two wheeler and four wheeler participants- on the way forward with the latest information from the FMSCI, FIA, FIM and sessions on marketing, health, mentoring etc.

Ahura Racing deserves a special mention for running the first Women’s only LGB F4 Team under the guidance of Sarosh Hataria.

Further, the Times of India have done a fantastic job, hosting one of the largest all Womens TSD car Rally’s in the world from Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune and Bangalore to Goa. They have also extended the car rallies for women in North India from Delhi to Chandigarh and Jaipur.

MRF MMSC run the Indian National Motorcycle Championship which has a women’s category and the One Make Championship for ladies is supported by TVS.

The success of this commission would not have been possible without the unstinting support of the Council, Secretary General and the Chairperson of the commission Sita Raina. Sincere thanks to the commission members Anita Nanjappa, Deepa Malik, & Renuka Kirpalani for their dedication and commitment to Women in Motorsport, India.

Sita Raina

Anita Nanjappa

Deepa Malik

Renuka Kirpalani

Vision

To trigger a passion for Motorsports in Women in India and prepare them for the National stage to then move on to the World stage.

Mission

To provide guidelines, training and license / certification in all areas of Motorsport for Women in India.

Message From Chairperson

Sita Raina

Chairperson – Women in Motorsports India.

Councillor – FMSCI

Vice President – Calcutta Motor Sports Club

It has been a very unusual, unprecedented beginning to the year. March and April 2020 will go down in history as one of the biggest pauses the world has had to face. Motorsport has gone through 5 pandemics and 2 world wars, I am sure it will come out stronger after this pandemic.

However, the Women’s Commission had got together despite the lockdown to address some of the concerns which have been noticed, as well as to create directions for the future. FIA has made suggestions that perhaps the best way to restart the motorsport activity is at the Grassroot level of motorsports, which is self-reliant, does not require an additional person in the car, for maintaining social distancing norms. Example – Autocross, Drag etc.

We are delighted that the doyens of motorsports Arjun Balu and M R Dastur, have agreed to MENTOR four wheeler and two wheeler sportswomen respectively. You can avail of their guidance at baluarjun@gmail.com and dastur46@gmail.com.

When I attend the FIA Women in Motorsport commission meeting in Geneva in early February this year, it was interestingly mentioned in a research paper that fathers, brothers and mothers are influencers in bringing women into motorsport. At the FIM meet which Anita attended, it had been suggested to bring a friend to a motorsports meets. We will be implementing these ideas as soon as we have plans to open up.

Niharika Ghorpade our only lady F1 accredited journalist has agreed to write an article for the Women in Motorsports magazine and has been connected to the editor.

TVS Racing and our Aman Jubbal [who came second in the Gymkhana National Championships 2019] did very engaging instagram interviews with both women and men in motorsports over March and April.Garima Avtar had video interviews with other sports personalities. Meco Motorsports led by Akbar Ebrahim had a very informative online sessions on e-sports, health tips, plans for the future and guidance to make a marketing plan for interested parties. Please check to see which programmes are continuing and which are available, as recorded content on their social media handles.

For those who would like to join motorsports as a participant,volunteer,marshal doctor or engineer please write to me at wim@fmsci.in

So hang in there ladies! Hone your skills in e-sports, continue exercising and remember we are looking forward to getting back on the track soon! Motorsport will get going again and its up to us to ensure it happens!

Sita Raina, Chairperson, FMSCI WIM Commission, email-wim@fmsci.in