CHENNAI: When Chetan Korada was a toddler, his mother used to place toy cars at a distance and watch her little son make his way to them. “That’s how I taught him how to walk,” says Padma. Many kids love Hot Wheels, but little do we expect them to become racers, and that too using artificial limbs. Chetan was born with a deformity in both legs — the bones below his knees grew crooked — and when several corrective surgeries didn’t offer respite, doctors said Chetan will have to take to a wheelchair, or get his legs amputated. Padma okayed amputation — she didn’t want Chetan to go through life on a wheelchair, waiting for science to come up with a miracle; top doctors she consulted weren’t anticipating such inventions. “That is the age when you start walking. I wanted him to walk,” she says.
“Pain was consistent and continuous,” she says. In his growing up years, Chetan’s prosthesis legs had to be changed every six months and whenever the stitches opened up, he’d be bedridden. But Chetan always got back. He started walking the same time as kids of his age and played football, basketball, tennis and other sports. “Because I had no clutches, I learned to balance my body. Physio and sports made my muscles strong; my school (The School KFI) too gets credit for never treating me differently,” he says.
Chetan pursued Audio Engineering diploma along with BBA (distance-learning) to become a DJ and also frequented Chennai’s go-karting tracks. “Back then, there were only two — Danny’s Karting and Kart Attack,” recalls the 31-year-old. Seeing his passion, in 2007, a classmate whose father was a racer took Chetan to Madras Motor Race Track on track open day. “I hired a Formula LGB Swift, but wasn’t sure I’ll fit in it with my prosthetics. Instead, I felt so comfortable that I knew this is what I want to do.”
Soon Chetan applied for a professional license. Besides mandatory medical tests, he had to undergo “special on-track trials as the federation wanted to assess whether I’d be a danger to other drivers. Seeing how beautifully I controlled the car, they became confident.” In 2009, he began training with F3 champion Akbar Ebrahim and won that year’s MMSC Summer Cup.
While most racers only focus on training and testing different cars, Chetan runs a direct-marketing business with QNET. “Initially, my family supported me, but later I’d win the investment back with the prize money. I wanted a passive source of income. When I started out, we’d spend `1.5 lakh a year, but today every series costs `5 - `7 lakhs.” Since 2011, QNET has also been his sponsor. Chetan has participated in over 150 races, won another cup, been a runner-up champion twice, second runner-up champion once and an instructor for Nissan PS3 GT Academy and TATA Prima truck racing program.
“Handicapped is a mental situation, its not in my dictionary,” he says. This year, Chetan plans to up his game by participating in three national series instead of his usual one and go international with MRF International Challenge; a Southeast Asia Pacific series may also be on the cards. His ultimate dream? “To be an F1 driver. I also look forward to internationally recognised series such Formula E and World Endurance Championships,” says the Ayrton Senna fan.
Podium Finishes and
Racing Highlights
● 2017: Second runner-up champion in MRF MMSC FMSCI National Racing Championship
● 2015: Runner-up champion at MRF FMSCI National Racing Championship
● 2014: Finished fourth out of 24 finalists in the Mercedes Benz Youngster Driver Challenge shootout session
● 2012: Wins MMS Mini Enduro and Sprint
● 2011: Runner-up at Kart1 series and enters national arena with JK Tyre FMSCI National Racing Championships, where he finishes first in one of race despite starting as 12th among 23 cars
● 2007-2010: Participates in several junior races with Formula Maruti cars and is crowned the MMSC Summer Cup Champion in 2009
Scorching the track
His day begins with breakfast at 7 am followed by a two-hour workout, research on cars, specs, etc., lunch preparation, two-hours on a custom-made racing simulator (it offers him 70% experience of racing different cars, on different tracks) and business till 9.30pm. Internationally, Billy Monger, Alex Zanardi and Frédéric Sausset race with prosthesis legs, but unlike Chetan they lost them to racing and use modified cars with hand-controlled clutch, brake and accelerator. Chetan doesn’t use modified cars because he doesn’t like to depend on anything. That’s why he avoids prosthetics with hydraulics and springs; Elite by Endolite allows him to feel the pressure, the GForce, the push-back, and manoeuvre accordingly.
