Everybody loves Rayomand and his go-kart

He''s now gunning for the Formula BMW racing event that will lead him to race in the F3 circuit. But that is a few crores and tons of luck away.
Meanwhile, Pune''s Go-karting champ Rayomand Banajee did the country and city proud by winning the Senior category in the Asian Zone race in Coimbatore beating some of the biggest names in Asia as well as Narain Karthikeyan.
This is the first time that the race was introduced in India. But this guy who is particular about getting into his kart only from the left side is looking at winning the national leg of this championship so that he can compete at the world finals in Spain.
He goes on to say, "This race is very special to me because it happened for the first time in India and also because I got to race with Narain Kartikeyan. This race gave Indian racers a chance to compete with the world''s best without spending all that much."
Apart from competing at various championships in the country, Rayomand instructs at the Karting school in Coimbatore and Bangalore.
Another one of Rayomand''s superstition is that when he picks up his gloves, he only wears the one on top first. In spite of his various lucky charms he feels he''s not all that lucky.
"I would like to go as high as I can in terms of racing, but the main hurdle is sponsorship. Like for the Formula BMW race I require Rs 60 lakh. After that, for the F3 I need a budget of Rs 3 crore. Realistically speaking, it''s all about the money."
This computer science student gave up studies for his passion. "Not everything is about lucrative business. It''s a lot of hard work but at the end of the day, it gives me great satisfaction."
Ask how supportive his parents are and he says, "Well, quite frankly, racing is a foolish passion because the chances of winning are low. Despite that they have been very supportive. Sometimes however, they do get fed up with my travelling but then I come back with a trophy and they feel happy."
At the recent championship in Coimbatore, a fellow racer went over Rayomand''s kart injuring his back. "These sort of things happen but it''s never too serious in karting."
While Rayomand is currently leading in all national karting championships it might be a while before he can break on through to the other side.