KARACHI:

Imagine a country having no professional racing track, people with little to no knowledge about safety and no government support – it would be inconceivable to think that a country such as that could produce any professional motorsport athletes. However, Pakistan, a country which is nothing if not a series of contradictions in itself, has against all odds, has managed to do that a few times over.

Pakistan has made its name in cricket but specifically in regards to a trendy athletic endeavor such as motorsport, Pakistan has been left far behind even its neighbouring countries.

Still despite this regressive background in motorsport, the land has produced some excellent professional motorbike, drift, kart, off-road and motocross athletes. Unfortunately, the only role that the country played in producing these athletes was perhaps only a literal one, was giving them a place of birth, whereas their talent and skills had to find another country to be polished and gain professional racers' title.

Motorsport involves multiple types of competitive sporting events that primarily involve motorised vehicles, whether for racing or non-racing competition. Pakistan being a non-motorsport country, still has a lot of talent in some of these sports. But this talent sadly doesn't have any structured platform to fully shine and immerse itself in the sport. Hence, they take their passions onto the roads and in the process risk their lives as well as those of other drivers on the roads.

 

Some motorsport athletes have faced life threatening consequences for indulging in the thrilling sport before finally moving to another country to become professional racers and yet still proudly display the flag of their native country on their racing suits. And to that, these races dream of one dy creating a safe platform within Pakistan for other such athletes to be able to partake in the sport in future.

Speaking about motorsport talent in Pakistan, you will come across many names who possess talent in bike, drift, off-road rally, dirt bike and karting sports. Many of whom have made some name for themselves in these sports despite having limited facilities at their disposal.

 

Talent on two wheels

Pakistan has many sports bike racers with all kinds of expensive and unique bikes but tragically they are all ridden on roads alongside the regular traffic. On Sundays, these recreational bikers swarm and surge the main roads in droves of tens and hundreds in less populated areas of their native cities looking to compete with other fellow thrill-seeking bikers, all in the name of fulfilling their desire to bike race since there isn’t a single professional racing track for these bikers in Pakistan.

This not only causes a considerable number of deaths in accidents while racing, on top of that, the racers have no interest in wearing a helmet for their safety, which demonstrates a lack of knowledge about safety procedures (or perhaps even a careless and caution-to-the wind approach), which can only be taught if there are clearly laid racing tracks that include a standard operating procedure which also include safety measures.

 

When we talk about sports bikers in Pakistan the only name that comes up is Usman Ghani. Ghani is the only professional racer with a Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) license and who also happens to be a qualified coach.

Ghani himself has an interesting story but for Pakistani racers he feels that they possess a talent is far greater than that of races in the other nations however, he believes the necessary professional racing tracks and competitions needed for a sport of this nature are what’s missing here.

The 27-year-old racer who grew up in a family with the passion for sports bikes in Pakistan began off racing sports bikes on the roads until the day he lost his dear friend in a road accident during a race.

 

"I have seen the worst outcome of riding bikes on roads. But unfortunately, this the only choice that racers in Pakistan have,” he said.As a result of this accident, to pursue his passion of bike racing, Ghani ended up moving Dubai where I found the right racing circuit for himself. “This move is the reason today I am the first and only professional bike racer of Pakistan," said Ghani, who has so far in his racing career broken more than 22 bones in his body.

During his three-year racer career in Dubai, he has finished on multiple podiums and is now targeting all the big races in the world. "I reached this place because I lost a friend and moved to Dubai. I don't want others to live out a similar fate. I want to help the government and private investors build the first-ever racing track in Pakistan," he said. "A track is much safer and if I had been riding on the roads without safety equipment, then I would not only broken bones but would have also died the very first time I crashed."

The thrill of the screech

Almost everyone has at least once watched a drift race televised on their movie screens. Well, having a real-time experience is a whole different world. A car screeches around a corner, sliding through a turn with wheels smoking right in front of the audience. But drifting is more than a car chase or a ‘Fast and Furious’ movie. It's a sport where the audience experiences the entire vision of the track right in front, this is why this is the most engaging motorsport.

 

In Pakistan, we see many drivers drifting on roads that are later on closed after some horrifying incident or another. One of them includes the one of Babur Zia, Pakistan’s first professional drifter to hold a Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile license. It was again an accident similar to the one Ghani’s friend went through that compelled him to the international races.

Zia, who started off with drag races on the roads of Pakistan during his teen years, came across an accident which he was able to dodge well enough to avoid bodily harm but was followed but which resulted in his car getting plenty banged up. Babur who believes that in a drag race, 20 per cent of the driver requires is skills and the remaining 80 per cent is the car, feels that in this particular accident, it was the car to blame.

Zia was driving his car on extreme left lane where there was a pile of dust on the road and that was the moment when one of the wheels couldn’t get the traction. The car, which was a RX7, had limited-slip differential LSD installed, so it couldn’t distribute the power to all wheels evenly and as a result, it flipped over several times.

 

“In this it was the fault of the track and the car system, but I was blamed for all of it by the racing community that I grew up,” he said. “They said that I couldn’t handle the power of the car, which was not true.”

The accident finally forced him to leave drag racing and Zia movied to Malaysia for his undergraduate degree, where his friend took him to a professional drift race and slowly, he drifted back into the motorsport.

"The reason to quit racing was not having a proper track nor any respect for the sport or sportsman. There was also nobody who was organising professional races,” said Zia. “Malaysia is the country that brought out the racer in me and lightened me up enough again to get back onto the driving seat," said the resident of Islamabad.

 

It took him a year to gain his license and five full years to start earning in the sport he loved. "The time that it took me to start to earn was because I belonged to Pakistan, where there is not a single sponsor for motorsport. Malaysian Companies prefer Malaysian racers. Hence, I was left having no sponsor from my own country," he lamented.

He added that Pakistani advertisers have to change their way of thinking and spending money. "I have spent my precious years racing abroad but not everyone is as lucky as me, who have the financial support of their family and can therefore, move to another country in order to pursue their motorsport dreams,” he said. “We have to create opportunities for local racers but again a proper track is our first need.” Zia has now moved back to Pakistan with the intention of bringing drifting series to Pakistan.

Karting to success

Karting is not only an exciting sport in its own right but no matter which type of motorsport you belong to, if your start is from karting, then the progress is much more comfortable. It is also the ultimate springboard for any Formula One star of the future to learn their craft.

Some of the most famous and successful Formula One drivers such as seven times Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher, three times Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton started out in karting. Sebestian Vettel, who has won multiple races from the age of 11, Australian Formula One driver Mark Webber, who started off karting at the age of four and won many karting championship before making his debut in Formula One and Grand Prix, Kimi Raikkonen, who did karting for 10 years before making the switch to Formula One car racing and the youngest points scorer in Formula One history, Russian Daniil Kvyat, did kart racing before he was signed by a Italian-based Toro Rosso F1, at the age of 10.

 

Pakistan has several approved karting tracks in Islamabad and Lahore of 2F2F Karting Club who offer a safe environment and safety gears for karting to car racing lovers. Another one has been recently made at the Airmen Recreational Park which is expected to be open for drifting too. “Still the karting level in Pakistan is still below par," says Ahmed Yastoor Mirza, the first Pakistani to finish Podium in the Formula BMW Race in Madrid, Spain in the year 2011 as well as having additonally participated in three other Formula Gulf 1000 races with his Suzuki RFR F1000. Yastoor is one of the top kart racers who has represented Pakistan in international races. However, his story is no different from that of Ghani and Zia’s; while Yastoor lives in Pakistan, he too has to travel abroad, to England, to practice and race.

Yastoor started karting by luck at a very early age in England, where he was on a holiday visiting his brother. He soon got fond of it, and on returning to Pakistan, joined the karting club in his hometown of Islamabad.

 

"Once I found a track, I went there and realised that the level of track and karts was nowhere near the one in England. This is the reason that I had to go to England to practice and then one day started racing professionally there too,” he added.

He further explained that as there is no competition held locally and no representation internationally, he had to go abroad in pursuit of his passion. “More tracks are being made, but we have to bring in the quality if we want a professional racer, as it is said all the professional racers are made from karting,” he said.

Growing Off-Road

Off-road is the most popular type of motorsport. There are several off-road races held every year with colossal participation locally and internationally. Cholistan Desert Jeep Rally, Gwadar Off-Road Rally, Pakistan Off-Road Desert Challenge Rally Jhal Magsi and Thal Jeep Rally, are some top races, whereas more are in line to hold their inaugural races soon.

This sport involves big cars, jeeps and SUVs. We see the world's most expensive SUVs coming here to race, including Ford Raptor featured in 2020, which won a number of races. Races from all around Pakistan and other countries also come to Pakistan to race on these tracks.

For off-road rallies, things are very more different: private investors and landlords organise these rallies and now, even the government has started to step in with the government of Gilgit-Baltistan holding events for the last five years.

This is the only sport that is growing in Pakistan with international participation. "We have been participating in these races for the last 15 years, and every year we see more participants signing up with their equipped vehicles," said off-road racer Sahibzada Farhan.

"The good thing about this is that this sport doesn't require many efforts in terms of building the track. You just have to head to the deserts and make an exciting track. Every year there is an extension in the track and in 2020, we raced on 107 km off-road race track," said Farhan.

This sport is not only followed by men but many female racers take part in these races. "I started off racing in 2007, and since then there has been no turning back for me. I have won many races and also competed with men and given them a hard time," said Pakistan's first female off-road racer Tushna Patel, who was ended up following her husband, Roni Patel, in to the sport.

"It is the mindset that needs to be changed, if men are coming, they should bring their families along to develop their interest, “ said Patel. “This is how I developed my interest. Everything is available for them, they just have to step out of their comfort zone and come out here.”

 

These races provided a platform for racers, and the local businesses of these deserted areas also benefit financially when people come here and camp during races.

Dirt to dirt

Like off-road rallies, dirt bike racing is also done on the motocross tracks but built in the form of a circuit.

Although Pakistan doesn't have many off-road bikers, it's lucky enough to have a track located in the Kala Shah Kaku, a town located 19km west from Lahore. Pakistan's first off-road track is not built by the government but instead privately, by a man named Moin Khan.

San Francisco-based Moin Khan has so much passion for bikes that he rode from San-Francisco to Pakistan on a motorbike and made this his home. The sports bike-turned dirt bike racer Moin was introduced to dirt biking in San Francisco, and since then he has never looked back.

"The moment I got on the motocross track, I was amazed by it. Initially, I had trouble riding the bike, but once I got the hang of it of it, it was me, my bike and the track all day long," he said adding that the learning curve from sports bike to motocross was too high. He noted that it was at that time that he stopped riding on the roads and began on tracks.

 

Talking about his attraction to motocross, he said that it's just the matter of trying it once. "This is the pinnacle of two-wheel. This is where one can really hone their skills,” he said. “There are other off-road racing happening but for bike racing, this is the first track where anyone can come and learn different skills."

Moin is not the only one passionate about developing motocross in Pakistan, his wife is as devoted as he is. The completed track and was open for public in 2019 also encourages women to come and experience two-wheel.

Need to fast ‘track’

No matter which motorsport it is or which athlete, all have one need, which is professional racing tracks. Without these tracks, racers will continue to race on roads and risk their own lives as well as others.

Ghani was recently here in Pakistan to talk to the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in an effort to build the first-ever racing track in Pakistan. "It was terrific to see the government taking an interest but the layout of the track had flaws. I went there to meet them and talk about it, but unfortunately, they were stuck in meetings. I have conveyed my message and hope to see a good track soon," he said, adding that he is also in talks with Balochistan government to build an initially low-cost but revenue-generating racing track there too.

Zia agrees with the notion that track racing is a lot safer than competing on the roads. "All the racers should be brought to the tracks. This will not only keep them safe but give them a real taste of competitive racing," he said.

Moin added that he has many friends who race on roads. "Once I got on the track, I fell in love with it and now I love it this much that I can ride all day here. The experience is totally different from the road," he said.