From Heels To Sports Shoes: Formula 4 Racer Aditi Patankar바카라�s Journey Defies Labels

It is 20 minutes past noon, and Coimbatore바카라�s sun is at its peak. Mumbai-based Aditi Patankar, standing at the Kari Motor Speedway, makes her way to the rest stop after completing her morning training. The routine, or the sport, is slightly unfamiliar to her. But that doesn바카라�t stop her from partaking in a Formula 4 racing championship.

바카라�This is my first time so the experience would be completely overwhelming, I'm sure. But I'm looking forward to it,바카라� she says, the expectant tone in her voice evident.

Aditi바카라�s training wheels came off this weekend, at the JK Tyre FMSCI National Racing Championship held in Coimbatore between December 9th to 13th. She is part of an elite all-women F4 team by Ahura Racing, and this competition was her maiden voyage into motorcar sports.

It was a new chapter for her, brought on by the unexpected ways of the pandemic. Other chapters that have preceded this beginning have little in common with each other: she has worked in marketing, banking, pageant production, and fashion industry, before landing on the racetracks of F4. 

In this pursuit of versatility, Aditi has deftly worn shoes of varying shapes and sizes -- and each one has fit like a glove. 

Donning the sporting gear

It was February this year when she joined SBM Bank India, after shifting base from London, UK to India. She came across a post referencing a 바카라�Talent Hunt바카라� from Ahura Racing during the early days of the pandemic. India바카라�s first all-women F4 racing team was scouting for new members, and Aditi was eager to enlist. The team is led by Sarosh Hataria, who is a three-time national championship winner.

바카라�I didn't take a second to decide that this is for me and I should go for it," she says, reflecting on how shifting gears from the corporate or pageant world to sports came very naturally to her. 

The criteria for selection were twofold: any woman who knows driving, and has made her peace with the risk involved in racing.  25 people participated in the final round of the national talent hunt, out of which she placed third. It was a three-second difference that separated her from her co-winners.

Factors that went into selection included best lap timing, ability to drive well, fitness test, simulator timings, and a written test. Against the backdrop of the pandemic, the talent hunt was carried out with protocols like temperature check, masks, self-health declaration form, fumigation, pulse oxymeter, and car sanitisation in place. Even training happened in batches, Aditi recalls.

Sponsorship in F4, like any other sport, was key to managing the expenses that come with it. Aditi finds herself beaming with gratitude as she mentions all the companies that came together to support her and promote a woman바카라�s racer brand. SBM Bank India, Brandwok & Mrs India UK, Radio Chutney Singapore, Enfield Riders, Zero Risqué Facemasks, Bucket List Experiences, Momentum 바카라� Luxury Fitness Club, Urban Desi Store, AGLP Enterprises 바카라� UK and Pentagram Pictures 바카라� UK donned the role of her sponsors.

Aditi jumped through hoops to land a competing spot in Coimbatore. Motorcar sports for women is a fledgeling field, but that didn바카라�t deter Aditi from getting in on the ground floor. Instead, the fact that it was a field largely undiscovered fueled her interest and inspiration. 

바카라�There is a lot of learning over here,바카라� she notes. Being a Formula 4 racer, being one of the only married women, competing with men and women in a race that you바카라�re just starting to understand -- there바카라�s a fair share of nerves and trepidation. But for Aditi, the sticks and stones give her just the right amount of push towards her potential. 

It바카라�s all worth the effort for when you finally get on the track, sit in a low-seated car with the engine ramming triple digits in speed. It can make you feel like a different person, and Aditi thrives on that feeling. 

She chalks up this interest to her father and brother. Sport played an important part in her family, with both involved in some athletic field. Her father taught her everything she knew about sports, and groomed her in terms that made her sure of her choices today.

It gives me pride and joy to be a sportsperson, she says.

Probing the myth of beauty 

Hers isn바카라�t a conventional 바카라�sports background바카라�, as one would like to think. While she has been an avid bike rider and enjoys driving, there바카라�s no professional expertise that grants her immediate credibility. She comes from the far end of the spectrum. 바카라�From heels to sports shoes has been a different journey altogether.바카라�

She has been a former beauty queen, the winner of Mrs India Singapore in 2015. She ran four seasons of Mrs India UK as a founder in London, which fleshed itself out as a platform to celebrate Indian married women. Her pageant production company catalyses the support and raises funds for important causes. In the last three years, they have donated almost INR15 lakhs to three Indian NGOs. 

Aditi sought to craft beauty pageants in a way they could ooze with meaning and purpose. 바카라�I wanted to redefine the myth of beauty. There바카라�s a narrative that casts conventionally attractive people in a certain way. But I wanted to bring out how personalities aren바카라�t limited to how someone looks,바카라� she says. 

You can be a pageant participant and still brim with excitement over sports -- the fields don바카라�t have to be mutually exclusive, she says. Even in F4, some have experience and expertise in different sports and some don바카라�t. But both can come out with great achievements, the difference doesn바카라�t have to separate them. 

Personal pillars of strength

Aditi knows better than to let conventions define her choices. Was there an inflexion point, a time she can trace her perseverance back to? 

The moment sits clear in her memory, as if plucked out from yesterday. 바카라�I was participating in one of the pageants in Mumbai. It was also when my dad had severe cancer. He had always been excited about it and told me I would do very well. On the day of the finale, he passed away... On that day, everything changed for me.바카라�

Dreams, she realised, weren바카라�t just her own -- they shared allegiance with other people in her life too. It ingrained in her an idea of responsibility, ownership, and shared accountability. She later moved to Singapore and London with her family and started her production companies there. The familial unit, she is happy to declare, is her powerhouse -- the source of her energy and joy.

바카라�My support system is dependent on my family and Prashant, my husband (who is an ex-hockey player). I do not have to think twice before taking opportunities. Whenever I'm not available, he just balances the household chores and takes care of our kids. That is something which encourages me to put my best foot forward, and take on any kind of challenges that I look forward to.바카라� 

She has been married for 12 years, and has two children: an eight-year-old daughter and a one-year-old son. After living in Singapore and London for 10 years, she came back to India in 2019 to finally settle in the city that will always be a home to her. 

바카라�My daughter is too excited for my new innings -- I바카라�m at that stage of career where I바카라�m starting something afresh and she is eager to watch me do new things. I want her to see and get as much exposure as she can and decide her own path,바카라� she says. 

A journey of redefining

She hopes to be a role model to her daughter, and introduce her to a world where the glass ceiling is all but a thing of the past. For Aditi, her mother has been an icon for her life's goal, and that is what she would want to be for her daughter.

The modern woman is capable of anything and everything. 바카라�Modern women are thought leaders, they know how to balance everything. They know how to go for it.바카라�

There is no cheat sheet or handy guide on how to claim your identity and narrative, but she finds it helpful to start with a question: What is the journey you want to pursue, and how would you like to pursue it? At the end of the day, she says, it should be your choice. 

바카라�Women need to step more in leadership roles, more in the capacity of decision-makers. Unless we do that, our daughters are not going to go forward with that perseverance, and things will be the same for ages to come.바카라�

Her foray into motorcar sports becomes important at a time women participation is still picking up. 

바카라�I beam with pride when I think that my journey has inspired some women, they are kind of influenced, they ask me how I did it and it kind of empowers them to think that they could do it too. It바카라�s the kind of immediacy which comes with this -- if she can do it, I can do it too. There is a scope for inspiring more women in this journey, as a woman, and as a racer as well.바카라�

Aditi is a banker, a marketer, a beauty pageant winner, and now a sportsperson. It makes one wonder which role she identifies with the most. As fate would have it, the thing which came last is most reflective of her personality. 바카라�Going back to my childhood, if people were to see me racing now, they would say this is a very Aditi thing to do,바카라� she says wistfully.  

Is it possible to have multiple aspirations and work towards them, and not have one thing define you? 바카라�Very much. I don바카라�t think we should, or can, define a line for ourselves or our goals.바카라� If being the Jack (or Jane) of all trades means one can constantly push themselves, Aditi is happy to trudge forth.

We know how to dream, but often fail to put them in context, she adds. And context changes more often than one would like. 바카라�Relook at your personal goals, recalibrate it from time to time, and go from there.바카라� 

There have been lows, times when the struggle has been overwhelming. If anything, they바카라�ve taught her to believe that growth lies in the act of getting up. 바카라�You바카라�ll keep rising, irrelevant of things around you.바카라� With all the colourful feathers in her cap, there바카라�s a fullness that she is grateful to experience every day.  

Has she set her sight on a new adventure or a new horizon to pursue? Along with her regular job, she is preparing to get into mentoring for leadership and personal grooming.

바카라�We always believe in having good teachers at school, right? It바카라�s the same anywhere and everywhere. In any sport or a pageant or any kind of field, you need good leaders to push you and motivators to take you there.바카라� And she would love to get the chance to pass even a little bit of what she has learnt over the years.

The soundtrack of her life may have changed from music and hums to whirring sounds of cars racing by. But her credo remains the same: to be simple, humble, and focus on being better at what she does. 바카라�It바카라�s always about the journey we hope to lead over time.바카라�