Akbar Ebrahim (born 14 December 1963) is an accomplished Indian motorsports driver. He is the first Indian to take part in an international race when he participated in the Formula 2 Britain. He is currently the President of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India from September 2020. Ebrahim is also the head oif the international Karting Commission, the CIK of

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backs ...

. In 1988,

Karivardhan Sundaram Karivaradhan Naidu or Kari (20 June 1954 – 24 August 1995) was an Indian formula racing driver, designer and a business executive. He was one of the pioneers of Indian motorsports. He designed the Formula Maruti open wheeled race car ...

, considered as one of the stalwarts of Indian Motorsports, built the first Indian Formula car, with a Maruti 800cc engine. And the inaugural race was won by Akbar Ebrahim. Later, the championship was named as

FISSME Formula Maruti is a single-seater, open-wheel class in motorsport made and raced in India. Many of the top teams in Indian motorsports have run in the series, including Team Lakshmi Mills Superspeeds, Team JK, Team MRF, Gabriel Racing, WSRF Rac ...

, Formula India Single Seater Maruti Engine. The first FISSME race was held at

Sholavaram Cholavaram, also spelled Sholavaram, is a suburb north of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is popular as Sholavaram and is also known for the Cholavaram lake. Adjoining the lake, there was an defunct Air Force Airfield which was used as a moto ...

and the next year in 1989, the legendary Jackie Stewart laid the foundation for the racing track at Irungattukottai, which is presently known as

Madras International Circuit The Madras International Circuit (MIC, previously known as Madras Motor Race Track and Irungattukottai Race Track) is a permanent motor racing circuit located in Irungattukottai, Chennai, India. It was built in the late 1980s and was inaugurate ...

. Ebrahim was also credited with teaching basics to India's first

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship ...

driver

Narain Karthikeyan Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan (born 14 January 1977) is an Indian racing driver. He was the first Indian driver to compete in Formula One. He has previously competed in A1GP, and the Le Mans Series. He has won multiple races in A1GP, British ...

Career

After his schooling in Don Bosco Matriculation in Chennai, Ebrahim finished his Commerce graduation from the

Loyola College, Chennai Loyola College is a private Catholic higher education institution run by the Society of Jesus in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It was founded in 1925 by the France, French Jesuit priest, Francis Bertram, along with other European Jesuits. It is ...

. He is a professional cricket player and represented in the

Ranji Trophy The Ranji Trophy (also known as Mastercard Ranji Trophy for sponsorship reasons) is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between multiple teams representing regional and state cricket associations. Board of Control for Cr ...

. He is also a car racer who took part in

open-wheel An open-wheel single-seater (often known as formula car) is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have th ...

Formula racing. Ebrahim was the first Indian to take part in the British F2 races. He took part in 1994 in Britain and also participated in the Formula 3 Britain races in 1996. In a Dallara F398 (Mugen Honda) he took part in the MRF Madras Formula 3 Grand Prix and got a podium. He went on to drive a SMR AF2000 (Ford Ztech) shod on Michelin tyres in Formula 2000 Asia championship in 2000 for FRD team. In 2004, Formula LGB Swift Championship, he took part as part of the Super Speeds team, the famous outfit of Karivardhan, in a Maruti Esteem. He was also a popular rally driver and made a comeback taking part in the 2018 Indian National Rally Championship at Coimbatore after 25 years. Akbar Ebrahim was first elected as the President of the FMSCI in 2016. Ebrahim was elected as the President at the 43rd Annual General Meeting of the club, when he replaced Zayn Khan, who has been leading FMSCI since September 2015, after the death of Bharat Raj, the then president.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ebrahim, Akbar 1963 births Living people Indian rally drivers Loyola College, Chennai alumni