Drive-by Interview with Akshay Bohra

In a rather unusual manner, I had a chance to reconnect and catch up with Akshay Bohra last week. He was preparing to travel to Paul Ricard right before and must’ve had a tight schedule to jump on a video call, but as enthusiastic and open as he always is, he offered to answer our questions over WhatsApp.

My first interaction with Akshay happened nearly two years ago when he wrapped up his European racing season and joined the Indian Racing League crew of Godspeed Kochi to support his brother Nikhil Bohra. He was young (still is, but two years younger back then) but had a way with people - perhaps something young athletes naturally pick up while racing across Europe.

In his own words, “In pursuit of my racing goals, I’ve made many sacrifices, such as living alone away from my family and studying online. However, I’ve managed to befriend other drivers and teammates, so I’m able to have a community to hang out with away from the track.”

A sacrifice that one wouldn’t make without knowing oneself, belief in one’s own abilities, or the support of one’s family. Even with all of that, sometimes, motor racing can be brutal. Hence, even to this day, sponsorships make the backbone of a sport like this. For Bohra, being supported by his dad, who built his career in finance, he knows a thing or two about what sponsorships are all about these days. “Sponsors want to be represented by ambassadors that reflect their values as a brand. Usually that includes things like high performance and excellence, so obviously strong results are required. But it’s equally important that the ambassador’s character reflects the most positive aspirations of the company’s culture such as integrity, hard work, and trust.”

Strong results and performances are visual. He’s won plenty in his years in karting and continues to elevate his performance in cars; just last weekend, he won race 2 at Paul Ricard and finished on the podium in race 1, having taken double pole on Saturday. But as an athlete chasing his version of perfect, I assume, that this performance might come as a relief, but by no means gives him any comfort to take the remainder of the season easy. After all, an athlete who’s chasing perfection rarely thinks they’re there at the age of 17.

“When I was starting in karts, we used to have a saying in our family:
Have fun, learn, do your best
I had fun and did my best, but in hindsight, I would put more effort into becoming a complete athlete in karting. I’ve learned so much in cars about how to work and carry myself like a professional and I wish I started earlier.”

What makes Akshay a fun chat every time I’ve met him is his ability to lighten the room - whether it’s with jokes, impersonations, or commentary. But there’s another side to him that’s just as visible when things aren’t going his way; as any naturally competitive athlete, he admits, “I’ll stay critical of myself until I’m perfect.” It, more than often, means self-reflection, which takes many forms: some are logical and some are emotional. But the outcome is usually a form of redemption: either driven by wanting to beat one’s earlier self or others. “I have been racing for over 10 years and I’m still a work in progress. The surge in Motorsports enthusiasm recently has brought many new drivers into the sport—which is great. But I think it’s important to keep in mind how much work and sacrifice and time is required to achieve excellence. My competitive drive comes from focusing on improving my own performance and perfecting my craft. It’s surprising how long it takes to have an overnight success.”

From years of existence on planet Earth, I’ve concluded that one can only be their best self through reflection and experience. Experience sets a benchmark and reflection sets a unit of measurement. For a racing driver like Akshay, experience is everything. From new tracks to cars, new people, cultures, food, and way of life, he can take, pick, and choose to allow it to influence his best version. When it comes to the racing aspect, “It’s very interesting to see how different people from different racing backgrounds and cultures approach racing in unique ways,” he said. What do culture and racing have to do with each other, you may ask. So, Akshay went into more specifics: “Some cultures are very relaxed when it comes to preparation and they rely heavily on instinct, whereas others tend to deeply analyze. I try to take the positives from each culture and form my own racing style and work ethic.”

Of the many things he would have picked up from his travel for racing, his followers must’ve seen an influx of boxing content on his feed. I had a chance to dig further into the not-so-apparent bridge between boxing and racing that caught his attention. “Boxing and racing have many things in common. Both sports have a combination of analysis and optimization while also having those very instinctive moments. Learning boxing has been fun, and I’ve learned a few things from boxing that have translated to my racing.”

Boxing and racing are a popular combination in the higher levels of motorsport, with F1 drivers training for their races with a bout. (I’ve been told it’s even more popular in the United States racing circles, where drivers box each other with their race suits on! Read: NASCAR) This truly alludes to the fact that these drivers are different breeds of humans. With the incredibly demanding needs to be lean yet strong, strong yet with huge endurance yet not muscly, and muscly only in load-bearing parts of the body like their necks, arms, and legs, which bear 2x-5x their body weight and exert nearly the same weights on the brakes, you would assume they’re the greatest athletes in the world. But not according to many people who reside on the internet who think racing drivers aren’t athletes.

When I asked Akshay to comment on this, he kept it short, sweet, simple, and impactful: "They are totally entitled to their wrong opinion.”