Sitting down for a chat with the Dhaka Tribune, Bangladesh’s first-ever Formula race driver tells me: “There’s this thing about speed. Speed-lovers need to have a speedometer in front of them. They go mad. They just have one thing going on in their heads: How far they can push their limits. How far they can bend the speed mark.”
He is calm, composed. He speaks as though madly watching the speedometer in search of breakneck thrills isn’t a sort of benign madness. He assures me it is the most natural thing he has ever felt.
In 2013, Mahfuzur Rahman Tushar became the first Bangladeshi to officially participate in a Formula racing competition. He has since returned for F4 races in India with the help of sponsorship from Shah Cement.
But he does not have the ordinary background of a race car driver. Most racers, Tushar says, begin as early as the age of six. It takes years for them to complete the various levels of racing.
Tushar’s journey to the race track was, in some ways, way off track. He studied under the madrasa system before attending university, where he studied automobile engineering.
While at university, his brother would send him car magazines to satiate his obsession with automobiles. These publications helped steer him towards racing.
In 2004, while flipping through a magazine, he came across the “World Cyber Games” virtual championships being held in Bangladesh. Since he was still living in a dorm, he was unable to participate in the virtual race that year.
But as soon as he was free from dorm life, he took part in the race.
He lost in the very first round – a matter of ridicule among his peers, he recalls.
But he wasn’t going to let a little wrench in the works get him down. “It was then that I decided I would win a real race one day,” he says.
Revving up for victory
Victory came to Tushar via the slow lane during the coming years.
He soon began to participate in go-kart races held at Fantasy Kingdom. Given the lack of any space for speed racing in Bangladesh, this was the most he could do.
“Although this is a mere entertainment in our country, I knew that this was the first step to someday entering the Formula championships. So I decided to go ahead with the resources that were available to me,” he says.
His very first time out, Tushar came in 3rd – that too without having had any practice on the track.
“That is when my parents began to realise that this was something more than a dream or a wish for me – it was a passion,” he says.
“I soon learned about the Federation Motor Sports Club of India (FMSCI) which grooms and trains racers.
“On a whim, I decided to send them a message, deliberately sounding rather crazy, so that they would understand the extent of both my problem and passion.”
Luckily, the madness worked. He soon received a response from the CEO of FMSCI and learned that a training session for budding racers was coming up in a few months.
Getting the green light from his parents was not difficult.
“My parents knew the madness in me. Of the feeling of being high on speed. My parents decided it was better and safer for me to do this in India – in a proper setting that was prepared for this level of speed – than for me to try and do it in Dhaka.”
Thus Tushar’s parents supported him to go to India, sparking off his journey.
Birth of a Formula driver
Following his participation in the training programme, Tushar was given a nod by the CEO to start as an F4 racer.
The hierarchy goes from F4, the basic level, up to F1, a four-rung career ladder that can take a minimum of ten years for a racer to climb.
But the excitement was short-lived.
Tushar’s dreams hit the brakes in 2012, after learning how much the programme would cost. His parents, who had so far been supportive, were unable to afford it.
Tushar realised he would not be able to afford the Formula journey in its entirety.
“So, I decided to go for the first one, thinking maybe if I could bring back some material success, I would be able to get sponsors,” he said, undeterred.
The plan worked. Tushar, who began in the 22nd spot in the race, came 15th and was introduced at the race as the “Bangladeshi Narain Karthikeyan.”
Karthikeyan is the Indian F1 driver who has become a South Asian racing legend.
“No matter where I go or what the outcome was that day, being compared to him and introduced like that has so far been my biggest achievement,” says Tushar.
Upon his return, Tushar was able to secure sponsorship from Shah Cement, and went to India to continue racing last year. He will do so this year as well – and in the years to come.
Fueling a dream
Enormous roadblocks to success remain. Tushar has to cross the border just to practice for a race. There is a serious need for both a physical space as well as a culture of healthy racing to grow here.
Tushar worries that there are too many youngsters who race on city streets. Underlying this lies a bigger problem – the lack of racing facilities in Bangladesh.
Tushar plans to build a track for future generations – his own formula for successfully building up a Formula racing culture.
As someone who began his journey much later than others in the profession, Tushar today is unburdened by inhibition or worry.
Although he is yet to win a race, Tushar has already beaten the odds and built himself a track – spanning two countries – towards the fulfillment of a dream.
Today, it is not just a need for speed, but a passion to make the impossible possible that drives him, whatever detours there may be.
As for the meter: He still has his eye on it and it continues to drive him mad – in search of bigger, bolder milestones.
