Sundaram Karivaradhan

Sundaram Karivaradhan Naidu or Kari (20 June 1954 – 24 August 1995) was an Indian formula racing driver, designer and a business executive.

[1][2] He designed the Formula Maruti[3][4] open wheeled race car and supported Indian racers, notably Narain Karthikeyan, Karun Chandhok, and Armaan Ebrahim, in their entry into motorsports.

Sundaram Karivaradhan was born on 20 June 1954[5] in Coimbatore to G.K.Sundaram Naidu of the Lakshmi Mills textile family.

Later, he returned to India and started participating in the races held at Sholavaram, Chennai and Barrackpore, Kolkata.

[7] In an effort to make racing more affordable in India and improve grassroots level racing he designed and tested a small single seater, dubbed as India's Formula Ford, with a Maruti 800 engine, and adapting easily available parts, sometimes made in-house.

[10] In June 2019, the GeeDee Car Museum in Coimbatore added a section for Karivardhan as a tribute on his 65th birth anniversary.