Mira Erda is a wonder kid in field of Motorsports who has participated in more than 45 races and won 25 awards & 15 Felicitation awards in a span of just 6 years. At age of 14, she is the only and the youngest girl in India who has participated at national and International level in Karting and Formula 4.
Mira Erda fell in love with Motor Sport when she was just 9 years old. In just Six years she has proved her prowess that she can make her country proud. A front-runner who loves to face challenges and thrives in competition, Mira loves what she does and is always aiming toward excellence. Mira has shown an impeccable love for her sport and like a true sports person always followed the game with the right spirit.
Representing India around the globe in these Six years, she definitely has her small world of adulation where rests her biggest motivating force. Her purpose is simple, “To be a first Indian woman formula one driver and represent India on international front at the zenith and bring glory to the Indian Motor sports”.
1. What instigated you to choose motorsports at such an early age?
I always had a passion and love for speed. And Motorsports is a male dominated sport so I thought why not take up this and bring the best out of myself. I would always get that adrenaline rush as soon as I was in the kart. I had an aim set that I have to prove myself and race among these boys and be equally competitive and strong like them.
2. Tell us about your journey with motorsports?
My journey with Motorsports started when I went to Pune to see one of the national karting races. Few accidents took place, but instead of getting scared I found that interesting and worth taking up this as a career. After that I had no place to stop. At initial stages it was pretty tough to get into a male dominated sport. I used get pushed out of the track at times and many more incidents took place. But gradually I started improving myself. I started learning and analyzing my competitor’s weak points. And after a point of time I started winning. Today here I am. My competitors no more see me as a little girl but as competition. At this date we all are a family. We discuss our mistakes and our strategies.
3. Who has been your greatest support and mentor?
My Father has been a really good support for me. Starting from the first day itself, till today. He has always been there and has kept on pushing me to get the best out of me. I even have got to learn a lot for my Malaysian Mechanic who’s my brother too. He helps me improve myself, my driving style and gives me the best kart set up.
4. You got into this at a very young age. How did it affect your schooling? How did you cope up with your studies?
My mom has been handling the other side of the coin. She has always made sure that I get all the study material on time with proper information. And I have been a person who is more comfortable studying for the last few days and I have been able to score really well till now.
5. Motorsports is a very unusual sport for girls to choose. How do you feel being a part of it?
I have been a really strong person since the first day. Yes there are few bad days too. But that didn’t affect me much. Being the alone girl amongst all the boys is always a fun part for me cause I see them as family and they consider me as a part of their family too. At first it proved to be a little hard and troublesome because no guy would want to loose from a girl. But now they know what I’m capable of doing and they respect me for my courage.
6. What is your most cherished moment ?
I cherish every single race I have done till now. Because I always get to learn something new every time I’m on the racetrack. Sometimes I win and sometimes I loose and that’s where all the fun part is. You get to know what all you need to improve and you get to know how much you have achieved till now. Every race makes me very happy because I know this is where I belong.
7. How do you define success? What is your aim in life?
I have learned one thing in life you have to work really hard and push yourself to the limits if you want to be successful. You get the success when you have actually worked hard for it. Every little win just adds up to my way towards success. I want to make my country and my family proud. And my aim for this year is to drive the Formula BMW single seater.
Also Read “Varun Kumar : Story of the Defender who led India win in Junior Hockey World Cup, 2016”
Also published on Medium.
