TVS Racing's Jagan Kumar hopes to establish racing academy to help grow motorsports at grassroots level

Having witnessed the huge gap between amateur and professional racing in the country over his long and successful career, Jagan Kumar is taking matters into his hands to address the issue.

Despite limited exposure to the sport as a child, Jagan, a ten time national champion in the 165cc class, used the most of his talent to quickly get to the top in the country. He is the first Indian to win in Asia Road Racing (Suzuki Asian Challenge) and also came second in the Asian Challenge.

Having seen all aspects of the sport over the years, Jagan, in an exclusive interaction with Sportskeeda, said that he has already planned his life after retirement, stating that he would train the next generation of racers in the country.

"I want to help [the next generation] by giving training to budding racers. I learnt [racing] on my own, overcame struggles [on my own]. If we leave [motorsports after retirement], the upcoming riders will again have to start from the start. I want to teach and prepare them, which is why I want to start an academy, one that especially caters for kids," he said.

The 35-year-old, who currently races for the Petronas TVS Racing team, believes that the grassroot level requires the majority of improvement , among a host of other things, in order for the sport to grow in India.

"In Asia or Europe, kids get into the sport at the age of 4 or 5. They have mini-bikes and they race on them. This makes it easier for them to climb the ladder as they get older because adapting to bikes becomes easier. In India, starting age is 12 or 13. In Europe, at that age they are already competing in various world championships. That’s the gap," he explained.

"We have to bring mini-bike racing. That doesn't huge infrastructure. We can do it at go-kart circuits also, or even a big parking lot! We need to start there. The country needs a training school where kids start at the age of eight or even earlier. So when they get to age 10 or 12, they will be at a level where things won’t be new," he added.

Jagan, who hails from Chennai, has already shown a good eye for talent spotting. In 2012, it was Jagan who spotted KY Ahamad and took him under his wing.

Since then, Ahamad has done well, establishing himself as one of the strongest racers that the country currently has. Last year, he even got a wild card to participate in Moto3 at the Bharat MotoGP round at the Buddh International Circuit. Beyond spotting Ahamad's talents, Jagan also had to convince his parents about making a career in motorsports.

While the 26-year-old has spoken about this a few times over the years, Jagan, in his usual humble self, shed light on it by stating that they didn't need a lot of convincing once they saw the safety measures in place in motorsports.

"He used to ride very fast on the roads. When I told him not to race on the roads, he said that he does it as he likes to race. That’s when I told him to race on the track, that it is safe. His parents, however, weren’t happy with it. He was just 14 years then," he recalled.

"I told them that he was at the right age to get into racing and that he has the future in the sport. His parents were still not convinced. But when I showed them the videos of him racing with all safety gear in place, they were convinced. They also acknowledged that it is safe to speed on tracks and not on roads," he added.