The Show and Shine nationals has paved the way forward for award winning car racer Abhikash Nath who scoped two awards at the Namaka Public School ground last weekend.

Motivation

While wining was part of the plan, showcasing his car and its potential to participate in both in the drag races and car show was all that needed to set him off in the Show and Shine nationals.

He won the best stance and a sponsor’s award.

Residing in Nausori, Mr Nath, 37, took a bold step to drive his race car from Suva to the Nadi venue despite the possible risks of exhausting his car.

He said it was a great achievement for him to win two awards which marked a worthwhile trip to Nadi.

Abhikash Nath’s racing car which won two awards at the show and shine nationals in Nadi last weekend.

“Compared to other participants, they opted to load their car in the truck to travel down to Nadi while I opted to drive myself down to Nadi.

“When I reached Nadi, I had to first make my car look the part for the competition so physically I had to bring the car down which was quite difficult with very less manpower so it took me two hours to get it done. It was very challenging for me to upgrade my car to reach that level for car racing and to win that category and to also win the sponsor award.

“It was quite an interesting car show and it was well judged. Looking at the award winners, their categories were all well-judged and it feels good to know that everything went well,” he said.

A banker officer by profession at one of Fiji’s leading banks, car racing to him is a hobby that requires a lot of financial investment to match the car race.

Mr Nath said in last three years, he has invested $50,000 to prepare his car for car races.

Originally, his interest lays into drag racing because it required less car parts and preparation.

“My car can be used for both drag and show car so when people see my car, they quickly think that my car would not be able to run in a drag race because during a drag race, the car requires a different look and it takes a lot of time to convert the car from drag to car show because there is a lot of things to add on.

“I purchased this car three years ago, it had a different engine at the time.

This is my second car but it is something that I have been working on for both a drag race and car show. I had other cars but it was only for show cars. For this car, I had to put a new engine to make sure that the car performs well during in the competitions,” he said.

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