Meet the mother-daughter racer duo, Shivani and Deepthi Pruthvi, who balances between scalpel and speed

Shivani and Deepthi Pruthvi, mother and daughter duo, from Karnataka, are professional rally racers and practicing doctors, who drove in the First All-Women Racing Team in India. Motorsports have gained a lot of popularity in recent years, specifically down south, Coimbatore, also known as the motorsports capital of the country. Speed with focus, and crisp navigation is what takes the racer closer to the trophy. In Indian sports we have come across husband-wife, and sibling partnerships. But a perfect complimenting mother-daughter camaraderie is rarely found.

Shivani Pruthvi, (23 years old), and her mother Deepthi Pruthvi,(51 years old ), from Devangere , Karnataka, have been blazing the course as rally racers and chasing this high. They have been setting new benchmarks by forraying into this predominantly” a man’s world” arena.

Shivani has been fond of sports since she was a child. She has been trained in roller skates at a very early age and went on to participate and win many state-level competitions. She also played badminton, tennis and was even a part of the girl’s basketball team in high school. “I always enjoyed participating in extracurricular activities more than I did studies. It was a habit I imbibed from my father — BS Pruthvi, who was a rally racer in Bengaluru during the 90s,” says Shivani.

While pursuing her second year in medicine, she picked up the passion and art of racing from her father, who himself is a well-known racer in Bengaluru’s racing circuit and also made headlines in local media for completing the last 0 kilometers for a local club rally on a ?at tyre in 1992.

Soon Shivani found herself as a professional racer and won the Sprint de Bangaluru. She became India’s ?rst female racer at the Asia auto gymkhana championship. A new journey of speed and adrenaline begun and in 2019 when she decided to participate in rallies, the search for a navigator surprisingly ended at home with Deepthi, her mom. This partnership, was absolutely perfect since Deepthi had been by now become a passive racer, with her husband playing the game, and who knows a daughter better than a mother.

Apart from the professional partnership, as a mother, they exchange a relationship of care and trust on the racks as well. Shivani and her dad trained Deepthi, who was made to sit in an unventilated room wearing a seven-layer protective gear and a helmet.

“It was hard and stressful, but that has been my life as a doctor too. So I could manage it. Medicine has taught me how valuable time is and how every second is crucial. The same goes for racing, one small mistake from the navigator could lead to a crash,” says Deepthi.

The efforts de?nitely paid off on the tracks, and this dynamic mother-daughter duo triumphed over the trophy in the ladies category of the south India rally. Shivani Pruthvi, who has now completed her MBBS degree, plans to pursue a master’s in medicine and balance out her passion for racing on weekends and holidays.