Mangalore: Mangalore-born UK-employed Bangalore-resident Sushanth Shetty, 28, is attempting to ride one of the world’s fastest motorbikes from the UK to India.
In this self-challenge titled The East India Express, Shetty will ride 12,0000km across 12 countries, and seven time zones – alone and in 15 days. He started from Alexandra Palace, Alexandra Park, London on October 25 on his Suzuki Hayabusa, capable of 300 kmph, and will reach Bangalore on November 10.
His father Jayananda Shetty, a retired Vijaya Bank manager, told TOI: Sushanth has been riding motorcycles since long and spent several years racing both cars and bikes before moving to the UK.
A Josephite, Sushanth did his mechanical engineering at MS Ramaiah Institute and MS in Motorsports Engineering from Coventry University, UK. Before joining Ford Europe, he had started a garage servicing hi-speed cars.
Sushant has an adventure streak in him says his father. “He refuses to travel by air whenever possible – the proof last visit to Bangalore in December he travelled across five countries by train via Mongolia, Russia, China, Bangkok and then flew from there to Bangalore.
“He is a very determined fellow,” says Shetty. “But this has never come in the way of his professional work, that’s why we have given him the liberty to pursue his passion for motorsports,” observes Shetty. His mother Rekha is terrified. “Since he is determined and disciplined, we have accepted it,” stressing the point that Sushanth never disobeys traffic rules.
Sushanth’s Hayabusa will travel through Europe, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan and then into India. Shetty said: Pakistan Embassy has still not granted the visa, where Plan B may kick in which involves riding into Bandar Abbas in southern Iran, getting a ferry to Dubai and then finding a ‘Dhow’ to transport the bike and him across to Mumbai.
“He will try to get the Pak visa in Iran. His support team is at it. If he does not get it Plan B will be executed,” he said.
So when they were informed about his adventure? “Since a year he was saying that next time he will ride into Bangalore from London. At that time we thought it was a joke. But we realised the seriousness when he informed about his detailed plan three months back. We now know that since the time mentioned this idea he was on the execution stage as it involved entering multiple countries and completing visa formalities,” Shetty noted.
“Though he had Guinness record in mind, there were some technical difficulties in tracking his ride. But for Sushanth records are not important. Once he sets his mind on anything he is determined to achieve it whether it qualifies as a record or not,” said his father.
The Hayabusa will remain in India for some time and will be on the exhibit at auto expo in New Delhi in January.
