Story originally published on 15th February 2016 on our erstwhile blog.

We often come across the adage, “Age Is Just a Number”. And a living example of the same is the man in focus today.
Mr. Hajee Sattar Sait, a name equally well known in the Bengaluru social circles as in the racing circuit. After a series of email exchanges and phone calls, we caught up with the man himself this Sunday for a tête-à-tête.

The venue for our interaction was Mr. Sait’s plush penthouse in upmarket Bengaluru. After a little wait in his study room, we were greeted by the man himself. As he sat down, we began talking about racing and cars almost immediately. “I am 83 and I still work. Why stop working when God has given me the capacity and capability to work?” says Mr. Sait with an undying spirit and vigour in his voice. He goes on to add that he fought out throat cancer and he is as fit as any other youth now. Mr. Sait has been passionate about racing of all sorts, though car racing and horse racing are the closest to his heart. He also has won several accolades for table tennis, a sport that he is fond of, apart from racing. “I also love racing against time!” he quips with a wide smile.

Soon enough, the topic veered towards cars. Mr. Sait started racing back in 1956 with his father’s encouragement soon after he got his driving license. “A police officer came to my father’s house and took my driving test and immediately approved my driving when I was sixteen and a half years old” he reminisces. He began his racing days with his old Morris Oxford. Interestingly, Mr. Sait was disqualified from the very first race he took part in, but a year later, he came back on the track with his souped up Fiat Millecento with a twin-choke carburetor, shaven engine block and a host of other modifications. Mr. Sait goes on to tell us about the fairly recent races that he took part at the Jakkur airstrip, on the outskirts of Bengaluru and that it was too unfortunate that the races held there came to an abrupt end when the military reclaimed the strip and shut it out for the public.

Having won over 15 races in Bangalore, Mysore, Pune, Madras and Coimbatore, we were compelled to ask Mr. Sait about his most vivid memory from the races. “It has to be from this particular race in Madras”, he says “When I was racing with a good friend of mine, Mike Roff from Ceylon, we had to take a U-turn and Roff came so close while taking the turn and I spun out after the U turn. It was a narrow escape!” Clearly, racing isn’t for the faint hearted! Mr. Sait goes on to tell us about this one race in which he placed third but was disqualified. Reason? He was apparently caught “overspeeding”! “It was a very invalid reason to disqualify me from the race. If I was overspeeding, then why are we even racing?!” he says. This incident led to the formation of the Indian Racing Federation to govern the car racing scene in India.

Talking about races, Mr. Sait goes on to recall his closest friends from the racing scene of that day. Dr. Rossi, Bobby Commissariat, AD Jayaram and Kapoor are the ones he counts closest to him. He then makes a mention of the Italian, Count Labison, who was his first ever sponsor. Being a thorough gentleman that he is, he makes a mention of Mr. Hariharan adding that “He is the best driver I have ever seen. Even better than myself!”

After having a dekko at his truckload of trophies and shields, we go on to talk about his cars. From Jaguar 120 and 140 to the Austin Somerset Convertible which he purchased for Rs. 9000 to the Jaguar XK150 that he bought for Rs. 42,000, “I bought cars, raced them and sold them” he says. Ask him about his favourite car and beams “It has to be the Aston Martin!” He goes on to say that he loved convertibles and hence bought his current car, an Aston Martin DBS Volante finished in the historic British Racing Green as a replacement to his ageing Mercedes-Benz CLS. “I think Mercs are great cars. They are extremely reliable and have a robust build” he says. A lot of car-talk later, as we proceeded to shoot the gorgeous DBS, Mr. Sait takes us to his terrace and shows us the gigantic Indian Tricolor that is visible from his home. With a smile, he says “This is the most important view from my house”.
 

A hard-core speed fanatic, Mr. Sait is a clear example of a positive mindset, limitless passion and a zest for life! And he’s got the experience to back it up as well. Nothing short of a killer combination. Mr. Hajee Sattar Sait is one octogenarian who’ll give us newer generation petrolheads a run for our money (and quite literally, if you see him driving his DBS).
We thank Mr. Sait for spending time with us and giving us an insight into his life. We hope and believe he shall be as fit and rocking as ever!
 

Note : A big thanks to Mr. Feroz Sattar Sait and Mr. Azaan Sait for making this meeting possible and a big shoutout to Anil Kapse for the photographs!