ON THE BIKE

PRITIKA’S early years with her Yamaha YZ80 weren’t short-lived: they were merely the beginning. “When I finished engineering, I started racing a 125 GP bike, and we had to play with the suspension to get it set up, especially for my weight and my size cause I’m not super tall and at that stage I was quite light – so there was quite a bit of tuning, and I had some fantastic help from experienced racers that helped me along the way,” she says. “The engine was fascinating, and it was so simple. You’re talking about a single-cylinder; what I loved was working on getting as much performance as you could out of it. The reason I like engines is that I like engineering, but I also like going fast, so it’s a natural combination if you like – that speed and mechanics.”