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The last 3 years have been spent listening to my buddies wax eloquent about how motor rallying has grown as a sport in India. I’ve heard endless stories about the amazing  adventures and fun that they have had at these events. So when I moved back to India, it was a no brainer that I would be going to Western Motorsport’s Monsoon Ride, any which way possible.

The ride this year, was truly a “monsoon’ ride. Jaipur greeted us with a sudden downpour on the day of scrutiny, which later translated to a persistent drizzle. Not that we were complaining, but then again, getting those stickers to stick on a wet surface was a challenge in itself

With the scrutiny and drivers briefing done, we headed off to the hotel to get some rest. Though i must say, I was too excited to sleep much and spent the night watching TV with M and chatting about the rally. 3 AM, and 2 cups of tea each, quick shower and shave and we were ready to race. The scenes at Parc Ferma was one of restrained excitement, coupled with drooping eyelids from lack of sleep. It was before dawn and the lake around Jal Mahal gave the whole place a very serene feeling. Soon, the night would shatter with the sounds of free flow exhausts.

Flag off!!! There we go tearing down the street, at a sedate 45 Kmph, and encountered our first mistake on the second turn. Thankfully, we backed up a little and then took the right turn. Never imagined that jaipur and its surrounding countryside could be so beautiful. Rain glistening on the trees and the fields, hills with their peaks shrouded in mist, the smell of dirt after fresh rains, and a dawn aching to break. Rally and peaceful don’t often go together, but on that morning, they did.

After an hour of negotiating side roads, we were approaching a turn off into a field, which promised the begining of the off road stretch for the first leg. We hit our first time check (TC) soon after this turn, but a 100 yards down the line we had to turn back because heavy rains had washed the track away. Chaos ensued while all cars were stopped, turned and re-lined up. The rally restarted from another point down the route.

Some way further down, we were going over this bad stretch of road and suddenly heard this loud scraping sound. We stopped and hurried to see what was wrong. The protective iron plate, that protects the engine chamber from underneath, had come loose and was dragging on the road. Panic ensued as we tried to tie the thing off with anything we could find. Luckily, we found an old scooter clutch wire, which seemed strong enough.

We had barely gone a 100 yards when the thing came loose again. We tied the plate again and started, but heard this loud screeching from the front left tyre, and even after checking everything, we couldn’t find what was wrong. Tempers were flaring, disappointment was in the air. So much anticipation and we were going to be out of the rally in the first leg! We decided to try one more time and we found that the plate was scraping against the back of the brake shoe. We fixed it, but by this time we were 15 minutes behind schedule, a huge deficit when it comes to rallies. many participants had crossed us while we were bent over fixing the car. The next 30 minutes saw the best driving I have seen in a while. Racing along at 130 kmph, on traffic laden roads, overtaking everything from rally cars to bullock carts, we made up the time, minute by minute. By the time the next TC came along, and the end of the first leg, we were on track again and had a penalty of only 11 seconds. An amazing feat, all things considered.

The one hour lunch break saw us refuelling and tightly tying the plate again. We barely had time to eat before the next leg started. The afternoon stretch was an exercise in patience, with the thermometer climbing, lack of TC’s and the slow pace. We were happy to see the off road section and as soon as we started, we hit the first TC of the leg. Post the TC, we realized we were a little behind and had to make up time. Those 15 minutes of crazy offroading were the best parts of the rally for me.

When we ended the second leg, we knew we had done well, but nobody said anyhting for the fear of jinxing it. The provisional results placed us second and that started the beer flowing. It was reward well deserved. We had a total penalty of 1 min 24 seconds, which was incredible since we lost so much time because of the car failure.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience for me, and to the organizers, I have to say well done. We all know there were a few shortcomings but all said and done, it was a very fun experience …. and we’ll be back next year

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