Raid-De-Himalaya history

 

By 1998, motorsport in India had reduced itself from the sublime to the ridiculous. The Himalayan

Rally was dead and infighting between the FMSCI and the MAI had all but crippled the sport. Sponsors had been burned and a handful of 4 wheel rally drivers held on to the tattered vestiges of the title – “National Champion”. The two tyre giants JK and MRF first fielded teams and then spent more time and money on court battles, to decide the winner of events, than on their R&D. Two wheel rallying was squashed completely and bikers found themselves excluded from anything more serious than the odd motocross.

Finally, the last straw. The “southcentric” federations decided that the last rally in the north was not upto scratch and should be shelved. With Tutu Dhawan’s Desert Rally being derecognized a pall of gloom descended over the rallying fraternity north of Mumbai, including the two dozen rally drivers and riders that were the cream of Indian rallying in north India!

To retrieve an apparently hopeless situation the Himalayan Motorsport Association was formed in 1999, having at its core experienced rally hands. With over 15 years of rallying under each belt, Atul Handa, Manjeev Bhalla and Vijay Parmar, won the confidence of the Himachal government and the support of Maruti Udyog Ltd. for the first Raid de Himalaya.

With the money in place and the “real” Himalaya as the playground the first Raid de Himalaya was born.

Breaking with the traditions in place at the time, the ‘Raid’, as it has come to be known, ran a marathon format with special stages sometimes longer than a 100 kilometres. Rallies in the south had reduced their stages to a maximum of 14 kilometres and often ran the same course several times a day. This format, though great for logistics lacked any touch of true adventure and is primarily the reason for the complete lack of viewer interest in the sport today.

Another critical break with the past was that the ‘Raid’ had both cars and bikes in the fray. 2 wheel rallying was back and how!

The difference was immediately apparent. With the backdrop of the Himalayas and real dangers threatening every participant, the task of mere completion was terrifying. When you achieved the end of each day it was a real victory. Participants announced that this was a real adventure – if you got it wrong you could die - if you survived you were a real driver and tough! With an endorsement like that we knew we had got it right….the ‘Raid’ would be known as the country’s most frightening yet respected motorsport adventure in its very first year. It would grow from 16 participants in 1999 to 97 teams by 2005 !!

With 7 consecutive events the Raid has raced to the borders with China, in both Himachal and J&K; been to Kargil just after the war. The ‘Raid’ has been stranded in a mighty blizzard at Baralacha La where Himalayan Motorsport engineered the largest evacuation of both participants and locals in history from atop the pass in temperatures below minus 30 degrees Celsius and with over 3 feet of snow on the road.
Surviving the earthquake in Srinagar last year with over a 100 vehicles on the run down from Captains Mor to Sonamarg, when the tremors hit, was a godsend!

We haven’t always been so lucky though. There have been casualties in 2001 with 3 participants losing their lives and injuries almost every year. However, over the years the Safety and Evacuation systems have been refined to a point now when quick reactions from the medical backup teams through superlative communications are the rule rather than the exception. We cannot prevent injuries, as is true of any real adventure today, but we certainly have improved the odds for surviving a potentially fatal situation considerably.

The Reliability Trial Innovation

By 2003 we had realized that the Raid is too extreme for the first timer. All the fatal crashes and almost all the non fatal ones involved first time rallyists. With no rally schools in India to tutor talent it was decided to innovate in the interests of Safety. The Raid was broken into two categories – the X-treme and the Reliability. Whereas the X-treme was open only to the seasoned rally drivers the Reliability Trial was for the first timer. This system of segregation was adopted for both reducing the risk of fatalities and for increasing participation by the ordinary person, who had the spirit of adventure but didn’t want to necessarily lose life, limb and car in the process.

So was born the Reliability Trial which is essentially a Time Speed and Distance rally with emphasis on navigation and control rather than outright speed. This format teaches both the drivers and navigators the fundamentals of rallying; making them fit enough to rise to the challenge of the X-treme within a single event.

As the routes are slightly different from the X-treme version and the asking speeds far less this event lends itself wonderfully to providing the right mix of both adventure as well as tourism. The day end destinations of both the X-treme and the Reliability are however the same. This essentially means that 90 percent of the route will be identical with the fearsome X-treme Raid – the only let up being on the speeds required. If you can drive clean, it’s possible to get great results even on your first outing. Fifth placed Neeraj and Rajnee Vohra in their Accent Glx last year were actually on their honeymoon!

Another great feature of the Reliability cars is that the modifications required are minimal. Whereas to prepare a ‘Raid’ machine takes anything from 3.5 lacs to 5 lacs, not counting the cost of the car, for the Reliability all you need extra is a second stepney! This way the participant need not invest his life savings on rally spec gadgets and realize later that the sport is too demanding for him. He can experience the event on a low budget and decide for the future.

Still another advantage to the Reliability participants is that the Himalayan Motorsport Association provides the day end service, free of cost for the entire rally, which would normally cost a competitor nothing less than Rs. 40,000/- per car for the duration of the event!

With an Entry Fee of around Rs 25,000/- for a crew of 2 (3 or 4 cost double) you get food, accommodation, service and recovery, medical evac and emergency care for 8 days. Throw in the experience of the Himalayas on the greatest event on the Indian motorsport calendar and you have the recipe for a ridiculously cheap ‘ultimate adventure” experience.

Raid De Himalaya 2006

Raid De Himalaya Trivia

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