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  • Naren-Chander win Rallye de Endurance

    By George Francis

    Madikeri, 13 Nov 1998: Team MRF roared through the coffee estates of Madikeri, to place Overall one to six in the Castrol Rallye de Endurance, 1998. Naren Kumar and MK Chander, N Leelakrishnan and Farooq Ahmed, Arjun Balu and Kumar Ramaswamy, Sagar Muthappa and Sandeep S Rao, Karandip Singh and Jaidas Menon, and Jagat Nanjappa and Anita finished in that order. While the first three were driving Group A Modified cars, the following three were in Group N un-modified class.

    Arch rivals, Team JK Tyres crashed all their six Esteems on the treacherous roads of Coorg. But Team Chettinad Sporting’s Navaz Bathena and Sherin Balachandran and the three private teams Thyagu Valliappa and Sujith, NK Ramesh and Vishnu Kamath, and Homi Dhunjibhoy and Zubir Nariman finished the ardous route. Never has Indian rallying seen such domination by one team in any event.

    On November 11, the pre-event scrutiny was gone through at Capitol Village, Madikeri, and the compulsory drivers’ briefing was held the same evening. Twenty-three cars passed scrutiny and were ready for the challenge. They comprised eight cars sponsored by MRF Tyres, six sponsored by JK Tyres, two from Team Chettinad Sporting and one from Birla Tyres, and six private entries.

    The route looked quite simple. Five estates of the Consolidated Coffee, namely Polibetta, Cottabetta, Woshully, Margolly and Siddapur, repeated three times in the same direction, in the same order, followed by a 60-minute re-grouping of the rallyists and an opoposite run of Polibetta, Siddapur, Margolly, Woshully and Cottabetta in that order, and the repeat of the same barring Cottabetta, made up the 134.81km stages. A service park was set-up near Polibetta, and could be visited once after each sequence, totalling four service stops of 15 minutes each, and a resort in the outskirts of Bangalore on the Bangalore-Hyderabad highway.

    At 9.02 hours on November 12, the Castrol Rallye de Endureance started with the 1997 winners and four-times National champion Hari Singh and Gurinder Singh Mann taking the starter’s flag. At 2-minuate intervals, the 23 cars took off. It was interesting to note that Yemagoondi, a very difficult stage in the 1997 chapter of this rally, was dropped this year. The first stage was run with not much of difficulty. But when the rallyists reached Cottabetta the second time, things turned topsy-turvy. Manik RAikhy, of JK Tyres, crashed and pulleld out. Behind him came RAvi JOuhari of BIrla Tyres whose navigator brother Deepak Jouhari missed a call and crashed next. Niaz Ali, the Indian settled in Australia, brought in by JK Tyres, with his Aussie Navigator Darren Mark Macro, also ended their endurance there. With two prime cars for JK Tyres gone, Hari Singh continued his valiant fight for his team.

    In the meantime, there was a faux paux by the organisers. When Manik Raikhy crashed, VR Naren Kumar and MK Chander of Team MRF, the third car had already started the Cottabetta stage. Raikhy’s car had blocked the route and Naren and Chander were waiting for the car to be moved out. One of the officials manning the start TC at Cottabetta, arrived on the scene and advised Naren to go back to the start of the stage for a restart. Naren informed the official that it was against the National Competition Rules to go in the opposite direction of the rally, but was told that all other cars behind him have been stopped and there is no danger. Naren went back for the re-start, and it became an issue after the rally was over.

    Meanwhile, when the third stage of the day, the Woshully, was on BS Pruthvi and Shivu Shivappa (JK Tyre) and Samir Thapar and Koka Rahul Rao (JK Tyre) gave up with mechanical problems. The only JK cars that remained were of Hari Singh and Satish Bhat. A private entrant Roshan Akhtar and R Thiagarajan also pulled out here.

    Upkar Dicky Gill and Aditya Jaswal (Team MRF) decided that Pollibetta was best they can complete and pulled out. That was the first casualty for MRF. Even as the other challengers became more and more confident, Umakanth Alva and Nikhil Dhruv, the last starters, gave up their bid in the Woshully stage, in the first repeat. On the 10th Special Stage namely, Siddapur, JK Tyres Rally Team lost Satish Bhat and Moosa Sherif, who pulled out with mechanical problems. Only Hari Singh continued with the rally.

    When the rally reached the 12th stage, the third run of Cottabetta, Vijayant Chowdhry, the navigator turned driver for Team MRF, found his Group N car sputtering to a stop. Piqued by the unbelievable situation, Vijayant checked everything and found all in order. Suddenly, he realised that something important was missing, the Petrol tank. He went back a kilometre, and found the tank with 25 litres of petrol lying on the wayside. That was the second casuality, for Team MRF. SA Sridhar, the two-wheeler legend from Coimbatore, along with navigator Victor, driving for Team Chettinad Sporting, also pulled out here.

    The next stage, the third run of Woshully, saw the total `rout’ of JK Tyres Rally Team, as Hari Singh and Gurinder Singh Mann bowed out. STories of Team JK’s plight spread like wildfire across the route. Sandeep Kadur and Dilbagh Gill also pulled out in this stage. There were only 10 cars remaining out of the 23 who challenged the Rallye de Endurance.

    Team MRF Tyres was sitting pretty with 1-to-6 placings with Navaz Bathena and Sherin Balachander  and three other private teams continuing behind them. The most interesting fact to note was Karandeep Singh and navigator Jaidas Menon, were leading the Group N placings, followed by Sagar Muthappa and Sandeep S Rao, both from Team MRF. That, Team MRF has found an excellent driver in Karandeep, was proved. But, it is reported, that both Karandeep and the third placed in Group N, Jagat Nanjappa, were asked by the team to ease up on the pedal and let Sagar win.

    When the second part of the rally took off after the re-group, Team MRF played it cool, to avoid mistakes and finished 1-6. Never has the team had it so good, and every member was all praise for the preparation of the cars.

    In the wee hours of November 13, the remaining 10 cars checked into the finish time control at Dominion. The post-event scrutiny put eveyone of the competitors in the 1-10 order, and the stewards asked Naren Kumar of Team MRF for an explanation for going in the opposite direction, which he promptly said was on the official’s insistence. The official requested the steward of the meet to mark them low in the points for running the championship rally, but to spare the competitor.

    Team MRF, which took the 1 to 6 placings of the Castrol Rallye de Endurance, also claimed the Group A and Group N championships for 1998.

    Provisional Results:

    Overall: 1. VR Naren Kumar/ MK Chander (Team MRF) (2hours, 23minutes, 50seconds); 2.N Leelakrishnan/ Farooq Ahmed (Team MRF) (2:25:02); 3. Arjun Balu/ KR Kumar (Team MRF) 2:26:23).

    Group A:  1. VR Naren Kumar/ MK Chander (Team MRF) (2hours, 23minutes, 50seconds); 2.N Leelakrishnan/ Farooq Ahmed (Team MRF) (2:25:02); 3. Arjun Balu/ KR Kumar (Team MRF) 2:26:23).

    Group N: 1. Sagar Muthappa/ Sandeep S Rao (Team MRF) (2:27:33); 2. Karandeep Singh/ Jaidas Menon (Team MRF) (2:28:45); 3. Jagat Nanjappa/ Anita Nanjappa (Team MRF) (2:32:02).

    National Rally Championship Sandings after six rounds:

    Overall: Drivers: 1. N Leelakrishnan 115 points; 2. Arjun Balu 61.5 points; 3. Sagar Muthappa 72 points.

    Navigators: 1. Farooq Ahmed 95 points;  2. MK Chander 80 points; 3. Sandeep S Rao 72 points;

    Group A Modified: Drivers: 1. N Leelakrishnan 115 points; 2. Arjun Balu 61.5 points; 3. VR Naren Kumar 34 points;

    Navigators: 1. Farooq Ahmed 95 points;  2. MK Chander 80 points; 3. KR Kumar 34 points.

    Group N unmodified: Drivers: 1. Sagar Muthappa 72 points; 2. Jagat Nanjappa 38.5 points; 3. Karandip Singh 36.5 points;

    Navigators: 1. Sandeep S Rao 65 points; 2. Anita Nanjappa 38.5 points; 3. Jaidas Menon 36.5 points.

  • Naren-Chander win Cotton City Rally

    By George Francis/Scorp News

    Coimbatore, 12 October 1998: Talented local youngster and strong contender VR Naren Kumar along with another local lad, MK Chander, calling the pace notes, conquered the Castrol Cotton City Rally 1998 brushing aside the challenge from four-time National champion Leelakrishnan and co-driver Farooq Ahmed, here on Sunday.

    The Coimbatore duo became the fourth different winners in this year’s Castrol National Rally Championship for cars winning the fifth round of the eight-round National Championship. Leelakrishnan leads the table with two overall wins.

    Sagar Muthappa and navigator Sandeep S Rao, who won Group N in Coimbatore on Sunday. Photo by George Francis/ Scorp News
    Sagar Muthappa and navigator Sandeep S Rao, who won Group N in Coimbatore on Sunday. Photo by George Francis/ Scorp News

    But the story of the day, are the Limited slip differentials, Leela’s gear boxes and magical suspensions turned the Red Cars into winners in the Castrol Cotton City Rally here. Team MRF won the top two spots but it was not the famed Leelakrishnan on the top. The expert driver and tuner had to play second fiddle to Naren Kumar for once, as the youngster put in a determined performance to take the first win of the season.

    Team JK Tyre which brought in veteran Niaz Ali (co-driver Vivekanandan) and Vicky Chandhok (navigator Manoj Dalal) to increase the pressure on Sagar Muthappa had to bite the dust. Both veterans, who led initially had to pull out due to a roll and mechanical problems, respectively. Sagar Muthappa finished fourth Overall while another Team MRF driver Jagat Nanjappa with his wife Anita as co-driver, finished fifth overall.

    Riding the crest of success, Team Red finished first and second in Group A modified Class and took all the top-four placings in the Group N unmodified Class.

    In the two-wheeler category, too, Team Red took the first four placings overall, and similar positions in Group C modified class. Only in Group D unmodified class was there a non-MRF winner.

    The Coimbatore Auto Sports Club (CASC), well known for its organisational skills and riding high on a 1.5 coefficient in the championship points in the Castrol National Rally Championship, 1998, had moved away from its long-time sponsor ITC. Castrol stepped in as the sponsor. CASC, which had a hell of a problem last year in running the Special Stages at Palladam, about 40km from here, ensured the stages were planned out well this time and allowed an organised reconnaissance to help build the competitors’ confidence.

    All the top rallyists were there, with only three newcomers in Niaz Ali of Team JK, Lt.Col. Sukhinder Singh Sekhon and Vijayant Chaudhry of Team MRF. The 40-year old Niaz, who rallied in India until 1986, when he won the Rallye de Endurance Overall top spot, is now an Australian citizen and was offered a drive by Team JK Tyre in this event. “I always wanted to be back in this country rallying, and here I am,” better known as brother of former Miss India, Nafisa Ali. Niaz who rallied in Australia now, has won the Western Australia sprint (1300cc, Group N stock) in a Suzuki Swift and placed second in Rally Australia (World championship) in the Group N Class. That he had a clear advantage over the others in the speeds touched in rallying, was very clear. Ponnusamy Vivekanandan, another Indian settled in Australia and who navigated JK Tyres’ Manik Raikhy to Overall victory in the Popular Rally last month, was Niaz’s navigator.

    Vijayant Chaudhry, a former JK navigator and now in Team MRF is the only navigator turned driver among the current breed. Lieutenant Colonel Sukhinder Singh Sekhon, who used to navigate for Team JK driver Kulbir Singh Chauhan, also from the Regiment of Artillery, was in the red shirts, navigating for Vijayant.

    The entry of `Pacer Yamaha’ into the rallying circuit with 135 bikes had robbed Team Nanjappas of K Prasad, and put the pressure on Zen Rallying and TVS-Suzuki factory bikes. But their cornering ability was to stand the Suzukis in good stead. In their bid to find a new performer, Suzuki put Amol Talpade, the 1997 Group D National Champion and Mazadayar Vatcha of Pune on Suzuki Shaolins. Zubin Patel and Amar Sandhu of Team MRF were on factory supported Suzuki Shoguns. Team Pacer Yamaha, seemed to have done their homework well, roping in MRF’s Rohitaaz Kumar, K Prasad and RH Vikram along with Srinivas and Nipender Jassy, two die-hard youngsters.

    The Cotton City Challenge was two-day event, run over 570km, of which 140km made up 14 Special Stages. A basic three stages with enough run-off area, were repeated to run seven stages on day one and two. The presence of Team JK and Team MRF, after two years of boycotting the CASC rally due to various reasons, put the spirit back into the Cotton City Challenge.

    Fifty-nine motorcycles and 28 cars were flagged off into a 90-minute transport section to reach the Special Stages on the Udumalaipet road. Set among windmill farms three Special Stages were in the villages near Palladam. A total dirt rally, with a service park in between the transport section from Stage 2 to Stage 3, ensured absolute order. The spectator-friendly rally had thousands of visitors from Kerala, Bangalore and Coimbatore itself.

    Set on smooth dirt, the Cotton City stages looked very different, with none of the dangerous elements noticed in the South India Rally at Chennai. One could drive his heart out and enjoy the rally, but pushing the pedal also meant running off the route most of the time. That the route was well marked out is an understatment. Last Year’s `short-cutting phobia’ ensured the presence of scores of judges from the neighbouring Kerala Auto Sports Club and the CASC to police the event. The pace set by the riders and drivers took the local spectators by surprise.

    On Day 1, Team JK’s anchor driver Hari Singh and navigator Gurinder Singh Mann, driving an Esteem suffered two early punctures, losing precious time. Satish Bhat, also of Team JK, navigated by Moosa, rolled in Special Stage 1 and the winner of the earlier Popular Rally, Manik Raikhy and navigator CK Chinnappa, flipped on the second stage. The latter rolled thrice, landed on all fours and tried continuing the run, until his broken car refused to carry him. Team MRF’s Arjun Balu and navigator Kumar Ramaswamy, broke his Esteem’s gear box and retired in the early stages of the rally. Dicky Gill, also from Team MRF and navigator Aditya Jaiswal, broke two imported rims, and lost a lot of time, but continued fighting a lost battle, valiantly.

    In the two-wheeler category all riders opted for solo riding, due to the reconnaissance, and the top shots kept the pace high, except for RH Vikram (Team MRF) of Bangalore. His Yamaha engine seized in the very first Stage, forcing him to pull out unceremoniously. Almost every driver and rider was working at improving his performance due to the repeats. Stage 1 was repeated thrice, and the other two stages twice, all in the same direction, to make up the seven Special Stages on the first day.

    At the end of the day, completed by 23 cars and 49 bikes, Team MRF led in all classes. Naren Kumar and navigator MK Chander, led Overall, followed by Leelakrishnan and navigator Farooq Ahmed, both from MRF, followed by Team JK’s Niaz Amed and Vivekanandan. Among the two-wheelers , Team MRF’s Zubin led, followed by K Prasad and Rohitaaz Kumar from the same team.

    In the stock cars class, Team MRF’s Sagar Muthappa and Sandeep S Rao led, followed by Vicky Chandhok and navigator Manoj Dalal from Team JK Tyre and Karandeep Singh and Jaidas Menon from Team MRF in third.

    Paritosh Kohok of Nasik, led in the Group D stock Class for motorcycles, followed by SP Chinnappa and Udayakumar, both from Team Zen Rallying of Bangalore.

    On Day 2, all the seven stages were run in the opposite direction. Most of the surviving participants were running the 8-14 stages to complete the rally and pick up some points for the championship. While this was going on, Hari Singh of JK an Dicky Gill of MRF were driving their heads off to gain time lost on the first day.

    Team JK lost Niaz Ahmed due to mechanical problems, Vicky Chandhok (accident) and V Ram Narayan due to gear box problems and was fighting valiantly until the finish. Among motorcyclists, Zubin’s impeccable ride on dirt forced on spectator to say, “The rider should be using some gum on the wheels that stops him from falling off his bike in the tight corners.”

    Leg II finished as on the earlier day, at the Suguna Kalyana Mandapam in Coimbatore. The percentage of finishers being high, the mood was upbeat as the rallyists went to rest.

    Hardwork and perfection in preparation proved that Team MRF still had stuff to win a rally and amass placings, as in the olden times. “In rallies, car preparation is 80 per cent and only 20 per cent is driving, we are happy that we have found the right combination, and our drivers will perform better and better, event after event,” said MRF driver and Group A cars tuner Leelakrishnan. “Team JK is pushed to perform and when you push, one tends to make more mistakes,” opined Group N cars tuner J Anand, a former racer for MRF.

    Provisional Results:

    CARS Overall: 1. VR Naren Kumar/ MK Chander (Team MRF) (2hours, 13minutes, 51seconds); 2. N Leelakrishnan/Farooq Ahmed (Team MRF) (2:15:35); 3. Nikhil Taneja/Sandeep Lal (JK Tyres) (2:16:52); 4. Sagar Muthappa/Sandeep S Rao (Team MRF) (2:19:28); 5. Jagat Nanjappa/ Anita (Team MRF) (2:19:43).

    Group A Modified cars: 1. VR Naren Kumar/ MK Chander (Team MRF) (2hours, 13minutes, 51seconds); 2. N Leelakrishnan/Farooq Ahmed (Team MRF) (2:15:35); 3. Nikhil Taneja/Sandeep Lal (JK Tyres) (2:16:52); 4. BS Pruthvi/Shivu Shivappa (Team MRF) (2:19:54); 5. Hari Singh/ GS Mann (JK Tyres) (2:23:15).

    Group N Unmodified cars: 1. Sagar Muthappa/Sandeep S Rao (Team MRF) (2:19:28); 2. Jagat Nanjappa/ Anita (Team MRF) (2:19:43); 3.Karandeep Singh/Jaidas Menon (Team MRF) (2:20:49); 4. Ravi Jouhari/ Deepak Jouhari (Birla Tyres) (2:22:47); 5. Vijayant Choudhry/SS Sekon (Team MRF) (2:23:01).

    BIKES Overall: 1. Zubin Patil (Team MRF) (2:20:15); 2. Rohitaaz Kumar (Team MRF) (2:21:06); 3. K Prasad (Team MRF) (2:21:25); 4. Amarinder Sandhu (Team MRF) (2:23:40); 5. S Nipendar Jassy (Pacer Yamaha) 2:24:47).

    Group C modified bikes: 1. Zubin Patil (Team MRF) (2:20:15); 2. Rohitaaz Kumar (Team MRF) (2:21:06); 3. K Prasad (Team MRF) (2:21:25); 4. Amarinder Sandhu (Team MRF) (2:23:40); 5. S Nipendar Jassy (Pacer Yamaha) 2:24:47).

    Group D Unmodified bikes: 1. Paritosh K Kohok (2:28:16); 2. SP Chinnappa (2:29:57); 3. D Uday Kumar (2:31:07); 4. Vikram Singh (2:33:03); 5. GS Ganapathy (2:33:45).

  • Leela-Farooq win K-1000; Zubin Patel tops bikes class

    By George Francis/ Scorp News

    Bangalore, 14 August 1998: Team MRF ruled the roost in the 24th Castrol Karnataka 1000 Rally, winning the first four places among cars and the first two among motorcycles here on Sunday. Multiple National champion N Leelakrishnan and navigator Farooq Ahmed won the K1000, the third round of the Castrol National Rally Championship for cars 1998 while Zubin Patel also of Team MRF clinched the Overall honours in the Motorcycle section.

    The Karnataka Motor Sports Club (KMSC) roped in Castrol as the main sponsor for this National Championship event. The FMSCI president Shramick Masturlal, who was also the Clerk of the Course, had put together a simple, yet highly competitive route for the rallyists.

    The K-1000, one of the oldest rallys in the country, was run on the internationally accepted Special Stage format. This format requires specific non-traffic areas designated as Special Stages. During these stages, the two-wheelers are flagged off at one-minute intervals, while the four-wheelers at two-minute intervals.

    In each of the categories, the rallyist with the best time is given nil penalties. Those following him are added on time penalties in relation to the fastest time.

    The five Special Stages were, Yellapura, Appenehalli, Kondli, India Mines and Gowdhikere. The route between these stages were designated as Transport Sections (TS). The time allotted to traverse the TS is quite comfortable by rallying standards. Also, servicing was made easier by providing for a Service Park at Harenahalli.

    An organised recee was provided for on August 11 before the pre-event scrutiny. There were four classes of competition, Group A and N for cars and Group C and D for motorcycles. While Group A and C for modified vehicles, Group N and D were for stock cars and stock motorcycles, respectively.

    In all there were nine cars in Group A and 19 in Group N and among motorcycles, Group C had 21 entries and Group D, 44. While the two-wheelers were flagged off first, the cars started later in the afternoon.

    A prominent pre-race casualty was Amarinder Singh of Team MRF. During the recee, he suffered a fall from his bike at the end of the Gowdhikere stage and had to be hospitalised with torn muscles.

    In the early stages, Dicky Gill from Delhi led, followed by Arjun Balu and N Leelakrishnan, the eventual Overall winner. Among motorcyclists, Zubin Patel looked invincible. After the rallyists had run through the five stages, the first time around, as many as 14 bikes pulled out.

    With service over, the rally was on again. Halfway through the skies opened up and the slushy conditions made the route even more of a challenge. With two-thirds of the rally gone through, the contestants wore a ragged look. To add to their woes, there were reports of stone throwing and road blocks by the locals during Kondli stage. This forced the CoC and his deputy to patrol the 18km stretch before letting the competitors through. It also led to one of the Stages being cancelled.

    Misfortune continued to dog Dicky Gill in this rally too. His tuner forgot to screw on the radiator cap and his Maruti Esteem engine ceased on the transport section before the finish.

    The JK Tyres tea, too, had its share of problems. Four-time National Champion Hari Sing and his navigator Gurinder Singh Mann pulled out with a broken suspension. Nikhil Taneja abandoned the rally after going into a ditch; Satish Bhat and Nihar Singh were forced out due to mechanical problems and Akbar Ebrahim suffered a broken drive shaft.

    Team MRF rider Rohitaaz Kumar was out early on the final run and RH Vikram, who was running well, hit a truck near Neelamangala and pulled out.

    When the surviving 15 cars and 36 bikes checked into The Club, the members of Team MRF were ecstatic. But even as the celebrations were being planned fresh hurdles awaited them.

    Gaurav Dalal of JK Tyres filed a protest with the stewards saying that the MRF drivers had resorted to fly-off hand brakes. But the stewards over-ruled the objection saying, the use of fly-off hand brake was or safety reasons and offered no advantage to the leaders.

    Watch the Castrol Video by Sunil Shetty here.

    Provisional Results:

    Overall: 1. N Leelakrishnan/Farooq Ahmed (Team MRF) (1hour, 38minutes, 43seconds); 2. Arjun Balu/ KR Kumar (Team MRF) (1:39:00); 3. Sagar Muthappa/Sandeep S Rao (Team MRF) (1:39:30).

    Group A Modified: 1. N Leelakrishnan/Farooq Ahmed (Team MRF) (1hour, 38minutes, 43seconds); 2. Arjun Balu/ KR Kumar (Team MRF) (1:39:00); 3. Manik Raikhy/ P Vivekanandan (JK Tyres) (1:41:08).

    Group N Unmodified: 1. Sagar Muthappa/Sandeep S Rao (Team MRF) (1:39:30); 2. Jagat Nanjappa/ Anita (Team MRF) (1:39:49); 3. Karandeep Singh/ Jaidas Menon (Team MRF) (1:41:08).

    Motorcycles:

    Overall and Group C modified: 1. Zubin Patel (Team MRF) (1:49:10); 2. K Prasad, Mysore (1:50:52); 3. R Sreenivas, Bangalore, (1:52:32).

    Group D Unmodified: 1. Paritosh Kohok, Nasik (1:55:40); 2. K Amith Kumar, Bangalore, (2:05:11); 3. Rohan Rego, Mangalore (2:06:44).

    Note: This article is manually migrated from the archives of old website.

  • My first rally diary; Majithia-Vijayant win Coorg rally

    By Bodapati David

    Bengaluru: This is a Diary piece. Not just a rally report. It dates back to two decades. But am adding this today, the 2nd of May, 2020. Thanks to the results by Scorp News, which George Francis gave me in 2004 when we started this site. One day, when Carona passes, I will dig out my own Indian Express report.

    Dateline: Madikeri, 10 Nov 1996: I am going to write about my first experience of a live rally after joining Indian Express Bangalore edition in 1996. Forgive me, but you have to bear with me. I have followed many rallies and many rounds of Indian National Rally Championship but this is the first assignment as a journalist and I am writing for Indian Express as an official representative, having been deputed to report the event.

    Let me begin with how it all started. I am here, after being transferred to Bangalore from Andhra Pradesh. The Bangalore sports desk of the Indian Express was one of the strongest centres in the country of 19 Express editions. There were big stalwarts. But Mr Anand Philar, Mr Joseph Hooever, and Mr Shree Kumar have left the centre recently. So here I am, doing my bit to fill the vacuum.

    Having known Mr Anand Philar, I was thrilled to know that my former boss is also travelling to Coorg and quickly connected, and he graciously agreed to my request. I joined him in one of my first trips to a `live rally’ in my life as a sports journalist, which was going to be a routine fixture, in future… travelling with the `Encyclopedia of Motorsports in India’ has taught me a lot and made me a complete person. My last trip has been to MMRT, just before the lockdown, the last domestic motorsports event in India.

    That cold winter night in Bangalore, I got up at 3 am and was all set, preparing myself thoroughly for the Rally Reporting. My Express colleagues and seniors, Vedam and Sharan have given me some useful tips and Roopa too joined to chip in with some kind advice on how to send the copy. There were no emails those days, you know. I had to send it through a teleprinter from a Post Office. I was privileged to have a BSNL smart card which many of my respected colleagues in Bangalore did not have. That was because I was in a remote place and had to travel to places which were virtually cut-off from the world. I was in Vizianagaram, which got me this smart card that allows you to send telegrams, make trunk calls and send reports by Teleprinter from BSNL offices without making any pre-payment. They are reverse-charged to Indian Express, similar to the Call-collect lines of AT & T of USA, those days.

    Mr Philar was gracious enough to allow me to accompany him in his Maruti 800. We started at 5 am sharp, and had travelled about two hours when I experienced some shooting pain. I had a bad tooth and the ghat section and the bumpy roads seemed to make it worse and I began to experience the worst kind of a pain in my first motorsports assignment for my new posting. I joined Express seven years back but there were no motorsports in Andhra.

    Anand was kind enough to help me with all the unwanted stops and we did buy some pain killers which kept me going and he made the first stop at a dentist’s place as soon as we reached Madikeri, I did get my tooth filled in a quick 30-minute stop and the hotel, the rally headquarters, was not quite far from there.

    By about 12 noon, we were at the HQ.

    One of the first Rally personalities I met was Chinnappa. “This is CK Chinnappa, a legend,’’ was how Anand described him in short. Chinni, here is David, he said.

    Chinni was sitting on a small step on the door-way of an annexe building of the resort, with the revered audience like Hari Singh, Arjun Balu and Leelakrishnan, among others. I am blissfully unaware of all these legends, who were great drivers in their own right, with whom I had the privilege of company, and watched them in action for many seasons to come in the next 20 years.

    Chinni reeled out stories galore that were nostalgic and laid the foundation for me to get entrenched in motorsports. In his typical enchanting narration…

    The Rally was conducted by the Indian Automotive Sports Club (IASC) and it was a new format. There will be some Special Stages. The roads and routes will be closed and it would be a no-man’s land. As envisioned by the international Special Stage Rallying rules, the Coorg Rally, named the 14th Castrol Rallye de Endurance, will follow the format with 20 Special Stages in the Coffee Estates of The Consolidated Coffee Limited, co-organisers of the rally, a round of the Castrol National Rally Championship. The 134-km of Special Stages and about 483km of liaison distance, which means the transport section was part of the rally.

    Having won in Cochin and Delhi rounds, the Sardars from Delhi, Hari Singh and GS Mann were the hot favourites and were expected to take an easy victory for a hat-trick of wins. But that was not to be with teammates Bikram Singh Majithia and co-driver Vijayant Chowdhry, also of JK tyre, taking the lead and winning the rally with ease, with a huge two minute, three-second gap over second-placed Team MRF drivers Arjun Balu and Kumar Ramaswamy.

    The JK guys are called as `Yellow Lightning’ while the MRF drivers went by the name `Red Thunder’, explained George Francis, another giant in motorsports media, with whom I spent my first rally assignment on stages. Amidst all these things, I noticed and eked in the memory two things. Arjun Balu, the driver and the blue Chettinadu team, as privateers, among all the Yellow and Red battles. I endeared myself and was attracted to them for the next two decades or so.

    For the record, the rally was won by Majithia and Vijayant, the Overall winners from the stable of JK Tyre while MRF’s Arjun Balu and co-driver Kumar took the second place. Nikhil Taneja and Sandeep Lal came third. While Nikhil took the top spot in the Group N, Leelakrishnan and Farooq took the third Overall place.

    Provisional Results:

    Overall: 1. Bikram Singh Majithia/ Vijayant Chowdhry (JK Tyre) (2:22:46); 2. Arjun Balu/Kumar Ramaswamy (Team MRF) (2:24:49); 3. Nikhil Taneja/ Sandeep Lal (JK Tyre).

    Group A: 1. Bikram Singh Majithia/ Vijayant Chowdhry (JK Tyre) (2:22:46); 2. Arjun Balu/Kumar Ramaswamy (Team MRF) (2:24:49); 3. N Leelakrishnan/ Farooq Ahmed (Team MRF) (2:27:36).

    Group N: (Provisional): 1. Nikhil Taneja/ Sandeep Lal (JK Tyre);  2. Ravi Jouhari/ Deepak Jouhari (2:32:57); 3. Atikur Rehman/ Sanjeev Shah (2:37:48).

  • Easy for Hari Singh-GS Mann; Maiden win for K Prasad: Popular Rally

    Cochin, 16 Sept 1996: Defending National champion Hari Singh and co-driver Gurinder Singh Mann led a JK Tyre podium sweep winning the 14th Popular Rally, the fifth round of the Castrol National Rally Championship here on Sunday. K Prasad and navigator Sudharshan Gowda won the motorcycle category riding a Shogun, while reigning champion and 7-time record winning pair of Jagat Nanjappa and Anita could only finish sixth astride their RX100.

    Hari Singh had an easy time on the wet and slippery tarmac stages and began his account here as he failed to win any of the four rallies this year. But with four rallies remaining it is anybody’s game but teammate Bikram Singh Majithia and co-driver Vijayant Choudhry are leading the National Championship table with 55 points after taking a second overall in this rally. The Chandigarh driver however, expressed confidence in retaining the title. “We had a good lead and we took it easy this year,” Hari said about the four-minute lead this year after a bad outing in the previous year when he could not perform well because of the death of his mentor and motorsport legend Karivardhan.

    Last year’s Popular rally winner Gurmeher Singh Majithia was let down by an overheated radiator while multiple National champions N Leelakrishnan and Farad Bathena suffered steering and suspension issues respectively.

    In the two-wheeler section it was the maiden win for Mysore’s K Prasad in the Nationals. “I had a toss in the second stage while trying to overtake Yuvraj Pawar. I had some tight finishes but still I did not expect to win here,” said a jubilant Prasad who won along with navigator Sudharshan Gowda. Trailing behind favourite Ravichander at the end of the first leg, Prasad clinched the issue in the last Special Stage.

    Provisional Results:

    Cars Overall: 1. Hari Singh and Gurinder Singh Mann (JK Tyre) (2hours, 16min, 59sec); 2. Bikram Singh Majithia and Vijayant Choudhry (JK Tyre) (2:21:07); 3. Nikhil Taneja and Sandeep Lal (JK Tyre) (2:24:18); 4. N Leelakrishnan and Farooq Ahmed (Team MRF) (2:24:30); 5. KS Chauhan and SS Sekon (JK Tyre) (2:26:19); 6. Satish Bhat and C Surendran (2:29:49).

    Group A: 1. Hari Singh and Gurinder Singh Mann (JK Tyre) (2hours, 16min, 59sec); 2. Bikram Singh Majithia and Vijayant Choudhry (JK Tyre) (2:21:07); 3. N Leelakrishnan and Farooq Ahmed (Team MRF) (2:24:30);

    Group N: 1. Nikhil Taneja and Sandeep Lal (JK Tyre) (2:24:18); 2. KS Chauhan and SS Sekon (JK Tyre) (2:26:19); 3. Satish Bhat and C Surendran (2:29:49).

    Motorcycles Overall: (all top-5 Shoguns): 1. K Prasad and Sudharshan Gowda (Zen Rallying) (2:46:56); 2. T Ravichander and RS Sujith Kumar (2:47:05); 3. RH Vikram and R Sathish (Team MRF) 2:47:30); 4. Yuvaraj Pawar and Avinash Cavale (Team MRF) (2:49:08); 5. Shyam Kothari and KE Suresh Kumar (Team MRF) (2:50:17); 6. Jagat Nanjappa and Anita (Team MRF-RX100) (2:50:43);

    Group C: 1. K Prasad and Sudharshan Gowda (Zen Rallying) (2:46:56); 2. T Ravichander and RS Sujith Kumar (2:47:05); 3. RH Vikram and R Sathish (Team MRF) 2:47:30);

    Group D (Stock): 1. Yuvaraj Pawar and Avinash Cavale (Team MRF) (2:49:08); 2. MA Danif and EM Shameer (2:57:48); 3. Lakshmikanth and Chandrasekhar (2:59:46).

    Editor’s note: Manually migrated from database to support INRC Winners: Hall of Fame

  • Sanjay Agarwal-Shivu Shivappa win Scissors Rally

    By George Francis

    Coimbatore, 3 June 1996: A fairytale came alive for private entrants at the 14th Scissors Action Rally here on Sunday. Sanjay Agarwal and Shivu Shivappa picked up the overall winner’s trophy for cars, while bike tuner Krishnamoorthy could not hide his excitment as Krishna Naveen and Sujith Kumar lifted the overall winners trophy for two-wheelers.

    This turn of events came as a surprise to many as a few days before the rally, tyre giants MRF and JK, decided to pull out. Objections to certain rules and regulations brought up by the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) resulted in this walk-out and even as the rally was being run on June 2, representatives from both teams were sitting with FMSCI council members in Delhi to arrive at a solution.

    Perfection in organisation saw the Coimbatore Auto Sports Club (CASC) getting 71 two-wheeler entrants and ten four-wheelers, despite the fact that MRF and JK were absent.

    The Special Stage Rally, run to the rules of the Federation Internationiale de l’Automobile (FIA), the world body governing motorsport and the FMSCI, was a rallyist’s delight. The 550-km really spelled out the meaning of rough and tough.

    Major names among the middle-order in Indian rallying led the field of entrants, 55 Group D Unmodified bikes and 17 Group A Modified bikes tuned for the start while a long Group A Modified car and nine Group N Unmodified cars were all set to run.

    Faourites in the four-wheeler category were Sanjay Agarwal and Shivu Shivappa. KE Kumar and Jaidas Menon, Prakash B Narayan and Preetinder S Tiwana, Sam N Katgara and Neville C Poonawalla.

    Among the two-wheelers, there were the invariable Shoguns. Hot favourites were local rider T Ravichandran and his Madras-based navigator S Bhuvaneswari. Paritosh Kohok, the champion Group D navigator of last year, was riding a Group D bike himself, after his good performance astride a Shogun in Nashik earlier this year. Suresh Kumar was his navigator. Zubin Patel and Praful M Sancheti, who had placed third in Group D in the first lef of the 1996 rallying championship at Nashik in January, were rallying in South India for the first time and miracles were expected of them.

    Of the 72 starters in two-wheelers, 52 finished, the majority of dropouts being due to mechanical problems. Out of ten cars, nine finished.

    (Editor’s Note: This article is manually migrated in July 2020 to support: INRC Winners: Hall of Fame)

    (This article is a press release by George Francis and was also published in Auto India magazine)

  • Anand Philar: Bio

    Anand Philar is one of the most experienced motorsport journalists in India, having covered the sport at virtually all levels – Karting, National Rally and Racing Championships (both cars and bikes), FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship and Formula 1. A former National Sports Editor of The New Indian Express, Philar was also associated with country’s leading automotive journals, Autocar and Overdrive, for nearly a decade before branching off as a motorsport Media consultant and also indulging in motorsport photography.