INDIA in F1

Tag: MSCC

  • Rally of Chikmagalur flagged off; Cream of Indian talent descends in coffee land

    Rally of Chikmagalur flagged off; Cream of Indian talent descends in coffee land

    Chikkamagaluru, 14 May 2022: The Rally of Chikmagalur organised by Motor Sports Club of Chikmagalur (MSCC) was flagged off here on Saturday to kick-start the 2022 season with the first round of the MRF MoGrip fmsci Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) for two-wheelers promoted by GodSpeed Racing. Of the 93 entries, 88 will take the start on Sunday.

    Two-wheeler rally continues to be the most popular form of motorsports in India and the overwhelming response of 93 entries proves that bikers continue to call the shots. The 56-odd km dirt tracks comprising of two special stages that will be run four times in the same direction in the famed coffee estates will decide the winners in 9 classes. “The terrain is tricky but more or less similar to last year. But the wet surface due to recent rains poses challenges, the same as last year,” said a biker from Bengaluru. “Yes, it is slushy and we have to be careful in negotiating the tracks,” said Ryhana Bee, a National champion in 2W road racing. “Many will fall tomorrow, including me. The stages are challenging but we are up to it,” warned Deeksha Srivastava in jest, the Sprint Queen, who won the 2021 Sprint Nationals, is making her debut in INRC.

    The stages are short but are very technical, providing tricky terrain but with no rains on Saturday and forecast dry for Sunday, the Nationals is all set to ring in a new year. Coming to the defending champion, Abdul Wahid Tanveer, who will be spearheading the TVS campaign, he had some pretty cool answers to the two questions posed by INDIainF1.com. Your goals for 2022, your bike…

    When asked about his goals for 2022, Tanveer said: My goals are as simple as 1.2.3. One is to continue following my passion. Second one is to thoroughly enjoy myself while chasing my goals. And the third is to scale greater heights, but one step at a time… To shed some light on the bike, it is a lean, mean machine that is the epitome of strength and a rider’s dream. I am excited for this one!

    “I was fortunate enough to fly to France to be trained by a fabulous mentor, Michael Metge. We rode through the various terrains and really pushed our limits, but my favourite part was getting in touch with my inner strength. Thanks to my mentor who made the training eventful and really helpful,” that is how the champion concluded.

    Aishwarya Pissay, the 2019 FIM World Cupper, a Ladies World champion was lucky to test her bike today and meet some wild friends. She was trying to get some feel on the bike when she saw something zip past in front of her. Usually the culprit in speeding, at least on the track with full freedom in the world, she was surprised by the speed with which someone else crossed the road. But it is not a competitor. It is a four-legged creature full of beautiful horns. She spotted a spotted deer in the second Stage today. An antler… So what are your goals for 2022, we asked the same question as we did to Tanveer, and the only world champion in Indian motorsports said: “My goal for this year is to win the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) for a sixth time. Along with that, I am looking forward to riding in a few international rallies like Andalucia, but they are yet to be confirmed. The Recce was good and I love the feel of the bike. Also, I have just completed one training abroad (France) and will undergo another round of training in June 2022. I am sure these trainings will be very useful for me and will help me give better performance in the 2022 INRC.” Aishwarya won the INRC 2w consecutively for five years from 2017, her debut season.

    Her closest rival is Tanika Shanbagh. A rider young and raring to go… But the young rider is not racing in Ladies class this year. She switched gears and is gong hammer and tongs, racing with big boys. She will be the lone lady in the top-six bikes that will be racing in Class 1A, the Indian Experts class. Daughter of former motorsports champion Shanbag, the rider from Satara, will be testing herself astride a Husqvarna TE350 as she prepares to jump start her international career. ”We are planning to take part in at least one international rally event this year and for that I want to get accustomed to the handling, and the speed of the bike. I also want to become faster on the bike,” a simple statement but very assertive. Watch out, this young talent if groomed properly can go places. Apart from the top guns, there are two riders one need to watch out for. Sarath Mohan and Sinan Francis.

  • MSCC gears up for Rally of Chikmagalur, a National-level TSD event

    MSCC gears up for Rally of Chikmagalur, a National-level TSD event

    Chikmagalur, 18 Nov 2020: Motor Sports Club of Chikmagalur (MSCC)  will host the Rally of Chikmagalur, a National-level event in Time, Speed, Distance (TSD) format for 4-Wheelers in the Coffee town on December 11 and 12. The rally will offer night sections reminding the good-old long-distance rallies which used to run day-and-night on the hilly treacherous terrain near Baba Budangiri hillocks.

    The 250-km rally will begin in Chikkamagaluru around 5pm and will end the next day morning at Horanadu, where the Prize Giving function will be held, after breakfast.

    Most of the core team members of MSCC are seen in this file photo.

    One of the oldest and prestigious motorsports clubs in India, MSCC has a chequered history hosting the ‘Coffee 500′ rally that began in 1982 and used to run in the `closed roads’ with ABC being a vantage point for briefings, parc ferme and PD (Prizegiving ceremony). Many years it ran on the narrow and steep ghat terrain and during nights, usually at the foothills of Sahayadri mountain ranges. The current ‘Indian National Rally Championship’ round which happens annually began with Special Stages that are run in private Coffee Estates from 1996.

    Farooq Ahmed, multiple national champion co-driver and current FMSCI vice-president

    The blend of the scenic beauty and the sounds of the screeching tyres make the fans eagerly look forward to the most-awaited rally. Not just the features mentioned above but the meticulous efforts by the organisers, a bunch of die-hard fans, working as a team day-in and day-out, make it a special event for the participants and the fans alike. It is also one of the rallies in the National Calendar which attracts a huge number of media, usually more than 50 reporters and photographers thronging to the ceremonial start and the PD. In recent years, the Super Special Stage in private school premises has attracted the attention of huge fan following, and is one of the highlights of the event, making it an annual festival.

    So much so, the Coffee which 500 became Coffee Day Rally from 1997, after the sponsors started Coffee Day chain in 1996, got the FIA recognition for their good efforts and a Candidate Rally was awarded and the round of Asia Cup was approved and ran in 2015, christened as the Coffee Day India Rally. Ably led by Farooq Ahmed, a champion rallyist himself, the team works like a well-oiled machine.

    The FIA later awarded the MSCC a prestigious round of APRC for the year 2016. The MSCC now looks forward to hosting a successful final round of APRC and to cement a permanent spot in the FIA APRC calendar and even look ahead in the coming years but due to the unfortunate demise of the long-standing sponsor’s key man behind the promotion of motorsports, late VG Siddhartha in July 2019, and the arrival of COVID 19 in 2020, the club had to skip the INRC rounds for both the years for different reasons.

    However, the club kept their track record clean, of conducting national-level events by organising the South Zone Gymkhana, a qualifying event for entry into the Nationals and for Indian teams. Leaving the coffee estates, MSCC even hosted the event in December 2019 at Meco Kartopia in Bengaluru. But the popular one as ever, is their TSD event.

    File photo of Marshals and other volunteers of MSCC, courtesy MSCC

    With a keen motive to go back to roots and spread motorsports at grassroots level, the club officials decided to organise, this year too, the national-level TSD rally, which are now called as time-regulated rallies. The TSDs are famous for the challenges they offer in navigation and are often seen as a gateway to bigger things in motorsports because they lay a good foundation of basics and nurtures drivers and navigators to graduate smoothly into stage rallies.

    A 2018 group photo after the successful conduct of the fourth round of INRC.

    The following Categories are on offer:

    1.Pro-expert

    2.Pro-stock

    3.All ladies

    4.Couple class

    5.Corporate class*

    6.Veterans class*

    7.Novice Class*

    8. Star of Chikamaglur*

    (* Terms and conditions apply please refer to Supplementary Regulations)

    (The entry fee Rs. 7,500 per Car for 2 persons and Rs.11,250 for 3 persons, plus GST)

    For details call or WhatsApp Dilip Doshi 9902211792 since the entries are limited on a first-come-first-serve basis. https://www.facebook.com/motorsportsclubofckm/