May - June 2021

#CHALOCHAMBA RALLY OF CHAMBA

INDIA’S FIRST DOMESTIC MOTORSPORTS & OFF-ROAD MAGAZINE

MAY/JUNE 2021

STRONG SHOW BY

HERO MOTOSPORTS

RRR 2021 Devendra-Manish win 9th edition

ENDURANCE Soorya-Navneeth st win 1 Edition

ACE OF DIRT Mahesh VM wins RED BULL AOD ‘21

ARAVIND KP

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EDITORIAL / IMPRINT

IMPRINT Editor S. Ashok Kumar Tiwari

Hi, Our New Look.

AUTO TRACK is on a new track...

C

ovid 19 once again played spoil-sport, increasing the burden and organising challenges for the upcoming Championships. Hence, it is time to extend this year's calendar till February 2022 to avoid the pile-up and date-clashes of events. Once again, the development and progress will take a back seat. It is high time we start heading towards the changes in the way of approach, and focus on the required SOP for organising.

The previous year has set an example about executing and closing the short season with pride. This season we have two new upcoming National Championships in pipeline, like Autocross and Sprint, both for four-wheelers.

Autocross will surely go the zonal-format way, with each zone organising a round to select drivers for the finals. This definitely will reduce the burden on the promoter and the participants in these difficult times. With the pandemic much more severe during the second wave and with individual States left to set the protocols and restrictions now, it becomes easy to identify the States which might open up sports to begin the season.

The efforts of the top-two tyre companies have to be appreciated as their priorities towards the sport continue firmly so that the sport can be kept going. One has to see how the small-timers will swing.

The pandemic has forced testing times on the organisers and officials to ensure the SOP is followed properly. This wave is not as casual as the first wave and we have also lost too many motorsport passionate people succumb to this deadly virus. But one thing learnt is wear a double-layer mask, practise social distance norms and maintain hygiene, this will safeguard you to a major extent. Also, never the less, vaccination is coming to the rescue and is one of the good signs to open up sports and other outdoor activity.

Since most of the States have permitted the manufacturing facilities to continue with minimum work force during the lockdown, it has also kept the supply-chain alive. Sure, we can overcome all this, but it is a matter of time, and the sooner it is, the better.

S. ASHOK KUMAR TIWARI Editor M: +91-9845296190 autotrack.editor@gmail.com

Concept and Design: S. Ashok Kumar Tiwari Staff Photographers: Keshav Murthy, Nirav Mehta Prakash Rawat, Noor Director / Correspondent: Roopa A. Tiwari General Manager Circulation & Sr. Correspondent: S. Nithyanand Correspondent: K. Manjunath Ghanshyam A Tiwari Spl. Correspondent: David Bodapati Western Region: autotrack.west@gmail.com Mob 09757176958 Northern Region: autotrack.north@gmail.com Mob 09871765886 Editorial Office: Auto Track 7/3-1, Lalitha Engineering Building, Subbanna Garden Main Road, Vijayanagar, Bangalore-40 autotrack.editor@gmail.com www.autotrack.ind.in For Subscription, contact: 9845296190 For Advertisement, E: ashok.autotrack@gmail.com The Publisher makes every effort to ensure that the magazine’s contents are accurate. However, he accepts no responsibility of any effects arising therefrom. Printed at Raj Hans Enterprises, Rajajinagar Industrial Town, Bangalore-560044.

Published by S.Ashok Kumar Tiwari At # 7/3-1, Lalitha Engineering Building, Subbanna Garden Main Road, Vijayanagar, Bangalore - 560040

VOLUME 14, ISSUE 4 O1 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2021

CONTENTS

NEW DELHI

MAY / JUNE 2021

34 10

50 22 TVS Endurance: 04 Andalucia Rally 08 Royal Rajasthan Rally: 11

38 22

36 12

Rally of Chamba: 15 RED BULL Ace of Dirt: 22

Divas TSD: 32

North East TSD Rally: 26

Interview - Aravind KP: 34 Jehan: 40

15 40

Arunachal Drive: 41 Cycling: 44 Meghalaya trip: 56

41 24

56 08

08 30

04 40

O2 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2021

56

RACE

ENDURANCE

Soorya, Navneeth combine win Endurance title TVS Eurogrip MMSC Endurance Race 2021 receives huge response PHOTO BY: ADITYA BEDRE

T

he Chennai-Puducherry combination of Soorya PM and Navneeth Kumar rode a smart, tactical race to annex the Overall title in the TVS Eurogrip MMSC Motorcycle Endurance Race 2021 at the Madras Motor Race Track (MMRT) in Chennai on March 28. The pair also topped the ProStock 301-400cc category O4 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2021

while completing 55 laps over two hours. Finishing second by taking a minute more were pole-sitters from Hyderabad Satyanarayana Raju and Sahil Shetty who also completed 55 laps while the team of Abhimanyu Gautam and Anand R finished third with 54 laps.The riders had to undergo tyre testing on Day

1 as everybody was running on TVS Eurogrip Tyres. After a good practice session, the first qualifying session which was common for all the classes, saw Soorya stuck in the rush, and he took time to come out but he pushed to gain speed by the end of last lap and, as a result, he qualified in P2. In the second qualifying session,

his teammate Navneeth qualified in P1 despite a crash in the last lap and was forced to finish with the heavily damaged bike. As their race was to commence just after a 45min lunch break, they were running short of time to prepare and make it race-worthy.They had a disastrous race start, the vehicle stalled at the

MMRT, CHENNAI

Explaining their strategy, Soorya said: "Unfortunately,

I had a bad start I managed to clock consistent lap times which got us sloed into P3. My partner, Navneeth, then started his session and was consistently puing in lap times which kept us in 2nd place. We ended up in 1st place with a very comfortable lead ."

start, the reason was they were used to a 2nd notch switch, but as the vehicle was prepared in very short notice it was accidentally set up to 1st notch. Rectifying the problem was time-consuming and by then about 15 riders has passed. Soorya was just focused to move ahead and the team never adapted to the lap count, instead they held a helmet at that point indicating the rider to end the session. By the end of 15 minutes of racing, he was already in top five, after completing his session of 42 minutes, he headed back to pits for change of rider and by that time they were in P3. His teammate Navneeth Kumar took over the charge for another 45 minutes. He managed to reach the top by the end of the session and he headed back to pits for Soorya to take on the final run. Soorya pushed hard for the first 15 minutes and once they extended a comfortable lead, he took it easy to just stay ahead for the remaining time.

Anfal A and Subramani Gandan, completing 52 laps, won in the Stock 165cc category, restricted to those who are under-15 years of age. Mohan, an experienced rider was accompanied with Udayi Prakas h who was a novice. Initially, Mohan took the charge and was in the lead but during the safety car after 12 laps, positions changed and he was on the bike for 40min.

Thereafter, Udayi took charge after the pit stop for 38 minutes and he had almost completed 17 laps by then. Later, the charge was once again with Mohan Babu, who finally finished second, as they completed 52 laps in 2:02:18.551. The pair of Jagadeesh N and Allwin Xavier completed 51 laps in 2:02:29.670 to settle for third position.Lani Zena Fernandez and Arpitha Bhat emerged champions in the Girls class, riding a TVS Apache RTR 200 as they completing 48 laps in 2:01:11.352. Rakshitha Dave along with Baddam Dipika completed 47 laps in 2:00:44.209. The leading team of MAY / JUNE 2021 autotrack.ind.in 05

MMRT, CHENNAI

RACE

session of 20 to 45 min.

Hence, for entering before the window, time penalty of 50sec was awarded to them, which saw them slide down to third. They completed 47 laps in 2:01:20.940.

ENDURANCE

A big disappointment was the retirement of experienced pair of Rajini Krishnan and Sarath Kumar who packed up after 39 laps.

The pair led initially, but was docked a ride-through penalty after Rajini, going out first, rode for 46 minutes instead of permitted 45. It effectively ended their challenge.

Explaining their strategy, Soorya said: "Unfortunately, I had a bad start where up to 10 riders overtook me in

Nivetha Jessica along with Lakaya Lee was running first but suffered miscommunication with the team regarding pit stop in

O6 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2021

the second half. She entered the pits within 15 minutes for change of rider which was not permissible. The change of rider should be after a

the start itself. Then, I started to keep myself calm and worked my way up the field passing riders, one after another. I managed to clock consistent lap times which got us slotted into P3.

My partner, Navaneet, then started his session and was consistently putting in lap times which kept us in 2nd place. `Ì managed to get out for my final push for the last 32 minutes and I pushed to the maximum and put in fast lap after fast lap for approximately 15 minutes where we ended up in 1st place with a very comfortable lead of about 51 seconds over my fellow competitor who is behind me in 2nd."

RALLY

ANDALUCIA

Hero MotoSports excels with two riders in top-5

th

Jrod retrieves a valuable overall 4 while Caimi's th strong final dash gets him 5

H

ero MotoSports Team Rally completed their first rally of the 2021 season on a strong note with two of its riders finishing in the Top 5 in overall standings of the Andalucia Rally which concluded recently.

Joaquim Rodrigues and Franco Caimi were placed fourth and fifth respectively after 185-km final stage with the best chances of achieving a podium for the team.

Joaquim, popularly known as JRod, made a strong start to the stage but settled on the side of caution, owing to a couple of crashes and brought the bike home safely in the seventh position. This was enough for him to earn only a fourth place in the O8 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2021

overall standings, as he built upon his win in the Prologue and put in a strong performance throughout the rally, but missed the podium by a narrow margin.

Franco Caimi also made a strong final dash and managed to secure a fifth place in the last stage of the rally. His efforts rewarded him with a fifth place in the overall standings too. With this he managed to achieve a Top-5 finish in his very first rally in Hero MotoSports colors.

Sebastian Buhler, who had received a 15-minute penalty the previous day, owing to an engine change effectively, lost his chance of an overall podium finish. Yet, he put the new engine to good use and

achieved good speed to finish the final stage in fourth place. He finished the rally in eight position in the overall rankings.

With a report card that boasts of a stage win in the Prologue, three stage podiums, seven Top-5 stages and all the riders competing for the top positions, Andalucia Rally, undoubtedly turned out to be a highly-successful outing, positive first step for the Team into the new season. The resurgence of Joaquim Rodrigues, the consistency of Sebastian Buhler and the fresh energy of Franco Caimi in the team augurs well for the team's prospects in the upcoming season.

Day 1: Hero MotoSports Team Rally kicked off their Andalucia Rally campaign on a winning note, claiming the top spot in the Prologue stage.

The team finished the short 8-km, poorly-visible, narrowtrack prologue stage that decides the starting order of the rally. J Rod secured the fastest run, Buhler came third and the newest Hero Franco Caimi finished in fourth place.

Day 2: The first full stage of the rally was near the town of Arcos de la Frontera before setting them off on 257-km timed special stage that brought the stage to a close back at the bivouac in Villamartin.

SPAIN Leading the charge for the team, Sebastian Buhler had a flawless run to bring in a podium finish in the stage, securing the third place. He was closely followed

by Franco, who balanced caution with aggression to finish in the fourth place.

Joaquim Rodrigues, who had to deal with the challenging task of opening the stage, made a navigation mistake and lost some time in finding his way.

However, overall, he managed to tackle the stage well and made it to the finish line in the ninth place.

The solid efforts on Day 2 from the riders resulted in Buhler retaining the third place in the overall standings. Franco held on to his spot in the Top-5 at the fourth place and JRod settled inside the Top-10 at eighth.

Day 3: It was a run of 451 kms including the longest Special Stage of 339 kms which finished near Coripe and it brought

Joaquim Rodrigues said: "Today was difficult day for me as I had a couple of crashes and hurt my hand and knee a lile bit. So, I decided to slow down and focus on geing the bike to the nish safely. In the second part, I got into a beer rhythm and pushed through to the nish line. I am seing a good pace on the bike and the bike is also performing really well, so I am happy with the results. I want to thank my team, the entire Hero family and all our fans for their support."

the riders back to bivouac in Villamartin. And it was yet another top-3 stage finish for Joaquim Rodrigues. He had a great start to the day, leading the rally in the opening 100 kms and crossed the finish line in the second place.

A navigation error cost Buhler some time but otherwise, he rode at a measured pace to finish the stage in fourth. Caimi had a bit-more challenging time as he faced some tricky spots in the stage while also getting used to the new settings of his bike.

Despite the challenges, he managed to finish the stage in a commendable eight place.

At the end of Stage 3, J Rod, Caimi and Buhler found themselves in 4th, 5th and 8th positions respectively in the overall standings.

MAY / JUNE 2021 autotrack.ind.in 09

RALLY

RAJASTHAN

Devendra-Manish duo win

Vinod & Chirag bag Rally 4WD Class; Anupma, Amandeep & Muskaan trio tops Ladies' Class

PHOTO BY: AAYUSH MANDAN & SHILPA SHARMA

T

he three-day 9th edition of Royal Rajasthan Rally was held in and around Jaipur, as the start and finish of the event were with Autocross. The final day concluded at Sambhar Lake with an Autocross which 1O autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2021

covered a distance of over 300 kms, passing through Achrol, Samode and Renewal. The Day 1 began with a 2-km Autocross at the sand dunes and a night stage of 70 kms around Achrol. The Day 2 had approximate 250

kms passing via Jaipur, Ramgarh, Bishangarh, Amarsar and Achrol.

OVERALL WINNERS Privateers Devendra Singh Rathore and Manish Saini from Jaipur, driving a

Mahindra Thar, were crowned as the champions of the 9th edition. This was Devendra's second win in this series. They won with a total penalty of 32 minutes and 33 seconds with single digit penalties on the first

TSD RALLY

"It is the rst time I participated in the Royal Rajasthan Rally even though it was th the 9 time the organisers are running the event. This particular event was a super high speed TSD event which we really enjoyed on the sandy tracks around Jaipur, Rajasthan. We missed two TCs on Day 2 as we got confused on the route and the navigation was really difficult.

Nevertheless, we managed to claw back some time in the last day and managed a rd class 3 and overall 5th position in the event," concluded Subir Roy.

two days gave way to achieve this milestone.

Ajay Baisla and Prakash M from team NIOC managed to hold on to second position with a difference of 10 minutes. This team had the lowest penalty of the event on Day 2 which put them just below the toppers in spite of them giving away double digit penalties on Day 1 and 3. Sharvik Shah and Adithya Anthony from Team Terra Knights, driving in the above 1600cc Stock Class, managed to finish third overall with a penalty difference of 33min. They managed their Day 1 and 3 very well and kept their penalties under double digit but the huge penalties on Day 2 pushed them down.

The pair of Vinod Singh and Chirag Thakur from Team Bowfass, finished fourth with a penalty of 1hr 23min 49sec. They managed to keep their Day 2 penalties under check within single digits, but Day 1 and 3 penalties went out of their hand and they missed the podium.

MAY / JUNE 2021 autotrack.ind.in 11

RALLY

RAJASTHAN

The Kolkata pair of Subir Roy and Nirav Mehta with 1hr 28min 52sec penalties came fifth as they were unable to overcome the Day 2 burden of the penalties. On the final day they did very well to keep the penalties under single digits but there was no way to climb up.

Stock 4WD Upto 1600cc class was bagged by Girdhari Singh Rathore and Mrinmoy Saha with 2hr 10min 24sec penalty. They had to come a long way for this win. After a setback on Day 1 and losing out a lot of time in the night stage, they fought back from Day 2. Sushant Saini, along with Murugan from Team NIOC, with 1hr 5min 15sec difference secured second position. The pair of Raja Singh Chanay and Shantanu Grover with a further 1hr 37min deficit completed the podium. After leading on Day 1, Manish Chaturvedi along with Manish Vohra, were running second on Day 2 but on the final day, they had to pull out. Sharad Agarwal, co12 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2021

driven by Vishwas Tanwar, from Team Wanderers Adventure also had to give up on the final day.

In the Above-1600cc Class, the pair of Sharvik Shah and Adithya Anthony from Terra Knights with a total penalty of 1hr 17min 58sec came out flyi ng as wi nners . They carried forward their Day 1 lead, at the top, till the final day despite losing considerable amount of time on Day 2. Privateers Rahul Singh and Kuldeep, with 38 more penalties, stood second. They lost most of the time on Day 1 and 3. They succeeded on Day 2 trying to contain their penalties but fell short. The team of Terra Knights led by Nitin Yadav and Vipin Choudhary completed the podium with a further difference of just below ten minutes.

Privateers Amit Kuchhal and T Nagarajan with a further 42-minute penalty were fourth while Gaurav Bambi and Rajit Purushothaman from Team Bowfass finished fifth. Even though they tried their best to contain their penalties on Day 2, they were seven minutes behind.

Rally Prepared 4WD Vinod Singh along with Chirag Thakur from Team Bowfass won the Upto 1600cc Class, with a total penalty of 1hr 23min 49sec.

They were second on Day 1 during the night stage, but they managed to finish Day 2 with least penalties.

They held on to the top position from Day 2 despite gaining more than expected penalties. Jeevan Singh

Dadwal and Arindam Ghosh from Terra Knights lost most of the time on Day 1 but from Day 2 onwards they were on their best with 31min difference and settled for second position. Vivek Gujral, along with V Sekar, from team NIOC, did manage well on Day 2, but more number of penalties on Day 1 and 3 put them in third place with a difference of 24min.

Their teammates, Eric Benny and C Sakthivel, began Day 1 well but their performance dipped on the remaining two days with a further difference of just below 25 seconds, they came fourth. Privateers Pankaj Dutt and Vignesh finished fifth with a further difference of 46min.

In the Above 1600 Class, Privateers Abhishek Govil along with Sagar driving a Vitara with a very good performance on Day 1 and 3 but lost most on Day 2 but managed to hold on to the top position with a total time of 1hr 44min 15sec.

Privateers Anil Abbas and Sini Abbas were losing time on all three days but with a huge difference of 3hrs 28min, they stood second.

Gaurav Chiripal and Karan Arya did not finish.

TSD RALLY

“RRR was indeed an enjoyable experience. It is a completely different format for me. While learning how to navigate for a TSD, as a second co driver, I was watching and learning the tricks of how to handle the car on sand dunes and it was fun. I was lucky, and even got to sit with Raj sir in his Polaris while he was testing on a SSS stage.

Since I am passionate about driving, I want to strengthen my driving skills on all kinds of terrains, and would love to experience driving on sand dunes as well,'' said Muskaan Jubbal, the baby of the event.

Couple Class Couples from Terra Knights, Ritesh Mamodia and Rinku Mamodia, were comfortable on Day 1 but despite having too many penalties on the remaining days, they won the Couple Class with a total time of 3hrs 07min 26sec. The Army Adventure team led by Major Arpit and Major K Renuka lost most of their points on Day 1 during the night stage.

But they regained momentum on the remaining two days, as they climbed up the order from third and finished in second position. Privateers Sudhir Thakur and Pratyasha with 3hrs 2min difference completed the podium. Amongst the nonfinishers were the pair of Keval along with Aarohi Bakeri and Ravi Shingari along with Sonia Shingari.

Amateur Class Lone finishers Shafat Majid and Karan Purohit from Team Bowfass clocked 4hr 33min 39sec to win the Upto 1600cc Class.

The Above 1600cc Class was bagged by Team Terra Knights drivers Rahul Goenka and Tanay Goenka with a total time of 2hr 02min 48sec. They had high penalties on Day 1 but the duo consistently managed to cut down on Day 2 and 3.

Devendra Singh Sarothia and Chandrashish Roy, privateers, with a difference of 12 seconds settled for second position. They were running first till the Day 2 MAY / JUNE 2021 autotrack.ind.in 13

TSD RALLY

RALLY

they ended up in second. The pair of Akshay Malik and Anand Raj were unable to contain their penalties right from Day 1 till the final day but they managed to be on the podium with a total penalty of 7hr 5min 45sec.

Aman Kaushik and Swetank Bansal began their rally well and were in a very good position on Day 1 but close to 4hr penalty in Day 2 ruined their hopes. Still, they managed their final day well but fell short by 4min to be on podium and they took fourth place. The pair from Wanderers Adventure Sumain Malik and Raveen Jain did not complete the event.

RAJASTHAN

Ladies Class

but on final day, they slipped down to second. Another Terra Knights pair of Paresh Kumar and Baljeet Singh came behind by 1hr 51min to the leader and finished third.

Brijender Singh and Jitender Singh with a further 41min in deficit came fourth.

Devender Kadian and Chirag Gahlot after losing a lot of time on the final day came fifth another 1min 40sec behind.

Thar class was bagged by Privateers Devendra Singh Rathore and Manish Saini with a total penalty of 32min 33sec. This pair had a very controlled run on the first two days but a bit more penalties on Day 3 didn't hinder their chances of winning the class. Ajay Baisla and Prakash M from team NIOC with 11min difference came second with high penalties on Day 1 and 3.

Subir Roy and Nirav Mehta, privateers from Kolkata, with a penalty difference of 43sec settled for third position.

Darshinder Kohli navigated 14 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2021

by Suchindra Tilak came fourth another 18min 50sec behind. Rahul Singh and Rahul Bedi from NIOC finished fifth with a penalty difference of 3hr 3min with the leader.

Truck Class This class was dominated by Team Terra Knights as Manoj Goyal and Chandrashekar began well in the night stages but on Day 2 lost time and slipped down the order to second. Later, they regained the top slot on the final day by successfully containing their penalties.

Rishabh Baid and Satyapal Yadav had a marginal Day 1, but on Day 2 they managed to contain their penalties which put them on top. But they failed to hold on to the top spot till the end on the final day as over 2hrs penalties put them back in second. Shyam Khandelwal did not finish the rally.

Luxury Car Class All the top-five positions

were dominated by Team Terra Knights. Nitesh Goyal along with Aashish Aggarwal with a total penalty of 3hr 43min 45sec won the Luxury Car Class. As their Day 1 did not go well, they managed to minimise their penalties on the remaining two days to reach the top slot. Ravi Modani along with Vedant Modani began their journey well but lost their top position on Day 2 and were unable to regain it. Finally

The team of Anupma Bindra and Amandeep Kaul Jubbal along with the youngest of all, Muskaan Jubbal, won the Ladies Class with a total time of 9hr 15min 12sec. They lost most of the time on Day 1 during the night stage as their Rally GDP crashed.

From the second day they managed to project upwards and on the final day they climbed the order in overall positions from 40th to finish 28th.The team of Tanis Dua Khosla and Ritu Mehta from Team Bowfass did not complete the rally.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

RALLY CHAMBA

RALLY OF CHAMBA 2021 YUVA KUMAR from Hero Motosports dominates Moto section

HEMRAJ AND AMARDEEP RANA win in four wheelers The three-day event took place for the first time in Himachal Pradesh at Chamba and was inaugurated by Hon. CM of Himachal Pradesh Sh. Jai Ram Thakur while the closing ceremony was by Hon. Kiren Rijiju, Youth Affairs and Sports Minister of India. This rally was part of #ChaloChamba narrative with key roles of the Chamba Administration involving Duni Chand Rana, DC; Mukesh Repaswal, ADC; Sh. Shivam Pratap Singh, SDM backing the entire event along with others. About 46 twowheelers and 23 four-wheelers were part of this first edition organised by Diwakar Kalia and Akshay Singh Anand of Brown Bear Motorsports.

MAY / JUNE 2021 autotrack.ind.in 15

RALLY CHAMBA

T

he Day 1 had a Super Special Stage (SSS), Day 2 had four stages and the final day had three stages. The SSS was only meant for the two-wheelers.

The event which began on a big note, had a few stages struck down well before the preparations due to passing through of some dangerous roads and passages to abide by the safety norms. With over 250 kms left in the menu

for this first edition, a major portion of the rally was tarmac but traces of broken tarmac and dirt patches were about 25 percent of the route.

TWO WHEELERS Day One The Super Special Stage was only meant for two wheelers.

Asad Khan from Bengaluru was the fastest by clocking

1min 5.300sec. Yuva Kumar from Hero Motosport finished second. He was a second slower while his teammate Sathyaraj Arumugam clocked 1:07.700 to stand third. Shoeb Mohamed Khan was further slower by 400th of a second to finish fourth while Vishwas SD clocked the same timing and tied up for fourth.

Mohit Thakur stood sixth in 1:09.800.

Upto 550cc Group B Yuva Kumar was the topper in the Class with 1:06.300.

Mohit Thakur was in second position by clocking 1:09.800. Santosh Vishnoi timed 1:10.500 to come out as the third fastest in the Class. Shivam Thakur with a time of 1:12.300 was fourth and T Vijay Kumar was fifth clocking 1:12.500.

Group D upto 550cc Class Sathyaraj Arumugam was the

16 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2021

fas tes t in this Clas s as he clocked 1:07.700. Rana Partap was 5sec slower to finish second. Gagnesh was third with a 3-sec difference.

Amit Kapoor was fourth and Eshan Banodkar stood fifth.

Group A upto 450cc Asad Khan was the fastest in the Class by clocking 1:05.300.Vishwas SD and Shoeb Mohamed Khan were 3sec slower to be second for the day as both the riders had clocked 1:08.100. Hemant More was fourth fastest while R Vignesh was fifth and Tirthankar Ghosh was sixth.

Group C upto 165cc Rajan Sidhu by clocking 1:10.900 was the front runner of the Class. Vinay Kumar followed him in second with 1:12.200. Amardev Singh Marwah was slower by over one second and came third. Keshav was fourth and Akshay Sharma fifth.

HIMACHAL PRADESH Group D Upto 550cc class Gagnesh was the fastest in the class with a total time of 1:27.57.400. Sathyaraj was 21 seconds slower but was very much closer to the topper.

Rohan Sharma was 5sec slower and was running third.

Amit was another over 3-min behind in fourth. Eshan with less than a minute difference was fifth and Suragya Besotia stood sixth for the day.

2W OVERALL WINNER - YUVA KUMAR

Group A upto 450cc Asad was fastest in the Class with 1:26.24.800.

Vishwas SD was 1min 18sec slower in second. Hemant More was 2min 59sec slower in third while Vignesh was further slower by 12 seconds and Shoeb had lost considerable amount of time, close to 9min.

Group C upto 165cc Vinay was the fastest in the Class with 1:27.13.900. Rajan with over a second difference was second fastest. Keshav with 11min difference came third. Amardev was a close fourth as Akshay was running fifth.

Group C 166 to 550cc Vijay Kumar Katoch was the fastest in SSS with 1:10.000 followed by Gurjinder Singh who was 4sec slower. Uday Ganguli was 3sec slower in third. Further 3-sec slower was Nitinjit Bawa Singh in fourth and Naveen Singh Yadav came fifth.

behind was fifth. Capt Jaipreet Joshi finished in sixth position with a further difference of 1min 21sec.

Group C 166 to 550cc Vijay continued to perform well as he was fastest in the Class followed by Gurjinder

who was over a second slower. Nitinjit with over 11sec difference was third as Uday and Nirmal were in fourth and fifth respectively.

Day Three Upto 550cc Group B Yuva Kumar continued his dominance with a win by clocking 2hr, 17:21.300sec.

He further increased his lead by being fastest by clocking 53min 6.600sec.

Mohit Thakur was slower by 45sec on this day with a total time of 2hr 18min 49sec and he finished second. Shivam Thakur finished his day with 55:18.600 and with a 9sec lead he managed to complete the podium.

Santosh Vishnoi made up some better timing than Shivam but the Day 2 difference kept him away from podium and he settled for fourth. Manmeet Singh Dhanjal added up further 7min to his earlier deficit, with over 19-min difference he finished fifth. Capt Jaipreet Joshi was further slower by the day by over 2min 19sec with a total time of 2hr 43min 17.600sec and he finished sixth.

Group D Upto 550cc Class Sathyaraj Arumugam was the 2nd fastest in the class

Day Two Upto 550cc Group B Yuva Kumar consolidated his lead and was in a commanding position by end of the day. He had clocked 1hr 23min 6.400sec.

Mohit Thakur was 39sec slower to stand second.

Shivam Thakur was a further 6min 17sec behind to take third. Santosh Vishnoi was fourth with over 18-sec difference while Manmeet Singh Dhanjal a further 6min MAY / JUNE 2021 autotrack.ind.in 17

RALLY

CHAMBA

by clocking 55min 48.700sec with an overall timing of 2hr 25min 14.6sec and he was the winner of the Class. Rohan Sharma despite clocking the fastest timing of the class was not able to climb up the order due to huge penalties on Day 1.

Thus, he had to settle for second place with a difference of 8sec.

Gagnesh was much slower as he clocked 57min 47sec to slide down to third with a difference of 1min 38sec. Amit Kapoor clocked the third best timing in the Class but Day 2 difference made him settle for fourth. Eshan Banodkar finished fifth and Suragya Basotia was sixth.

Group A upto 450cc Asad Khan was the fastest in the Class and won the Class with a total time of 2:20.55.500.

Vishwas SD was slower in the day

by 55sec and with a total time of 2:23.11.400 he secured second spot. R Vignesh finished third with further 7min 23sec difference. Hemant More missed the podium with a mere 14sec difference and Shoeb was fifth another 8min behind.

Group C upto 165cc Vinay Kumar was once again the fastest in the day winning the Class clocking 2:25.5.400. Rajan Sidhu was also under one hour penalties and he finished second. Amardev Singh Marwah with over 15sec difference completed the podium. Keshav with further difference of over a second missed the podium to finish fourth. Akshay Sharma with over 6min deficit was fifth.

Group C 166 to 550cc Vijay Kumar Katoch continued

“ The stages were mostly very narrow and technical and very rough at some parts. We participated in the Mitsubishi Cedia in the Car Class and managed to nish the event winning the class even after having some problems on Day 2 with the suspension bushes being torn apart." said Subir Roy, the winner of 2WD Above 1350cc Class.

SUBIR ROY AND NIRAV MEHTA

18 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2021

Hon Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju along with the local administration on the watchtower

his unchallenged performance to win the class with a total timing of 2:26.51.000. Gurjinder Singh with a 1min 56sec difference was second and Nitinjit Bawa Singh completed the podium with close to six minutes difference. Uday Ganguli with close to 7min was fourth and Naveen Singh Yadav finished fifth.

FOUR WHEELERS Day One Hem Raj and Amardeep Rana won the 2/4WD upto 3200cc Class. On Day 1 with a total time of 1:28.32.600 they were the toppers. Sahil Khanna and Mohit Malik with 11sec deficit were in second position. Harpreet Singh Bawa and Vikram Thakur with further 20sec difference were third. Anil Wadia and Chirag Thakur from Harjee Motorsports were 2min 37sec slower to claim fourth position. The pair of Naveen Goyal and Venu Ramesh Kumar with a difference of 8min 56sec held on to fifth position while Vishal Kataria and Kunal Sharman lost a lot of time and were far behind losing another 1hr 9min to finish sixth.

HIMACHAL PRADESH their Day 2 timing with 1hr 1min 5.300sec. This performance helped them move up the order from 5th to finish 3rd with a difference of just below 10min.

ANIL WADIA AND CHIRAG THAKUR

Group N 4WD upto 1350cc Qazi Zakahuddin along with Arvind Dheerendra with 1:31.26.700 penalties were the toppers. Rajiv Yadav and Lokesh Yadav clockded 1:33.28.800 to be in second spot. Harvinder bhola and Virender Kashyap with 1:35.11.600 were third.

Baljinder and Karan Aukta were about 2min slower in fourth while Mohan Lal and Rajeev Kumar lost much time with 2:15.33.500 and were fifth.

Group A 4WD upto 1350cc The pair of Himanshu Arora and Kunal Kashyap with a penalty of 1:27.32.700 won the Class followed by Yogesh Thakur and Divaraj in second with a difference of 26sec.

Rupender Sheoran and

Amitabh Johri came third with a difference of 2min 37sec. Major Arpit and Major K Renuka a further 2min behind came fourth and Lt Col BD Singh Malik and Aman with a further 7min difference were fifth.

managed to climb up the order by two places from Day 1 and secure second position. Naveen Goyal and Venu Ramesh Kumar finished

Sahil Khanna and Mohit Malik finished the day with 1hr 42min 43sec penalties that saw them slide down to 4th position on the final day against 2nd on previous day.

Vishal Kataria and Kunal Sharman performed well on the final day with 1hr 3min 33sec. The better performance could only put them in fifth position with a further difference of 39min.

Harpreet Singh Bawa and Vikram Thakur from Harjee Motorsports had to pull out on the final day.

OVERALL WINNERS - 4W

Day Two The pair of Hem Raj and Amardeep Rana were once again fastest of the day with 55min 57.400sec penalties.

By clocking an overall timing of 2hr 22min 30sec they were the winners of the 2/4WD upto 3200cc Class. Anil Wadia and Chirag Thakur from Harjee Motorsports did well on the final day and were able to contain their penalties with a time of 57min 26.200sec, with a time difference of 4min 36sec they

MAY / JUNE 2021 autotrack.ind.in 19

HIMACHAL PRADESH

RALLY

1hr 34min 14.500sec penalties and Day 2 with 1hr 2min 19.900sec penalties with a total time of 2hr 36min 34.400sec were the winners of the class.

CHAMBA

Group N 4WD above 1350cc

The lone entrants Deepak Sachdeva and Rajit Kadian Singh with Day 1 penalties of 1hr 48min 36sec and Day 2 penalties of 1hr 23min 36.200sec and a total time of 3hr 12min 12.200sec won the class.

Group A 4WD above 1350cc

HARVINDER BHOLA AND VIRENDER KASHYAP

Group N 4WD upto 1350cc Qazi Zakahuddin along with Arvind Dheerendra finished the second day with 56.03.300 penalties and with a total time of 2:27.30.000 they were the winners of the Group N 4WD upto 1350cc Class. The pair of Harvinder Bhola and Virender Kashyap from Harjee Motorsports with 58.24.400 penalties of the day finished second with 6min 6sec difference.

The pair of Rajiv Yadav and Lokesh Yadav with 1hr 45sec penalties on Day 2 slided down to finish third. Baljinder and Karan Aukta with 9min difference were away from the podium to finish fourth.

Mohan Lal and Rajeev Kumar with 42min deficit stood fifth.

Group A 4WD upto 1350cc Yogesh Thakur and Divaraj with a total time of 2:23.53.900 were the winners. They climbed one place up than the previous day as they clocked 55min 57.400sec on final day. The pair of Himanshu Arora and Kunal Kashyap from Harjee Motorsports lost their 2O autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2021

top position with 14sec difference. Their 56.34.500 Day 2 penalties pulled them down to second from standing first on Day 1.

Rupender Sheoran and Amitabh Johri retained their third spot with over 2min 46sec difference in spite of recording the second best timing of the day 56.19.900.

Major Arpit and Major K Renuka with further 1min 57sec difference finished fourth. They clocked

56.21.500 on Day 2 and Lt Col BD Singh Malik and Aman with further 12min 11sec difference were in fifth.

Shuchi Thakur and Shahid Salman with a further 11-sec difference finished sixth.

Group N 2WD Above 1250cc

Kushal Majumder along with Mrinmoy Saha were the lone competitors in the Group N 2WD Above 1250cc Class.

They began their Day 1 with

SAHIL KHANNA AND MOHIT MALIK

Class Abdul Faisal Khan and Arjun Dheerendra with a total time of 2hr 28min 23.400sec were the sole winners of Group A 4WD above 1350cc Class. They had a Day 1 penalty of 1:30.4.600 and Day 2 penalty of 58.18.800.

Group A 2WD above 1350cc

The pair of Subir Roy and Nirav Mehta won the class with a total time of 2:38.29.400. They had 1:34.47.300 penalites from Day 1 and 1:03.42.100 from Day 2. Jagbir Nirwan and Karanpreet Mattu with over 1hr 9min difference finished second.

ACE OF D I R T ‘2 1

Kerala's Mahesh bags Red Bull Ace of Dirt 2021 Sathyaraj and Sachin finish 2nd and 3rd PHOTO BY: KRISHNA KUMAR

M

ahesh VM from Kerala won the Red Bull Ace of Dirt 2021 with a total time of 20mins 29secs. With this victory, Mahesh gets a once-in-alifetime opportunity to train with ace motorcyclist and Red Bull athlete from Hero Motosports CS Santosh.

Mahesh was also awarded a brand-new Hero Xpulse 200. Sathyaraj from Hero Motosport finished second as Sachin from Bengaluru finished third in Kolar, near Bengaluru recently. The topevent saw 32 invited riders 22 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2021

invited from across the country. They had to take on over a dozen artificiallycreated obstacles in the Red Bull Ace of Dirt, a unique concept and a new format of racing that has not been seen much in India before it was held at Big Rock Dirt Park facility near Kolar. A set of four riders take the start together in one go, and the top-2 were eligible for the quarter finals. This first round of elimination process had eight starts thus putting 16 in the quarter finals. The Motocross, Dirt Track and

KOLAR Enduro sections had different courses named as Barrel run, Drum maze, Mud Pie, See-saw, Head Banger, Blippers, Tyre mines, Weigh bridge, Log-turn, Big Rock Master Piece, Big Rock Gully, Rock Garden, Hume rolls, Regular table top, Drum jumps, Inclined log and so on, all in a 2km long single lap.

Qualifying: The first run with four riders was won by Arun T. Despite being very slow in the third lap, Arun managed to clock 13min 22.324sec. Samuel Abraham was 30 seconds slower than the topper in every lap with over 1min 13sec difference but managed to qualify in the 2nd place. Rakesh Nagaraj was too slow to catch-up with over 5minutes difference was third but failed to qualify. Also ran out of luck was veteran Nataraj R, who in his very first lap after landing from the table-top, ran out of fuel and hence his day came to an end. The second set of riders were still slower but Gideon Benjamin with a total time of 14min 18sec qualified as Pavan BK with a difference of 1min 3sec managed to take the second spot to qualify. Durgesh lost most of his time in second lap and was still slower by over 2min and failed to qualify along with Ananth Bhandari, who did not take a start.

"It was a dream come true for me.

My hope came to life in the nals.

It was never easy to win on such a technical track, and I could only achieve it by staying calm and I focussed much on avoiding a fall. Except the nal race every run of mine was involved with a fall," said Mahesh VM

MAY / JUNE 2021 autotrack.ind.in 23

ACE OF D I R T ‘2 1

Yuva Kumar was the winner in the third set of riders. He was very consistent in all the three laps as he clocked 14min 50sec with a best lap time of 4:41.028. Shoeb started losing time from the very second lap but managed to qualify with a difference of over 1min 44sec. Vijay Katoch never looked comfortable right from the start. In the third lap, he had to give up the race in the Mud Pie section as his vehicle stalled. Francis PV from Chikkamgaluru did not take a start.

In the fourth set, Mahesh VM was the first to qualify by clocking 13min 09sec and a fastest lap time of 4:18.770.

Ishan Chandra was slower by 1min 36 sec but qualified as one of the top-2. Nikhil Balakrishnan did not qualify and Philippee Geelhand from Belgium did not start.

Fifth qualifying round was dominated by A Sathyaraj with a total time of 14min 31sec and a best lap of 4mim 32sec. Salman Khan from Cikkamagaluru was further 24 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2021

5min 38sec slower and managed to be on board for the second slot. Abdul Waseem finished third and did not qualify while Adnan Ahmed failed to finish the race due to mechanical issues in third lap.

Sachin Ignatius from Bengaluru clocked 14min 6sec to qualify with a best lap time of 4min 33sec while Trinesh took the second spot though he was slower by 2min 21sec. Ajit Sharma from Guwahati had to pull out in the second lap and Azmath Ulla Sharieff did not start.

A s a d K h a n f r o m Chikkamagaluru timed 15min 52 sec and clocked a best lap of 4min 33sec to qualify along with Purab Gowda, who was second, behind by 4min 2sec. Vinay Prasad dropped out in the very first lap.

The final set of qualifying had Naresh VS on the top by clocking a total time of 15min 59sec and a best lap time of 4min 42sec. Devraj Venkatesh was 22sec slower and was second to qualify.

Hansraj Saikia from Nagaon in North East did not finish.

Quarter finals: In the first quarter finals, Arun T with a total time of 13min 32sec and best lap time of 4min 21sec was the first to qualify as he found the top slot and along with him was Gideon Benjamin with a difference of 58sec

and best lap time of 4min 29sec. Pavan BK and Samuel Abraham finishing third and fourth did not make it to the semifinals.

Yuva Kumar with a total time of 12min 52sec and best lap time of 4min 21sec qualified as Mahesh VM followed him with a difference of 11sec and best lap time of 4min 5sec, for the second spot.

Shoeb despite finishing was unable to qualify while Ishan Chandra dropped out in the final lap.

Sachin Ignatius clocked 13min 21sec with a best lap time of 4min 14sec qualified in third race and A Sathyaraj was 21 seconds behind in second and had a best lap of 4mn 46sec. He filled up the second available slot into last four. Trinesh finished third but could not make it and Salman did not finish as he pulled out in the second lap.

The fourth quarter finals saw Devaraj Venkatesh on top with a total time of 13min 51sec and a best lap time of 4min 19sec. Naresh VS with a difference of 3sec qualified second with a best lap time of 5min 4sec. Purab Gowda finished but was not qualified and Asad Khan had to pull out in second lap.

KOLAR “Despite a start I managed to stay on top for a couple of laps but in one of the obstacles I took the outer line and the person in the inner had an advantage and then I tried hard to go past him in vain and had to seled for second position,'' said Sathyaraj of Team Hero Motosports

Semifinals Mahesh VM won the first semifinals with a total time of 16min 59sec with a difference of 54sec Gideon qualified second.

Arun T with a difference of 2min

in finals. With a difference of 21sec Sathyaraj also qualified for finals. Devaraj was not eligable for finals as he finished third and Naresh VS had a fall in the semifinals and injured his hand which forced him pull out of the race .

Finals:

In the final race, Sathyaraj on a Hero Xpulse 200 got off to a good start, as Mahesh VM also on a Xpulse 200, and Gideon Benjamin on a Hero Impulse followed him. Sachin riding a Apache RTR200 lost out at the start, as he had a fall on the seesaw and lost a lot of time. The command was in Sathyaraj's favour but he had Mahesh on his neck since he was closing the gap and lap distance kept on ticking in the very first lap. In the wooden logs section, just before the Mud Pie, both the riders were helped by marshalls, a much harder push on Mahesh's bike which was in the inner corner saw him out of the obstacle before Sathyaraj. There on there was no looking back for Mahesh. He was the winner followed by Sathyaraj in second and Sachin fought back brilliantly to scale up from last and finished third. Gideon Benjamin finished fourth.

was third. Semifinals were a fourlap race and a lap-count confusion left Yuva Kumar out of the race.

In the second race, Sachin clocked 17min 18sec to get a slot MAY / JUNE 2021 autotrack.ind.in 25

RALLY

NORTH EAST

Subir-Nirav conquer Abhishek Khaitan and Pratik Jajodia win Amateur Class

T

he pair of Subir Roy and Nirav Mehta from Kolkata clinched the 4th edition of North East TSD Rally 2021 with a splendid performance. The 270-km rally was flagged off from Nehru Stadium and split into two legs. Leg 1 was night rally of 90kms dirt with 10 Time Controls and four Self TC also to trap were four passage controls. Leg 2 was the day rally of 180kms run towards North East of Guwahati.

26 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2021

Expert Class Subir and Nirav with least penalties were the toppers of the Expert Class. They carried forward their Day 2 journey with a 3min 2sec penalty from Day 1, as they had no threat to their top position.

Day 2 was a tension-less drive for them as they consolidated their lead and managed to contain penalty time to less than a minute.

SUBIR ROY AND NIRAV MEHTA

TSD RALLY With a total penalty of 3min 47sec this pair was unstoppable.

As two competitors had protested against the results, the issue landed with IMSAC and re-tabulation was done upholding the protest. In the process the penalties changed pertaining to the final two Time Controls out of which one was a self-TC. Thus with a penalty of 14min 47sec, the all-ladies team of Lt Col Reena Jha and Pratibha Anand, along with Usha Kumar, finished in second position.

Earlier they despite clocking the second-best penalties had to settled for third considering the number of zeros. Their Day 1 penalty of 9min 35 sec remained the same as their major time loss was in TC5 where they lost over 2min 09sec and in the Self-TC they were late by 1min 19sec and were running second at that stage. But the Day 2 penalties after re-tabulation came down to 5min 12sec.

After 15min 10sec penalty on Day 1, the pair of Nikunj Toshniwal and Souradeep Dutta had to really work hard on Day 2. They did find good results with 35sec penalties after retabulation, with a total of 15min 45sec and they managed to complete the podium. In the earlier results they had to settle for fourth. The major jump in the results was for one of the pairs which had protested. Shekhar Choudhury along with Suvrajit Dutta was in fourth position on Day 1 with a penalty of 14mn 45sec but with over 2hr penalty on Day 2, they had finished last.

After the IMSAC verdict this pair had their penalties reduced after re-tabulation to 1min 18sec for Day 2 and with a difference of 58sec they settled for fourth.

Overall winner Subir Roy said: "This is rd the 3 consecutive year we are taking part in the North East TSD rally and we have been on podium in every outing.

This year they introduced the night stage which is quite challenging.

This year was special as it was the rst event we did after a year of pandemic and winning it is like a cherry on the top."

The IMSAC decision back fired for the pair of SK Aniruddha and Raj Kumar Mundra. They lost their podium position and had to slide down to fifth. They were

MAY / JUNE 2021 autotrack.ind.in 27

TSD RALLY

unable to retain the Day 1 position where they were running third with a penalty of 14min 35sec despite reduction of penalties on Day 2 by 3sec after re-tabulation.

Similar was the case of Jogendra Kumar Jaiswal and T Nagarajan.

They did very well on Day 2 with 52sec penalty after retabulation since their Day 1 penalty was 18min 38sec. With a total of 19min 30sec penalty they settled for sixth position but earlier they were in fifth position. The pair of Rohit Kashyap and Chirag Thakur finished 7th with 19min 38sec total penalty.

Amateur class Abhishek Khaitan and Pratik Jajodia won the Amateur Class with a total penalty of 20min 49sec. Huge penalties on Day 1 never hindered their possibility of winning the event as they were very cautious on Day 2 and managed only a single-digit penalty. The pair of Samarth Krishna Choudhury and Santanu Choudhury began Leg 1 with huge penalties and was running in second position with a 28 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2021

“Women are nowhere less then men. On 2021 International Women's Day I did the rally with defence lady (Lt Col Reena Jha) and also I took along my friend (Usha Kumar) who is being trained by me in navigation. In the North East rally we stood overall rd 3 by competing with the men who are more experienced than me." said Pratibha

difference of 13min. But in Leg 2, they did well and contained their penalties close to 13min but could only reduce the margin and finish second. Asjad Ahmed Choudhury along with Dr Sukrana Choudhury began Day 1 with over 31-min penalty but Day 2 went their way, with a total of 45min penalty they completed the podium.

The pair of Snigdha Kemkar and

Bharathi Dileep Chandra, with 45min penalty in Leg 1 further cut down to 24min on Day 2 as they finished fourth with a total time of 1:09.51. Fifth position was secured by Col RS Rajeev and Rani Rajeev, with a hefty penalty of 52min on Day 1. They stood fifth but despite reducing the burden on Day 2 with 20 penalties, they could only hold on to same position with two minutes difference. With a total penalty of 1hr 29min 32sec, the pair of Anuj Kumar Paliwal and Jyotirmoy Roy finished sixth despite trying hard on Day 2 to minimise their Day 1 losses.

Raktim Goswami along with Chandrashish Roy began their Day 1 journey on a very high note with 9min penalty but were unable to repeat their performance on Day 2 and with close to 2hr penalties they slid down to seventh. Bikash Bawri and Mridupawan Saikia with 2hr 34min 10sec penalties were eighth. After Day 1's 2hr penalty the pair of Shinu Abraham and Clinton Mark Myers did well on Day 2 with 31min penalty with a total of 2hr 37min 8sec they settled for ninth. The pair of Samiran Neog and Abhijit Saikia with a total penalty of 2hr 59min 07sec finished 10th.

INTERNATIONAL

Ikshan sparkles at a motocross event in Pala, California

The 13-year motocross rider trains under Kurt Nicoll, former MXGP champ

Y

oung Indian motocross rider, Ikshan Shanbhag went to the USA in March for a short stint of motocross training under Kurt Nicoll, former MXGP champion.

In April, 13-year old Ikshan Shanbhag took part in the 2-stroke Nationals in Glen Helen (USA). He had a fall in the 2nd corner of Moto 1 and later, starting last, he managed to finish 14th among 21. In Moto 2, despite a better start he had to pull out in the very first lap while trying to avoid a rider, who fell ahead of him. Another rider crashed on him from behind simultaneously and he had to take a start from

back. Ironically after the restart, he had crashed again.

During recovery, he had symptoms of dizziness and was advised to retire from the race.

Later, in last week of April he took part in the REM race series at Glen Helen (US) in the 125cc class, riding an 85cc motocross bike. In Race 1, he finished 3rd in his class and in Race 2, he finished 2nd in his class. Overall he was placed 2nd in his class.

errors and lost positions. But the next day, he took part and qualified for the Road to Mammoth Amateur National Motocross Championship at the Fox Raceway at Pala, California, after finishing the race in Overall 12th place.

But unfortunately, he is

scheduled to leave for India on June 1 and will not be able to take part in the championship scheduled to be held in the last week of June. The young rider is supported by Sidvin CoreTech, Scott Sports India and Chandukaka Saraf.

On the May 8, he took part in the qualifiers for the Loretta Lynn's Amateur National Motocross Championship and missed out on qualifying as he made a lot of unforced MAY / JUNE 2021 autotrack.ind.in 29

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

How Li-Ion cell manufacturing and dedicated freight corridors are going to be major growth drivers for electric vehicles in India: Dr. Deb Mukherji Ph.D., MD - Omega Seiki Mobility commercial segment there are many – fleet owners, aggregators, owner cum drivers etc. Along with these there are after sale, servicing, garages, mechanics etc. All form part of the large eco system of the automotive world. With the Electric vehicles coming in large numbers, we do see a clear disruption in all these partners lives in one way or

T

ransition from IC engine to electric vehicles is a movement. Its not only a mobility shift but a great opportunity for social engineering too. An industry like automobile has a large impact on the socio econom ic fabric of the society. On the supply side there is a large supply chain directly and indirectly engaged in the value chain of manufacturing. These range from small, medium to large suppliers supplying various parts, logistics supply chain of truckers, packaging, material handling, warehousing and last mile industry. On the users side there are large type of users from personal vehicles to commercial users. In the 3O autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2021

specially for children of construction and other migration workers. Agri and construction are two largest employers in the country and also two largest disorganized sectors. Education carts on brings schools to their door steps where as an electric cart in place of a manually hauled cart gives dignity to the driver.

Fig1: Demand and User side stakeholders in EV eco system

the other. From users perspective we see many opportunities in adopting EVs. There are enormous possibilities where an EV can play a major role in changing lives of the people. E.g. a 3 wheeler can be converted into a mobile shop. Street hawkers could be using them as their mobile shops, Manual load carts and rickshaws would be replaced by them and an EV can be used as a mobile school

EV is thus a vehicle for social empowerment and making a difference in lives of millions.

Remember how cell phone has made a difference to a very large section of society with a penetration of more than 80% today. For a very long time in India we have been fed on socialist dose, with layers of control and inefficient bureaucratic systems (the lost decades).

Fortunately now we have the political will to change all that. We see consistent Govt. policies and a sustained push

towards a green automotive eco system. Govt. incentives like FAME2, low registration fee, state level incentives, vehicle scrappage policy etc. are major boost to the EV transition.

In any new industry changeover there is a typical life cycle observed. The innovators and early adopters are in the early stage of technology. Then come the early majority with their own developed technology fit for a particular market segment. Post this the market sees early majority players. This is the time when a few risk taking companies take the lead with their innovative products. In the context of Indian industry, we see the inflection point reaching now, around 5 years after we have seen the electrification drive started with low end Chinese 2 and 3 wheelers in the market. The industry scale up in next 3-5 years and we will have high technology and quality products from several OEMs. We see the upcoming dedicated freight corridors will play a major role in electric vehicles transition from IC engines in India. The two corridors being finished in 2022 are : Eastern and Western dedicated freight corridors. Together with length of 3300 km, all over

DM TRACK

Fig2: Life cycle of Electric vehicles industry

India, these two have the potential to change the freight movement landscape in India, cutting short the travel time by more than 50%. This would be a major game changer for the logistics sector with turnaround time and transportation costs coming down drastically. Also the freight corridors have been planned very scientifically. All along the fright highways, a large number of logistic hubs would be created. These warehouses will feed the materials to the cities on a daily basis. For example the hub near Rewari would feed the Delhi NCR. Lower costs of creating a warehouse out of major metro cities would significantly lower the capex as well as operating costs.

The cities would be fed the materials from these warehouses during the day and night. Most of these metros like Delhi have No Entry for the ICE vehicles. This restricts movement of these vehicles during the day typically from 6 AM to 10 PM thus upsetting the supply chain. Also after 10 PM there are big movement of trucks clogging the city roads. Thus these freight corridors would encourage use of electric vehicles for these feeder routes. There would be a big requirement of mid mile vehicles which could run 200 km on an average on single charge. The trucks with

payload of 2 -5 ton with a driving range of 200 Km one charge would be required.

This will put pressure on the OEMs to come up with such vehicle technologies.

Also on the manufacturing side we see a great push towards setting up manufacturing eco system.

This consists of from cell to complete vehicle architecture manufacturing.

The Li-Ion cells have been a major constraint in electrification in India. At present all cells are imported and assembled into battery packs. Once cell manufacturing starts in India, the industry will gain immensely in technology as well as cost. Govt. has already made plans towards this. As

per Niti Aayog report (RMI EV Report 2020) Govt. has a very ambitious target to produce 175 GWH by 2022. This would certainly be achieved in phases. Govt. has already allocated an investment of Rs. 30,000 Cr. to create a capacity of 50GWh in phase1.

(CSTEP report on indigenisation of Li-Ion batteries 2019). Another major change in the cell manufacturing supply chain is the changing technology.

Globally the industry has been looking to move away from Co to Ni. Also Lithium sources are in limited countries and a huge cost of energy and efforts is required in mining. In order to make the cells cheaper and efficient there are new technologies coming up. Out of all of these Solid state Li-Ion cell technology is most promising where the liquid/gel electrolyte is replaced by a solid one. This improves the charge density, battery safety at the same time reduces cost. We see this would be the next big change in the battery industry. Solid state battery manufacturing in India is being planned from year 2022 onwards by an USA

based company C4V batteries and these would be used in 2 and 3 wheelers by Omega Seiki P Ltd., a leading OEM in India.

To summarise we will see Indian EV landscape changing fast in the near future. On the supply side with the introduction of solid state batteries manufacturing we will see current issues like low c harge density, cost and high charging time being replaced by more than double charge density, charging under 30 min (for a typical 3-4 wheelers) and a lower cost. On the demand side we will have major highways like dedicated freight corridors, Eastern and Western side being completed connecting major markets within India. These will encourage major logistics hubs around them within a radius of 100 Km from major cities which would be served by feeder services run on electric vehicles. Both these initiatives are huge enablers of the electric transition and important milestones on the India's EV journey.

Fig3: Dedicated eastern and western freight corridor projects

MAY / JUNE 2021 autotrack.ind.in 31

DIVAS

less than a minute. They clocked 9min 36sec on Day 2 and with 46sec deficit they were fourth in the overall category. It was a four places down from Day 1 for the pair of Gitika Pant and Neena Jain who had 17:06 penalties on Day 2. They finished fifth another 1min 47sec behind fourth.

RALLY

Day One In the Pro- class, the pair of Gitika Pant and Neena Jain with 5min 43sec penalties were the leaders. Sapna and Latha with 11min 12sec penalties were second. The pair of Mona Mitter and Sandhya with a difference of 52 seconds were third.

Sapna-Latha duo emerge victorious Mona-Sandhya finish second while Lakshmi-Kalavathy claim third spot

T

he Pair of Sapna Venkatesh and Latha Gutgutia emerged victorious in the 3rd edition of Divas Rally, a TSD event, which was flagged off from Bangalore Fairfield Marriott hotel recently.

The two-day rally organised

by Motorsport Inc passed through Mysore on Day 1. It was routed through Bangalore, Savandurga, KRS b a c k w a t e rs a n d p a s s e d through 24 Time Controls (TCs) before finishing the day at Virajpet in Coorg. Day 2 began from Virajpet and finished at Virajpet and a free- run towards Bengaluru

for the finish, saw them passing through beautiful scenic routes of Coorg and they had to go through 18 Time Controls.

Overall The pair of Sapna and Latha, who were trailing in second position on Day 1, stepped up pace to win the overall honours, as they drastically improved on Day 2 getting a mere 3min 01-sec penalty.

With a total time of 14min 13sec, they were the toppers.

Mona Mitter and Sandhya also minimised their Day 2 penalty to 7:06, and with only a difference of 4min 57sec

"Divas on wheels victory was the best women's day gift. This being my 2nd rally and grabbing both the overall winner and Proclass trophies was a celebration. Driving the rally route was a very thrilling and a challenging experience. " said Sapna, the Overall winner.

32 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2021

with the leader they finished second, climbing up one position. Lakshmi Karthik and Kalavathy also improved to finish third and they were the only pair with the least penalty on Day 2 logging 1min 53sec, as they finished 1min 9sec behind the second-placed drivers.

The pair of Priya and Arti Yadav missed the podium by

Lakshmi Karthik and Kalavathy B with a penalty of 18min 26sec stood fourth.

Running fifth was the pair of Aparna Pathak and Lalitha Gowda along with Preeti Narvekar with a further difference of 16min 2sec.

In Amateur Class, the pair of Priya and Arti Yadav with 11min 29sec penalty won the Class. They were followed in

TSD RALLY

“Winning pro class and overall has been a tremendous joy, of course. Being Chartered Accountant by profession, I always loved to play with calculations which contributed more to be at the right time, every time through out the rally. Which took us to win the rally. “ said Latha

second position by Kavitha Utapa and Kavitha YR with a huge gap of over 48min. Jalaja Mohan and Anjana Suparna Shriram along with Malini Madhukar with a difference of 39min stood third. Nandita Reddy and Bindu Nambir with 3:10.51 were in fourth. Dr Damayanthi Rao along with Sumana Venkat and Pratiksha Rao with 4:34.19 were in fifth position. Pratima and Nayanatara with 6:49.36 followed them in sixth.

Day Two In the Pro- class, the pair of Sapna and Latha won the Proclass and also bagged the Overall winners trophy. They won with 14min 13sec penalty.

Mona Mitter and Sandhya stood second with a total timing of 19min 10sec. Lakshmi Karthik and Kalavathy B stood third with

in the Divas on Wheels rally was a dream come true for Arti, Sarita and myself. This is our fourth rally and to be honest, one of the most scenic ones so far. The roads and navigation were challenging and the timing pushed us to the limit but as a team we worked really well together and that was key for us to get the timing we achieved.

We're excited to have got thus far and we are looking forward to participating in more rallies once the situation improves.

Thanks to the organisers for a beautiful drive and the stay at Virajpet," said Priya Gupte, a Digital Director at Shell MD, Asia-Pacific.

a total time of 20:19. For Gitika Pant and Neena Jain, it was a free fall from top on Day 1 to 4th with a difference of 2min 33sec. Aparna Pathak and Lalitha Gowda were fifth along with Preeti Narvekar with a difference of 27min 56min.

In Amateur class, the pair of Priya Gupte and Arti Yadav won the class with a total time of 21min 05sec. Kavitha Utapa and Kavitha YR with over 47min difference finished in second position. Jalaja Mohan and Anjana Suparna Shriram along with Malini Madhukar with a further difference of 59min completed the podium. Nandita Reddy along with Bindu Nambir finished fourth. The team led by Dr Damayanthi Rao, had Sumana Venkat and Pratiksha Rao and they finished fifth. Pratima and Nayanatara came sixth.

"Winning the Amatuer category MAY / JUNE 2021 autotrack.ind.in 33

ARAVIND KP

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

“A Memorable Journey of my life” - KP ARAVIND KP Rider - TVS Racing, BIG BOSS Contestant

34 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2021

Brief introduction of Your first event which was our event organised by VASA Autosports, did you think you will make it this far one day with this sport?

It was my first outing for an autocross way back in 200 which was a great introduction to dirt track for me, I couldn't give a top performance but it paved way for me to graduate from the regional level and make new friends in the sport. Overall, a great learning in dirt.

How far do you think you were able to bring motorsports its bit of recognition with your participation?

After my participation in Big Boss, I'm sure the sport has got the limelight it deserves and the fan base has increased multi folds and people have started to respect the sport. I'm sure there's going to be an increase in the participation level of athletes and even the sponsorship perspective.

What made you choose Big Boss?

Just a medium, one of the biggest platforms in Karnataka with a humungous reach and I thought it was the right time to give back to the sport which has given me so much and what better than Big Boss could do what it has done already.

What are your chances of winning this season of Big Boss?

I don't really know to be honest, I have given my best and now it all depends on our fans and followers.

But from the response that I have got after coming out from the Big Boss house, the amount of fans and reach that I have got I think

INTERVIEW

I have a fair chance to win it, but again, it all depends on how much people love you and want you to win.

Are you looking to move to the big screen from here?

I'm not sure yet, I haven't explored this space but yeah, if opportunity knocks my door and given the time to learn from expertise I'm sure I'll do great on big screen, I'm open to the idea of acting, nothing sure yet. But like I said, I'm definitely up for the challenge if opportunity walks in.

How challenging was Living within a close enclosure/bubble for such a long time and how did you manage?

It was definitely a challenge to stay indoors for such a long time, unlike the outside environment you cannot move away from things you dislike or close to things that you like.

Since I have spent a lot of time in hostel during my education days, I have travelled to many places

and met different people, I have stayed out on rallies for long without communication with near and dear ones, so making friends here was easy for me.

How did you manage to stay calm and cheering ?

I have been this way from my formative years, I think my sport has thought me to stay calm because if you have lost your cool, you are on the way to a disaster ahead. I think it's also my racing and lifestyle habits that I have inculcated made me stay calm in every situation or task that was thrown at me.

How did you manage your daily workout and diet and how difficult was it to maintain your fitness level?

I completely got derailed from my diet as there were limited supply of groceries in the house, but I could cycle around a bit and do my RFT (Raw Functional Training) which involved only body weight exercises.

There were others who were

very well introduced to Yoga, so I got to do some yoga along with them and there was a pool in the house which I would take a dive in when time permits.

Given a chance to rejoin once things open up how confident are you and how prepared are you to re-enter the big boss house?

Given the chance to rejoin, I'll definitely look into the possibilities. We can't prepare for anything now as there's nothing scripted and you have to be spontaneous in the given tasks. I have just been myself throughout and that's how I'm going to be as you have know me for these many years.

What are the additional responsibilities lying on you now, after attaining a celebrity status for moving ahead?

I think now you have a lot of additional responsibilities in every walk of life and you cannot take anything lightly or for granted because anything

can be turned around in this digital world. So, you have to be careful of how you talk, how you walk and how you interact.

How does life change after this?

Life is going to be great from now on, there are a lot of opportunities open and a lot of fandom. I'm going to take everything and give it a positive turn and go with the flow.

What is your plan for motorsports after your complete recovery?

Currently because of Covid I'm not able to spend much time with the bike and I'm yet to have a meeting with my team and figure out as to what is the projection regarding the races and the training programme which is going to be aligned. But as soon we can travel and the situation gets better I'm going to be back on the bike and put in as much time as possible and explore what are the chances to the world rally events and even Dakar for that matter.

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BENGALURU

Karnataka felicitates women in motorsport Top motorsports women join motorcade in Garden City on Women's Day

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n a c c o u n t o f International Women's Day that's celebrated across the world on March 8, the Department of Youth Empowerment of Karnataka (DYES), Government of Karnataka, in association with MAV felicitated achievers and contributors in the field of Motorsports in Bengaluru.

Later, a motorcade rally from Sree Kanteerava Stadium went through the city culminating at the Government flying school in Jakkur. Women in motorsport along with other allied sports were part of the rally.

After the registration process at 6am, about ten out of the 14 invited women were present to receive the honours. Well-known 36 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2021

motorsport drivers, riders, off-roaders along with bikers like Aishwarya Pissay, Smitha Prasad, Dr Shivani Pruthvi, Pragathi Gowda, Harshita Gowda, Arpita Bhat, Sapna Gurukar, Sonali Mukerjee, Candida Louis, Lipsa Syal and Archana Timmaraju were part of the Women's Day programme.

They were felicitated by the Minister for Youth Empowerment and Sports Dr KC Narayana Gowda, in the presence of Shalini Rajneesh, Additional Chief Secretary and Govindraj K, President, Karnataka Olympic Association and Additional Director from Department of Youth Empowerment and Sports.

Later, a traditional dhol and dance programme entertained those who are present at the felicitation

programme. After this a massive 2-wheeler and 4wheeler rally was organised where various biking and off-roading community took part with the Minister flagging off the rally. The women-led rally was conducted under Zero Traffic hour with no disruption and

signal free roads allowed them to J̀ust keep Revving!

After the travel time of over 45 minutes, the convoy reached Jakkur Flying School on way to the new Airport.

The lucky 20 participants got a chance to experience Para Sailing at the Jakkur Government Flying School.

OMEGA - C4V USA mobility solution provider for our customers. We believe in bringing top-class technology into our vehicles and we will work with multiple partners in the EV ecosystem. C4V India is going to be a major player in solid-state batteries globally, not only for India as we will export our vehicles soon. Not only are they environment friendly but also have higher energy density, allowing our vehicles to go the extra mile. This is a top-notch technology enhancement for our vehicles and as a Technology in Motion company, we are very pleased to be the first in the market to work with solidstate technology".

Omega Seiki Mobility signs MoU with C4V USA to introduce Solid State Batteries in India

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mega Seiki Mobility (OSM) announced that it will be bringing advanced chemistry cells to India in association with New York based company C4V. C4V plans to become the first lithium-ion cell maker with solid state technology in India as a part of PM Modi's ambitious Rs 18,000 crore PLI scheme. The MOU signed between the two companies will also see the

manufacturing of solid-state batteries first time in India which will find usage in Omega Seiki's range of electric vehicles.

Speaking on the partnership with C4V, Mr. Uday Narang, Chairman, Omega Seiki Mobility said, "Omega Seiki is all set to revolutionise the electric vehicle market in India with these new C4V batteries. Not only are they

environment friendly but also have higher energy density, allowing our vehicles to go the extra mile. We believe in offering our consumers the best and with solid state batteries, the latest in battery technology available globally.”

Dr. Mukherji, MD, OSM, added, "The partnership with C4V is a proud moment for OSM. We are a complete

Omega Seiki is all set to revolutionise the electric vehicle market in India with these new C4V baeries. Not only are they environment friendly but also have higher energy density, allowing our vehicles to go the extra mile.

Speaking on the partnership with C4V, Shailesh Upreti, Founder of C4V said "It gives me immense pleasure to share that C4V is going to be the lead company introducing thermally stable Solid-State batteries for the first time in the Indian Market. With extensive R&D and last 10 years of Development work going to help us pioneer cell manufacturing in the India market. India certainly requires best in class technology for domestic battery manufacturing and we are very excited and proud to bring this to India.

Our batteries are designed to meet emerging market needs and our manufacturing platform is highly compatible with countries yet to develop cell manufacturing supply chains. We are looking at a modest speed scale up to a target of 5GW in 3 years from now."

C4V informed that the batteries manufacturing plant would start supplies from the second half of the current year.

MAY / JUNE 2021 autotrack.ind.in 37

Kiren Rijiju praises the dare-devil women in motorsports Sports Minister felicitates 14 stars in motorsports on Women's Day

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group of well-known Indian Motorsports Woman Athletes were invited to meet the Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on the occasion of Women's Day this year. It was his way of motivating the 14 athletes who have broken stereotypes in a traditionally male-dominated sport to establish their own identity.

After observing all the COVID protocols and equipped with Negative COVID test result, the 14 women entered the Sports authority of India (SAI) conference hall.

Rijiju said: `Motorsports is not for the elite class but it's for daring people. It's not easy to drive cars at such 38 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2021

high speeds at various terrains and compete in the open category to make your mark in this field.''

Khyati Mody, who represented India in Gymkhana events and a Rally

driver said: "The Sports Minister walks and talks with us ladies, so casually and comfortably that it made me feel like I have known him for years. He was so humble and supportive of all our

suggestions during the 25 minutes. He bestowed us with mementoes and certificates and called us ‘dare-devils’. He motivated us to keep going strong and never give up even when

NEW DELHI

Sneha Sharma, a Pilot, who flies on the race tracks too.

things look tough. He is looking forward to us winning international laurels for India in motorsports just like I had done in AAGC (South Korea) where I had won a podium for India."

"I feel proud that me and my mom Aman Jubbal, both got on opportunity to meet and greet our Sports Minister. It was indeed an overwhelming opportunity to welcome him. Being the youngest in the group, I was given a chance on behalf of all the ladies. We are looking forward to his support not just for Women in Motorsports (WiM) but overall for motorsports as an individual sport," said Muskaan Jubbal, the baby of the team, an FMSCI karting athlete of the year who graduated into rallying.

“It felt exhilarating to be honoured by the Sports Minister for motor racing, and for becoming the first Indian woman to win international ladies racing championship. His was so humble and he made us so glad as he acknowledged racing as a sport, and meeting all of us was highly motivational. It was a big boost to my passion for motor racing," concluded

“It has been a very empowering and motivating moment, to be felicitated at the hands of the country’s highest authority in sports. This has set a benchmark of sorts by giving motorsports the kind of visibility it deserves,

specially in terms of women racers. Much honoured to have shared this space with Shri Kiren Rijiju, our Hon’bl Minister of Sports, as he expressed his deepset interest in motorsports since his youth and a sincere conviction that India is now ready to see it’s motorsports talent pool at the next level.” said Pallavi Yadav

Kiren Rijiju said: “Motorsports is not for the elite class but it's for daring people. It's not easy to drive cars at such high speeds at various terrains and compete in the open category to make your mark in this eld.''

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BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX

Jehan Daruvala begins 2021 F2 season on a high note The Indian star clinches second position in Race 1 during Bahrain GP week PHOTO BY: JAMES GASPEROTTI

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ndia's racing star Jehan Daruvala began his 2021 FIA Formula 2 Championship campaign on a stellar note, clinching second place in Race 1, during the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend, at the Bahrain International Circuit which concluded on March 28.

He showed his mettle in the second race too, climbing from 11th to 4th after a brilliant run but missed a second straight podium by the proverbial whisker. In the final race, he started in sixth and although he did move down and up the order, he had to settle for sixth place. Despite severe vibrations from flat spotted tyres, he retained P6. This puts him in third place in the Points Standings, after Round 1 with 7 more rounds to go.

Earlier, Jehan qualified sixth out of 22 racers on the grid but started on P5, owing to the

4O autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2021

reverse grid rule for the opening race. He began smartly, overtaking the car ahead to move into fourth position.

Jehan then drove intelligently, staying just behind the pack, without pushing hard to protect his tyre life. Halfway through the race, he began mounting pressure on German racer David Beckmann, for third. He succeeded by first pushing him hard into a corner and then overtaking around the outside, to move into third.

French racer, Theo Pourchaire who had started on pole, was next. Jehan quickly closed the gap and just as he was about to make a move, the Frenchman's car suffered a technical issue, allowing Jehan to move up to second.

Race leader Liam Lawson of New Zealand, was now 2.7 seconds ahead. Jehan reeled off a series of good laps to quickly close the

gap to the leader. The extreme Bahrain heat, however, meant that all drivers were finding it tough to overtake, and Jehan was unable to make a serious attempt for the race lead.

Jehan ultimately crossed the finish line, less than a second behind Lawson who won the race. Such was the pace of the lead duo that Beckmann in third, finished over 13 seconds behind Jehan.

The top ten finishers of the first race were reversed for the start of Race 2. Thus, Jehan started ninth for the second sprint race.

A first corner melee on lap one brought out the safety car, while Jehan dropped a couple of places.

When racing resumed Jehan made one position and some laps later moved up to eighth.

Another safety car situation saw Jehan and other drivers dive into the pits for a fresh set of soft tyres.

He was 11th after the round of unscheduled pit stops. He was on a charge the moment racing resumed and in just five laps, he drove another fantastic race, moving up steadily each lap to eventually finish a fantastic fourth.

For the first time since its inception, the F2 championship is being aired LIVE on TV. Eurosport are airing all the races thanks to Jehan's increasing popularity.

ADVENTURE

DRIVE ARUNACHAL

Arunachal Drive

provides a glimpse of the vibrant lifestyle, food and culture Arunachal Drive provides a glimpse of the vibrant lifestyle, food and culture PHOTO BY: MAYUR MAHANTA

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ravind Sasidharan and co-driver Srigandh came out triumphant in the 15-day Trans Arunachal Drive which saw 30 vehicles from the Mahindra stable fitted with JK Tyres fight for honours in the TSD format held in the scenic interior valley roads of Arunachal Pradesh.Covered as many as 16 districts of Arunachal, the drive saw media personnel, government employees, support teams and a few i n v i te e s tak e part wi th enthusiasm as they got an opportunity to engage with the local tribes and enjoy their lifestyle and food.

The Drive organised by

Arunachal Pradesh Tourism Department saw Sasidharan and Srigandh log a total penalty of 21.31sec to win the TSD part of the Drive.

The pair of Garima Avtar and Aditya stood second taking 28 more minutes to complete the route while the third position was bagged by Sonam Gupta, who was navigated by Ruth D'Souza, another 16min behind. The Drive combined multiple competitions while showcasing tourism potential of the far-flung areas in Arunachal Pradesh.

The Drive was flagged off by Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh on April 6 from

Golden Pagoda, Namsei and headed to Pangsau Pass which is the border between India and Myanmar. From

the plains of Namsei to the hilltop Pangsau Pass, the route followed Stilwell Road, a strategically important

MAY / JUNE 2021 autotrack.ind.in 41

DRIVE

rest day from driving and after the morning half was devoted to white-water rafting, the crews were put in competition mode for a cluehunt event around the village resort property. This was followed by an evening of cultural presentation and dancing by all crew members over bonfire. After a day's rest at Bomjir, the Trans Arunachal Drive moved to the middle of Arunachal and followed the course of the Siang (Brahmaputra) river from Yingkiong to Geku. At Geku, the night halt was on a beach, by the side of a mighty river. During this day’s drive a competition for best improvement in getting

ARUNACHAL

road that was built during World War II. The route from here threaded through Udayak Pass and northwards to Hayuliang where the night stay was at a campsite next to river Lohit. This part of the route was run under Reliability-Rally format with winners declared over the campfire. The convoy drove over the next two days to Walong, Kaho and back through mountainous terrain along the course of Lohit River. Kaho is the first village of India crossing over from China. The night trek from Dong to the border ridge

42 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2021

line to see the first rays of sunlight up the Indian skies was on cards. However, it had to be cancelled due to rain and inclement weather.

Night camp was at Tilam Hot Springs. Day 4 of the drive was a relatively short one with the convoy heading back from Hayuliang to Udayak Pass and Parsuram Kund, a spot of mythical history associated with this avatar of Lord Vishnu. After lunch another reliability rally section was started with the finish at Bomjir, where a riverside resort was the spot for night halt. Next day was a

ADVENTURE

the fuel-average was held.

The average for the day was compared to the averages noted for the previous days and winners were determined. From Geku, the competitors moved towards Basar, under reliability-rally format competition up to lunch halt at Jinning. At Jinning, the village was celebrating MOPIN, the harvest festival, in which all the participants too joined in.

Post-lunch, the drive up to Basar was hectic as all crews over s pent the ti m e i n festivities. At Basar, all crews were housed in different home stays and enjoyed the hospitality of villagers. From Basar, the Drive moved to Ziro. It was the longest day of the drive with close to 375 kilometres covered through hills and plains of upper Assam. At Ziro, a stupendous welcome awaited with local district authorities presenting a cultural programme and luscious food spread for dinner. As the drive was very long, no competition was planned, thereafter. From Ziro, the next night halt target was the meadowland of Pakke Kessang. Situated next to a notified Tiger Reserve Forest, the area is also known for its conservation efforts by the local populace in saving Hornbill birds, which had been almost hunted to

extinction. Reliability-rally format competition was arranged from the start till the lunch-halt. After lunch, the convoy of cars drove through the highway construction zone till Shergaon campsite. Situated next to a small river, the scene was idyllic for dinner and drinks celebrations while t h e l o c a l d a n c e t ro u p e displayed their martial arts and dances. On the last day, the competition format used was Trail Blazing. Here the participants had to check in at all the checkpoints that were slightly deviated from the route that was to be used. For instance, it was at the temple near the top of the pass between two valleys. The route was from Shergaon to Tawang through the old highway.

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CYCLING

PEDAL POWER

Deepak Shirke cycles across India

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he 65-year old Deepak Shirke from Nashik is an adventurous cyclist, a trekker, a true environmentalist and also a poet. His long list of rides across India shows his passion for cycling and other social activities. He is an inspiration to today’s youngsters. Even at his age, he keeps himself physically fit with activities like trekking in and around Sahyadri Hills of Nashik, Maharashtra. The best part is that he uses a gearless cycle for all his rides.

44 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2021

While on the rides, he spends the nights in temples, gurudwaras or any other shelter available and get ready for the next day’s ride.

Many of us are not aware of the benefits of cycling.

The current pandemic has afforded us an opportunity to maintain good health.

Cycling is one of the best cardio exercises for all age groups and all body types. It not only helps burn calories but also keeps weight under control. A study by Purdue

University in the US concluded that regular cycling can cut your risk of heart disease by a whopping 50 per cent. The World Health Organisation (WHO) also recommends that adults should indulge in at least 150 minutes of moderateintensity physical activity throughout the week. A daily cycle ride of just 20 minutes is sufficient to achieve this target.

So far, Deepak Shirke has completed a number of cycle

rides across India. He has completed the Ashtavinayak tour covering more than 900 km in ten days. Another ride was of Shakti Peeth (important Devi Shrines in Maharashtra) covering 2300 km in 28 days. His unique style is to start and finish the ride at Nashik (both ways).

He recently completed Narmada Parikrama by covering 3200 km in 40 days. He also traveled from Kashmir to Kanyakumari in two phases covering 8000 km. “This was one of my

SPECIAL FEATURE

unique and record rides. I am thankful to God Almighty for giving me strength and support from family members and friends to achieve these feats”, says Shirke. He also rode to Amarnath. Apart from road and mountain rides, Shirke also did a coastal ride covering Goa, Karnataka and Pondicherry. He has been interviewed by Akashvani for his cycling and other social activities. He has also been covered extensively by newspapers on his achievements.

In spite of all these record rides, Shirke is still raring to go and chart out plans for his upcoming ride. The pandemic has put a break on his plans. He plans to start from October 2021 and has started work on the route.

His tentative schedule of a long list includes visiting Somanath, Dwarka, Nageshwar Mahadeo, Omkareshwar, Ujjain, Agra, Mathura, Haridwar, Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath, Badrinath, Haridwar, Bareilly, Kanpur, Varanashi, Baidyanath,

Jagannath Puri, Ganganagar, Rameshwaram, Madurai, Srisailam, Balaji, Nanded, Aundh Nagnath, Parali Baijnath, Ghrushneshwar, Bhimashankar, and Trimbakeshwar. “India is a great country and exploring many places is a wonderful experience”, concludes Shirke.

Looking at his record rides, we have no doubt that Mr Deepak Shirke can accomplish his mission in the coming years. We wish him good luck.

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Team Indian Oil at Baroda AFS exemplifies "Har Ek Kaam, Desh Ke Naam", comes to the aid of IAF

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n 26th April 2021, the Baroda Airfield witnessed a unique exercise being carried out as containerised Oxygen tankers were rolled out for loading in the IAF transport aircrafts, the magnificent C17s. The first two aircrafts were loaded in the morning

in a seamless operation by the IAF personnel even as Team Baroda AFS completed the required ATF fuelling very efficiently.

It was during the afternoon exercise that team Indian Oil, Baroda AFS, was at their innovative best as they came

to the rescue of our Defence Customer. Seeing their Air Force colleagues struggling to load two large sized containers into the waiting C-17s on a loading ramp too steep for the oversized container trucks, the IndianOil Baroda team turned container loading

experts. They promptly bought heavy duty plywood sheets from the local market and created a makeshift extended loading ramp to smoothly load the containers into the waiting aircraft, thus truly exemplifying our motto, " H ar E k K aa m D e s h K e Naam".

Indian Oil launches Sanjeevani Express Portal for realtime monitoring of Liquid Oxygen Supply Logistics

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he availability of medical oxygen for patients has become a key aspect as India battles Covid -19.

Lending a helping hand in the nation's hour of need, Indian Oil had previously initiated the supply of liquid oxygen from its Panipat refinery complex to various hospitals in Delhi, Haryana, and Punjab. Additionally, the Corporation has contracted 9 cryogenic tankers & is also in the process of importing ISO 46 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2021

TSD RALLY containers for transporting liquid oxygen in country.

To further streamline the endeavours, IndianOil has launched a single window application – Sanjeevani Express – for real time monitoring of liquid oxygen supply logistics. The app was virtually launched by Mr Tarun Kapoor, Secretary,

MoP & NG in presence of Chairman Mr SM Vaidya and other senior officials of MoP & NG and Indian Oil. The single window platform will facilitate all stakeholders, including Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), Oil companies and other central and state government agencies to

monitor allocation; loading & dispatch from production plant; receipt at hospital/ consignee /city etc. on real time basis. The app/portal is compatible with Desktop, Laptop and Mobility Devices.

The app will also provide MIS on TT Allocation Vs Dispatch summary, TT wise Loading vs Receipts at Hospital and Allocation wise pending

quota.

IndianOil has also set up a control room to manage and track logistics of oxygen supply. Coupled with the Sanjeevani Express portal, this endeavour will contribute significantly towards strengthening the supply & logistics of medical oxygen in the country.

Indian Oil stands strong with its frontline workers  Renews medical insurance for its frontline works  Continues to provide ex-gratia assistance to the family of deceased

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ndian Oil Karma Yogi Swasthya Bima Yojana w. e. f 1st May 2021 onwards.

The medical insurance will cover more than 3.3 lakh Retail Outlet customer attendants, LPG delivery boys, Tank Truck Crew, Security Guards at Pipelines across the country etc. These personnel are at the forefront of Indian Oil's endeavour to keep the energy supply lines uninterrupted, despite the pandemic.

The medical insurance will continue to cover the personnel along with his/her spouse and two children.

Claims up to Rs. 1 lakh can be availed for expenses on hospitalization and Covid related diseases. On accidental death of an insured, the family will be eligible for a compensation of Rs. 2 lakhs.

Indian Oil People have always been at the core of Indian Oil's operations. The Karma Yogi Swasthya Bima Yojana was launched in March 2020 to provide a safety net to the field force who were braving the pandemic to cater to the fuel needs of the country. In FY 2020 -21, almost 300 cases requiring hospitalization were provided medical assistance and 14 death cases were provided financial compensation. Additionally, Indian Oil will continue to provide an ex-gratia COVID19 insurance cover of Rs. 5 lakhs, in case of death due to COVID-19. The amount is payable to the next of kin of the deceased. These include contract labour working in our premises for whom Indian Oil is the Principal employer and personnel engaged by our business partners comprising pump

attendants, delivery boys, packed and bulk drivers, TT crew, patrolling guards of Pipelines, Loaders/ Unloaders and other associated/ support personnel at our Bottling/ Lubes/ Drum Filling/

Explosive/ Cryogenics plants, BD warehouses/ other operating locations/ customer touch points. In FY 2020-21, all 23 families needing this assistance were provided with the ex-gratia compensation.

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Petroleum Minister flags off 1st supply of Used Cooking Oil-based Biodiesel from Indian Oil's Tikrikalan Terminal

Ushers in a new era of Bioenergy through "Randhan se Indhan"

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inister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Steel, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, remotely flagged off the first supply of UCO (Used Cooking Oil) based Biodiesel blended Diesel under the EOI Scheme from Indian Oil's Tikrikalan Terminal. Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Tarun Kapoor and Shri S M Vaidya, Chairman, Indian Oil were also present on the occasion.

To create an eco-system for collection and conversion of UCO into Biodiesel and developing entrepreneurship opportunities, Hon'ble Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel, along with Hon'ble Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, had initiated Expressions of Interest (EoIs) for "Procurement of Bio-diesel produced from Used Cooking Oil (UCO)" on the occasion of World Biofuel Day on 10th August 2019. And such "Expression of Interest" is being

periodically released by Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs). In the first phase, 11 Expression of Interest (EoIs) were floated between 10.08.2019 to 09.11.2020 for 200 locations.

Publication of EoIs has been extended for one more year up to 1.12.2021, for 300 locations across the country. Under this initiative, OMCs offer periodically incremental price guarantees for five years and extend off-take guarantees for ten years to prospective entrepreneurs. So far, Indian Oil has also issued 23 LOIs for Biodiesel plants with a total capacity of 22.95 crore Litres (557.57 TPD). Under this initiative, Indian Oil has received 51KL of UCO-Biodiesel at its Tikrikalan terminal in Delhi as of 31.3.2021.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan complimented the Oil industry on the stellar role they have played to keep the fuel lines running despite the stiff challenges of

the pandemic. He also lauded the OMCs for going beyond the usual business imperatives by extending support for medical oxygen supply to the nation in this crisis. Mr Pradhan also appreciated Indian Oil's leadership role in smoothening the Liquid oxygen logistics in the country through various initiatives.

Referring to the flag-off of the first supply of UCO-based Biodiesel from Indian Oil's Tikrikalan Terminal, Mr Pradhan said, "This is a landmark in India's pursuance of Biofuels and will have a positive impact on the environment. This initiative will garner substantial economic benefits for the nation by shoring up indigenous Biodiesel supply, reducing import dependence, and generating rural employment". He appreciated the proactive role played by OMCs in this direction and shared that 30 LOIs have already been issued.

"Indian Oil is commied to contributing to this remarkable drive on retrieve the unhealthy Used Cooking Oil and usher in a revolution through "Randhan se Indhan". We aspire to trace even the last drop of UCO and ensure its conversion on Biodiesel, thereby contributing to a more energy secure, greener and healthier India. This event is yet another signi cant step towards a Swachh and Aatmanirbhar Bharat".

Shri SM Vaidya, Chairman - IOCL 48 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2021

100yrs OF BCS

BOSCH CAR SERVICE

Bosch commemorates 100 years of Bosch Car Service

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he first Bosch installation and repair workshop opened its doors in Hamburg in 1921, and ever since then has been growing into a brand known for high quality car service thereby establishing Bosch Car Service (BCS) to become the world's largest multibrand car service workshop network.

BCS is the world's largest multi-brand car service workshop with over 15,000 workshops across 150 countries.

In India, Bosch Car Service has 250 workshops along with a Company Owned and Company Operated (CoCo) BCS that offer car drivers an

extensive and world-class range of car repair services and solutions.

BCS network partners benefit from Bosch's evergrowing expertise in diagnostic technology, availability of high quality and genuine spare parts and technical training for its workshop technicians. A qualification system within the Bosch Service Excellence program, including regular audits and service quality assessments, ensures the high quality of BCS workshop partners.

"BCS in India has been growing at a very strong pace clocking a high double-

digit growth in 2020 over the previous year" says Anjan Kumar. R – Regional President, Bosch Automotive Aftermarket. "This is also the highest growth posted in the BCS network expansion across geographies, in the milestone marking 100 years of presence, despite prevailing COVID challenges.

Our value proposition towards passenger car workshops have been strengthened over the last many months. This has been a major attraction for many OEM workshops across the country to convert to a Bosch Car Service workshop especially the recent outlets in Mumbai, Chandigarh, Chennai and Ahmedabad.

BCS in India has been growing at a very strong pace clocking a high double-digit growth in 2020 over the previous year

Now is the best time for independent workshops to join a 100-year-old strong network with the expertise of running a global multi brand car service concept. We offer comprehensive services namely vehicle diagnosis, wide range of spare parts, technical service and support to car owners that are at par with leading OEMs across the country. Importantly, while achieving the 100 years milestone, we have also created a futuristic digital ecosystem for multi-brand workshops - an ecosystem beyond compare."

BCS presently has close to 250 touchpoints across India including the CoCo BCS with state-of-the-art facilities, established in Bengaluru in 2017. The CoCo workshop serves as a centre of competence and a lighthouse to test-try and market all the value propositions before launching the same at an allIndia level.

100 years since opening the first Bosch repair workshop, Bosch Car Service brand is a leader in the independent workshop market as a modern full-service provider.

Bosch is commemorating this success story with an optimistic look at the future: the objective is to further expand its network count by targeting significant growth in India, coordinate with customers and workshop partners on the basis of digital solutions and smart use of data, and reinforce its position as a reliable and innovative mobility partner across the world, both today and in the future. By offering comprehensive vehicle repair solutions, service and a plethora of value propositions, BCS is your workshop next door 'For everything your car needs.'

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IARC

GYMKHANA

Amey Desai dominates Jigar Mehta, Zishaan Khatib, Avaan Joshi, Shivani Parmar win other classes

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mey Desai wins the IARC Gymkhana which was held along with the Autocross event at the Raymond Karting facility in Thane, Mumbai.

2WD Stock Class Amey Desai won the Upto 1400cc Class in 25.886 seconds defeating Ravinder Singh, who finished second in a time of 26.916 seconds.

Munjal Savla managed to be on the podium by clocking 28.209sec. Biten Jagasia was a further one second slower in fourth while Shivani 5O autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2021

THANE Parmar with less than a second difference finished fifth.

Amey Desai carried forward his winning spree in the Upto 1650cc Class by clocking 00:29.044. Veer Shah finished in the same second and lost with a difference of 0.600 second. Umesh Rane was behind him with a huge margin of over six seconds to take third.

Above 1650cc Class was won by Jigar Mehta in 00:29.773. Altaf Hussain missed the top position by a mere 0.267 second and finished in second position.

2WD Open Class Upto 1400cc Class was won

by Zishaan Khatib as he clocked 00:30.240 to beat Amey Desai, who was slower by about one and half seconds to settle for second position.

Amey Desai was the lone finisher in the upto 1650cc

Class by clocking 00:27.120.

In the Above 1650cc Class, Avaan Joshi by clocking 29.234sec was the winner followed by Altaf Hussain in second position with a difference of two seconds.

Munjal Savla with a difference of 0.318 of a second completed the podium. Kejas Shah finished fourth while Ravinder Singh was fifth.

Unrestricted Class Amey Desai was unstoppable as he bagged the top position in a total of four classes. In this class, he clocked 00:27.514 for a win.

Zishaan Khatib was slower by less than 5 seconds to finish second.

Ladies Class The battle was drawn between to ladies. But Shivani Parmar managed to finish ahead of Manisha Kelkar with a difference of over 11 seconds.

THANE

IARC

AUTOCROSS

Kartik Konchady fastest driver of the day

Amey Desai excels winning two gold in Upto 1400cc classes in IARC Autocross

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ARC Autocross was finally held; after it was caught between yes or no due to pending government decision regarding the SOP due to Covid 2nd wave, which was in full swing in Mumbai. The event took place at the Raymond Karting facility in Thane recently.

2WD Stock Class Amey Desai with a timing of 01:28.752 was the winner of the Upto 1400cc Class beating Munjal Savla by over three seconds. Pradeb Biswas, who clocked 1:32.570, finished third.

Shivani Parmar missed the podium by just 0.613sec. Jay Patil was slower by another two seconds and settled for fifth position.

Veer Shah won the Upto 1650cc Class by clocking

1:34.766 while Biten Jagasia missed the top slot by 0.052 milliseconds. Yash Pawar took third clocking 1:36.637.

By clocking 1:38.764 Kejas Shah was fourth and Umesh Rane, a further ten seconds behind, was fifth.

In the Above 1650cc Class, Munjal Savla's won with a time of 1:28.393 beating Altaf Hussain by three seconds. Jigar Mehta was another two seconds behind to take third. Maninder Singh Ahuja and Umesh Rane finished in fourth and fifth respectively, with a further difference of three and four seconds, in that order.

2WD Open Class Amey Desai won the Open Class upto 1400cc by clocking 1:20.328. Nishant Naik held on to second position with a time of

1:32.643. After missing the podium in Stock Class, Shivani Parmar clinched a podium place in this class.

Akshay Virendra Mestry took another two seconds to complete and was fourth with Zishaan Khatib taking fifth, a mere 0.443 in deficit.

Upto1650cc Class was bagged by Swajit Acharekar in 1:28.588 as he beat Kartik Konchady by 5 seconds.

Ravinder Singh completed the podium in third, losing the second place by a second. Pallavi Shamrao Yadav and Veer Shah finished in fourth and fifth positions respectively.

Ravinder Singh was the topper in the Above-1650cc Class clocking 1:30.397.

Arvaan Joshi was just a second slower and had to settle for second. Kejas Shah was another second behind to finish third. Jigar Mehta and Tejas Gaikwas finished in fourth and fifth positions respectively.

Unrestricted Class Kartik Konchady of team Flying Pistons became the fastest driver of the day and became the topper winning the 2WD Unrestricted Class clocking 1:25.816. Arvaan Joshi was four seconds slower to finish second.

Ravinder Singh came third, a further second behind. Sahil Tyagi clocked 1:32.732 took fourth while Jigar Mehta finished fifth in 1:33.610.

In the 4WD Unrestricted Open Class Sudesh Karle won in 1:46.902 beating Umesh Rane (1:48.552) to second.

Ladies Class Jhanvi Bhavsar won the Class clocking 1:37.332 as she edged out Pallavi Shamrao Yadav, who timed 1:37.882.

Shivani Parmar completed the podium clocking 1:38.483. Manisha Kelkar came fourth in 1:44.804 while Pragya Bharti was another 12 seconds slower in fifth.

MAY / JUNE 2021 autotrack.ind.in 51

OMEGA - B MEDICAL SYSTEMS collaborate with OSM to make it available to a vast majority of people of India", said Jesal Doshi, Deputy CEO of B Medical Systems.

Uday Narang, Chairman of Anglian Omega Group said on the occasion "COVID Vaccine is a beacon of hope to millions of people in our country. Govt. has done its job by making it available free for distribution.

Now it is our job to ensure it reaches the people in a completely safe way, across the country. We are a leading lastmile connectivity solution provider in India. We will provide the complete vaccine delivery solution to the people of India using our cold chains and our electric vehicles across the country using B Medical boxes.

This is yet another example of our 'Technology in Motion' philosophy at OSM".

Omega Seiki Mobility and B Medical Systems signs MoU for storage boxes and transportation of medical products and COVID-19 Vaccine in India

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mega Seiki Mobility (OSM) signed an MoU with B Medical Systems, a Luxembourg based company that has pioneered the technology to store and transport vaccines, blood components, lab specimens through their innovative storage boxes that can be calibrated to ultra-low temperatures of -70degree C. B Medical Systems is a leading storage and transportation solution provider for all medical refrigeration needs. The 52 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2021

company has a presence in more than 130 countries and has participated in large vaccinations across the world.

"Throughout our 40+ years of experience, we have been creating innovative solutions to store and transport vaccines, blood components, laboratory specimens across the world. Our commitment to supporting governments, health institutions and NGOs has not only saved innumerable lives but helped communities develop and prosper. We are proud to bring our technology to India and

"COVID Vaccine is a beacon of hope to millions of people in our country. The government has done its job by making it available free for distribution. Now it is our job to ensure it reaches the people in a completely safe way, across the country".

"Food delivery to customers is a very important segment for us.

We will use B Medical systems boxes to store and deliver food to our customers most hygienically and safely. These boxes follow the highest safety and hygiene norms and have been certified by WHO for use," adds Narang. "At OSM we see vaccine delivery as our social responsibility. We have to play our role in it. A project of this size and scale needs strong technology-backed product delivery and our IT platform is built for this. We are geared up for the delivery challenges across India and bring the vaccine to the doorsteps of our people. It is a great achievement for OSM to be taking the lead in this mass community-based vaccination program of the Govt. of India. There is an adequate supply of boxes for Vaccine delivery. Various sizes of boxes will be deployed in the fleet of 2 and 3 wheelers for the last mile", explains Dr. Deb Mukherji, MD of OSM.

IOC – WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

Mumbai's first all women operated retail outlet

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ndian Oil declared M/s Vivanta Petroleum at Indian Oil Nagar, Chembur as Mumbai's first All Women Retail Outlet. This retail outlet operates with all women staff during general shift; ie from morning 06.00 AM to 02,00 PM, and is the first retail outlet in Mumbai operated by all women staff.

Reiterating IndianOil's resolve to strengthen the emergence of India's women power and the Corporation's commitment to provide polite and prompt service to customers, Mr Anirban Ghosh said: "We are proud to

open these all-women retail outlets that will increase our commitment to diversity and inclusion empower our female partners in new and meaningful ways".

All the facilities at the outlet are operated by women customer attendants in general shift. On the occasion of international women's day, Indian Oil has opened 83 retail outlets in India to be operated entirely by women as part of the corporation's efforts to address systemic inequities in opportunities for female

workers within the country.

The all-women retail outlet constitutes a step forward in Indian Oil's commitment to expand the representation of women in the workforce.

“We are privileged to have adopted only women shift at our retail outlet. It gives us immense pleasure to have empowered so many women

to be associated with prestigious company like IOCL. We have employed more than 25 women in 2 shifts and their hard work, dedication, efficiency and loyalty have increased my respect for them fourfold", said Jaiprakash Thakur, dealer of M/s Vivanta Petroleum.

Mumbai's rst all women operated Indian Oil retail outlet On the eve of Women's International day, Indian Oil Corporation has out ed an all-women run retail outlet operated in Chembur, Mumbai. This move is another initiative by the organisation to create gender inclusion and celebrate women empowerment.

MAY / JUNE 2021 autotrack.ind.in 53

Adventure Drive for off-roaders I

t was a call for all insomniac Off-roaders just before the night curfew was announced in and around Bengaluru. About 60 off-roaders were part of the Adventure Drive, which was split into evening and night sessions.

Most of the trail was on the rock section, as night off-roading was held after a very long time. The camp was held at the Eco Trails Park which was situated at Gargeshpura Village in Magadi Taluk. About 25 vehicles of various makes took part in the trail.

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BENGALURU

MAY / JUNE 2021 autotrack.ind.in 55

BIKE TRAVEL

‘Ride to the Clouds’ offers thrills unlimited Riding Maniac Club’s anniversary event takes 16 riders all over scenic Meghalaya

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stablished on 15th April 2013, the R̀iding Maniac’ a motorcycling club, carries the tag of being the largest club in lower Assam. With the motive of promoting better motorcycling, the Club conducts regular events. To mark the 8th anniversary, a

56 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2021

Bike Ride was organised covering the entire Meghalaya State with the support of Motul India. The event named `Ride to the Clouds’, was being held for the 5th year in a row. Over 15 participants led by a lady biker Juhita Kar, commenced their journey on April 8 and

Juhita was leading a ride for the first time. She was accompanied by other riders Ziaur, Jonus, Arup, Bhaiji, Priyanshu, Mudassar, Ramiz, Nazmus, Jishan, Manjit, Tarik, Abhijit, Nebidita, Iftihara and Zinty.

Day 1: The Ride began at Sahiyta Sobha at 4:45am.

They started from Dhubri in Assam under very cool climate and just after travelling for about 100 kms, they came under heavy rain, which slowed down their pace as a few first-timers were also part of the ride.

After travelling for over 285 kms, it was time to cross over

MEGHALAYA

tallest in the world. The 2-hr drive which began at 11.30 am, restarted by 3pm, while the remaining 75-km journey ended up at 7pm. The camp stay at Dawki, was on the banks of one of the cleanest rivers, Umngot.

Day 3: The ride on Day 3 began at 12 pm and headed towards Cherrapunje via Mawlynnong. Mawlylong is supposed to be one of the cleanest villages in Asia.

About 7 kms from start of the journey was Dawki, a famous boating point on River Umngot, and 34kms from there was Mawlynnong, where the group stopped over for lunch. The ride headed through a few

beautiful landscape of Cherrapunjee which gave a wonderful opportunity to watch the sunset. The remaining 85 kms was hectic, as the ride had to cut through thick clouds, which ended the day only by 8 pm. The fun-filled last day began with an off-road trail through stream crossing and below a beautiful waterfall. The journey for Dhubri began at 12 pm from Cherrapunjee.

Once again, the scenic view delayed the ride and by 3.30 pm, it reached Shillong. From there, a total of 280 kms was in the menu, after a brisk stop-over at Guwahati, as the sunset ride concluded at Dhubri at 3:15 am.

to Meghalaya via Byrnihat, with only 50 kms left to travel on the Guwahati-Shillong highway for the night halt at Laitlum. As they reached there by 6.30pm, it was anniversary celebration time.

Day 2: The ride was about 120kms to Shnongpdeng on Day 2. It began late and had an off-road trail on the valley and headed towards Jaintia Hills which was about 64 kms, to have a glimpse of Monoliths. These hills are home for Nartiang Monoliths which are believed to be the MAY / JUNE 2021 autotrack.ind.in 57

PASSION TO PERFORM Sampada Gangakhedkar has played many successful roles - homemaker, rally driver and entrepreneur

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othing gives Sampada more happiness than driving, be it a 2wheeler or a 4-wheeler. "I was 14 when my brother took me to a ground to show that he has learned the Bajaj Scooter and seeing the opportunity I decided to try my hand at driving. Initially I was refused but my irresistible desire to drive overcame my brother's refusal. That was the day I will never forget as I immediately took to driving like a regular.

The happiness was like I had never experienced before.

From then on I used to look for opportunities to drive a bike. At the age of 24, for the first time I was at the wheel of a car and driving on the Highway from Surat to Baroda like a regular. That is when I decided that some 58 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2021

day I would participate in a car rally" says Sampada.

Due to her busy schedule of bringing up two children she could not get time to execute her desire of participating in a rally. However, her passion for driving was partly being fulfilled by driving the Children to school and for local shopping. The passion was ignited in the year 2016 when Maruti Suzuki announced a Women's Car Rally (Cross country) in Pune.

"My adrenaline was rushing and I decided to participate in my Maruti Zen. As it was a Women's Rally, the driver had to be a Woman and anybody else could be a navigator. My husband was happy to be my navigator and we completed the Rally much ahead of others despite having three

punctures. Though I did not finish on the podium, I was happy to drive the cross country. I thoroughly enjoyed myself." Today too she doesn't miss an opportunity to drive and has been travelling to

Aurangabad, Lonavala and nearby places in her car with her friends. She now drives a Honda Amaze.

Apart from driving she also nourished a genuine feeling and deep passion for

‘

protecting the environment.

Growing up did not deter her and she decided to pursue the efforts to protect and grow the natural trees in the surroundings. This love for nature has been so strong that she decided to purchase a small piece of land to plant trees and bushes, flowering plants. A plot of uneven land with a wide undulations destroyed by water erosion was her choice. A simple and soft spoken lady who by her virtue of love for plants has developed an almost forgotten and undulating land into a small Green heaven.

The journey started in the year 2008 from a small plot in Girivan Tq.Mulshi which is about 35 kms from Pune. This place is located in the foot hills of Sahyadri hills and is about 500 meters above Lonavala. She started by planting lot of plants from Casia to bougainvillea to teak to all the plants which are indigenous. She say "If I need to have bees, squirrels, butterfly's in my garden then I need to plant more of indigenous plants.

These plants, trees also are loved by the birds to make their nests.”

"My adrenaline was rushing and I decided to participate in my Maruti Zen. As it was a Women's Rally, and anybody else could be a navigator. My husband was happy to be my Navigator". Said Sampada

However, managing and maintaining a garden or a green place is not as easy as is thought.

So as to help her manage the place she decided to build a small house which increased her visits for better management.

While building up her hobby of raising indigenous plants she decided to take the help the locals. She employed local ladies and taught them the importance of plants and the need to preserve the native flora and fauna. She says "The reason for employing the local ladies and teaching them the importance of preserving the nature is to

ensure that this idea is handed down to their children who will eventually be responsible in the coming years. I strongly feel that if the mother is convinced then the household is won".

Over the years she has transformed the place into a small heaven where one can stay and be in touch with nature, speak to the plants, the birds et all. In fact, she has even converted the stream into a small dam where water is stored, making the place even more lovable.

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BENGALURU

DIRT CROSS

Roopesh BC dominates to bag Fastest-Driver tag Dean, Dhruva take double podium in Ecolife Dirt Cross

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his particular INRC1 Class was left out in our previous edition and hence, we thought it was fair to address it in the upcoming issue.

The Ecolife Dirt Cross for four-wheelers was held at the Unite off-road track on the outskirts of Bengaluru at the 1.2-km gravel track, organised by Motorsport Inc. Roopesh BC dominated the day by winning the top-two classes and also registering the fastest time of the day. He became the fastest driver clocking 2min 00.528sec and also won the Unrestricted Open Class driving a rallyprepared Volkswagen Polo.

Dean Mascarenhas was slower by 01.755sec and had to settle for second position.

60 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2021

Dhruva Chandrasekhar who lost the second place by less than half-a-second (00.405) had to be content with a third place. Ritesh M Guttedar finished another 00.595 seconds behind and missed the podium. Syed Salman Ahmed, with a further deficit of 00.299sec finished fifth and Chethan Shivram clocking 02:03.781 sec came sixth.

The Gypsy Open was bagged

by Thomas K Marattukalam with a time of 2:11.220 while Shyam M Gopinath, driving in autocross after a very long time, lost much time, about 06.730sec, and took the second place. Dheeraj KV was behind by 03.762sec to complete the podium.

Roopesh BC was on the top step of the podium for the

second time in a row winning the Rally Car Open Class clocking 02:01.045.

Dean Mascarenhas with a difference of 01.438sec was second while Dhruva C finished third again, another 00.444sec in deficit. Jenu K

Johnson clocked 02:05.868 to finish fourth while Sriju Sadasivan finished fifth with a further difference of 01.174sec. The youngest of all, Arjun Rajiv, finished sixth taking another 02.271sec to finish the course.

RNI No. KARENG/2007/21952 Pages 60+4