Srinigar: The 4th J&K Bank Mughal Road Rally, India's first hill climb challenge which took off in the wee hours today had all the ingredients of an exacting motorsport event - landslide and rockfall. In addition, rain over the last couple of days made the track highly challenging for competitors.
The two-day motorsport event took off today with 24 teams in Rally Xtreme (4X4), 9 bikers in Rally Xtreme (Motorcycles) and 30 teams in Rally Enduro. Rally Xtreme is a high speed rush, while Rally Enduro follows the Time-Speed-Distance format.
The landslide and rockfall started on the first stage of the rally, when Rally Xtreme (4X4) was moving through the competitive stretch near Pir Ki Gali. Fortunately, no rallyist was hurt in the landslide. Pir Ki Gali is the highest point on the Mughal Road, at an elevation of 11,500 feet (4,100 meters) approximately. The Marshals of Himalayan Motorsport, which organizes the event, stopped the competitors at a safe distance as the landslide began.
Amanpreet Ahluwalia of Team Terrain Tigers, Delhi, and Amitrajit Ghosh of Kolkata were at the front end of Rally Xtreme when the landslide started close to the area where they were driving. Amanpreet said that all the competitors coming up behind were stopped by the Marshals way before the landslide. "Amitrajit and I were already driving through the area in our separate vehicles. Fortunately, we were able to go across safely. The Rally Marshals stopped all other vehicles. They allowed the competitors to move through the area only after the landslide and rockfall halted, and the road was cleared," said Ahluwalia, who is considered one of the top contenders for the Rally crown.
Amitrajit Ghosh, who won The Mughal Rally in 2012, said that the hill climb challenge this year is highly exciting. "Now, 90 per cent of the stretch is tarmac. At places, the roads are wide and smooth, where three vehicles can pass at a time. There are flat-out stages where the top speed can be as much as 170 kilometers per hour. This has given a whole new flavour to the track as compared to last year," said Ghosh.
Till the time of filing the news report, only the results in Rally Enduro (TSD format) were available. Rally officials were still working on the results of Rally Xtreme. On Day One, Subir Roy of Kolkata with navigator Nirav Mehta were leading, with a penalty of 20 seconds. Roy is driving a Mitsubishi Cedia for the event. On the second place in Rally Enduro were Satish Gopalkrishnan and Savera D'Souza of Bangalore, driving a Grand Vitara. The duo are running a penalty of 24 seconds. At the third position was Jagmeet Gill of Chandigarh and his navigator Chandra Sekhar, with a penalty of 30 seconds. Gill is driving a Maruti Gypsy for the rally.
President Himalayan Motorsport Vijay Parmar said that out of a total of 30 competitors in Rally Enduro, only 16 teams are left in competitive run. The rest of the teams had to drop out of the event due to the heavy penalties incurred by them. "The top three competitors in Enduro are close, and it could be anybody's rally tomorrow," he said.
The Mughal Rally started in 2010, when the Mughal Road was a quagmire of deep mud and rocks. At that time, the average top speed of the competitors was 55 kilometers per hour. The Mughal Road is now a smooth, double laned highway which was formally opened by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on June 25.
The rally was flagged off today from Srinagar by J&K Tourism Minister Ghulam Ahmad Mir, with about 120 rallyists driving cars, SUVs and motorcycles. The Mughal Rally takes its name from The Mughal Road, the historic road used by Emperors Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan to traverse from Delhi to Kashmir.
Ghulam Ahmad Mir said that the Mughal Rally is a fast, technical event on a track that was once an elephant trail - at the time of the Mughals. "The 4th Mughal Rally, the first hill climb motorsport battle of India, is patterned on the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, the 100-year-old iconic automobile and motorcycle hill climb of the USA. J&K has amazing potential for adventure sports. The Mughal Rally has become a boost to tourism in the region and is already one of the most famous events on the motorsports calendar of the country," said Mir.
The rally will halt at Jammu tonight. On Day Two, the rallyists will head back to Srinagar via the hill climb to Sinthan Pass, at an altitude of 12,450 feet (3,748 meters), connecting Kishtwar and Anantnag. Even during the height of summer, the hill climb up to Sinthan Pass is lined with walls of snow. It is open from April to September.
Amidst heavy rain in the valley on June 27, scrutiny of the vehicles of all competitors was held at the Royal Springs Golf Course in Srinagar. The scrutiny was held as per stringent rallying and safety regulations of Federation Internationale De Automobile (FIA) and the Federation of Motorsport Clubs of India (FMSCI).
"We see this rally becoming one of the fastest hill climbs in the world. At around 30 kms each, the four hill climb stages on Pir ki Gali and Sinthan Pass will require great skill and concentration to master" said Parmar.
