As a kid, I was always excited for weekends like all others. But my reason to get excited was slightly different. It meant that I could spend two days sitting on my father's lap and watch legends like Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost going at it hammer and tongs, lighting up the racetracks with their magic and daredevilry (Yes, I am an 80s kid with a cool dad). Those are my earliest ever memories of watching motorsports, racing or similar stuff on a black and white TV with a huge tube protruding from its rear.
(2015 Rainforest Challenge participant in action)India too has had its moment in motorsports, with Narain Karthikeyan participating in a few F1 races, Gaurav Gill doing wonderfully at APRC, Aditya Patel making his mark in the Audi R8 LMS Cup and most recently CS Santosh, tackling the dreaded Dakar Rally successfully in his maiden outing. All these individuals and their achievements make all of us Indians really proud.
But the one motorsport event, which catapulted the Indian motorsport scenario to the next level, was the Rainforest Challenge India. Why I say next level is because this is one of the or perhaps the only international motorsport event (at the moment), with international participants that is being held in India (considering F1 might not be held in India again). For the uninitiated, the Rainforest Challenge is where beefed up SUVs, Jeeps and Gypsys in most cases take on some really inhospitable terrain such as climbing over big rocks, wading through a couple of feet deep slush pools, water crossings, steep inclines and what not.
(Participants for last year's Rainforest Challenge lining up their vehicles)Considered to be one of the top 10 toughest motorsport events on earth, it was Ashish Gupta of Cougar Motorsport, who had the vision and the will to bring it to India after being spellbound watching the Rainforest Challenge Malaysia in 2013. Kudos to him and his team, who worked hard to organise RFC India for 2 years and with resounding success. The third season of RFC India is already underway. This year, the participation slots were filled up way earlier than expected and the number of participants went up to 30 from 22 last year. Such is the enthusiasm for off-roading motorsport events in India. Also, this time expect the special stages to be tougher than what they were earlier. What is more heartening is that there are some who have the potential to be world-class off-roading drivers and their skill behind the wheel no less than the one who is setting lap records on a racetrack. Plus the navigators, who have to be fighting fit and need to co-ordinate with the drivers at each and every turn of the wheel, putting the winches and the ground anchor and getting down and dirty, literally.
I wish the organisers and the participants of the 2016 Rainforest Challenge India the very best of luck (You guys are going to need every bit of it) and I can hardly wait to join you all and partake in the festivities, the mud and the muck! See you in a couple of days.
