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Shimla, September 23
The thrills and spills of hardcore motorsport have reached Bollywood. Producer-director-actor Sohail Khan, brother of superstar Salman Khan, is competing this year at The 16th Raid De Himalaya 2014, the highest rally raid of the world.
Sohail Khan is competing in the Adventure category of the raid, along with about 240 top rallyists of the country. The 16th Raid De Himalaya will have 50 competitors in Rally Moto (motorcycles and quads), 41 teams in Rally Xtreme (4X4) and 51 teams in Rally Adventure. Each team in the Xtreme (4X4) category and the Adventure category comprise a driver and navigator.
The Raid De Himalaya is organized by Himalayan Motorsport, the premier Shimla-based motorsport club. President Himalayan Motorsport Vijay Parmar said that Sohail Khan was keen on competing in the Xtreme category, which is an all-out speed category, and a high-risk sport. First-time competitors at the Raid are not allowed to compete in Rally Xtreme, hence Sohail had to settle for Rally Adventure this year, which follows the TSD (Time-Speed-Distance) format, and is considered to be the safer option for rallying.The Raid De Himalaya is one of the two Indian motorsport events listed on the off-road rallies calendar of FIA (Federation Internationale Automobile and FIM (Federation Internationale Motorcyclisme) Geneva, Switzerland. Only 12 international motoring eventsworld-wide are listed in this calendar.
Traditionally, only about 25 per cent of the competitors are able to complete the Raid, India’s toughest cross country off road event. Given the route of the Raid this year, the number of competitors who successfully make it to the finish line is expected to be even lower.
The Raid De Himalaya is amongst the two Indian competitions listed in the annual calander of FIA (Federation Internationale Automobile and FIM (Federation Internationale Motorcyclisme) Geneva, Switzerland.The Raid will run from October 3 to October 11 this year. Sohail will be part of Team Maruti, and will drive a Maruti Gypsy at the Raid. The Raid will begin from Shimla. Competitors will drive on the jagged rock-ribbed terrain along Chandra river to some of the highest human establishments high above Kaza and the fabled vale of Spiti. The latter half of the Raid will see the rallyists descending from the slippery Baralacha La, 4,890 meters above sea level and take the road from Darcha to Shingo La, the legendary pass which guards the entry to the daunting Zanskar region near Kargil. The Raid will end at Manali. For his navigator, Sohail has picked Pune’s Rahul Sancheti, who ranks among the top motorsport navigators in the country for TSD rallying. Sancheti, 42, has earlier ranked first in the TSD categories of The Maruti Suzuki Raid De Himalaya 2010 and The Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm 2011, two of the highest-ranked rallies in the country. Rahul said Sohail has been keen on competing at the Raid for the last couple of years, but could not do so because of his commitments in the entertainment industry. “After a scheduled shoot got cancelled recently, he found that he could compete at the Raid during this time. When we met, he wanted to know the whole itinerary of the Raid, the challenges to, and prepare accordingly,” Rahul added. The duo is now working on synchronizing as a team. For the best drivers in TSD rallying, the navigator is the game-changer, and decides who will be first among equals. Vijay Parmar said that a couple of years ago, John Abraham bought a Gypsy for competing at the Raid, but could not do so because of his film commitments.
Parmar said that apart from the driving itself, the Raid is a mirror that shows you who you really are in the face of constant adversity. Long hard days, early starts in extreme cold and oxygen deprivation are just a few of the physical challenges that one will face. “Sohail Khan's entry into the Adventure category is interesting. He might find Raid Adventure slow at times, but it can never be boring. No doubt milder than Raid Xtreme, the Adventure has its own set of difficulties to surmount, and hitting a Time Control on the second can be quite addictive! He has the right navigator for the job, both are physically fit and if they team up right they may even be on a podium. It’s a tough one but it’s not impossible !" said Parmar.
