Auto Track

HISPANIA RALLY

JATIN JAIN

INDIA’S FIRST DOMESTIC MOTORSPORTS & OFF-ROAD MAGAZINE

RANA-THAKUR EXCEL AT SJOBA RALLY

MAY/JUNE 2020

HERITAGE DRIVE Raveendra-Rani win Heritage Drive 2020

JK TYRE TSD Kiren Rijiju ags off All women TSD Rally

AUTOCROSS Arjun Rao fastest in Apollo Autocross

JK TYRE WIAA Rally to the Valley

CORONA CHALLENGE

ATMA | ITTAC NIKHIL KASHYAP RACE CONCEPTS EV INFRASTRUCTURE OMEGA SEIKI MOBILITY

EDITORIAL / IMPRINT

IMPRINT Editor S. Ashok Kumar Tiwari

Hi, Our New Look.

AUTO TRACK is on a new track...

T

he invisible spark called Corona has put every development on the back seat.

And even Motorsport which was reeling under an invisible crunch is the first to be affected. The 2019 season had been over stretched but INRC was about to give an early start along with APRC round, despite no foreign entries. But the event that was to give a good beginning for the upcoming season, was short-lived due to this pandemic, suffering a sudden jolt days before the expected start.

The dent caused by this pandemic to motorsports is yet to be assessed, but one thing is sure. All depends on the two tyre manufacturers, MRF Tyre and JK Tyre, to bail this season out. MRF shoulders INRC for two and four wheelers, Supercross, racing for two and four wheelers and MRF Challenge, an important International event. While JK Tyre handles the responsibility of racing for four and partial twowheelers, three karting championships and partial investment in INRC through sponsorships.

But the major struggle lies ahead is what affects the Motorsports-related industry, like tuners, R&D, related media, infrastructure providers, development work and promoters. Now it is time to look at the other side towards the participants.

Nevertheless, it is also going to be very challenging time for them. We might witness a dip in participation level but as of now the morale of the participants is high but as nothing certain is predicted from the government regarding the sports, it is still wait and watch. In spite of some concessions as of now, more are awaited to permit the sport with certain protocol and norms.

Arjuna Award and Pradhan Mantri Bal Puraskar award for Excellence in Motorsports benefits were about to take off, but this pandemic has put temporary brakes on the development. With no concrete announcement regarding the calendar for the season, everyone is waiting. FMSCI has given a few concessions regarding permit fees, naming rights and deputing officials for the event to make events organiser-friendly, but to get a go-ahead from the government is awaited. But the fresh lockdown in Chennai, has put brakes to everything. And now it looks uncertain. But MMSC has opened up its racing track for track days, testing and development work with certain restrictions on head counts and social distancing.

However, drivers and participants, and all stakeholders involved in motorsports are paramount to the sport.

And as always, safety comes first in motorsports, so nothing will be done that compromises the safety of the drivers and other stakeholders. Finally, let us pray for some sort of relief from this pandemic and anticipate for a fruitful season.

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 13, ISSUE 4 MAY / JUNE 2020 autotrack.ind.in 01

CONTENTS

MAY / JUNE 2020

04

08 RALLY: 04 16 22

VALLEY DRIVE JK TIMES RALLY

HERITAGE

34 OFF-ROAD 08 30

62

22 RACING/AUTOCROSS: DELHI AUTOX BND

SJOBA 4X4 BKT

30

14

32

16

O2 AUTO TRACK MAY / JUNE 2020

18

OTHERS: TRAINING ANNUAL AUTOMOTIVE INTERNATIONAL

18

14

34 32 39 62

TSD RALLY SPAIN

RALLY HISPANIA

Jatin Jain finishes fifth in his class

Spain's Jordi of Bigrock provides the service support for the privateer's debut abroad

“The devise Stella which has been installed was reducing the involvement of marshals required during the starts of specials, controlled zones, neutralization zones and speed zones.

Everything was well update on the Stella and I hope the same to be in some Indian rallies soon," said Jatin Jain.

Guadix in Spain. From this 1000km was special stage exploring the Gorafe Desert which consisted of sand, dry river beds and rocky terrain.

Jatin Jain after winning two back-to-back rallies in the Indian National Rally Championship 2018 and 2019 set out to participate in his debut International rally. The service and backup support was provided by Mr Jordi of Bigrock in Spain. He finished in fifth position in the upto 250cc class and stood 66th overall which was a great job done as a privateer without any sponsors.

While the day used to begin at 7am every day, under Zero degree temperature, he had to pull his socks up right from 8pm every night after receiving the roadbook, followed by a briefing and notifications.

For Day 1 start, he had 81st position for the 126kms Special Stage. It was a 30second interval start, it was too difficult to overtake en route and it was too dusty but upgraded navigational skills helped him to keep up the pace. Day 2 was about 210kms Special Stage, and the third day of 225kms Special Stage was a

disastrous one, as a Spanish rider lost his life and the day was called off.

Day 4 was about 225kms and Day 5 had 168kms of Special Stage.

"Each day, the transport section began from the city of Guadix, near Granada, covering a minimum distance of over 250kms for stages and back to Bivouac 2. The devise Stella which has been installed was reducing the involvement of marshals required during the starts of specials, controlled zones, neutralization zones and speed zones. Everything was well update on the Stella and I hope the same to be in some Indian rallies soon," said Jatin Jain.

H

ispania Rally, Europe's only roadbook desert rally, saw 180 riders taking on 1500km in five stages in five days which began from MAY / JUNE 2020 autotrack.ind.in 03

RALLY

JK TYRE WIAA

Pradnya Chavarkar, Prakruti Bhatt win Over 400 ladies take part in 6th JK Tyre WIAA Rally to the Valley ver 400 ladies in more than 100 cars turned up to compete in the 6th edition of the annual JK Tyre WIAA Rally to the Valley in Mumbai on March 8, celebrating International Women's Day in their own unique way, as it endeavours to celebrate the empowerment of women.

O

The pair of Pradnya Chavarkar and Prakruti Bhatt won the rally with a total of 16 penalty points, which included O4 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2020

two penalty points in the final Time Control (TC).

Their day never began well as they gave away four penalties in their very first check-in of the day and also lost six points in the ninth Time Control. They managed to reach the top with three zero penalties and two minimum penalties.

Kriti Kamlesh Desai along with Gayathri Manish Thakoor stood second along with the pair of MS Riddhi Tanna and MS Rajvi Parikh who garnered 18 penalty

points each with similar two early check-in points. Kriti was going steady but had to shelldown about seven penalties in the seventh TC, which pulled her down to second. Similar was the case of Riddhi.

They gave away three points each in the third and seventh Time Control and four penalties in sixth TC. Since it was a tie, they completed the podium.

Mallika Rai along with Neha Khandelwal with 19 penalties were tied with

the pair of Ayoshmita Biswas and Vinisha Singh Sawant for the fourth and fifth positions respectively. Mallika was doing good with the least number of penalties but ran out of luck in the last two Time Controls where she lost five penalties in the ninth TC and gave about eight early penalties in the final TC. Ayoshmita in spite of no early penalties gave away six penalties in the seventh TC and in third and sixth Time Control gave away equal penalties of four

TSD RALLY MUMBAI to slide down the order.

Previous four years consecutive winner Deepa Damodaran, along with Priyanka Videsh, with 20 penalty points settled for sixth position. After giving away three equal penalties with two time controls, they were doing a good job but in sixth time control, they lost with ten penalties to slide down, otherwise they would have been in the topthree with two zero penalties and two early check-in penalties. Finally they settled for sixth position. The pair of Chitra Namjoshi Shah and Mridula Suresh Deshpande, with a further one penalty difference had to settle for seventh position, after an early zero penalty they gave away four penalties twice in TC3 and final Time control in checking in early.

The eighth position was bagged by Minali Mohan Lalye and Ashwini Nagesh Sandu with a total penalty of 22 which included two early penalties. Eight penalties at TC5 proved to be expensive for them.

Chaitali Kalpi Nagada and Nikita Shah stood ninth with 26 penalties while the pair of Farengiz Tirandaz along with Farzana Tirandaz were tenth with 29 penalties.

The rally was flagged off by Indian actress Perizaad Zorabian from NCPA, Mumbai at 6.30am, along with other dignitaries including Nitin Dossa, Executive Chairperson, Western Indian Autoimobile Association (WIAA) and Hari Singh, Head of Operations, JK Motorsport, and a celebrated rally champion. PS Ravi, Executive Director - Retail, Bharat Petroleum - Speed 97, Subhankar Sen, General Manager (Retail Initiatives & Brand)

"The main objectives of the Rally were to create awareness in the society about Women Empowerment and Road Safety on roads, in public transport and, generally, in public places," Nitin Dossa, Executive Chairman of Western India Automobile Association (WIAA), said.

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RALLY

JK TYRE WIAA

"I have been driving for 62 years and am totally excited," Mrs. Rajkumari Kasliwal said.

"My only problem in a TSD rally format is how to keep my speed down," she quipped.

and Joytsna Pedamkar, also from BPCL. Traversing through the iconic streets of the city, the rally culminated at Aamby Valley at Lonavla in the evening after covering a distance of over 150kms and ten time controls. The entire route was sanitised and cleared for a smooth ride with the presence of safety volunteers throughout the route. Sneha Sharma, Diana Pandole and Khyati Modi, all three who have represented India in International racing events, were very active at the rally, helping out in

O6 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2020

organising the activities.

Like every year, the ladies decked up their cars and themselves in various innovative themes, creating a party-like atmosphere at the NCPA. Among the socially-relevant themes that the ladies espoused were 'solidarity with acidattack survivors', 'fight against child marriage' and 'bleed with dignity'.

Some of them celebrated 'LGBTQ+ freedom', while a vehicle and its occupants spruced up as proud

peacocks conveyed the emboldening message 'why fit in when you can stand out!'. One of them had the presence of mind, to wish the Indian women's team playing in the T20 team Down Under, the best of luck.

Maharashtra Police, too fielded two cars, with four lady cops in full uniform with each of them promoting the key message of the rally: `Road Safety and Women Empowerment.

This was the underlying theme adopted by most participants even as quite a few celebrated the women who were breaking the glass ceiling with their efforts.

There were a handful of them who took great pride in showcasing the entry of women into the armed forces. Individually too, there were fascinating entries, led by a 79-year-old lady Mrs Rajkumari Kasliwal, who had two of her grand-daughters as her navigators.

There was a foreign entry, too, in the form of 73-year Pat Braithwaite, who

TSD RALLY MUMBAI

arrived in time for the Rally after driving a Morgan 3-wheeler for 3,500 miles (5,600km) around India in support of a not-for-profit NGO Goonj. She drove along with Monisha Dossa to Aamby valley. Also noted industrialist Neerja Kumar Mangalam Birla was part of the drive.

"I have been driving for 62 years and am totally excited," Mrs. Rajkumari Kasliwal said. "My only problem in a TSD rally format is how to keep my speed down," she quipped.

JK Tyre has played a pivotal role in bringing up `Women into Motorsports' in a big way. Apart from introducing an all-woman racing team in their National Racing Championship, the company has undertaken various other initiatives like the YLFO Power Drive, Rally to the Valley and organised a ď€ rstof-its-kind event, the 'JK Tyre Defence Wives Power Drive' for the wives of armed forces personnel last year.

Sanjay Sharma, Head-Motorsport, JK Tyre, said: "It ď€ ts in with our philosophy of empowering women and encouraging road safety.

It's encouraging to see so many ladies stepping forward to take part in this amazing rally," he added.

Braithwaite was delighted to complete her lifetime dream of driving all around India.

"I'm thrilled that we have achieved this. I didn't realise how difficult the roads would be, but the team has done an amazing job in keeping us safe. And I am specially glad about making it back in time to be a part of today's rally and to celebrate International Women's Day in such a marvellous way," she said.

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RALLY

SJOBA

Suresh Rana and Chirag Thakur win Sanjay beats Yuva for Overall win in Moto section PHOTO BY: MANANVIR SINGH

T

he two-day event was run close to about 1000km, including transport of about 500km, which included a free-run of 300km from Chandigarh and back. Both the days had five stages each while on Day 1, the first stage was cancelled due to heavy rains and landslides.

Xtreme Class

Four wheelers: Suresh Rana from Manali and co-driver Chirag Thakur, in a Maruti Suzuki Vitara, were the winners in the four-wheeler Xtreme O8 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2020

Class. They won the top spot clocking a total time of 2 hours, 6 minutes and 00.600 seconds. Samrat Yadav and co-driver Musa Sherif missed the top slot by a mere 47 seconds, driving a Maruti Suzuki Gypsy. Capt. Ajay Vir Singh Gill and codriver Diwakar Kalia, behind the wheel of a Maruti Suzuki Vitara came third another 9 minutes behind. Jagbir Nirwan, co-driven by Karanpreet Mattu, were behind by another minute to settle for fourth while Sunny Sidhu and Harish Gowda came

fifth with a further two minutes difference. The pair of Anil Wadia and Ashwin Naik finished sixth.

T1-2WD:

The Open Class was bagged by Jagbir Nirwan, in a Maruti Suzuki Baleno, as he clocked a total time of 2:16.38.200. Amber Udasi and Ravdeep Singh Saini came second, driving a Baleno, with a difference of 22 minutes. Kushal Majumder, co-driven by Mrinmoy Saha, behind the wheel of a Mitsubishi Cedia, finished third with

a difference of 17 minutes to take third.

Gaurav Ladwal and Tanmay Agarwal, in a Honda City, finished fourth.

T1- 4WD: In the Below 1350cc class, Rupender Sheoran, co-driven by Siddharth Sharan, in a Gypsy won with a time of 2:21.37.900. Sanjay Razdan, along with Karan Aukta, representing Harjee Motorsports were in a Gypsy and they finished second with 13 minutes difference. Came in third was the pair of Vinod

TSD RALLY CHANDIGARH second also in a Gypsy with a difference of 12 minutes. The pair of Anil Wadia and Ashwin Naik, also driving a Gypsy, fell to third by a deficit of two minutes.

Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary, along with PVS Murthy, were fourth another 14 minutes behind. Shashank Yadav and Yogesh Lakhani a further four minutes late

came fifth while Devinder Singh and Jagjyot Singh Sandhu finished sixth.

T1- 2/4 WD: In the above 1850cc class, Suresh Rana, co-driven by Chirag Thakur, from Team Champions, driving a Vitara Brezza clocked a total time of 2:06.00.600 to win the class. They were followed by Capt.

Ajay Vir Singh Gill and

Moto class winner Sanjay Kumar

Singh and Shailendra Singh driving a Gypsy with a mere ten seconds deficit.

Moto class first runner-up Yuva Kumar

Rohit Pathania and Pranav Singh were a further seven minutes down in fourth while Baljinder Singh Dhillon, co-driven by Ravindra Kumar, with another minute difference stood fifth. The pair of Sanjay Lal and Rahul Sancheti were sixth.

In the 1350 to 1850cc class, Samrat Yadav and Musa Sherif from Team Champions won in a Gypsy clocking 2:06.47.800. They were followed by Sunny Sidhu and Harish Gowda in

Overall second Samrat Yadav and Musa Sherif MAY / JUNE 2020 autotrack.ind.in 09

RALLY

SJOBA

Vir Singh Gill and Diwakar Kalia overall second runner-up

Vishwas SD 4th in Motoclass

Diwakar Kalia with a difference of nine minutes. Debajyoti Nath and co-driver Soumen Mondal a further 24 minutes late took third.

There were three DNF's in this class.

T2- 4WD: In the above 1350cc class, Naveen Goyal and Venu Ramesh Kumar driving a Vitara Brezza clocked 2:40.27.800 to win the

class.

In the below 1350cc class, the Gypsys dominated, Harvinder Bhola co-driven by Phalguna Raghavendra clocked a total time of 2:30.41 to win the class followed by Sumeet Singh and Rajit Purushothaman with a difference of 29 minutes.

Pranav Thakur and Maj. Rajesh Pal came third

another 46 minutes behind. Tevinder Negi along with Manik Girhotra were fourth and Rajiv Yadav and Lokesh Yadav finished fifth.

Moto Section Overall winners: Bengaluruians dominated the Overall class, with defending champion Sanjay Kumar M, representing Harjee

Motorsports, riding a KTM 500 winning with ease clocking 1:52.44.

Another ace Yuva Kumar, representing Team Hero Motocorp, clocked 1:58.33.300, but had to settle for second position. Suhail Ahmad, riding a Royal Enfield Himalayan, with less than two minutes further behind completed the podium. Vishwas SD, representing Harjee Motorsports, came fourth with another 10 minutes deficit. R Vignesh came fifth another 6 minutes behind and Vinay Prasad, also from Harjee Motorsports, had to settle for sixth position.

The Open upto 500cc class, was won by Sanjay Kumar from Bengaluru. Privateer Suhail Ahmed with a difference of over less than 8 minutes took the second place. Vishwas SD from Harjee Motorsports finished third with a further difference of less than

10 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2020

CHANDIGARH 10 minutes. R Vignesh was fourth another six minutes behind.

Jaskaran Singh Panag, riding a BMW GS310, was fifth with a huge gap.

Sixth and seventh places were grabbed by Deepankur Singh and Neeraj Samarth in that order.

The 166 to 450cc class, was won by Yuva Kumar in a time of 1:58.33.300 followed by Gurjinder Singh, a privateer riding a Hero Impulse, in second place. Singh was 41 minutes behind.

Umang Sexana, riding a KTM Duke 390, came third with a further difference of below four minutes.

Imran Khan riding a Hero Xpulse was 13 minutes

further behind for fourth while Ayush Shukla, also on a Hero Xpulse, came fift with a further sixminute difference.

Sathyaraj Arumugam finished sixth in order.

The upto 165cc class was dominated by Hero Impulse bikers as Vinay Prasad from Bengaluru clocked a total time of 2:18.42 to win the class.

Amardev Singh Marwah with a difference of 44 minutes finished second while Anish Das came third another three minutes behind. Karan Puri, with a further seven minutes difference was fourth and Rajan Sidhu came in less than four minutes to his previous rider to take fifth.

Jayesh Joshi and Mahak Dixit were sixth and seventh respectively.

Gurumail Kaur second runner-up ladies class

In the stock class upto 450cc, Rana Pratap, riding a Hero Impulse, clocked 2:24.23.800 to win the class. He was followed by Devaraj Venkatesh on a Royal Enfield in second position with a difference of three minutes, Vijay Kumar Katoch, on a Hero Impulse, clocked 2:29.31.300 to finish third.

Satinderjit Singh, a further four minutes away, was fourth. Baljit Singh was another five minutes behind for fifth while Rahul Kumar finished sixth.

The ladies class was bagged by Baishali Nath followed her in second position was Mahak Dixit, as Gurumail Kaur Santora settled for third position.

TSD Rally: Ladies class winners two whelers

Suhail Ahmad second runner-up in Motoclass

PRO-2WD wholly belonged to Aman

Gulfam and Nitin Duggal as they won with 3:59 penalties followed by Shekar Chaudhary and Suvrajit Dutta in second position with a difference of 24:58. The pair of Vaibhav Sharma and Pankaj Rai a further 14 minutes behind stood third.

In PRO-4WD class, Subir Roy and Nirav Mehta won with a total penalty of 2:53 while the pair of Gagan Mehta and Kashish Mehta with a difference of 3:39 on the leader settled for the second position.

Abhishek Govil along with Sagar Mallappa were a further 1:32min behind for third.

Gitika Pant along with Neena Jain were the lone participants in the Ladies class. Vikas Goel and Vandana Goel were in the Amateur class with a total penalty of 52:48.

Sunny Sidhu in action MAY / JUNE 2020 autotrack.ind.in 11

APOLLO AUTOCROSS

Arjun Rao fastest Thar Motorsport organises debut Autocross

T

PHOTO BY: PURVISH BHARADWAJ, SAURABH SHUKLA, SHILPA SHARMA & SIDHARTH BAINS

har Motorsport organised for the first time in NCR an `Apollo Delhi AutoX' event at the Off-Road Adventure Zone in Gurugram on March 15.

The Overall winners in 2wheel category was Arjun Rao from Gurugram in a Maruti Brezza and in 4- wheel drive category was won

by Amanpreet Ahluwalia from Noida in a Maruti 12 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2020

Gypsy.

The Autocross had a 2km fast and tricky track to check man and machine and a record number of 50 drivers lined up for 152 race run.

Competitors from different cities like Jaipur, Bhopal, Gurgaon, Delhi, Noida, Faridabad and from deep South in Kochi took part in the closed-circuit event to fight for the fastest, in

different vehicles like Range Rover, Toyota Fortuner, Ford Endeavour, Isuzu V cross, Mahindra Thar, Maruti Gypsy and 2-wheel drive cars.

Arjun Rao, driving in the Pro-stock upto 3000cc 2WD class, won the overall tag by clocking 2 minutes, 15.237 seconds followed by Arnav Singh Pratap in second ash he clocked 2:15.672. Aman Preet Ahluwalia, driving

in the 4WD Open category came third with a further difference of over one second. He also clocked a few fastest timings in different classes. He clocked 2:17.736 in 4000cc class to be the fourth best timing and was also the sixth by clocking 2:20.064 in the 1400cc class.

Arnav had clocked 2:17.869 in 2WD Open

TSD RALLY GURUGRAM

difference of over 24 seconds while a further two seconds behind came Chetan Mehra to take the third spot.

Amateur upto 3000cc class, saw Vasu Saini clock 2:27.598 to lead the class followed by Mayanik Chopra in second in a timing of 2:7.735. Shahin Aziz with a further difference of 14 seconds came third followed by Chirag Gehlot in fourth as he came in another 20 seconds behind.

Pro-stock:

class to also to stand in fifth overall. Amit Sharma clocked 2:20.157 to finish seventh while Varun Jolly stood eighth. Mohd Yusuf and Sanjay Razdan were ninth and tenth in that order.

2WD Category:

Amateur class upto 1400cc class was won Sehaj Anand, who clocked 2:52.636.

Mansi Pathak Verma took the second position with a

Jyotinder Singh Jubbal won the 1400cc class by clocking 2:27.673 beating Abhisekh Mittal by seven seconds.

Neil Nain was third, a further three seconds behind. Amandeep Kaur came fourth taking three more seconds and Sourabh Kapoor stood fifth.

Sahil Khanna won the upto 1600cc class by clocking 2:21.822 followed by Rajat Gaur who came six seconds behind. Raheel Mohan completed the podium clocking 2:27.874. Shahin

``All credit for my win goes to my parents, Mr Sanjay Sikand and Team Lionnoil Racing. They are the ones I have been learning from and I am grateful to the organising team for providing a technical and fast track. As I have learnt, patience and focus are the key to winning,'' quipped Arjun Rao.

Aziz timed 2:28.322 was fourth pippinge Jyotinder Singh Jubbal by a fraction of a second to take fifth.

Arjun Rao clocked 2:15.237 to win the upto 3000cc class followed by Arnav Singh Pratap in second, a mere three-hundreth of a second behind. Amit Sharma, a further five seconds late stood third.

Sahil Khanna arrived another four seconds behind for fourth followed

by Bijender Singh in fifth, another 24 seconds behind.

Modified Class: Mohd

Yusuf by clocking 2:21.105 won the 1100cc class while Sanjay Razdan took second timing 2:22.098 in the class where only these two participants managed to finish.

Upto 1400cc class was bagged by Sanjay Razdan clocking 2:23.724. Nivit Bhasiin with a difference of five seconds was in second position and Sahil Khanna clocking 2:29.063 completed the podium.

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APOLLO

second behind.

Modified Class: Aman Preet Ahluwalia won the upto 1400cc class clocking 2:20.064 as he beat Sanjay Razdan to second by four seconds and Raja Singh Chanay came third a further four seconds behind. Haziq Hasan stood fourth a further four seconds away.

Upto 1600cc Class was bagged by Ahluwalia, who timed 2:22.230.

Haziq Hasan was 18 seconds away in a faroff second and Varun Jolly just missed the 2nd place by a fraction of second to settle for third.

AUTOCROSS

Amit Sharma clocked 2:21.848 to win the upto 3000cc class. Abhisekh Mittal with a difference of four seconds came second while Ranav Singh Pratap, a further three seconds behind came third. Shahin Aziz with a further difference of 12 seconds was fourth and Nivit Bhasin was fifth as he took another 12 seconds to finish.

Open Class was bagged

by Arnav Singh Pratap with a timing of 2:17.869 as Sahil Khanna followed him with a difference of close to five seconds to take the second spot.

Nitin Yadav took third in 2:32.992. Sujit Patnaik with less than a second behind in fourth and Neil Nain with a further five seconds late to finish fifth.

4WD Category:

Amateur upto 1600cc Class belonged to Vipin Bishnoi, who clocked 2:33.971 beating Chow 14 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2020

Ujjal Namshum by four seconds. Vivek Gujral cam third another six seconds behind wwhile Bhanu Singh stood fourth.

Amateur upto 3000cc class was won by Vipin Bishnoi in a time 2:31.740. Kuldeep Singh with a difference of six seconds had to settle for second position and Hammad Siddique a further six seconds behind came third.

Pro Stock: Upto 1600cc class was won by lone competitor Haziq Hasan clocking 2:22.408.

Deepak Sachdeva won the upto 4000cc class clocking 2:22.408. Varun Jolly a further three seconds away took second position and Amit Sharma came third another three seconds behind. Ankit Yadav clocking 2:30.395 took fourth while Shantanu Grover was fifth just a

TSD RALLY GURUGRAM

Ahluwalia dominated the upto 4000cc Class with a timing of 2:17.736. Ankit Yadav, with eight seconds difference settled for second position. Karanvir Sharma came third three seconds behind but pipped Amit Sharma to fourth by a second. Deepak Sachdeva was fifth another six seconds behind.

Open Class: Aman

Preet Ahluwalia was the topper of the class with a timing of 2:16.888 followed

by Varun Jolly in second position with a difference of four seconds. Sanjay Razdan came third clocking 2:21.185 while Karanvir Sharma with a difference of nine seconds was fourth.

Ladies Class: Amandeep Kaur won the class in 2:32.560 followed by Anupma Bindra in second position, 14 seconds behind. Jasmeet Kaur took another seven seconds to take third.

SUV Open Class:

Ankit Yadav won SUV Class in a time of 2:26.566 beating Shantanu Grover by three seconds. Nitin Bhasin was another 5 seconds late to complete the podium in third.

Gautam Sethi clocked 2:36.818 for fourth while Sujit Patnaik with a difference of another eight seconds was fifth.

Overall winner Arjun Rao

Winner Ladies class Amandeep Kaur said," It was indeed a very good feeling by winning the ladies class with a margin of over 14 seconds, as it was a double delight, i won on a similar margin the previous day on a tarmac autocross."

Anupma Bindra with a difference of 30 seconds came second.

The Luxury Class was bagged by the lone competitor in the class Deepak Sachdeva by clocking 2:24.106.

Jeep Open Class:

Ajay Baisia clocked 2:26.596 to bag this class as Raja Singh Chanay fell short by 12 seconds and had to settle for second position. Shantanu Grover was third three seconds behind. Priyanka Singh was fourth with a difference of another four seconds.

The Sports Truck Class: Amit Sharma won the class clocking 2:27.597 while

Ladies class winners MAY / JUNE 2020 autotrack.ind.in 15

RALLY

TSD DRIVE

Reena, Pratibha, Akshara team win Anshuman Singhania, Kiren Rijiju ag off the rally amidst fanfare

T

he 2nd edition of the all-woman TSD Drive by JK Tyre North Chapter was won by the pair lead by Lt Col Reena Jha along with co-drivers Pratibha Anand and Akshara Dhaundiyal which got off to a stupendous start from the Siri Fort Auditorium, in New Delhi recently.

Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Kiren Rijiju, and Deputy Managing Director, JK Tyre Anshuman Singhania, flagged-off the rally amidst much fanfare and pomp which saw the competitors course the city roads before hitting the highway to complete the grueling and exciting journey all the way to Jaipur.

The 105 cars with close to 300 participants were 16 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2020

in the race for honours and the women were dressed for the occasion rendering a festive atmosphere to the venue. Like last year too, the ladies celebrated their emancipation and rising eminence and cleverly used the platform to educate and create awareness about breast cancer in addition to various other issues, including women empowerment, girl child, safe driving.

The competitors took off early in the morning from the Capital and their driving and navigational skills were tested to the hilt with about 15 Time Controls (TCs) strategically located in the 290-km drive from New Delhi to Jaipur, passing through a few lush green

mustard crops.

The pair lead by Lt Col Reena Jha, along with co-drivers Pratibha Anand and Akshara Dhaundiyal were the winners with a total penalty of 27 minutes and 10 seconds, which included 15 minutes and 38 seconds of early penalties. Anchal Bhalla, along with Swati Tyagi, with a difference of eight minutes and 23 seconds stood second with about 21 minutes and 34 early penalties. With a further difference of nine minutes and 50 seconds including 12 minutes 10 seconds early penalties, the pair of Gulmeeta, along with Priyambi Chordia Malvai and Poonam Sharma, completed the podium.

Jasmeet Kaur along with Jyothi Iyengar stood

fourth with a penalty of 48 minutes and 50 seconds including two minutes and 44 seconds of early penalties. Then came the fifth-placed pair of Aarti Amit Mehta, along with Himabindu Kanchan and Purnima Gupta, with a difference of five minutes 46 seconds, including 33 minutes early penalties.

Dolly Bhatia, Ritu Aggarwal and Indira Murthy with one hour one minute and 21 seconds penalty stood sixth despite no early penalties. Another one minute 46 seconds behind came the pair of Ruchi Sethi and Bhawna Pandey in seventh position with 37 minutes and 50 seconds early penalties. The pair of Richa Gupta, along with Gauri and Sarik Gupta,

TSD RALLY NEW DELHI with a deficit of 59 seconds came 8th while Rima Kaushik, Sandhya Samuel and Shalimi Jain had to settle for ninth with a mere difference of 34 seconds, as pair of Astha Jadon, Sweta Koul and Richa Bassi settled for tenth position. “It is a wonderful occasion to see so many women get together driving for a cause. I am really excited to see each car and each team with its own social message. With so many designs, colours, it made the event very interesting.

JK Tyre has been obviously the leading company in India promoting motorsport in the country. I really want to promote motorsport in the country because it has huge potential," Rijiju said during the flag-off.

"We are delighted to be part of this exciting and iconic event for the second time in a row. JK Tyre has been the pioneer when it comes to encouraging women participation in motorsports. We not only promote ladies in racing and rallying but also support many other events which are exclusive to women. It is indeed heartening to see so many ladies out here lining up for glory and I just wish that the number keeps on increasing every year helping us unearth new talent," said Sanjay Sharma, Head of Motorsport, JK Tyre.

"As this is my second podium in the second edition, looking forward for the third edition to make a hattrick of podiums, it was also nice to receive the honours from the Arjuna Awardee and JK Tyre rally team driver Gaurav Gill," winning codriver Pratibha Anand said.

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TARMAC AUTOCROSS

PHOTO BY: AAYUSH MANDAN

Achintya Mehrotra honoured with BN Dabas Memorial Trophy Prateek Dalal wins ModiďŹ ed Open class

A

chintya Mehrotra won the `Best Driver of the Day' tag in the first round of the BND Autocross, the Round 1 of North Zone and he was also honoured with the BN Dabas Memorial Trophy for the overall fastest lap at BIC in Noida recently.

He conquered the total lap distance of just over a kilometre on tarmac with a few created curves and turns in style 18 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2020

at the BIC in Noida.

2WD:

In the Pro-Stock Class up to 1650cc, Jyotinder Singh Jubbal, driving a Suzuki Swift 1.2 petrol, won with a total of 68 points. He clinched 25 points each in first two heats and in the third, he scored 18 points to top the tally. After two average moves of 18 points each, Amandeep Singh Bajaj, driving a VW

Polo 1.6 petrol, managed to score 25 points in the third heat to finish in second position with 61 points. Kshamta Yadav, driving a Honda City 1.5 VTEC petrol, with a total of 40 points settled for third position. Abhishek Mittal, driving a Hyundai I10 Grand petrol, was fourth with 32 points and Deveshwar Sharma, in a Honda City 1.5 IVTEC petrol, finished fifth with 15 points.

Pro-Stock upto 2500cc

Class, Vishal Kataria, driving a Honda Jazz 1.5 diesel, with two good score of 25 each in second and third heats, managed to top the table with 68 points.

Driving a Suzuki Baleno RS 1.0T petrol, Samarth Swahney, was at his best in the first heat but went down in the next two heats and with 61 points had to be content with the second place.

Amandeep Kaur was in a Suzuki Swift 1.2 petrol to

TSD RALLY NOIDA GREATER clinch the third position with a total of 39 points.

Sunita Chahar, in a Suzuki Baleno RS 1.0T petrol, fell short of two points and missed the podium as his first heat score was too basic. He had to settle for fourth. Amandeep Singh Bajaj, in a VW Polo 1.6 petrol, came fifth with 15 points in first heat and nil in the remaining two.

In the Modified up to 1400cc Class, Achintya Mehrotra came first with a perfect top finish of 25 points each in all the three heats. The star of the day from AM Racing was on a Suzuki Swift 1.3 petrol and bagged 100 per cent point for a tally of 75. Amandeep Kaur with good 18 points in the final two heats managed to score 51 points for second while Amandeep Singh Chhabra, from Sparky's Garage, driving a Suzuki AStar 1.0 petrol, came third as he could manage only 48 points.

Udaiveer Singla from Lionnoil, driving a Suzuki Zen, with 34 points stood fourth as Karanjot Singh from Sparky's Garage, driving a Suzuki A-Star, came fifth with 22 points.

In the Unrestricted Class up to 1650cc, Achintya Mehrotra from AM Racing was at his best once again and driving a Suzuki Swift he finished on top dominating all the heats and became the leader of the class. Karan Malik from Sportech, driving a Honda Brio, came second with the two final heats securing him good points of 51. Vinam Jain, also from Sportech, driving the same vehicle, scored 48 points to complete the podium.

Babaljeet Singh from Sparky's Garage, driving a Suzuki Esteem, was fourth with 36 points.

Achintya Mehrotra said: "I was conď€ dent of winning overall honours.

However, to come 1st in all the 9 runs across all the heats was a cherry on the cake.''

MAY / JUNE 2020 autotrack.ind.in 19

TSD RALLY NOIDA GREATER

points with two good moves in the final two heats. Shray Dewan from CK Motorsport, driving a Suzuki Baleno, finished fourth with 39 points.

Sunita Chahar came fifth in a Suzuki Baleno with thirty points.

TARMAC

AUTOCROSS

2/4WD:

In the Pro-Stock Open Class, with a best performance in the first and third heat, Prateek Dalal put his Mini Cooper JCW Kit 2.0T petrol on the top spot as he accumulated 68 points to win the class. Bharat Yadav, also on the same category car, could gain a maximum points only in the second heat and had to settle for second place as he fell short of 7 points. Driving a Suzuki Baleno RS 1.0T petrol, Sunita Chahar came third with 36 points.

Dhananjay Kataria, driving a SKODA Octavia VRS 2.0T petrol, failed to finish the first heat but with 15 points each in the remaining two heats managed 30 points to settle for fourth. Sahil Khanna, in a Mini Cooper, finished fifth with 15 points drawn from first heat and was unable to score any further in the next two heats.

2O autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2020

Ladies Pro-Stock Open Class, Amandeep Kaur, driving a Suzuki Swift 1.2 petrol, won with complete domination in all the three heats. She scored a perfect 25 in all the three heats and with 75 points clinched the class comfortably.

Sunita Chahar, driving a Suzuki Baleno, recovered after a weak first heat and managed to make 18 points each in second and third heats to finish second with a total of 51 points. Driving a Honda City, Kshamta Yadav, came third with a total of 48 points.

In the Modified Open Class, Prateek Dalal showcased his thrilling performance, driving a Mini Cooper, and with three excellent runs he garnered a perfect 25 in all the three heats for a total of 75 points for a facile victory. Mudit Grover from Sportech, driving a VW Polo, came second scoring 18 points

each for a total of 54 points. Aabhishek Mishra from Sparky's Garage, also on a VW Polo, came third with a total of 42

Unrestricted Open Class belonged to Achintya Mehrotra, who was unstoppable with three top heat finishes. He scored all the 75 points to win the class, driving for Team FRK on a Suzuki Swift. Prateek Dalal, driving a Mini Cooper, came second with 54 points with three second positions in three heats.

Karan Malik from Sportech with total of 45 points stood third.

Aabhishek Mishra from Sparky's Garage was fourth with 32 points and Vinam Jain from Sportech came fifth with 24 points.

RALLY

HERITAGE

Raveendra Varma, Rani BN win Heritage Drive 2020 PHOTO BY: KESHAVAMURTHY

22 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2020

TSD RALLY BENGALURU Tree, Manchanabele, Savanadurga, Magadi, and finished at Sri Sri Goshala on Kanakapura Road. But not before stop-overs at temples like Savandurga, Sri Someshwara Temple and Sri Thirumale Ranganathaswamy Temple.

Temple visit at Savanadurga

The Pair of Raveendra Varma and co-driver Rani BN from VMSC Diaries were the winners with a total penalty of 6min 58sec. They held on to their least penalties of 5:53 in first leg but despite 1:05 penalty in second leg managed to be finish on top. They had an adventurous start, as they began the day with a flat tyre and technical glitch which was overcome in the free run after the start.

While heading to TC4 in Leg 1, they missed the right deviation on the highway, just after TC3 and checked in TC4 with one minute delay. Shyamantha Surya and Ashwini Bogadi from Angles and Demons, followed them in second position with a mere one second difference. They were six seconds behind the leader in the first leg but did their best in the second leg with 58sec penalty, falling one second short of a win.

Rally participants interact with Temple Architecture experts, Sanskrit scholars, artistes

T

he Pair of Raveendra Varma and co-driver Rani BN from VMSC Diaries won the Heritage Drive 2020. The rally was flagged off from Devagiri Temple situated at Banashankari in Bengaluru, after Rally briefing was held at Indian Institute of World Culture a day before.

The 160-km rally with 26 participants cut across a few places like Nagarabhavi, Ullal Main Road, Komghatta, Tavarekere, Big Banyan

SAVANDURGA DISTANCE FROM BANGALORE - 60kms

Though the temples visited, may not have great architecturally grandeur but have great history and are kshetras. The pre-lunch leg had 6 Time Controls (TC) and after lunch break at Parakala Matha in Magadi, the second leg with 5 TCs, headed to the finish at Sri Sri Goshala on Kanakapura Road.

DIETY - SRI SAVANDI VEERABHADRASWAMY

TREK DISTANCE 750-900ft

The pair of Manjunath codriven by Sandhya Chandrashekar representing Adventure and Racing Club despite 6:14 penalty in Leg 1 managed MAY / JUNE 2020 autotrack.ind.in 23

RALLY

to contain themselves with 1:08sec in Leg 2 as they stood third with a further difference of 23 seconds.

HERITAGE

Raveendra Varma and Rani BN winners

Rekha Niranjan and BS Dakshayini Naveen Kumar from `Strength of Women' with a further difference of 15 seconds were seventh.

Nagabhushan co-driven

by M Priyanka from Team Gubbins a further 2:16 penalty stood fourth.

They climbed two positions up from their Leg 1 position by containing themselves with 1:14 penalties in Leg 2. Karthik CV and Kalavathy Bylappa from Savandi came fifth 22sec behind as they lost ground after their third position in Leg 1 with a 3:11 penalty in Leg 2, which pushed them down the order.

Kulakada Jayakumar and Piryanka Kumar from Prashthithi team with 14:13 penalty were eighth. The pair of Ramani Mabel and B Radha Durbha from Team Bratwomen were ninth followed by Madhavi Dhondalkar, codriven by Lalita Gowda, in tenth. They slid down from their fifth position in Leg 1, as they claimed 12min, 32sec penalty in Leg 2.

Priya Gupte co-driven by Arti Yadav representing `Drive You Crazy' with a penalty of 10min 56sec were sixth. The pair of TS

The main aim of this event is to visit ancient temples and have short talks and inter-active sessions with experts from the field of Temple

Shyamantha Surya and Ashwini Bogadi 1st runner-up

Manjunath and Sandhya Chandrasekhar 2nd runner-up

Nagabhushan and Priyanka M finished fourth 24 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2020

Gow Shala at Sri Sri Ravishankar Ashram

Karthik CV and Kalavathi Bylappa finished fifth

TSD RALLY BENGALURU Architecture, Sanskrit scholars, artistes of repute from Karnataka who will regale the sessions with small precious glimpses of Music, Dance and Art. One will get to leave a mark of their visit at these temples as Saplings of trees will be planted in an effort to revive native trees and make an attempt to green the temple surroundings.

"We had challenges to be faced much before the event begun. Supposed to start 4th in the order, we had a technical glitch with the car which had battery issues and then a at front tyre. Somehow, we managed to start the event as the last car, with the help of a battery jump start and headed straight to a gas station and inated the tyre without any time loss as it was a free zone at the beginning," said the Winner Rani BN about their travails before the win.

Best Novice team

enroute to Sawandurga MAY / JUNE 2020 autotrack.ind.in 25

ISRL-S2

VW MOTORSPORT

Sai Prithvi crowned champion Abdul Fattah and Raiden Samervel round up the topthree

F

or the new generation of India's racers, its practice arena has turned into a battlefield in the lockdown era.

Cooped up inside homes and missing out on valuable wheel time, racers from 14 cities took part in the country's most-popular competition: the Indian Sim Racing League (ISRL) in association with Volkswagen Motorsport.

Chennai's Sai Prithvi garnered the maximum points, 252 over the five rounds to emerge Season 2's undisputed champion.

26 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2020

Thrissur's Abdul Fattah collected 191 points over the five rounds to claim second position. Raiden Samervel from Mumbai managed 172 points to take the third position.

In the final race on the Laguna Seca track, Chennai's Amith Kutti grabbed pole in qualifying, a mere eightthousandth of a second ahead of points leader, Sai Prithvi. As the lights went out, a determined Prithvi went breathing down the tail of the leader pressurising him into an error.

Kutti and Prithvi exchanged fastest laps

before Kutti tragically hit a back-marker. The resulting suspension damage forced him to retire. Title challenger Abdul Fattah (Thrissur) then crashed and pitted, losing valuable time and any hopes of winning

the title. Jessie Jakhar (Thrissur) was the star of the race, climbing from seventeenth to finish fourth.

Sai Prithvi's four victories in the five rounds were sufficient to crown him

TSD RALLY BENGALURU champion. He earns himself testing in a Volkswagen Motorsport race car. Abdul Fattah eventually finished 11th to secure second in the final standings which earns himself a kart-training session with Rayo Racing.

Raiden Samervel also gets a free race-entry courtesy IndiKarting.

Organised by 8-time national karting champion Rayomand Banajee and his IR eSports, in association with Volkswagen Motorsport India, the championship pits India's best online racers against real world racers: held on the popular online iRacing platform, each competes in an FIA homologated Dallara Formula 3 car, with identical set-ups, using his or her own simulator.

Sirish Vissa, Head Motorsports at Volkswagen India, said: "We are proud to associate with IR eSports and the Indian Sim Racing League. This gives a different dimension to our motorsport programme in India. With this association, we look forward to expanding our footprint in terms of accessibility to the sport."

"We have always been looking at growing motorsport at the grassroots level. We gained a lot of knowledge organising India's largest eSports Racing Championship last year.

The lockdown created a perfect opportunity for the sport to grow and we are happy to create a competitive avenue for motorsport to grow in India via iRacing," Rayomand added.

Shreyas, a Class 3 student from Bengaluru, stuns

a strong field "This year I am planning to participate in MRF races and other National races. I am practising hard so that I can be competitive at the National level," said Shreyas Hareesh.

The 9-year old rider plans to take part in Nationals after his win at this private event hreyas Hareesh, a Class 3 student from Kensri School in Kempapura in Bengaluru District of Karnataka, had a field day along with the well-experienced riders at Adichunchanagiri in Hassan district. The event was held with the blessings of the Swamiji of the Mutt.

S

soil at the corners. It was never an easy task for him to go past the wellexperienced riders ahead of him but his bold efforts saw him slowly creep up the order against some big bikes. The nine-year old spun a few surprises to the rest of them in the front, and this rookie rider managed to go past all to claim the top honours and was honoured by Anuja Desai from FMBSCM.

Shreyas was at his best at this autocross in the under14 category in the six-lap race. He rode a Kawasaki KLX110 in the grid of 14 at the start gate.

He had a very bad start, on the flat track with two single jumps and multiple corners, which posed a real challenge with quite soggy MAY / JUNE 2020 autotrack.ind.in 27

RALLY

DIVAS TSD

Geetha Wadhwa, Latha Gutgutia win Divas day-out Madhavi, Lalitha win Professional Class

T

he Divas day-out was held on the International Women's Day with over 30 participants in fray.

The Rally was flagged off from Orion East Mall covering a total distance of over 110 kms, cutting across the Northern Bengaluru outskirts and passing through 10 Time Controls (TC).

28 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2020

The Amateurs ruled this edition of the rally as Geetha Wadhwa and Lata Gutgutia from the same class topped with a total penalty of 1 minute 30 seconds.

Despite topping the Professional class, Madhavi and Lalitha fell apart from the overall tag with a deficit of a mere five seconds.

Amateurs Class: Geetha Wadhwa, co-driven

by Latha Gutgutia, came together for the first time and topped this class apart from the overall standing.

With a lead of over 36 seconds, despite losing some time as they lost the route, they still managed to push Aparna, Jyothi and Pretty to the second spot.

The pair of Suma Shaffi, along with Malathi Sharada, stood third with a total penalty of 7min, 16 sec. Poorva and Kusum a further 1:54sec behind settled for fourth while Nisha and Deepshika came fifth with a further difference of 42 seconds.

Professional Class: Madhavi and Lalitha, joined to win this class in 1min

“

"I started my journey with this same event in it's very rst year. It is a very encouraging platform for women. We both started rallying around the same time. But were unable to continue with as much vigour due to our personal commitments. The secret of our success was to maintain our cool, ample communication, have condence and mutual trust between the partners," said Overall winning driver Geetha Wadhwa.

TSD RALLY BENGALURU

"Madhavi and myself were able to manage all the challenges thrown at us.

We ended up nishing the 1st podium in the Pro-ladies category and are excited to take up the next challenge," was how the Winner of Professional class, Lalitha Gowda, reacted.

35sec penalty and were also second overall.

Prafulla and co-driver Sandhya Chandu came second, 2min, 4sec behind.

The pair of Usha and Prathiba Anand were third a further 19 seconds late to complete the podium.

Shyamantha, along with Ashwini Bogadi and Varsha, were fourth in 9min, 49sec.

Vinutha, co-driven by Rani, with a total penaltly of 31min, 43sec stood fifth.

The winners were felicitated by popular actress from Kannada film industry Raghini Dwivedhi.

"This is my third win as codriver and I am waiting for many more. This rally driving simply changes one's life. It doesn't matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last. You can say, I finished the rally! There is a lot of satisfaction in that.

My thoughts before a big race are usually pretty simple. I tell myself, `Get out of the blocks, run your race, stay relaxed. If you run your race you will win for sure'.

When you win a race you're on top of that day, so take it for what it's worth, have a good time and party, because next day when you get out of bed, the meter goes back to '0' again,'' said the Overall winner and co-driver Latha Gutgutia, a Chartered Accountant.

WINNERS AMATEURS CLASS GEETHA WADHWA LATHA GUTGUTIA PROFESSIONAL CLASS MADHAVI LALITHA GOWDA TOTAL DISTANCE: 110KMS LOCATION: BENGALURU PARTICIPANTS: 30 MAY / JUNE 2020 autotrack.ind.in 29

“

4X4

OFF-ROAD

Tushar Amin declared,

best off-roader

PHOTO BY : JAYESH VASHI

35 vehicles vie for honours in the 4x4 off-roader on the backwaters

T

he fifth edition of the 4x4 event was held at Rajwada of Umeta on the riverbed and backwaters.

The dry track which was on sand dunes, with lots of natural obstacles, was also in the menu within a total of five stages. Thirty five vehicles like Gypsy, Thar, Force Gurkha, Pajero 3litre and Pajero Sports, Fortuner and Ford Endevour were part of the event. The event was 30 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2020

flagged off by Anirudhsinh Padhiyar.

After all the hard run, Tushar Amin was declared as the best offroader of the event.

SUV Class: Only 30 points separated the top-three. Tushar Amin, driving a Mitsubishi Pajero, managed to take the win with 350 points in his kitty as he consistently scored 70 points in each stage. But things never went well in the third stage as he

scored only 50, the least points in his score card, but there on in Stage 4, he put himself back on top with 90 points.

Ramanand Gandevikar from Baroda, driving a Toyota Fortuner, with 330 points was second, fourth stage decline in points to 50 slided him down from top position.

He tried to recover in the final stage but fell short by 20 points and thus he had to settle for second position.

Vipul Patel from Ahmedabad, driving a Isuzu, finished third with 320 points. His day never began well as his first stage itself proved too expensive with basic points. There on, he picked up a bit but once again dropped in performance in the fourth stage which put him down to third.

With a deficit of another ten points, Montu Shah, driving a Ford Endevour, had to settle for fourth

position as his first stage could fetch him only 30 points. Harnish Amin, driving a Mitsubishi Pajero, with 250 points finished fifth.

Upto 1750cc Class: Ajay Amin from Baroda, driving a Maruti Gypsy, accumulated 350 points to win the class.

He dominated the class right from the start. Amit Pal, with 280 points, finished second. In the very first stage, he was a disaster as he was unable to finish the stage which fetched him just 20 points.

Rajeev Sanghvi's start was never as expected and in his first two stages he never fetched any good points. In the very second stage, he could only score 20 points and with a total of 260 points, he settled for third.

1700 to 2500cc Class: This class posed a tough challenge to the organisers to declare the results as the top-four participants garnered equal number of points and had a tie for the top place. The irony was, all had secured the same number of points in all the stages. All participants had a good start in the first two stages and performed to their best in the third stage where all four scored 90

TSD RALLY VADODARA

``Making weekends fun since 1989 became a passion in no time. Started with motorcycle rallies and went on to motocross, and car rallies to off roading.

Real fun begins, where paved roads end,'' quipped winner Tushar Amin.

points each. There was a dip in points scored in the fourth stage but all ended up with 350 points each.

Finally, Sagar Kothari from Ahmadabad, was declared as the winner followed by Sumeru from Baroda in second position. And Samir Brahmbhatt, a fire brigade jawan, from Vadodara came third. Mehul Singh Gohil, driving a MM550 finished fourth while Shaikh, driving a Gurkha, had to settle for fifth position.

Sunil Soni, in a Force Gurkha, and Deepak Agarwal, driving a Mahindra Thar, with equal points of 330 settled for sixth and seventh respectively.

MAY / JUNE 2020 autotrack.ind.in 31

BIKERNI ANNUAL DAY

Lady riders attract 800-plus bikers Bengaluru's big riding club `Road Thrill' wins Bikerni Choice Award `The Bikerni, Within' is an event The Bikerni tribe organises for the whole riding community to thank them for supporting and encouraging to achieve their riding dreams. The main focus of the event this year was on bringing the Biking community closer by introducing club strength and club expertise to the world.

This season saw a support of 800-plus Bikers and the event highlighted on Club entries apart from off32 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2020

roading and flat track.

The various clubs from Bangalore, Mysore, Hubli, Chennai, Tumukuru, Coimbatore, Hyderabad and others showcased their club strength in numbers, the various kind of rides they do throughout the year, the type of contribution they made towards the society through community services and their involvement in the progress of the Biking community.

Jacinth Paul from Road Thrill, one of the big

riding clubs in Bangalore and winner of "The Bikerni Choice Award" said "I loved the

hospitality throughout the event. The atmosphere was like a family festival similar to

TSD RALLY BENGALURU where all our sisters, cousins and all ladies in the house come together and celebrate. The occasion here being Bikerni Within 2020."

From the Chronicle of The YamaHawk, the runners up of the Bikerni Choice Awards and one of the prestigious biking groups of Bangalore said: ``The Bikerni Tribe has proven to the world in many ways that biking is not an activity prejudiced by gender anymore – Biking is all about PASSION. As the words goes – The Bikerni, Within is a signature event which is conducted by our very own Bikerni Bengaluru.

When you attend their event, you will ride in with [10X Excitement], but when you ride out you will have [100X Excitement].''

Bikerni Within brings numerous MotorCycle Clubs under one roof in their fun-filled event and also gives opportunity for them to know many biking greats like Deepak Kamath, Candida Louis, CS Santhosh, Aishwarya Pissay, Tribal Santhosh, Anand Dharmaraj, Daniel Anandaraj among others.

This is not just an event, but now it has become their custom. It's no longer the conventional "Brotherhood", but a rationalized "BIKERHOOD" that drives riders from across states to join this extravagant event.

Deepak Kamath and Anitha said: "You've outgrown from all your previous years and stood by a stellar performance during your celebrations at Bikerni Within 2020! Your desire to connect with the biking fraternity was clearly visible and it was awesomely well reciprocated by each of the clubs you invited, clearly indicating the love and respect that each of them had.''

The event welcomes all bikers regardless of the age or gender and at `The Bikerni, Within 2020', and an extra effort was made this year to include bikers from LGBTQ+ community and the event became a platform to spread the message of equality.

MAY / JUNE 2020 autotrack.ind.in 33

TECHNICIANS DAY OUT Trainers include speedmasters Joel Joseph, Sanjay, Arjun Balu and Varun Anekar

JOEL JOSEPH Founder, Onwer and Technician of Race Concepts Multiple National Champion in Circuit and Drag Racing in 2 and 4 wheelers

40 attend Race Concepts Advanced Racing Academy training sessions

R

ace Concepts Advanced Racing Academy, an FMSCI accredited racing school, is designed to give the participants the muchneeded training for the drivers. Their extensive

“

Joel Joseph said: ``The Driver Training Academy is our way of creating interest and also a deep talent pool, because aside from making motorsport accessible, we also believe that for the sport to go forwards, we need to give back.

“

34 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2020

2-day curriculum saw some of India's best racing talent personally train the participants on everything from driving posture to overtaking techniques.

The Academy began in early 2019, when nearly 40 petrolheads came together at the Kari Motorspeedway in Coimbatore for the firstever batch of the Advanced Racing Academy. While the weekend went smoothly, the process of designing the curriculum was a carefully considered process, which continued with inputs from Arjun Balu, one of India's best-ever racing drivers, Joel Joseph, Race Concepts' founder,

team principal and technical head, Sanjay Balu, a national champion and former instructor of the NK Racing team in the mid2000s, and Race Concepts' youngest National champion, Varun Anekar.

After much deliberation, the format and style of the Academy was decided with two levels of training for 2 days at the Kari Motor Speedway in Coimbatore in real race cars that compete in the National Championship in the Super Stock category.

During Level 1, the drivers understand the basics of putting a race car around a track. They come to grips with the car, learn the importance of track discipline, and get an insight into understanding the dynamics of the car.

Level 2 takes the lessons learned in Level 1 and builds on it by helping students understand exactly what it takes to extract a good lap time out of a car while also delving into race craft and advanced vehicle dynamics.

Of course, the Academy also offers a smaller

COIMBATORE up to speed. This particular quality of the Academy that the graduates seem to point to, when asked how they managed to get faster over the 2 days.

Varun, Sanjay and Joel

curriculum and assessment to drivers who are already skilled behind the wheel of a race car but need an FMSCI racing license to take part in the Championship.

The Academy is designed not just to help drivers shave seconds off of their lap times but also to help them understand the vehicle dynamics so they can report back to

the engineers with the right feedback. The team seems to spare no effort or patience in conversations with the students. The intensive but interactive classroom sessions, onboard video analysis, the conversations during a mid-session pit stop, the comparison of experiences between drivers and instructors all go a long way in helping the drivers get

Arjun Balu said: We have seen drivers improve drastically over the two days. In fact, three of the drivers who went through our Academy took part in the National Championship.

That's a true testament to the Academy's success.

While we are talking about sparing no effort, we must also mention that the whole experience is designed to give the driver as much time as possible inside the car.

The fleet of more than eight cars is managed by the same pit crew that handles Race Concepts' weekends at the National Championship. Further, an incredible amount of attention is paid to details such as tyre pressures, wheel alignment, stiffness of the suspension and so on.

All in all, it is an intensive, highly-streamlined way of learning, `how to race', whether you are an absolute beginner or an old-timer looking to get back in the car.

Technicians at work

action on track

Trainees briefing

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NIKHIL KASHYAP

An Indian National champion to a Race Engineer The journey of Nikhil Kashyap, that lands him at Hyundai Motorsport's WRC team

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fter sticking behind the wheel in the Indian motorsports scenario for close to a decade, I knew there are other avenues to be explored in the sport. It all started with the realisation of not possessing enough funds to pursue as a racing driver abroad. At the same time, an opportunity came across from the team I was racing with, to become a part-time driver coach or racing instructor. This gave me the chance to gain more knowledge of the sport, in general, and also try to understand what I can be doing to make me 36 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2020

stick to the sport I love for a longer duration.

This is when I realised my specific interest in the technical side of motor racing and in the process I started to learn about how to achieve this dream of becoming a Race Engineer. For sure, we didn't have the right platform I needed in India for the same, at the time. This made me research about how to make it happen abroad. The best way I came across was to pursue a Masters degree in automotive or motorsports while I gain the required hands-on experience

by doing internships with race teams in Europe. I was pursuing my Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering and continued to train people in Rotax karts, F4 cars and VW Cup cars in India even as I was doing my research for the next steps to be taken.

That is when I came to know about HAN University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands to pursue my Masters in Automotive Systems.

For sure there were other motorsport specific universities in the UK like Cranfield or Oxford Brookes and I had even managed

to obtain an offer letter for the latter.

But the immigration policies at the time had tightened up in the UK and with the onset of Brexit, I wanted to stay in Europe and not get affected by any such policies. After I went to the Netherlands, I was continuously on the lookout for internship opportunities and in the process, I also involved myself with technical projects at my university. Towards the end of my first year, I managed to get an internship with a Dutch racing team called Bas Koeten Racing, who were mainly into touring

car, sportscar and GT racing in Europe. This was my ticket, I would say, to dive deep into the European motorsports scenario and gain the muchneeded experience. An internship turned into a part time job which gave me a chance to travel with the team to a wide range of

racing events across Europe, where I worked with the team as a Data and Race engineer. In doing this, we managed to win races in Ford Fiesta Cup, Dutch Supercar Challenge, Porsche Carrera Cup, 12h Spa, 12h Imola, 24h Portimao and the cherry on the cake

being a win in the 24h Nurburgring in 2018.

After the racing season came to an end, I completed my project with Bas Koeten Racing and graduated with my Masters. At this stage, I was lucky that even before my graduation, I had finished my

interview and was employed as a Race Engineer with Van Amersfoort Racing, also a Dutch racing team which was participating in F4 and F3 championships in Europe. This was again a massive test to display my skills and also get a hold of the technical acumen in

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NIKHIL KASHYAP

the formula cars world in as less time as possible. Through this, I got to travel with the team for a lot of tests and also work with young drivers during on-track and also in the simulator, which is of course an important part of moving up the ladder in the racing world for young racing drivers.

After this, I was interviewed with Hyundai Motorsport as they were looking for an engineer to fill up their squad. This was of course a very

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different challenge I had to face as I had to work primarily with rally cars, which was never my stronghold before this. But I took up the job as a challenge and thought this was my way to get into the top sphere of motor racing in the world, with Hyundai being a prime contender in the World Rally Championship. I have been around for 5 months in this job but I can definitely say it has already been very fruitful. I was involved in a wide range of

tarmac and gravel development tests, along with the opportunity to work in my first WRC event in the legendary Rally Monte Carlo in Monaco in 2020. I am very fortunate to have got the opportunity to work with world-class drivers like Sebastian Loeb, Dani Sordo, Andreas Mikkelsen, Craig Breen and in the process win two more well-known rallies i.e.

Rally du Var in France and Monza Rally in Italy. And since I am also involved with the customer teams of

the touring car division of Hyundai Motorsport, I was lucky to be present with our teams in Asia to win the TCR Malaysia Championship this February which was unfortunately the last event of this year so far till the racing season begins again after the Corona crisis ends. After so many varied experiences, I would still call myself a newcomer and I have a long way to go to become a successful motorsport engineer.

BOSCH

Bosch registers 16.6 percent Profit Before Tax in 2019-20

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osch Limited ended its fiscal year 201920 with a total revenue from operations of Rs. 9,842 crores (1.25 billion euros), thus registering a decline of 18.6 percent compared to the previous fiscal year. Profit Before Tax (PBT) from continuing operations and before exceptional items declined by 29.9 percent to Rs. 1,636 crores. PBT in 2019-20 thus amounted to 16.6 percent of total revenue from operations.

“The financial figures reported are in-line with the downward trend in the automotive industry which has been going through a challenging phase for some time and is now having to deal with the impact of the coronavirus. More than ever, it is now important to stay connected with associates and customers and assess ground-level activities.

We have to prepare ourselves for a prolonged slowdown in the market in FY 202021”, said Soumitra Bhattacharya, Managing Director of Bosch Limited.”

He further commented, “Following directives from the Center and State, Bosch Limited gradually ramped up its

production in the country. We have taken multiple safety measures for our associates and we are making every effort to ensure sustained and stable supplies to support our customers.”

During 2019-20, Bosch has made a provision of Rs. 717 crores, towards various restructuring, reskilling and redeployment initiatives.

These provisions are in line with the company’s transformation initiatives and has been made to capitalize on opportunities emerging in electromobility and other mobility related projects. The PBT after exceptional items stood at Rs. 920 crores, or 9.3 percent of total revenue from operations. Profit After Tax (PAT) from continuing operations stood at Rs. 730 crores before exceptional tax items. The impact of deferred tax assets, due to exercising the option of a concessional tax rate of 22 percent plus applicable surcharge and cess for domestic companies has been defined as an exceptional item. In accordance with the approvals received from the Board of Directors from the shareholders,

Bosch Limited has executed a business transfer agreement on October 1, 2019 and transferred the business of the former Packaging Technology division.

Consequently, the Profit Before and After Tax of Rs. 87 and 65 crores respectively of this division has been disclosed separately as discontinuing operations for the year. PAT for the period including discontinuing operations stood at Rs. 650 crores in 2019-20. Total investments in 2019-20 amounted to Rs. 399 crores with major spend on expansion of our Bidadi plant and Adugodi campus.

Business development in 2019-20 Bosch Limited’s Mobility business sector declined by 24.4 percent in 201920, due to slowdown in the auto segment.

Domestic sales declined by 25.9 percent and export sales declined by 6.1 percent. Within the Mobility segment, the Power train Solutions business registered a decline of 30.2 percent owing to low performing automotive market.

Business beyond Mobility solutions has recorded a decline of 14.4 percent.

Considering the company’s performance, the Board of Directors recommended a dividend of Rs. 105 per share.

Outlook for fiscal year 2020-21 Speaking about the outlook for the upcoming fiscal year, Bhattacharya commented: “As a leading automotive technology company with 80 percent of our revenues driven through mobility business, we have been affected severely. We welcome the Prime Minister’s

announcement of Rs. 20 lakh crore economic package and hope to see some light towards economic growth. We are still awaiting to receive further guidance on industry-specific stimulus package that will support the auto sector.”

Bosch has a long term strategy to shape the market in key technologies with innovative products and solutions. Bosch Limited thus continues its stance to be a technology agnostic partner to Customers, Government and Stakeholders at large. Since 2017, Bosch has executed 79 BS-VI projects in Passenger Cars and Commercial Vehicles segments with major OEMs. Amidst the crisis, Bosch in India will continue with critical investments in competence development as well as for solutions designed and developed in India and for India. For all Bosch businesses beyond Mobility Solutions, the company has a two-pronged approach. On the one hand, Bosch continues to bring-in ‘Fit for market’ products and solutions while on the other, the company will increase its ‘Go to Market’ footprint using both offline and digital platforms.

To support wherever possible, Bosch wants to contribute to contain the pandemic through the newly developed rapid Covid-19 test and the Vivalytic analysis device. It intends to produce more than a million rapid tests in 2020, and to increase this to three million next year. The company also produces facemasks and disinfectants in some regions, mainly used for the protection of its associates.

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COVID 19 STORY

CORONA CHALLENGE COVID-19 started at Wuhan in China in late 2019 and has since spread across the world TEXT: SM BOOTHEM

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s we approach the end of the 4th phase of lockdown in India, the confirmed cases are more than 1,80,000, of which 87,000 people have recovered from the virus, while more than 5,000 patients lost their lives to it.

Globally, more than 60 lakh persons have been affected with a death toll numbers hitting 3,68,604. Almost 25 lakh people have been recovered so far. The United States of America is leading the chart with more than 18 lakh people affected followed by Spain, Russia, UK and many other European countries. Starting from China, Covid-19 has spread to over 200 countries. Due to the complete lockdown 42 autotrack.ind.in MAY / JUNE 2020

enforced to control further spread, the economy has suffered a big blow not only in India but across globally in all sectors. The huge impact will take several years to recover.

Currently, the top priority for research teams is to find a vaccine and for health officials to curb the spread and reduce the number of fatalities.

The automotive sector is one of the worst hit due to lockdown on manufacturing plants and showrooms in India.

As per Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) report on the auto industry sales performance data for March 2020. The industry

produced a total 14,47,345 vehicles including passenger vehicles (PVs), commercial vehicles (CVs), three wheelers and two wheelers, as against 21,80,203 in March 2019 with a degrowth of 33.61%. In domestic sales, PVs sales was 143,014 units in March 2020, compared to 291,861 units in March 2019 (-51%). CVs sales was 13,027 units in March 2020 compared to 109,022 units in March 2019 (-88.05%). Threewheeler sales was 27,608 units in March 2020 compared to 66,274 units in March 2019 (58.34%) and Twowheeler sales was 866,849 units in March 2020, compared to 1,440,593 units in March

2019 (-39.83%).

Commenting on the March data, Mr Rajesh Menon, Director General, SIAM stated “Automobile industry witnessed one of its sharpest decline in domestic sales in March 2020 due to subdued demand and consumer sentiments which was further aggravated by the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.”

“The month of March 2020 was one of the most challenging months for the auto sector as the 21-day lockdown resulted in bringing the production and sales of vehicles to a standstill in the last week. As the revenues took severe hit, the OEMs struggled on meeting fixed cost and

working capital requirements. The industry was already reeling under severe degrowth and the pressure of disrupted supply chain, which was followed by a majority of the auto companies announcing a shutdown of their manufacturing units in the last week of March 2020, due to concerns over ensuring workplace safety and health of their employees. As per our estimates at SIAM, Auto industry is losing Rs.2,300 crore in production turnover for every day of closure. The auto industry is engaged in a dialogue with the Government of India on policy measures which could minimize the impact of COVID on the Indian economy and especially the Indian automobile industry.

There would be challenges on the supply side; demand side and also on the issue of availability of finance which would all need to be addressed to bring back growth in the sector. We remain steadfast on “Building the nation responsibly”, added Rajan Wadhera, President, SIAM.

Dun & Bradstreet in its report on the automotive sector: The sector has been in trouble since July 2018. Sales of passenger and commercial vehicles were hit hard by subdued demand and weak economic activity.

On the other hand, subdued consumer sentiments due to economic slowdown, increase in vehicle prices, liquidity crunch in the Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) sector, slowdown in rural demand and higher vehicle inventory with dealers have impacted the domestic demand for two and three wheelers. To address the slowdown in the auto sector, the government announced various measures including lifting the ban on purchase of vehicles by government departments and allowing additional 15% depreciation on vehicles acquired till March 2020.

Also, to reduce pressure on manufacturers to switch over to BS-VI emission norms from BSIV and clear their inventory of BS-IV vehicles, the government made BS-IV vehicles

purchased up to March 2020 operational for the entire period of registration. While these measures were expected to yield some signs of recovery in ailing auto sector, the outbreak of COVID-19 has made that unlikely.

KPMG report - “Potential impact of COVID-19 on the Indian economy” which reveals the key sectoral impacts of Novel Corona virus on the Indian Economy. The report also foresees several ways in which the business landscape is likely to evolve in the days to come.

Auto and Auto components Continued cash flow tightening will impact the market further; passenger vehicle demands likely to continue to be muted Auto OEMs will need to delay any new launches by at least a few quarters, or till sentiments improve Key policy recommendations: Tax booster in the form

of short-term GST rate cuts to increase the demand (Ex: rate cut for ICE – Internal Combustion Engine) Fast track the implementation of the scrappage scheme for passenger and commercial vehicles to incentivize the purchase of new vehicles SUPPORT FROM AUTOMOTIVE COMPANIES To support the customers, the auto companies announced a variety of schemes in terms of extension of warranty, service and EMI. The Tata Group, Tata Trusts and Tata Sons have donated 1500 crores to help fight against corona virus.

This will be utilized for providing protective equipment to medical personnel, respiratory systems for treating increasing cases, testing kits to ramp up testing in the country.“Urgent emergency resources need to be deployed to cope with the needs of fighting the COVID 19 MAY / JUNE 2020 autotrack.ind.in 43

COVID 19 STORY

crisis, which is one of the toughest challenges the human race will face," said Ratan Tata.

TVS Motor and Sundaram-Clayton have announced spending of Rs.30 crore to support the nationwide efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19.

This is an unprecedented crisis that requires all of us to cooperate and support each other as a nation,"said Mr. Venu Srinivasan, Chairman, TVS Motor Company " Our priority is to help the government efforts to contain and mitigate the effects of the pandemic. We will continue to do what we can for the community and people, as we have done in our 100- year history."

Mercedes-Benz India set up a temporary hospital with medical facilities and isolation wards for COVID 19 patients. The newly developed medical facility in MhalungeIngale village, Chakan Khed, have isolation wards with a capacity to take care of 1500 patients. The company

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has also directly supported the Grant Medical Foundation (Ruby Hall Clinic) by donating Ventilators.

BMW Group India has pledged Rs. 3 crore in the ongoing battle against COVID-19 pandemic. Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) provided Personal Protective Equipment kits to the medical staff and public health workforce in the state of Karnataka. Further, the company also distributed daily food rations and essential kits to daily wage workers. Kia Motors India pledged Rs. 2 crores to the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. In its endeavour to tackle the impact of COVID-19 and provide immediate and long-term relief against the outbreak in the state.

Continuing its bid to support the country’s fight against the Novel Coronavirus (COVID19), JK Tyre & Industries Ltd has implemented a series of public relief measures to ensure safety and health of citizens across plant locations in Mysore, Banmore, Kankroli,

Chennai and Haridwar.

In its ongoing commitment to extend support for immediate on-ground response, the company supplied food supplies to over 10,000 daily wage earners and migrants in every region.

Dr. Raghupati Singhania, Chairman & Managing Director, JK Tyre & Industries, said, “We all are faced with an unprecedented challenge and the world has become as one community in its efforts towards arresting the spread of COVID-19.

While we are ensuring the safety of our family and employees, there is a large section of society that remains deprived of basic facilities. We are humbled to play our part in the relief efforts aimed towards the marginalised communities.”

Additionally, JK Organisation has made a contribution towards the Prime Minister’s Fund and is dedicatedly working towards addressing the immediate needs of communities and migrant labour, at several locations across

the country.

Eicher Group, which comprises Royal Enfield and VE Commercial Vehicles has pledged its commitment and contribution towards aid for the unprecedented crisis caused due to the Coronavirus pandemic outbreak in India. Eicher Group has announced an initial CSR outlay of Rs. 50 crores towards various immediate relief and support measures, and towards building dedicated COVID-19 care facilities, to tackle the impact of the pandemic. While this is an initial commitment of funds, Eicher Group will continue to assess the situation and is likely to increase spends over the forthcoming months, to deploy support and for long term rehabilitation in the aftermath of the pandemic.

To help fight the current coronavirus pandemic in India, LANXESS donated Rs. 20 million to the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES Fund) as part of its CSR initiative.

LANXESS India has pledged an additional 3 million for donation of material such as face masks, disinfectants, hand sanitizers, liquid soaps, groceries, etc. in the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, around the areas in which its sites operate.

Swaraj Tractors has come forward to support the farming community in the midst of the prevailing Coronavirus pandemic.

The company is offering a standby tractor during the harvesting season which will help farmers during these this critical time. The company has launched a slew of initiatives under its ‘Aapke saath hai Aapka Swaraj’ campaign. Hyundai Motor India Foundation donates Rs 5 Crore to Tamil Nadu Government and Rs 7 Crore to PM CARES Relief Fund.

Further extending its helping hand during the COVID-19 crisis, MG Motor India offered 100 MG HECTORs to doctors, medical staff, police and local government officials for community service across the country.

Maharashtra is a leading state in the

number of COVID-19 cases. Presently, there is immense pressure on the doctors and medical staff due to increasing positive cases daily. To address this issue, Pune-based automotive major Force Motors in association with the Bhartiya Jain Sanghatan has initiated a mobile doorstep dispensary facility “Doctor Aplya Daari” in Maharashtra.

This initiative started with 30 Mobile Dispensary Vans completely equipped with doctors, support staff, medicines moving to various economically weaker localities in Pune. The team of doctors and medics with these vans are fully equipped to identify COVID-19 symptoms and direct infected suspect cases to the designated hospitals.

announcements to support MSMEs; NBFCs and the Agri-sector. As per SIAM, Indian automotive industry supports employment of more than 3.7 crore people and contributes to 15% of GST amounting to Rs 1,50,000 crore every year. The sector was already facing an unprecedented challenge with 18% degrowth last year. As per an assessment made by SIAM on the impact of COVID-19 on the demand for vehicles in the current financial year, it is said that the Indian Automobile sector could have a degrowth in the range of (-22)% to (-35)% in various industry segments. The industry needs direct fiscal measures from government to boost demand for auto sector.

SUPPORT FROM GOVERNMENT

SUPPORT FROM FRONTLINE WARRIORS

Rs.20 lakh crore Covid relief package announced by the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi is one of the largest in the world. The package is equal to 10 percent of the GDP. Under “Aatma Nirbhar Bharat”, the Hon’ble Finance Minister made series of

Doctors, nurses, hospital staffs, sanitation workers, police officials put their life in danger to serve the nation at the time of crisis. In the Covid-19 battle, many people have sacrificed their lives for the country.

Auto Track salutes all of them for their services.

They are the real warriors.

ROAD AHEAD TO REBUILDING OUR ECONOMY These are testing times across the world. As history has proved, India as a country has faced many challenges in the past and has bounced back strongly.

Analysts are optimistic that India has the advantage to recover sooner in terms of rebuilding our economy and automotive industry will specially play a major role in bringing the country back in the driver's seat.

COVID-19 is a timely warning to reform our way of living. The number of things the virus has taught us going forward; how to respect nature, help each other in critical times, educate youth about human values and culture. The lockdown has also given an opportunity to many of us to explore new avenues and ways of working. We must learn from these teachings and continue to exercise them in our day to day life even after life returns to normalcy.

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BKT

OFF-ROAD ADVENTURE AND SPORT IN TEXAS FOR BKT Stephen Fontenot, Texan ATV driver, presents his new vehicle which he has made even more "extreme". But you don't change a winning team: the tires are still from BKT. This is the story of Stephen Fontenot, a Texan and off-road enthusiast, a passion acquired when he was still a boy and his uncle used to take him to local races.

The sport starts to spread and engines, grips, tires, and extreme challenges become truly fascinating for Stephen, so much so that with his challenges he has become one of the most widely followed Instagrammers worldwide in the sector.

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are long-term users of BKT tires for ATVs and for some time have used them for fun and for new off-road adventures.

Today Stephen is raising the bar again and has bought a new vehicle, which he is featuring on his Instagram profile to the delight of his fans who want to follow his performances. His new ATV jewel is a 195-horsepower Can Maverick X3 XMR. Modified of course.

"I modified the vehicle almost from nothing," Stephen admits. "Now I have a Super ATV 6-inch

GDP portal gear lift, Super ATV 300M ball joints, adjustable radius shafts in Super ATV aluminum, high performance ATV Aarms, Fab Four pocket rock sliders, a Monster Rigging synthetic winch, a Probox Rocks audio roof and tower speakers, all powder-coated."

good grip on bumpy terrain. They offer great traction on every type of surface, they are very resistant to wear and tear, they have a great design and the deep grooves in its footprint mean they can be easily cleaned, even of the most stubborn mud."

However, as for tires, essential components for off-road performance, his choice is still BKT. "They are very versatile," Stephen goes on, "soft on hard surfaces, for a comfortable ride and

The tire used so far by Stephen is the AT 171 – excellent traction, resistant, robust, suitable for muddy terrain, still fitted to his wife's ATV – while the choice for the new tire has fallen on the TR 171 in the 22x9.5

size and with a broader footprint, which makes his vehicle unstoppable on any rough terrain.

The TR 171 is a tire with a deep tread and thanks to its extraordinary selfcleaning qualities, the tire is ideal for humid and wet ground. Even in the toughest operating conditions, the TR 171 guarantees excellent traction and durability.

As an ATV racing expert, Stephen has some advice on maintaining tires: "Use of the correct air pressure is fundamental to give the tire a long life, as is cleaning and inspection before and after every use. I try to avoid low pressure which cause irregular wear and tear. I also avoid going too much on cement or asphalt,

these tires are designed for off-road performance and must be used as far as possible in that setting."

Stephen relates his passion to numerous followers, who follow him on Instagram, and who have naturally reacted very positively to his latest folly, the new vehicle. His most recent photographic service thrilled 4,000 new followers. A new success.

We look forward expectantly to the next folly, a challenge which is not of interest just to enthusiasts, but also to manufacturers such as BKT, which, given a level of passion such as Stephen's, know how to take up the opportunity and stimulus to continue their research.

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CITROËN RACING

CITROËN RACING RETURNS TO COMPETITION IN JUNE WITH #PLAYWITHC3R5!

Do you miss action? Need to quench your competitive spirit? Citroën Racing invites you to take your place in a virtual bucket seat, to tackle the most beautiful stages of World Rally Championship on equal terms with some #C3R5Family drivers and other experienced "gamers" all driving the C3R5. As registrations open on June 1st, sign-up and get ready to compete: #PlayWithC3R5 Championship kicks th off on June 10 in Germany! #PlayWithC3R5 is a virtual competition open to everyone, including all current C3R5 drivers, which will be held on one of the top SIM Racing games: Dirt 2.0.

Registered drivers will be able to play on PC (stream), PS4 and Xbox. This 100% Citroën C3R5 competition will face #C3R5Family drivers, located all over the world, fans, beginners or experienced in automotive video

games; in which perfect

sporting fairness will be guaranteed.

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The championship will take place over 5 key world rally events, with asphalt, gravel, snow or ice surfaces on the menu. Calendar foresees confrontations in Germany, Finland, Greece, Monte Carlo and Wales, these renowned rallies with their unique and wellknown difficulties. Each rally will consist of 12 stages, and as in real race conditions, a Rally Guide will be provided to each driver before the race and reconnaissance will be supervised within a given time.

At the end of each Rally and each Power Stage, points will be awarded. The top 10 in the final overall standings will be rewarded with attractive prizes in the official Citroën Racing colors. Citroën Racing will also give you the opportunity to show your creative side by choosing from 4 available C3R5 designs: The official livery or 3 designs created by fans during a design competition.

Registration opens on June 1st.

Round #1 10-30 June: ADAC Rally Deutschland Round #2 10-30 July: Rally Finland Round #3 10-30 August: Rallye Monte Carlo Round #4 10-30 September: Greece rally Round #5 10-30 October: Wales Rally GB