Calcutta: Two Calcutta rallyists have won the top spot in, arguably, the country's toughest road challenge - the Maruti Suzuki Raid de Himalaya 2017.
Subir Roy, 52, of Nagerbazar in Dum Dum and Bhowanipore's Nirav Mehta, 33, aced the 19th edition of the Raid in the Adventure Trial category, winning the top spot with the least number of penalties as well as the best driver trophy.
"This is the first time that a Calcutta team, which had both the driver and the navigator from the city, won the first place in the Raid," a spokesman of the Himalayan Motorsport Association, one of the rally organisers, said.
The Adventure Trial Category is a TimeSpeedDistance rally where the team with the least number of penalties wins the prize.
Roy and Mehta returned home with the trophy and richer by sixty grand after notching up 14 penalties.
Roy was at the wheel of a modified Maruti Gypsy he had bought from a doctor and Mehta was the navigator when they took on the treachery stretches of Sarchu and Baralacha Pass that had black ice on the tarmac. Snow chains helped us get through, Roy said.
Wari La in Kargil greeted them with four inches of snow at 17,900m. "We were the first to drive into the snow," Mehta said.
For both the rallyists, 2017 has been a year of wins - the Taj Agra rally, the Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare, the Malwa Motor Sports rally, the Highland Extreme by Central Motor Sports and closer home, the Jangal Mahal rally and the Monsoon Drive.
For Roy, it was Rajat Mazumdar of Bengal Motor Sports Club who egged him on. "I always loved to go on long drives," Roy, who goes around the city in his BMW X1 and Volkswagen Polo, said.
Apart from the fourwheel drive Maruti Gypsy for rallies, Roy has a modified 2000cc Mitsubishi Cedia.
Roy's stint with rallies started in 2004 with the CII's CalcuttaSingapore Invitation Rally.
Since then, he has participated at the local Kabiguru rally, the Monsoon rally, the Jamshedpur rally and the Kalinga rally.
The duo are now eyeing the Malaysian Rally Championship and the Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC). "Let's first see how we fare in Malaysia. For APRC, we need a big budget," Mehta said.
The Raid cost them Rs 2.5 lakh.
