I begin with an apology, to not provide you the maximum number of pictures that I could provide you with. Why? Because I was on the move most of the times (call it time constraints), many a times plain tired to not take out the camera and at times it was too freaking cold and windy for me to get out of the car, take off my gloves and take a picture. Well I guess apart from driving hard that’s what Raid is all about. Oh No!! I wasn’t driving I was leading the service team for my friend Amanpreet (Aman). Not that tough Aaaii!!! Think twice before you think that. Even though you don’t feel the adrenaline rush the racers feel you go everywhere they go, not at their speed though.

Firstly the Raid:
This year it was the 11th Raid De Himalayas (1999 to 2009). “The world’s highest rally takes on the mighty Himalayas.” Unarguably also one of the toughest simply said that because of the extreme terrain and climate. Imagine passing through the second highest motor able pass in the world, “The Taglangla Pass (17582 ft).” Not to forget the Rohtang, the Baralacha, the Nakeela and the deadly Zozila Passes which if not as high were equally, at times even more grueling, tiresome and tough. Personally I feel Rohtang is the most tiring just because of the ugly roads and Zozila the deadliest because it’s the narrowest. And talking about climate, how about spending nights in cold dessert where temperatures can drop to as low as -40°C average. Drass the second most coldest place in the world after the Siberia, Patseo; where the winds could send the chill down your spine and Batal, where you take your hands off the gloves and watch your hands turn purple and go numb.
Well that’s all the hardship. Talking more about the Raid it was held between 5th and 13th October, 2009. Two days of scrutiny of vehicles according to the FIA standards. The bikes as well as the entire Gypsy’s, a Subaru, a Lancer, few SX4s, few Esteem’s and a few Swifts. Last day was reserved for the Prize Distributions. In between was hardcore rallying, adrenaline rush, extreme tension and loads of cliff hanging moments. This year the rally was flagged of from Shimla. The route was Shimla à Manali à Batal à Patseo à Leh à Rangdum to Thang to Rangdum à Srinagar. Here I mention only the start and end point for every day. Well atleast for the racers, we and the other service teams were always on the move. If I re-collect right it was 4 hrs at Gumma and 5 hrs at Sarchu that I spent on bed sleeping once the rally was flagged off. Rest was small naps on the move in the vehicle.

The Team:

As most of you might know every rally driver has a co-driver or Navigator along with him who tells the driver how far and how much the curve ahead is or how bad or good the road is etc etc… So Amanpreet and his navigator Manoj, Rohit and his navigator Ajay Rao were in two Gypsy’s. Service team was led by me and our mechanics Jakir, Pervez and Aftab all efficient but cribby. Well honestly I understand them being cribby because they were out in X-treme for the first time. But they got me irritated at times, money matters you see!!

What did I do there?

Provided service off-course!! As I said before I was leading the service team for my friend Aman and his friend. So I was providing service back up for two Gypsy’s. We left before the racers to the service point and then came racing the racers to where we were. Our guys then turned the car upside down as fast as they could something like F1 but not even close to how fast they do it!!!
Going in a little bit more in racing pattern detail, everyday was comprised of certain number of stages/legs. For example if we had to travel 300km in a day it dint mean that drivers had to race for all 300km. Different sections comprising of 50 to 70km were racing/competitive sections and rest was transport.
Competitive Section (CS): Drive fast and finish section as fast as possible in minimum possible time.
Transport Section (TS): The rest of distance which has to be finished in particular amount of time. Don’t have to go flat out, but still be fast.
Our job was to be present at end of every competitive section and beginning of transport section to service the car. We being the only car for our two racers could not manage to reach end of all competitive sections, because service vehicle or any other transport cant enter the competitive section while drivers are racing.
All that aside let me take you into the action