Feature

	Text: Anniruddha Jain Images: Rishabh Nagpal
	The SJOBA rally has been a bit of a nemesis for me. In 2004, I participated in the rally in a Maruti Esteem. However, during the third stage of day one, I had to withdraw with a broken gearbox. In 2003, I was leading the rally in the car category till the very last stage. But, while negotiating a river crossing, my Esteem sucked in water through the air intake and broke a connecting rod. In 2002, I finished in third place, but only after losing considerable time with a navigation error. So, now in 2011, when I finally got the opportunity to participate in the rally again, I was keen to put my demons to rest, and put in a solid performance. I was to take part in the autoX Gypsy. Now, I don’t know if this is a testament to the Gypsy’s capability, or the lack of viable alternatives, but it’s amazing to see the Gypsy dominating rally events in Northern India more than a quarter-of-a-century after it was first launched in the country. The autoX Gypsy was in good cosmetic shape, having recently been given a paint job, however, the engine was down on power since it had never been rebuilt – in spite of three Raid De Himalaya’s, a Desert Storm, and an INRC appearance over the years. But, since I was driving a Gypsy after a gap of more than ten years, I figured reliability would be a bigger asset than power. My co-driver, Madhav, is a biker at heart – and he had last done the Sjoba rally in 2003 in a Yamaha 350. Meanwhile, Prithvi in a Fiat Punto 90bhp and Jared in a Mahindra Thar from the autoX team would be leading our service crew on this adventure.   The Sjoba rally is unique in the way it classifies participating vehicles. There is a class for cars and another for jeeps, which means that you can run any specification engine. Team Thunderbolt, with five of their Gypsy’s, and star driver, multiple raid champion, Suresh Rana, were clearly the favorites. Team Army had a big presence as well – a clear sign of motorsports’ increasing popularity in India. In all, there were 27 Gypsy’s, and 8 cars participating in the extreme edition of the rally. The rally started with a super-special stage of less than a kilometer, with each participant doing two laps. The track itself was wide, so there was plenty of run off area that encouraged drivers to push hard. We were the second vehicle to take on the SSS, and I have to admit driving the Gypsy in anger was a lot more fun than I had initially anticipated. The low traction surface resulted in plenty of sideways action, which required a fair amount of opposite lock to keep the vehicle on track. We finished a respectable fifth in the SSS, however, the star of the show was Suresh Rana – who was 3 seconds quicker than second place Aman Ahluwalia. I soon learned that all the top guys now run Gypsy’s fitted with 1,600cc Baleno engines. Rana’s engine, which is prepared by Leelakrishnan’s Red Rooster outfit in Bangalore, is rumored to produce 140 horsepower – a significant bump over a stock Gypsy that produces a meager 85 odd horsepower. Next morning, the first test was a short 13.1 kilometer tarmac stage. Stage two was a winding uphill 21 kilometer stage that had some big drops, and a surface that offered little traction. The third stage was 26 kilometers long, and probably the most fun to drive on day one. At the end of stage four, however, we diagnosed that there was a leak in the rear brake line, which was causing us to lose brake fluid. And we didn’t have a new brake line, or brake fluid for that matter. So, we were forced to start the next stage as is. I was hoping this would be another uphill stage, but boy was I wrong. This 16.3 kilometer stage was the only downhill stage of the day, and within two corners the brake pedal was going all the way to the floor – we had no brakes whatsoever! Somehow we finished the stage using only engine braking, but we lost over four-and-a-half minutes to the leader on this stage alone. We were then forced to do yet another stage with no brakes. Eventually, we finished the leg, and our service crew did a great job in sourcing and replacing the brake line. We were about mid-pack, but with only half the rally run, were looking forward to making up time on day two. Day two began with Rana being the quickest through the first stage of the day, and it was clear that he was going to mount a big charge. We had a clean run through the stage, however, I wished for more power on the uphill sections. The next stage was an extremely rough downhill stage, and overnight fourth place man, Karan Jung, flipped his Gypsy on this stage while trying to catch the leaders. Since his overturned Gypsy was blocking the stage, the organizers took the decision to cancel it altogether. We then had to rush to the next stage, and the organizers should seriously consider increasing the allowed time between stages to ensure that competitors don’t have to rally in between special stages. Eventually, the last stage of the day was also cancelled, as it would have been unsafe to run in the dark. The final standings had Rana as the winner, with Mandeep Singh second, and Harpreet Bawa in third place. In the car category, Udai Sangha in an Esteem was the clear winner, followed by Dhirender Kumar. Udaibir Sidhu, driving a Maruti Swift, finished in third place, and I hope others take inspiration and start preparing more Swifts to rally in. We finished the rally in ninth place, but can’t help wonder how we would have done without the mechanical issues from day one. Nevertheless, on the drive back to Delhi, we were already making plans for our next attempt at the Sjoba rally – after all, the rally bug never dies!