Having successfully concluded its 8th successive year, the Himalayan Raid is one of the most revered and greatly anticipated annual events on the Indian motorsports calendar.

The event is held annually in the Himalayas, as the name suggests, within the States of Himachal and J&K. It's participants come from all over the country (and some from overseas), most of whom set aside their monotone urban existence for a period of ten days to experience the thrill and challenge of conquering some of the worlds toughest terrain - albeit with the help of an engine and two or four wheels depending on preference. They bring with them collective doses of enthusiasm and substantial courage (or foolhardiness, which some would say is one and the same) as they attempt to avoid any unfortunate incidents with the Himalayan scenery - beautiful but unforgiving. In most cases simply looking at the treacherous drops below is enough to infuse a serious case of altitude sickness as there's nothing to break your fall, should you be so unlucky, for miles below.

The terrain covered during the Raid de Himalaya can best be described as diverse (perhaps even perverse) as it switches from smooth stretches of freshly laid road to, within the blink of an eye, a moonscape of the most rough and rocky terrain this side of the solar system. Someone, somewhere has a very wicked sense of humor - just when you feel a vertebra in your spine about to raise a red flag (or a white flag as the case may be) the road smoothens, thankfully, to impeccable tarmac.

Thereafter, just as quickly as your bones find an equilibrium with one another, the road turns back to deep rock filled craters that laugh in the face of any attempt at being traversed. Unfortunately or fortunately, the majority of the total two thousand plus kilometers covered were of the more obstinate variety - proof of this is in the metal fatigue suffered by the autoXchange Gypsy, not to mention the mental and physical fatigue suffered by its occupants. Visible within this article are photos of the cracks in the sheet metal sustained during this Himalayan odyssey.

In roughly end September every year, a hundred and twenty plus automotive and bike enthusiasts flock to Shimla at the behest of the Raid organizing team - Himalayan Motorsports. The rally is divided into three broad categories - Xtreme Cars, Xtreme Bikes and a Reliability Trial. To begin with, to describe the group for whom I have the most admiration, Xtreme Bikes - a prerequisite to enter this group of mad men is a minimum of two to three chromosomes gone awry. Whereas in order to enter the group of slightly less mad men and women in the Xtreme Cars category, a prerequisite would perhaps be just a single chromosome slightly off center. On the other hand, sanity with a healthy dose of an adventurous spirit is the order of the day in the less frenetic yet still challenging Reliability class.

The Xtreme category, both cars and bikes, consists of closed stages ranging from roughly twenty kilometers in length to above a hundred. The organizers set some fairly unrealistic average speeds that the competitors are expected to match - in reality, competitors are expected to attempt only to come as close as possible. Your actual stage time less the suggested time equals your penalties - the competitor with the smallest time penalty at the end of the rally, which is to say the one who is the quickest, wins.