A dream come true...

How often does a dream come true? Well, I can see one of my wildest dreams coming true. Hold your horses, I'm not off for a weekend with Ms Kaif. Its something even better.

I am participating in a car rally. And not just any one day car rally, it's the prestigious Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm rally, from 12th Feb to 20th Feb 2010. I will be navigating a Fiat Punto, being driven by Manoj Vaidya. There will be participants from professional teams, the Indian
Army and the Media among other privateers like us...

It sure is going to be a very sharp learning curve for me, as well as a very different experience. I had never imagined participating in a real rally before. The fun has already started, with the planning and preparation for this. There is a lot of paperwork involved, like getting rally licenses from the FMSCI, certificates from the doctor, indemnity bonds from the lawyer, insurance from the broker....you get the drift.

Paperwork is one thing. The actual challenge will be when driving over sand, water, beaches, dry lake beds, near the POK border, next to an extinct volcano somewhere in Rajasthan. Some of these things are on moonless nights just to make things interesting.

Well, we did some amount of beach driving & changing the tyre practice among other things, but that story I will leave for another day. ;-)
Just hoping that we don't face something like that in the real deal, where a tyre is supposed to be changed in 3 mins.

I still am to get used to the peculiar world of Tulips and Time Controls and CAST's and Road Books and Speed Sheets. But slowly and surely, am getting there. Most of my work is mathematical. It is my responsibility to ensure that we are at right place at the right time. So the most important tool for me is...a calculator. And pencils, markers, erasers
and sharpeners. :-)

I am not going there just to participate. I am going there, and will give it my best shot for a podium. So, wish me well, and hope that I come back with a rally classification.

From what I understand, the organizers are going to update the positions of each car real time. In case you are interested in following our progress, visit the link below:

Itinerary is as below:

12 & 13 February 2010
From: 1000 hrs At the Scrutiny, DLF Place, Saket, New Delhi
14 February 2010
From: 0800 hrs At the Ceremonial Start, DLF Place, Saket, New
Delhi <Rally Starts>
15 February 2010
From: 1800 hrs At Hotel Laxmi Niwas, Bikaner
16 February 2010
From: 1800 hrs At Hotel Fort Rajwada, Jaisalmer
17 February 2010
From: 1800 hrs At Camp, Bhuj
18 February 2010
From: 1800 hrs At Camp, Bhuj
19 February 2010
From: 1800 hrs At Hotel Radisson Plaza, Udaipur <Rally ends>
20 February 2010
Rest day
21 February 2010
Drive back from Udaipur to BBY

More details here:http://desertstorm.motorsport.in/

Keep watching for more pictoral updates soon...