The Hindu : Karnataka / Mysore News : `Speed kings' set Mysore roads ablaze

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 22, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Mysore

`Speed kings' set Mysore roads ablaze

By Our Staff Correspondent

A high speed car participating in the London-Sydney rally negotiates a curve near the Chamundi Hills in Mysore on Monday.

MYSORE, JUNE 21. The road from London to Sydney lay via Mysore for the speedsters keen to hit the legendary Australian Outback, as they set off on a gruelling 12 km stretch to Chamundi Hills in a test of speed and skill, here on Monday.

Providing a glimpse of life in the fast lane for a city reckoned to be limping, the "speed kings" behind the wheels set the Mysore roads ablaze as the vehicles twirled and went on a spiral loop raising dust and emanating fume.

The Indian leg of the London-Sydney rally entailed the participants — 51 in all — to set off from Kochi to Munnar and Coimbatore before hitting the highway to Satyamangala and Thalavadi to reach Mysore on Sunday.

The organisers initially had a tough time controlling the fans who had lined up along the rally route from Lalitha Mahal Palace to Chamundi Hills with a few having taken vantage positions to get the best possible view.

And finally when the machines hit the tracks, the crowd and the men behind the wheels got a first hand taste of what it was to steer high-speed cars of the "first world" nations on the potholed roads of a third world country.

When the first of the cars sped past the crowd and negotiated a hairpin bend before ascending the hills at a break neck speed of over 150 km per hour, the crowd went berserk asking for more.

And there was more to come as 51 cars were flagged off after a gap of one minute between them.

As the drivers pressed on the accelerator and went on full throttle the bizarre high-pitch sound emanating from the machines seemed to echo from the distant hills and reverberate in the plains below.

For a majority who had assembled at the venue, the thrill of witnessing the fabulous machines was as intense as the one hurtling past at great speed negotiating a bend or doing a loop. Carrera, Porshe, Honda Integra, Isuzu Vehicross, Peugeot 306, Toyota RunX, BMW X5, Nissan, Volvo... the Lalitha Mahal Palace premises was replete with the legends on the racing circuit.

Former five-time British Champion Jimmy McRae said after the special leg in Mysore that he enjoyed the drive to the Chamundi Hills and rated it as one of the best so far in the entire stretch covered so far. And for the beginners, the London-Sydney rally was flagged off on June 5 from London and the cars crossed the channels to hit rural France, were shipped across the Adriatic coast after a drive along the Italian coastline before being airlifted from Turkey to Kochi, for the Indian leg.

From Mysore, the participants will head to Kochi for a thorough wash to meet the strict Australian quarantine laws before they regroup to cross the final frontier — the legendary Australian Outback at Alice Springs.

The stretch here is gruelling — a distance of 1,400 km to be covered in a day which the competitors, say, will be a true test for the man and the machine.

According to Nick Britain, Event Director of Trans World Events, which is organising the rally, the Indian leg has been exciting and there were stages at Munnar where there were a few tense moments.

Mysore has been a different terrain altogether and was rated as among the best, as the Chamundi Hills provided a formidable challenge with its curves and hairpin bends laced with sands on road which tested the mettle of the driver.

At the end of the special stage in Mysore, which was the 32nd of the stretch covered so far from London, the British team of Mr. McRae driving his Toyota RunX had a slender lead of 0.51 seconds over his arch rival, Joe McAndrew of New Zealand, driving his Honda Integra.

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