Hitting the Road

Dressed in a tee and jeans,Harvinder narrates how he was winning when suddenly,in the last lap,the car gave way. A couple of years down the line,Harvinder tried his luck again in 2005,and won the Autocross. In November 2010,he stood second in the Overall category and i the 1600cc category. In January this year,at the Old Yadavindrians Association (OYA) rally,he bagged the second spot.

It’s the high,the speed,the adrenalin rush that catapults him back on tracks and pumps his blood to burn some serious rubber. Winning is not as important as running the course is,feeling the tarmac beneath,the grinding sound of the stones and pebbles on the road,negotiating every obstacle and hairpin turns,and making it to the finish line. “It’s an expensive sport,and although in the last ten years,it’s got many takers and competition has become tougher,we still have to have proper organisations and standards in place. At this stage,unlike the western countries,rallying in India is very much an individual sport for it’s very tough to find sponsors,” Harvinder says while women too have stepped into the arena,overall,it’s still a male dominated field. With national rallyists like Sunny Sidhu and Suresh Rana to look up to,Harvinder is eyeing one of the toughest rally routes,the Raid de Himalaya which takes place in October this year. “It has a super tough course and we’ll be going for a rekki soon,” says the rallyist who spends up to Rs 50,000 on his car for small runs and almost a lakh on the bigger routes. “I’ve been driving my Civic and Baleno for rallies till now,but for the Raid,I’ve been working on a Gypsy for it’s the best for those roads,” Harvinder is also working on his fitness. Diet control and daily jogs are important for routes,especially in the desert and the mountains,where one has to brave extreme temperatures and keep their reflexes sharp. In the meantime,it’s a lot of watching of European World Rally Championships on the telly,following their strategies and techniques to keep up with the game. “I am focused on winning it,” he vrooms off.