GOOD MOTORING
The road to adventure

H. Kishie Singh takes you on an adrenalin-pumping drive across the highest terrains in the country.

It was that time of the year once again. Too bad the most exciting motoring event in the country — Raid de Himalaya — comes only once a year. It is the longest, hardest event on the highest roads. Scorching hot days, sub-zero nights. Loads of dust, lack of oxygen at high attitudes, not the best of hotels, shortage of water, no electricity, and, waking up at 2 am. But, this is what the competitors as well as the organisers look forward to.

A motoring event can be organised anywhere but the uniqueness of Raid de Himalaya lies in the terrain it covers. The natural beauty of the Inner Himalayas is really out of this world. This year the event — from October 1 to 8 — was longer. Instead of terminating at Manali, as it has in the previous years, the chase went on to Leh and to Srignagar via Kargil. It was an exciting drive across the roof of the world.

The flag-off as always was from Shimla and after the initial competitive stages, the motorists made it to Manali for the overnight halt. Except some competitors taking the wrong road and getting lost, there were no untoward incidents.

Day two saw us up at 2 am and go to Losar. Without a doubt, this stage is the roughest. A twisty road strewn with boulders goes over Kunzam Pass at 4551 metres above sea level. Even though the skies were blue and the sun shone strong, the temperature was chilling. As was to be expected, a lot of competitors fell by the wayside – pun not intended. Sunny Sidhu broke his rear axle lock and the rear wheel came off near Batal. Bitto Sondhi had a flat tyre between Kunzam Pass and Losar and was out.

Day three brought in some beautiful countryside. The race wound its way up to Komic, Demul, Dhankar. We spent the night at Tabo in the shadow of the 1009-year-old Buddhist monastery.

Day four saw us up at 2 am and we headed for Patseo, almost 300 km away. The day was full of surprises. Two bikers Manpreet Singh and Jaspreet Sidhu fell out due to flat tyres and mechanical hitches. The bridge at Stingri was broken and resulted in one of the stages being cancelled.

The broken bridge gave us plenty of time to relax in Koksar. We had hot soup and delicious momos and then drove to Tandi to refuel. Tandi is the only refueling station till Leh, 350 km away. Army engineers, GREF and BRO did a tremendous job and re-erected the bridge in record time. The Raiders were back on course.

Day five, as usual, was an early start. It goes to the credit of the Army that it had made sure there was no traffic on this road. The road belonged to the Raiders. There were two competitive stages, Patseo-Nakee La, a 100-km tarmac stretch over Bara Lacha La, 16,150 feet above sea level, and then the climb up Gata loops to Nakeela at 15,547 feet. The second competitive stage from Debring to Rumtse was only 46 km but meant crossing the Tangalang La at 17,582 feet above sea level. This is the second highest motorable pass in the world.

After a day’s rest, the Raid proceeded to Kargil. There was only one competitive stage and Suresh Rana held his position. Biker Ashish Moudgil drove brilliantly. He was an hour ahead of the pack.

Kargirl is a small and sleepy town in the shadow of Pakistani guns. We got to Kargil in time for lunch and had the rest of the day to relax and to do sightseeing. There is not much to see in Kargil.

We all turned in early because the last day of the Raid was to be a convoy to Srinagar, with departure at 3 am. There were 97 vehicles, cars, Gypsys, SUVs and bikes in the convoy. We were told not to stop at any cost. There were signs all along the highway reading, "You are under enemy observation." A sobering fact.

The 7th Raid de Himalaya was finally over. The finale was the prize distribution the same afternoon. Everyone who finished the Raid was a winner.