MSCC gears up for Rally of Chikmagalur, a National-level TSD event
Chikmagalur, 18 Nov 2020: Motor Sports Club of Chikmagalur (MSCC) will host the Rally of Chikmagalur, a National-level event in Time, Speed, Distance (TSD) format for 4-Wheelers in the Coffee town on December 11 and 12. The rally will offer night sections reminding the good-old long-distance rallies which used to run day-and-night on the hilly treacherous terrain near Baba Budangiri hillocks.
The 250-km rally will begin in Chikkamagaluru around 5pm and will end the next day morning at Horanadu, where the Prize Giving function will be held, after breakfast.
One of the oldest and prestigious motorsports clubs in India, MSCC has a chequered history hosting the ‘Coffee 500′ rally that began in 1982 and used to run in the `closed roads’ with ABC being a vantage point for briefings, parc ferme and PD (Prizegiving ceremony). Many years it ran on the narrow and steep ghat terrain and during nights, usually at the foothills of Sahayadri mountain ranges. The current ‘Indian National Rally Championship’ round which happens annually began with Special Stages that are run in private Coffee Estates from 1996.
The blend of the scenic beauty and the sounds of the screeching tyres make the fans eagerly look forward to the most-awaited rally. Not just the features mentioned above but the meticulous efforts by the organisers, a bunch of die-hard fans, working as a team day-in and day-out, make it a special event for the participants and the fans alike. It is also one of the rallies in the National Calendar which attracts a huge number of media, usually more than 50 reporters and photographers thronging to the ceremonial start and the PD. In recent years, the Super Special Stage in private school premises has attracted the attention of huge fan following, and is one of the highlights of the event, making it an annual festival.
So much so, the Coffee which 500 became Coffee Day Rally from 1997, after the sponsors started Coffee Day chain in 1996, got the FIA recognition for their good efforts and a Candidate Rally was awarded and the round of Asia Cup was approved and ran in 2015, christened as the Coffee Day India Rally. Ably led by Farooq Ahmed, a champion rallyist himself, the team works like a well-oiled machine.
The FIA later awarded the MSCC a prestigious round of APRC for the year 2016. The MSCC now looks forward to hosting a successful final round of APRC and to cement a permanent spot in the FIA APRC calendar and even look ahead in the coming years but due to the unfortunate demise of the long-standing sponsor’s key man behind the promotion of motorsports, late VG Siddhartha in July 2019, and the arrival of COVID 19 in 2020, the club had to skip the INRC rounds for both the years for different reasons.
However, the club kept their track record clean, of conducting national-level events by organising the South Zone Gymkhana, a qualifying event for entry into the Nationals and for Indian teams. Leaving the coffee estates, MSCC even hosted the event in December 2019 at Meco Kartopia in Bengaluru. But the popular one as ever, is their TSD event.
With a keen motive to go back to roots and spread motorsports at grassroots level, the club officials decided to organise, this year too, the national-level TSD rally, which are now called as time-regulated rallies. The TSDs are famous for the challenges they offer in navigation and are often seen as a gateway to bigger things in motorsports because they lay a good foundation of basics and nurtures drivers and navigators to graduate smoothly into stage rallies.
The following Categories are on offer:
1.Pro-expert
2.Pro-stock
3.All ladies
4.Couple class
5.Corporate class*
6.Veterans class*
7.Novice Class*
8. Star of Chikamaglur*
(* Terms and conditions apply please refer to Supplementary Regulations)
(The entry fee Rs. 7,500 per Car for 2 persons and Rs.11,250 for 3 persons, plus GST)
For details call or WhatsApp Dilip Doshi 9902211792 since the entries are limited on a first-come-first-serve basis. https://www.facebook.com/motorsportsclubofckm/
