Raid de Himalaya 2018: New section will challenge the best of men and machine

Shimla, 28 September 2018: On the most impossible roads of the Kargil, Zanskar and Ladakh sectors, motorsport titans of India are going to clash at the 20th edition of the Raid de Himalaya, the World’s highest cross-country motorsport challenge. The Raid 2018 will run from October 8 to October 14. It will begin and finish at Leh.

A total of 31 teams for Xtreme cars and trucks, 37 teams for Xtreme motorcycles and quads, 12 bikers in the Alpine two-wheeler category, and 31 teams in Adventure Trail, which follows the Time-Speed-Distance format, are going to race on the highest reaches of the Himalayas.

This year’s Raid will run its first stage on the never-before traversed section from Lamayuru, called the Moonland of Ladakh, to Photoksar. Rallyists are going to race on a newly-upgraded road that was earlier a mule track into Zanskar. Crossing the Sirisir La at a height of 4,805 meters above sea level, the 20th Raid De Himalaya is going to enter totally unchartered territory.

Raid 2018 is all set for the clash between motorsport titans Philippos Mathai and Amittrajit Ghosh of Team Mahindra, Raid winner 2015 Lhakpa Tsering, Raid 2017 runners-up Sanjay Razdan and Sanjay Agarwal, Raid 2017 third overall.

The choice of vehicles for these motorsport champions is diverse. The gruelling Raid de Himalaya 2018 is going to feature Mathai and Ghosh driving the XUV 500, Sanjay Razdan driving the Maruti Gypsy, Sanjay Agarwal driving the Grand Vitara, and Lakhpa Tsering of Arunachal Pradesh challenging them all with the Polaris RZR 1000 Turbo Dynamix.

Raid 2018 will see competitors racing to Umba La, a high mountain pass at an elevation of 4.496 meters above sea level. This is one of the most spectacular stretches globally, and is listed on dangerousroads.org. The high mountain road features more than 50 hairpin curves and dangerous drop-offs.

Lhakpa Tsering, Raid Winner 2015, said it takes guts to race at the heights and the roads that form part of the Raid de Himalaya. “Rallying is not cricket or tennis where you have 17-18 year olds as champions. Competitive high-altitude racing needs maturity, brains and physical fitness, and tremendous grit,” said Lakhpa, 45, who has been in motorsport for 20 years.

The Raid is considered among the top ten toughest rallies of the World. The Raid was established in 1999, and those in the motorsport circuit admit that it’s made grown men cry ever since.

In 20 years, the Raid has mapped a total of 13.23 lakh kilometres over the highest motorable roads of the Himalayas, including route reconnaissance and transport stages. Competitors driving four wheelers, two wheelers and scarabs have raced over 41,570 kilometers in two decades.

Raid de Himalaya, India’s most formidable motorsport race, is the flagship rally of the country’s leading motorsport club, Himalayan Motorsport. Vijay Parmar, President of Himalayan Motorsport, said that it has been the Raid’s tradition to open new areas every year to adventure tourism.

“Raid 2018 offers new winding high-altitude dirt roads as extremely challenging stages on the worlds’ highest cross-country challenge. We have been discovering new routes every year. For the 20th anniversary of our epic rally, there had to be something special. Racing on the new pass of Kaldang-Kildang La at an elevation of 4.092m in the Ladakh region, and the daunting stretches of Photoksar and Sirisir La promises to make Raid 2018 a nail-biting finish,” said Parmar.