To SIR with love, South India Rally receives huge response

Bengaluru, 16 April 2021: To SIR, with love, is a popular song of the sixties. But now the SIR is on a song. South India Rally, popularly known as SIR, has received an overwhelming response and a record 65 entries for the 43rd edition that begins on April 23, and is also run concurrently with APRC.

To SIR with love, is actually a British drama, on social issues starred by Sydney Poitier in 1967. Here in India we continue our song in motorsports, to SIR with love. And it will be a big tribute to the grand old Sir, Indu Chandhok, who first won the rally in 1954, when it all began as South India 800 Rally. But after another edition of the TSD event in between in 1955, the South India Rally took its birth in 1957.

Manoj Dalal, the long-time navigator of Vicky Chandhok, is the current CoC (Clerk of Course) for the 43rd SIR, the first round of INRC 2021. And the CoC has confirmed that the final number of entries is 65. Sixty five is the record in the 34-year INRC history. The last highest number was at the 2009 K-1000 which attracted 61 entries.

Chandhok Senior, won the rally in 1954 in a Triumph Mayflower and went on to print his name in the history books winning the first edition in 1957 in a Standard Ten.

Coming back, the Indian National Rally Championship 2021 (INRC), the first round which is clubbed with Asia Pacific Rally Championship, received a record 65 entries and the organisers Madras Motor Sports Club (MMSC) was forced to restrict further (late) entries. Another record will be over 10 entries by Lady drivers, making it 23 lady participants in the rally. “This is the first time such huge number of ladies are taking part in an INRC round,” said a regular, who lamented about the ban on spectators.

“When Vamsi (Merla) first said that he would make sure that the South India Rally gets sixty entries, I laughed, and asked him if he was joking. But the response is overwhelming and I have not seen such a rush in the past. I must congratulate the Promoter who worked tirelessly, calling drivers and helping with goodies, providing tyres and supporting the Women in Motorsport initiative enthusiastically by getting them sponsors,” said Vicky Chandhok, the chairman of the meet and the man who brought F1 to India. “Yes, he pulled it off,” he added. “There will not be much imported cars and we will have national cars in the APRC. The number will be known only after a couple of days,” he said talking about the APRC entries.

Due to the Covid second wave, the Organisers and the Promoters, Champions Yacht Club have decided that there would no spectators for the first round of the INRC. “Unfortunately, we had to close the doors on spectators. I am really sorry for all the fans but to compensate, we are making arrangements to live stream and put out live results,” said Vamsi Merla, the Promoter. “We believe upon the best club in the country. MMSC has conducted two Nationals in a strict `Bubble’ and they are known to follow all the procedures and government restrictions thoroughly. They are the active and the best club with great infrastructure. So all the safety precautions, both rally wise and Covid wise are taken care of and we are fully confident,” said Merla, who praised the Marshals of MMSC `who are on the toes always’.

Vicky Chandhok, who won the South India Rally four times, in a Dolphin, Montana and a Fiat, predicts tough competition. Gaurav Gill, three times APRC champion, who was crowned with the Arjuna Award, will be raring to go in Yellow colours. Amittrajit Ghosh and Ashwin Naik, will complete the Mahindra line-up. The rally will also witness talented drivers Karna Kadur, Dean Mascarenhas, Bikku Babu, Chetan Shivram and other youngsters Fabid Ahmer, Aditya Thakur and Arjun Rao.

“I thank MRF for sponsoring many lady drivers. This will be a milestone year in women participation and we wish them all the best,” said Vamci. Apart from regulars Smitha Prasad, Dr Shivani Pruthvi (Deeksha Balakrishna) and Pragathi Gowda (Trisha Jagannathan), 10 other lady teams are expected to take part. Around 10 drivers including Khyati Mody will be supported by MRF. Taking the support of 2019 Overall champion Chetan Shivram, Champions Yacht Club conducted a Talent Hunt over two days in Bengaluru, where about 28 ladies took part. Dhruva Chandrasekhar and Suhem Kabir, also trained the participants. Prominent among them who will be taking part in the INRC Round 1 will be Pathanamthitta lass Athira Murali, a popular Auto Vlogger, and then Renuka G from Andhra Pradesh, who came second in the Talent Hunt, besides Amnadeep Kaur (Amman Jubbal), Madhi Sri Elangovan, Anupma Bindra, Chandrika Thampuratty, and mother-and-daughter duo Shivani and Dr Vani Parmar. However, Ojasvi Mehta, an MBA student from Mumbai, who did well in the Talent Hunt, will not be making it to the first round due to academic clashes.

The first round of the INRC will be held at Irungatuukottai on April 24 and 25. There will be two Special Stages, Avisa (16.8km) and Track (12.10km) besides a Super Special Stage of two laps covering a total distance of 4.8km on the tarmac of MMRT.

There will be four classes, Overall INRC, INRC2, INRC3, INRC4 and INRC NR4 for the National Championship. The SUV class and the Gypsy class will also be run as support classes, and the National Junior Championship will test the best juniors below 25 years who never won any round. The APRC Asia Cup round will have 4 more stages to complete the mandatoroy 150km mark. Yes SIR, we are ready!

Note: Updated on 17 April 2021 at 3.20pm