To SIR with love – Vicky Chandhok’s 50-year love affair with South India Rally
By David Bodapati
Irungattukottai, 22 April 2022: Flamboyant, arrogant and aggressively fast, both on the track and off it, you can love him or hate him but you cannot ignore him. He has a presence, he has the charm and he has the skill and talent that won him many a heart, and the rest he used to take care of, with his captivating gift of the gab. The searing Chennai heat and the burning rubber are two variables that invariably used to bring the best out of him. He is a favourite of the media, not just the crowd, anytime, any day. He is none other than the one who brought Formula 1 to India! Vivek Bharath Chandhok, fondly known as Vicky!
I first met him in 1997, if I remember correctly, or was it 1998… I remember Jaidas Menon, taking me for a spin on the dirt tracks in and around the tarmac, before the recce of that South India Rally. Then we had the darshan of the big man who regaled all of us with great motorsport stories. One line I can never forget. “You can make millions in motorsports but the tragedy is you have to spend billions before you make the millions.” That was just one gem from the motorsports addict, who over the years has given me many motorsports stories. It was my first experience at the Madras Motor Sports Club, indulging in the hospitality at the overflowing third floor of Tower C. We had a bevy of reporters, all having a nice time, all in ‘high spirits’, while a sincere couple of photographers went out to shoot on the track side.
A flood of memories come back when we talk about SIR (South India Rally) and year 1997. The canal stages, the track stories and the colourful fights, reds and yellows. We started the journey that day from Mount Road, opposite the Spencers at 6 am, where the old Indian Express office was located. It was a mini-van, carrying about 12 journalists to the track. Later, one more group started from Chandhok Centre off Anna Salai, and joined us at the C Tower at the track. I was with Express at that time and we had photographer George Francis in the van, who warmed us up with his tales, all through.
Trying to dig out the history of motorsports as a Chronicler, 1997 was a milestone for me. It was 25 years after Vicky Chandhok made his debut in 1972. And now another 25 years passed by, and as an eye witness, have recorded many a motorsport event for posterity. For the 34 years of INRC history, search for INRC Hall of Fame. Today on the eve of the 45th South India Rally, let us recall the exploits of Vicky Chandhok, a stalwart who carried forward the legacy of his father Indhu Chandhok, the founder member of both fmsci and MMSC, and grandfather Indersain Chandhok.
In an interview to the good old story-teller, RV Rajan, who wrote those popular Madras Musings decades ago, Vicky once said: “Motor sport is an expensive sport! Only people with deep pockets can indulge in it.” But Vicky was born in a family that successful ran an automobile spare parts business and with over 70 mechanics in the garage at that time, he only had to invest his time and energy and he did it with religious fervor. He took up the sport as a hobby and soon it turned into a passion. With discipline and focus, he devoted his time to motorsports.
He made his rally debut in 1972 as a swashbuckling teenager full of enthusiasm, as he just turned 15. Credit should go to Indu Chandhok, who included in his rally team for SIR. Those days, rallies used to have a four-member crew as they used to traverse thousands of kilometres for over two or three days.
It was the age of FIATs and Ambassadors. But Ambys had an upperhand and both were already fighting their own wars in the rallies at Bangalore and in Calcutta.
At just 14 years, Vicky made his debut at Sholavaram in February 1972 in an Ambassador which was tuned, in his own garage and modified for his first outing, the racing debut. And four months later, in June 1972 he made his debut in the South India Rally. It was the same Amby but was heavily modified. He used to take a lot of interest in the cars and was said to have spent much of his leisure time in the family garage. That experience helped him to build his own racing car along with the team, three years later. It was the CAREX SPECIAL.
Apart from his father, Gopal Madhavan and Flakes, who later worked with MRF for many years, were in the team. “It was a Fomantene and the South India Rally ran for about 3500km through Kerala, TN and back to Madras. It was a three-city start from Bangalore, Coimbatore and Madras and used to converge in Tiruchi. And then going back again. We finished third in my debut,” the stalwart of Indian motorsports recalled.
Madras Motor Sports Club (MMSC) started the Formula India race in 1975 and as a driver just eligible to have his road license at 18, Vicky finished a creditable second in the inaugural race. “The race was won by late Suresh Naik and his chassis was built by Adi Malcolm. My car was built in my own workshop,’’ Vicky once told this reporter. He was a contemporary of the late Karivardhan, considered as a great motorsport mind and both worked relentlessly to grow the sport.
The year 1975, the emergency days, also brings to mind the rallies in the valleys and the ‘Big Fall’. In 2010, I saw a rally car overshoot a flowing right fall into the valley in Nashik. After about 200 feet, the car got stuck in the trees and another 200 feet below there was water. Last month, we were just talking about it at the 44th SIR, where Anoop, the co-driver, who survived that Big Fall in a miraculous way. But modern rally cars have the roll cage. In 1975, Vicky Chandhok rolled off the Kodaikanal hills, at Manekadu in an ambassador car. “We went down over 350 feet and landed on a tree. Luckily, all four of us survived. Nagaraj was the regional manager of the then Burma Shell. Ravi Thalem was based in England and my Chidappa, Bandhu Chandhok, and myself,” Vicky laughed it off, but must have been a scary baptism in rallying.
In the next few years, he dilly-dallied in domestic motorsports taking part in several rallies and races and fell in love too. He married Chitra, a Tamilian in 1982 and celebrated by flying down a Formula Ford machine to India to race at Sholavaram. It was the first time that he convinced MRF Tyres to partly sponsor his venture. That maiden indulgence with motorsports, continued as love affair for many decades to come, as MRF became one of the biggest sponsors of motorsports in India and the credit to hook them on to the sport should surely go to Vicky Chandhok.
Richer by the experience, Vicky flew in a better racing machine, the Chevron Formula II, the next year for his exploits in Sholavaram. Then with the Himalayan Rally coming up, his true love for rallying began. He took part in several rallies, many with Manoj Dalal as his long-time co-driver. Mr Dalal is the current Clerk of the Course for the 45th SIR, who meticulously conducts the rallies and races at the Madras Race Track and many are not aware that the duo ruled the roost in Indian rallying in their hey days. But in 2000 when INRC saw the debut of Mitsubishi Lancer, it was Vicky Chandhok, who introduced it by winning the rally with Sandeep Lal as co-driver and Manoj Dalal is at the helm as Clerk of the Course. Hari Singh who gave a tough fight came second, 17 seconds behind. For Vicky, it was a great way to sign off his chequered career after 28 years of racing and rallying.
Vicky’s earliest navigators were his brother Vibu and Yashwant Jhabakh of Hyderabad. Later, he did the Himalayan Rally three years with Shreekant Jha as the navigator. There on, Rajiv Rai and Manoj Dalal too ably assisted him the pace notes and gave the calls and jelled well as a team.
But Vicky, despite all his pot belly, and advancing age, lost weight and had one last hurrah, taking a podium with Chandramouli as co-driver in a one-off INRC in 2018 in his class, a good 61 years ripe. That same year also saw Akbar Ebrahim rally in another Polo.
In between, Vicky was also instrumental in Ebrahim’s first success on the racing track, as the Team Principal and coach at the Wallace sports. It was in 1989 that he started Wallace Sports and Research Foundation, and one of its first students, Ebrahim drove his first race at MMRT.
Until then Vicky was busy racing or rallying and did not take up administration. But the turn of the century saw the rise of another association and fmsci lost it power as the ASN of FIA. However, with the Government of India still recognizing fmsci, Vicky led the federation during the difficult times from 2003 till 2005 in his first stint as the President. Vicky name also popped up for the FIA President’s post briefly when Jean Todt had a wavering mind.
Later, he was not only instrumental in getting the Federation back into the saddle as the governing body of sport for the country and recognized by FIA in 2009. Then his international connections and hardwork, besides encouraging a private builder in Delhi, the Jaypee group, resulted in the construction of the Formula 1 track. He and Karun Chandhok, who by then became the second Indian Formula 1 driver, supervised the construction of the track and worked hard as representatives of FIA and Bernie Ecclestone, the then promoter of F1, and brought the Indian Grand Prix F1 races to India.
India ultimately hosted the big circus for three years from 2011 to 2013 where MMSC played a huge role in training and deploying the marshals for the F1 races. Prabha Shankar was the man to look up to. All marshals in India join in offering a big salute to Shankar, whose tall personality, managed every motorsport incident efficiently, effectively, and in a jiffy. That proved that Indian Marshals are no less than any other experienced F1 venue. Vicky’s second stint as the fmsci* president lasted from 2010 to 2014. After F1 left India, Vicky also served as the FIA Truck Commission chairman and brought the great truck races to Budhdh International Circuit and they became a grand success.
South India rally misses him at MMRT as Vicky is on his annual pilgrimage to England and will be with the fifth-generation Chandhok, Vihaan, the son of Karun Chandhok. Meanwhile, his other son, Suhail Chandhok, with whom I had the pleasure of working with his communication team for two South India rallies, is currently commentating with Star Sports while Karun is the Formula 1 commentator for Sky Sports.
“And on this historic day I’d like to say to all the competitors ‘give it your entire commitment, it’s the only way to succeed,’ is the advice from Vicky Chandhok to all rally drivers.
*fmsci likes to use it in all small letters – branding.
