Raj Singh Rathore at the Desert Storm

Tagging along with Raj Singh Rathore’s service team at the Desert Storm revealed the work that goes into rallying.

Three days. Who spends three days without sleep to cover a cross-country rally, including trudging through a desert track looking for the perfect photo-op? Clearly an insomniac, you’d think. But, you’d be wrong. For it was only on account of some disorganised scrambling to finish work in time for issue closing. Something that Dhruv didn’t mind, as it meant me finishing the monthly grind earlier than usual!

But the catalyst for the rush was an opportunity to tag along with the service crew of Raj Singh Rathore, one of India’s most decorated cross-country rally drivers, and get a unique perspective on the rally. With the opening leg of the rally in Bikaner, featuring night stages, there was a chance to see crews at work in less than ideal conditions and also for drivers and riders to be pushed outside their comfort zone. 

Not to mention a chance to see Rathore (along with co-driver Sagar Mallappa) make amends for last year’s event. Rathore was all set to tackle the event with Polaris last year when he got an offer to pilot one of Isuzu’s D-Max V-Cross cars. He turned down the offer stating his commitment to Polaris but was in for an unpleasant surprise. Less than ten days before the event, Polaris stated that they were done with competing in motorsport events in India, and Rathore was left in the lurch. 

With no time left to take up the offer from Isuzu, Rathore was left to just follow the rally from the side lines before getting his hands on the V-Cross at the inaugural India Baja. Second overall behind Gaurav Chiripal’s Grand Vitara was seen as a promising debut for the car and driver combo. But there was still work to be done, as Isuzu had not entered as a factory team, and a lot of the modifications had to be done by himself. 

And this included getting a service crew together to keep the cars running in the hunt for victory. In my drowsy, sleep deprived state I could just about make out a lot of attention being directed towards the V-Cross’s electrical systems with the sand and rough terrain playing havoc on them. Keeping the crews and the drivers going were copious amounts of energy drinks. A few times, even I succumbed to the temptation of drinking a can or two to keep going. 

Of course, I had heard of many drivers, riders and crew members resorting to something a lot more potent in order to avoid fatigue. Such practices apparently are even prevalent at the Dakar Rally, which doesn’t fall under any anti-doping code. 

But the biggest intoxicant seemed to be the need to take a break from an ordinary life and, for at least one week, be something more. This drive led Rathore and Mallappa to second place overall and to the top of the T2 class, and it led me to staying awake long enough to see it happen!