Team-BHP - Event Report - The 2014 Palar Challenge

The Terra Tigers, we would like to thank all the participants and sponsors and the Civil and Police Administration of Kanchipuram District, Dr Jones & Manohar Hospital for arranging the Ambulance on all Three Days and providing Medical Support and Logesh Chandrasekhar, without whom The 8th Palar Challenge 2014 would not have been the successful.
Unlike last year where we were inundated with rain, the Palar showed her true colors with some absolutely unrelenting and scorching heat this year. While it did make things tougher for the competitors and marshals alike, it did not detract from the competition itself.

The Special Stages this year were definitely a cut above the rest even compared to those from The Palar Challenge 2013. With a mix of soft sand, hard sand, clay and rocks, it sure did not make life easy for the competitors. Another major difference this year was the fact that all the vehicles were very well prepared to tackle the elements. Mandatory roll cages, winches, tow straps and tow hooks were the norm and they definitely came in handy throughout the 4 days of competition.

Special thanks go to all the competitors some of who came from as far as Malaysia and Australia in addition to our competitors from Chennai, Tirunelveli, Salem, Bangalore, Coorg and Salem, name a few places!

It was definitely an eye opening experience to hear from the competitors at the end of the event during the event debrief.

Special mention goes to Russel l Brinsmead from Australia, Francis Khoo from Malaysia & Sean Hameed from Sri Lanka for bringing up several points, regarding SS, Obstacles, using winches, Marshal Training etc that will be taken into consideration during future events.

While the Palar Challenge has had no injuries in the past, the same cannot be said about this year's competition. Be it due to inexperience or just recklessness, there were a couple of unfortunate incidents that did in an otherwise successful event.

During the Day 2 SARA EXTREME - A Hard Day, a spotter tripped over a rock as his driver drove towards him and aggravated an existing ligament injury in his shoulder. An ambulance was on the scene and was able to get him patched up.

Another incident occurred on the Final Day of the competition at the camp site where a vehicle toppled over in the Park Ferme, while it was being driven around after certain repairs were made through the night. Once again the driver was injured and was taken to the hospital for treatment.

There were unaccounted participants (uninformed spectators & vehicles) on all 3 Days of the Competition, this has serious safety implications, and cast aspersions on the conduct of competing teams.

The event concluded with an Event Debrief, where all teams were informed about the objections raised against them by the Marshals.
11 out of the 12 Teams had objections raised against them. It was decided a much more stringent penalty system be enforced for safety and sportsmanship.

One of the biggest gripes that were brought up during last year's competition was the accommodation arrangements. We made sure to address it this year and we hope the participants enjoyed their time in the campsite as much as we did.

As usual, Palar does have it fair share of sacrifices and this year was no different. The terrain, the stages and the weather definitely took its toll on quite a few vehicles but kudos goes to the competitors who stayed up all night trying to get their vehicles back in shape for the grueling stages the following day.

The 8th Palar Challenge was definitely a true test of mettle, for both the participants and vehicles alike. We sincerely hope the participants felt challenged by it and more importantly, enjoyed it as much as we did. Hope to see you back next year at TPC2015 with even more surprises planned for one and all.

Thank you.

Ranjith Balakrishnan & Arkaprava Datta

Winner of the 8th Palar Challenge, presented by Swatik Fabs and Lambda Engineering. Team 61 –TNOR Tirunelveli

1st Runners Up – Team 51 – Coorg

2nd Runners Up – Team 12 – TNOR Coimbatore.

Winner of Technical Events presented by GARUDA Off Road Equipment. Team 61 –TNOR Tirunelveli

Winner of Day#1, presented by MIDAS SAFTEY. Team 32 - TNOR - Coimbatore

Winner of SARA EXTREME 4x4 – TPC2014 Day#2. Team 61 –TNOR Tirunelveli

Winner of Day#3 Team 21 -- v5 Off Roaders Coorg

Terragtigers --Green Team Award --Team 22 – International Team

1st Most Performing 4WD presented by RK AUTO – Fazul in Mahindra Major

2nd Most Performing 4WD presented by RK AUTO – Vimal Gladwin in Mahindra Major

3rd Most Performing 4WD presented by RK AUTO – Sibi Paul NGCS MM540

Winner of Individual SS Competition presented by Tyrestore
1st – Jagat Nanjappa (1:56)
2nd -- Chethan Chengappa (1:59)
3rd – Sibi Paul (2:00)

The Teams from The 8th Palar Challenge.

Team 11 - TNOR - Tirunelveli Team B ( Jerome, Anit)

Team 12 - Coimbatore Off-Roaders with Two First Timers ( Satish, Varun Chakravarthy, Saran Palanikumar)

Team 21 - V5 Off Roaders Coorg (Jagat Nanjappa, Sibi Paul & Chetan Chengappa)

Team 22 - International Team (Mahendran Kirubanidhi, Sean Hameed, Francis Khoo Tekwat, Russel Brinsmead, Kaushik Mahadev & Ranjkumar K)

Team 31 -TNOR - Tirunelveli Team C, First Timers to Palar Challenge (Ramkumar, Shamsu Sulthan, Achees Jahangir)

Team 32 - Coimbatore Off-Roaders ( Ramakrishnan, Arun Kumar & Goutham)

Team 51 - Coorg Off-Roaders (Winner of TPC2013) (Bopaiah K, Ponacha & Michu Ganapathy)

Team 52 - BODA + WJC (Vijayananda Prabhu, Jinnu MK, Rajesh)

Team 61 - TNOR Tirunelveli Team A (Dr. Anthony Raju, Valli Nayak, S Fazul, Vimal Gladwin & Veerbhadran)

Team 62 - Team Torque Chennai (Amit Tomar, Balu Ram, Dr. Gopinath)

Team 71 - Triveni Motorsports (Patrick K, Roofus, Amardeep Devadason, Satish Sudarshan)

Team 72 - KTM Jeepers (Sam Kurian, Kurian Kurian, Nikhil Jaipal & Premkumar)