[E63]

The Maruti Suzuki-sponsored event rules out the participation of the XUV 500 which has emerged as a dominating force in rallying.



A restrictive technical regulation may force Mahindra to sit out the Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare set to kick off in August, as regulations prohibit any vehicle over 1600cc capacity from taking part in country’s third biggest rally-raid, after Raid De Himalaya and Desert Storm.


“We are still investigating and figuring out what the ramifications are for the sport. As of now of course, Mahindra cannot participate. If it had to come to this, it is better to make it a single-manufacturer event and be done with it”, remarked Bijoy Kumar, Team Principal of Mahindra Adventure.

Source: http://www.autocarindia.com/auto-new...re-387556.aspx




So this is what Indian Motorsport is down to these days?
If you cant beat them, ban them.

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by E63

Source: http://www.autocarindia.com/auto-new...re-387556.aspx

....

So this is what Indian Motorsport is down to these days?
If you cant beat them, ban them.

Pretty cheap gimmick if it's exactly what is mentioned. This also will mean that Maruti can't get their own Vitara to participate, as will be TATA Safari / Storme / Xenon right?

Edit:: Mahindra should go ahead and create / sponsor another BIG event and publicly invite Maruti to the event!

[SDP]

Cheap trick indeed.

What happened to sportsmanship?

PS: "Its my bat. So I will do the batting first and I will decide if I am out or not." . Maruti-Suzuki, grow up!

[Samurai]

“We are still investigating and figuring out what the ramifications are for the sport. As of now of course, Mahindra cannot participate. If it had to come to this, it is better to make it a single-manufacturer event and be done with it”, remarked Bijoy Kumar, Team Principal of Mahindra Adventure.

Yikes, that will be like Mahindra Great Escape then.

[tsk1979]

Because of things like this, the rally scene in India has never matured. Just when we think something good is happening, somebody somewhere decides his ego is bigger than the sport itself.
History repeats itself, that's all I can say

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Yikes, that will be like Mahindra Great Escape then.

The difference is, the Dakshin Dare is a competitive event. The Great Escape is meant to be a drive in the wilderness.

Maruti sure is behaving like a crybaby on this one. If they want to fight, they should build their own XUV500 competitor.

[Mohan Mathew A]

Seriously Maruti! It really is churlish behaviour. But doesn't the FMSCI (or is it MAI) have any say in these matters

[sudev]

To be fair to Maruti their events are the only ones open to other makes. This asinine move apart they allow other makes to participate in AutoX, Raid, Desert, Dare. No one else does this.

Mahindra does Monsoon Challenge but restricts it to Mahindra vehicles. Similar is Polo cup or Etios cup.

But people getting bad deal will be serious competitors.

The Federation is only to supervise safety and regulatory aspects. You can file for event with definition of class, group or make. The system is to ensure that only complying vehicles compete. After all if the competition is for cars with engine capacity of 1000~1200cc there is no point of allowing anything bigger. etc. etc.

[kadanaJ]

After reading the entire article, these are the points that struck me

A restrictive technical regulation may force Mahindra to sit out the Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare set to kick off in August, as regulations prohibit any vehicle over 1600cc capacity from taking part in country’s third biggest rally-raid, after Raid De Himalaya and Desert Storm.

According to article 3.4.7 of the Supplementary Regulations draft, a copy of which has been obtained by Autocar India, the entire event will be restricted to only two classes – one consisting of vehicles from 1001cc – 1400cc and the second of 1401cc – 1600cc capacity cars.

Regarding the regulation change, event organiser Jaidass Menon of Motorsport Inc. commented, “During the past years we have seen that the event doesn’t attract too many entries in the Ultimate Class as people think that they travel so far only to be beaten by competitors in bigger cars. This discourages the entrants so we put this rule in place to ensure that we can get more participation.”

I don't really see anything wrong with what Maruti has done. A lot of motorsport events have CC limitations on them to keep things fair. As someone had previously pointed out, Maruti's own Vitara cannot participate.

I'm sure Mahindra would be more than welcome to participate if they entered a car that fits into the CC regulations (I believe Mahindra does use a 1.5 litre engine in the Quanto, which can be used for other cars as well).

I don't think it's fair to throw accusations at Maruti, and accuse them of being spoilsports. Some sort of regulation is required to make sure everyone participating has an equal chance.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by GTO

The difference is, the Dakshin Dare is a competitive event. The Great Escape is meant to be a drive in the wilderness.

Not anymore GTO. Now MGE has two parts, one day of excursion, next day is competition.

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Not anymore GTO. Now MGE has two parts, one day of excursion, next day is competition.

The less said about the competition part, the better. No rules mentioned and arbitrary judging.

[speedmiester]

Having been in the rallying seen in the past, I am not surprised by the move by Maruti.
This hurts the entire sports and not just the competitors.

[mycarhasablower]

Originally Posted by kadanaJ

After reading the entire article, these are the points that struck me



I don't really see anything wrong with what Maruti has done. A lot of motorsport events have CC limitations on them to keep things fair. As someone had previously pointed out, Maruti's own Vitara cannot participate.

I'm sure Mahindra would be more than welcome to participate if they entered a car that fits into the CC regulations (I believe Mahindra does use a 1.5 litre engine in the Quanto, which can be used for other cars as well).

I don't think it's fair to throw accusations at Maruti, and accuse them of being spoilsports. Some sort of regulation is required to make sure everyone participating has an equal chance.

You need to understand that you cant compare the cars on engine size alone. In the power to weight ratio stakes mahindra is probably behind.

And we know power to weight ratio is what matters, not absolute cc.

Secondly 2.2 litre of a petrol engine is very different from 2.2 litres of a diesel engine. A petrol engine has a power band that stretches upto 5000 rpm. Diesels have a powerband of less than half of that

Gypsy is now an outdated vehicle. And even with a baleno engine its not really fast. A modern equivalent of the gypsy with a 1.6 petrol motor may not find it hard to keep up with the XUV. But the fact remains that SUZUKI vehicles are inferior and that is the very fact that SUZUKI wants to hide.
With some clever engineering though the gypsy could probably made competitive. But that takes effor that suzuki doesnt want to put in, so they just ban the competiton instead.

[wbd8779]

The Gypsy is a very competitive vehicle . In this years Desert storm a Stock 1.3 Gypsy driven by Sandy came in 2nd Overall behind Sunny"s XUV. The Gypsy was a privateer entry and not a factory sponsored one like the XUV who have a unlimited budget for the event.

1.6 baleno engined Gypsy's has been the staple diet in the Storm and the raid over the years and Suzuki vehicles cannot be called "inferior "products.

Originally Posted by mycarhasablower

You need to understand that you cant compare the cars on engine size alone. In the power to weight ratio stakes mahindra is probably behind.

And we know power to weight ratio is what matters, not absolute cc.

Secondly 2.2 litre of a petrol engine is very different from 2.2 litres of a diesel engine. A petrol engine has a power band that stretches upto 5000 rpm. Diesels have a powerband of less than half of that

Gypsy is now an outdated vehicle. And even with a baleno engine its not really fast. A modern equivalent of the gypsy with a 1.6 petrol motor may not find it hard to keep up with the XUV. But the fact remains that SUZUKI vehicles are inferior and that is the very fact that SUZUKI wants to hide.
With some clever engineering though the gypsy could probably made competitive. But that takes effor that suzuki doesnt want to put in, so they just ban the competiton instead.

[maverick.munish]

Looks like the Maruti wants to shield its stable of cars from the mighty XUV or is it purely because of the fact that the Kitna Deti Hai tagline doesnt suit the XUV.

The 1600 cc engine regulations are just a gimmick to hide its fallacy of having no vehicle in that range except i think for the Grand Vitara which was a huge failure in itself.