[sudev]

May be you need to head to rally.co.in ;_)

[Julian UK]

Just to add a photo to this thread as I think it belongs here.
I can't remember which year during the 80s this Ginetta G4 was in the Himalayan Rally, it was entered twice, I think the driver's name was Peter Davis, I helped prepare the car in the underground car park of the Kanishka Hotel in New Delhi. I made and fitted a guard to protect its aluminium differential as it had a very small ground clearance despite the suspension having been raised for the rally. I think it had a Ford cross flow engine. They had no back up at all and ran the whole rally on 1 set of tyres, while others had huge back up teams and dozens of tyres. I think they finished 11th, I maybe wrong. Here the car is in Karol Bagh where I was staying at the time.

[sudev]

A Lancia Stratos? I remember in 1982 also there was a Startos but that time the scrutinee venue was Maurya Hotel in Chanakyapuri. If you see the Jeep in background you can get an idea that roof of this was barely four feet(even that?) from the ground. But the engine growl it made was stuff to take you to an orgasmic high!!

[Julian UK]

Originally Posted by sudev

A Lancia Stratos? I remember in 1982 also there was a Startos but that time the scrutinee venue was Maurya Hotel in Chanakyapuri. If you see the Jeep in background you can get an idea that roof of this was barely four feet(even that?) from the ground. But the engine growl it made was stuff to take you to an orgasmic high!!

Maybe the Ginetta G4 was in the 83 rally as there was an Africar there as well and that was entered in 83.

DIFFLOCK.com - The AFRICAR project
DIFFLOCK.com - The AFRICAR project

Very unusual car, Citroen with a wood/plastic body.
The Kanishka underground car park was just used by some of the car teams for storage and preparation. As the Ginetta was a circuit racing car the windows couldn't be opened (they just have a hole) it got incredibly hot inside and we had to duct air into the foot wells from the non standard vents below the headlights.
I don't remember a Lancia Stratos in 83, they are rather unforgettable. I wonder if Dhabar Behram has any details.

[Hell Kuul]

The Ginetta, was driven by a pair of guys who came on a "Drive" in the mountains, while the car is a potent machine - the drivers werent, but we are all glad they came. As for a "Stratos" - wishful thinking. An HF intrgrale came, but certainly not a Stratos.

As for sound, the best sounding car and also the fastest, and Beastiest was none other than the Manta. A close second was the 240RS. The most legendary driver to have competed in India - "Shekar Metha" (and that is till date)

Ive got pics of all these cars but i cant work out how to post them anymore, please make it a bit easier, i keep getting asked for an "URL"


Note from the Team-BHP Support : Please take the time to use proper punctuation as per Team-BHP rules. Avoid...typing...like...this. Thanks.

[planet_rocker]

Mr. Ali,

please check out this link: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/announ...-team-bhp.html

[karlosdeville]

Some nice period pics from Harit.

As you may be aware, the first Himalayan Rally started from Mumbai. At Babourne Stadium. A friend of mine took part with his car attached find 2 pics. The car was owned by Sandy Samuel, my friend and he is seen in the first pic navigating. The guy who drove was Phirose Engineer of Cease Fire fame. Unfortunately they crashed.
I found these pics by chance while clearing up.

Harit

I wonder what that interesting looking Jeep in the back is. An early Toyota perhaps?

[sudev]

Wow...Pemiers were a rage then. This was a great news for us just out of college then and the only thing that was happening up north was this event, which passed beyond Delhi.
Hardly any Amby's were finishing the events. Some may beg to differ though.

[Ina]

Hello,
does anyone have Pictures from Toyota Celica RA40 / Ta40 in 1980 ? Driver Marianne Höpfner /Oda Dencker Andersen 2nd Place behind Shekar Meta .
We bought this original Works Rallye Car last Year and now we restaurate this Car .
We need any informations.
Thanks
Ina Beck

Here are the Pictures:
Picasa-Webalben - Ina - Werks Celica

[Hell Kuul]

"I wonder what that interesting looking Jeep in the back is. An early Toyota perhaps?"

That Jeep is featured on page "3" .. its actually a willys wagoneer..

[Spitfire]

Originally Posted by Hell Kuul

"I wonder what that interesting looking Jeep in the back is. An early Toyota perhaps?"

That Jeep is featured on page "3" .. its actually a willys wagoneer..

Dont think its that Willys Wagoneer.

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by Spitfire

Dont think its that Willys Wagoneer.

It is indeed the same vehicle. The modified mudguards and aftermarket lights threw me off in the second picture.

[karlosdeville]

Some comments from Harit.

The Himalayan Rally has to be thoght about the time when this event took place. At that time we were still suffering under the planned economy follies, real Motor Sport was as good as non existant, we did have Indian Formulas but they were ridiculous. Please pardon this, but understand that I went to watch racing in Juhu, the climax was a race betweeen Gondals Maserati (today with Mallya), a special Jaguar home creation (I think that also belonged to Gondal and he still has it) and Mr. Nicholsons's Fiat 125. There was no chance to get real sports cars into India for racing. I personally saw one of the Stalwards of IARC at the airport arrival trying to bring out two rims fitted with Rally/racing tyres. Pathetic local customs rules. There is everything to say about the enthusiasm in Indian motor sports and the creativity to built racing/rally cars.
And then came along the Himalayan Rally. There were many foreign entries. Now, I have recollections of many tit bits and will put them on paper. I hope that Mr. Behram can comment and correct if need be because there was earlier another even, the London Sydney Rally and I may mix up some fact due to the fact that this kind of motor sport is not my subject and I do not discuss with others to keep up the memories.
These 2 photos posted were taken out by me earlier from a bunch which I had with me because my friend wanted them but now the bunch has to be rediscovered. Having so much valuable junk, I am continuously clearing and will post more pics as and when I find them.
Now for the titbits.
In one of the rally's a Jeep was entered by Atul Kirloskar powered by a Kirloskar diesel engine. This car was driven by Atul Kirloskar himself. If I remember, this engine was noisy and was not a commercial success.
At some rally's Mahindra Jeeps were entered. These had Mitsubishi engines installed. The secret was that Mahindra supplied the defence forces with Jeeps having these engines. They ran very well and were much better than Mahindra's own engines. If I remember, Jeeps first came with petrol engines and dieselisation was an Indian effort.
During the 1st Rally, the foreign cars were flagged of first, followed by the Indian creations. Sometime as these cars were flagged off, there was an announcement asking if someone would volunteer to offer a service vehicle to support a certain entry. Just imagine the inexperience and bad planning of that team.
During one rally we had our Indian Uncle George trying to sabotage the rally. I think that it was in Rajasthan, the cars were attacked, one German entry had a video camera mounted on the door and this was stolen. The rally became a parade under escort. Uncle George, if I remember correctly was against wasteful expenditure of foreign exchange.
In one Rally there was an entry, an Indian owned BMW of Manoj Kasliwal. Sadly, it soon failed after Bombay. At that time it was really an expensive and valuable car. This Manoj also owned a blue Fiat 124 sports, a fantatic car.
A Mercedes 450 saloon was imported and entered by a famous car dealer. The idea was to send back a scrap car tarted up but the plot failed and customs caught on. Did something similar not happen with an engine during the east asian run?
The earlier rallys were flagged off in Bombay, later on they were flagged og from Delhi.
In one rally there was some dispute and Mr. Joginder Singh did not drive any car is that rally though he was present in India.
The car photos I put up had a rally prepared engine, by Nicki garage which was probably in Naaz Cinema compound. Minit Seal was the first product promoted by Pheroze Engineer, other than the family biz of suitcases. Lateron came Cease Fire. Unfortunately he is no more.

Harit

[Hell Kuul]

Originally Posted by sudev

Wow...Pemiers were a rage then. This was a great news for us just out of college then and the only thing that was happening up north was this event, which passed beyond Delhi.
Hardly any Amby's were finishing the events. Some may beg to differ though.

Firstly dont put any dots after the "wow" youll get pinged, for misbehaviour, Put this in your record books, The only Indian car to actually lead an international event outright was a " HINDUSTAN AMBASSADOR".(only one dot there), Believe it or not, its true

[sudev]

@Hell Kuul : You would know better but as I said some may differ ;-)

The problems with Amby's vis Padmini's was that the suspensions in former were first to go - more like disintegrate - and while there may be outright leads but never a win. AFAIK