The rally itself was a way to raise awareness of road safety in India and in particular for the Rashtriya Life Saving Society - RLSS (India)
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We opened a number of Life saving centres on our way to Mumbai from the Rajpath in Delhi.
When this event was put together the world was a very different place the term credit crunch was only spoken of in a few circles as a theoretical possibility and the tragic events in November had not happened. We had set up and arranged a number of events which we were intending to invite the public and media too in order to generate as much publicity as was possible for the charities and of course to increase the amount of money which would be donated.
It was a very well put together rally and we thought we had covered ever possible eventuality. In this we were of course sadly overtaken by events in November and consequently had to drastically alter the rally to accommodate this, initially we were to have been staying in the Taj opposite India Gate as this had both significance to HRH Prince Michael of Kent GCVO and also lent its name to the original title of the rally Gate to Gate – the Great Rally of India. The General Manager Karambir Singh Kang was instrumental in helping to organise this event along with a number of other members of the Taj hotel group.
These plans were still all in place when some of the rally attendees and its organiser (my Father) Philip Strickland attended the Cartier event and were busy promoting the rally whilst there.
For reference Philip is a founder member of Benjafield’s Racing Club, former Chairman and current Competitions Captain but does not run the Club, which is done by an executive committee lead by the Chairman.
After the events of the 26 November, the rally suddenly took on a far more serious tone than a few friends mucking around in cars for charity. We had to have meetings with both the high council of India, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office here in the UK as well as number of meetings with Officials from the India and British security services.
Initially the advice was given that the event should be cancelled entirely then after further discussion postponed indefinitely, sadly this lead to a number of sponsors pulling out as well as some of the original entrants to the rally. After some protracted discussions we were finally advised the rally could continue but under the prevision that there was absolutely no pre-publicity about the event and all reporting on the event had to be done historically after the rally had passed through the specified route.
It should be stressed at no point did the club or indeed the majority of the rallies participants consider cancelling the rally. Foolhardy might be the way some people would describe this action; however the club felt and still feels it would have been a greater disservice to India to have done so.
Having completed a similar rally back in 2000 we were aware as the organisers of the great love India has for the cars and it was beyond question the rally would go ahead we did, however, concede we would have to bow to the concerns of the Security Services. More importantly it was felt this was precisely the type of event which the attacks were designed to scare off and in cancelling it would have played into hands of the attackers.
We are not by nature a political club race, creed, class etc are all utterly irrelevant when it comes to racing what matters is can you cut it on the track. This to my knowledge is the only occasion where the club has reluctantly taken a political stance in saying we would not bow to terrorism.
This did of course present a number of problems in how to promote a rally and the charity without being able to promote it.
As a result a number of amendments had to be made to the original route of the rally and the events we had planned to attend. As much as was possible, the rally didn’t deviate from its original plan or route. We ensured ever Life saving centre we were scheduled to have opened was opened and indeed actually increased this number during the course of the rally as events unfolded.
The rally started off from the Rajpath as planned and we travelled onwards towards our goal in Mumbai, blissfully unaware of the politics we had now unfortunately become a small part of. Sadly as we reached the city of Udaipur we received credible intelligence regarding a possible threat to the rally and the wider public, at this point we were entirely committed to continuing with exhibiting at the CCI.
By the time we had arrived in Ahmedabad however these threats had become significantly more concrete and as a result we began to alter the rallies plans. This included on advice cancelling the CCI exhibition. We genuinely attempted to find every possible solution to the cancellation and after some pressure it was accepted that although the cars would not go to the CCI a representation of the rally including HRH Prince Michael would attend the formal dinner there. It came as a bitter blow as we had all intended to display the cars in all their battle scars and beauty and invite the public to come and see them, sit in them and all the usual exposure these events give the public to the cars.
As part of the changes to the rally however we felt it was also important to honour those affected by the attacks and the rally including HRH Prince Michael met with staff from the Taj Palace hotel who had been involved in the heroic actions. As a direct result of the events and also in recognition of the actions of the staff we made a direct donation to the fund set up after the attacks.
We are dreadfully sorry to everyone disappointed by our late cancellation and I would like to take this opportunity to apologise on behalf of the club for events outside of our control leading to this disappointment.
We will undoubtedly be returning at some point in the future and hope that it is in happier times for India and of course Mumbai.
I will of course be happy to answer any and all questions you may have regarding this matter either here or on our own sites forums. For obvious reasons some details may have remain undisclosed.
Edward Strickland
Web editor
Benjafield’s Racing Club.co.uk