There were no cars screaming along dirt roads, sliding out of corners, flying over bumps, or spinning into ditches amidst clouds of dust. The Nestor Heritage Run 2010 was, like most TSD (Time-Speed-Distance) rallies, no white-knuckle ride but a quiet test of precision driving as it travelled to some of Karnataka's historical tourism hotspots.
After a miserably sleep-deprived three days and nearly 1,000 kilometres of driving, it was the pair of Amul Satosker and M.K. Mustafa that finished on top, with a total penalty of 1:29s, 13 seconds better than anyone else. Leading at the end of day two, it was a nervous final day for the duo, as they began with only a two-second advantage over the first day's leaders, Amitrajit Ghosh and Somdeb Chanda. Satosker, of Goa, and co-driver Mustafa, of Tamil Nadu, though, were unerring as they cantered home.
The defining final day's journey started and ended at Mysore, beginning with a drive up and down the Chamundi hills, at sunrise. As early morning joggers gawked, the cars meandered around the giant Nandi statue and descended towards Nanjangud. The rally then took competitors through sequences of narrow lanes and tight corners in a series of hamlets just outside the city. “Today's drive was very challenging,” said Satosker. “But we did well in the zigzagging roads in the village areas. If the average speed needed to be 38 [kmph], we were doing 38 [kmph], on the dot.” The unassuming Goan, though, expressed surprise at his victory. “I thought I'd finish fifth or sixth, and never expected to be in front. So I was really tense today.”
He was also effusive in his praise for his navigator. “Mustafa is always really good. He needed to be extremely accurate today and he was.”
The rally began early Friday morning at Bangalore, as all 41 cars undertook the first leg's 350 km journey to Chikmagalur that took them through Halebidu, once the capital of the Hoysala empire, and Mullaiyanagiri.
The highest peak in the State, Mullaiyanagiri was perhaps more challenging for the poor visibility on the roads leading up to it, shrouded in mist as they were, than anything else. The party descended on Chikmagalur, for what little rest was possible, before another early start the following day.
If the first leg was mildly scenic, the second was deep-fried in the stuff. The first few hours took the bunch on a drive deep inside coffee country, up into the plantations in the hills, where the brumous air left faces moist, and fingers numb.
Along the way to Mysore, day two's overnight stop, the rally traversed Bylakuppe, a large Tibetan settlement (where, incidentally, the Dalai Lama is expected this week), the ancient Shettarahalli church — half-submerged in the Hemavathi river after the dam came up — near Gorur, and Belur.
Besides the overall title, Satosker and Mustafa also, naturally, won that in the Car category while Umakanth Alva and Sunil Shetty of Karnataka, returning after a lengthy hiatus, finished first in the SUV category.
The event may have wound down in a bleak industrial enclave in Mysore, but those fortunate enough to have been part of the preceding three days would be hard pressed to deny that it was a brilliantly conceived one.
