The JK Tyre Himalayan Drive 7, India’s only international TSD (Time, Speed, Distance) rally, ended on an intense, patriotic note late on Saturday, March 2, with the participants paying homage to the martyrs of the Pulwama terror strike and the winners dedicating their victories to the country’s armed forces.

The four-time Himalayan Drive champions, Ajgar Ali and Mohammed Musthafa, made it even more memorable by their touching gesture of donating their entire prize money of Rupees one lakh to a fund that will help the families of the fallen CRPF soldiers.

The rally’s prize distribution ceremony at Club Montana Vista in Siliguri on Saturday evening commenced with the national anthem, followed by a two-minute silence in memory of the victims of the perfidy at Pulwama.

Among the dignitaries present were the Deputy Inspector General of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) Amit Kumar, Air Commodore (retired) S. K. Agarwal, Siliguri Range Deputy Inspector General of CRPF Sunil Kumar Sabita, Colonel Jagdeep Singh and Income Tax Commissioner Pankaj Kumar.

The dignitaries, including representatives of the sponsors, the competitors and the organisers, lit candles in front of a collage of portraits of the Pulwama martyrs. Air Commodore (retired) Agarwal, speaking on behalf of India’s armed forces, recalled his training as a fighter pilot and the commitment of soldiers to sacrifice their lives for the country.

He also recalled interacting with Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman who was a high school student when Agarwal was posted at an IAF base along with Abhinandan’s father Air Marshal (retired) S Varthaman.

At the prize distribution ceremony that followed, most of the winners in the various categories dedicated their successes to the country’s armed forces. Rally champion Ajgar Ali from the port town of Haldia in West Bengal announced, to thunderous applause, that he would donate his prize money of One Lakh Rupees to the CRPF welfare fund for martyrs’ families.

The gesture was widely appreciated. Ajgar’s younger brother Shaikh Ibrahim, who came fourth in the open category, also dedicated his victory to India’s armed forces and thanked the country’s soldiers for guarding the country in the face of extreme adversities. The winners in the other categories also paid homage to the armed forces and to fallen soldiers.

After four days of cross-country rallying, the team of Ajgar Ali and Mohammed Musthafa successfully defended their title at JK Tyre Himalayan Drive 7. Hailing from the small port town of Haldia in West Bengal, Ajgar Ali, along with Erode’s Mohammed Musthafa, achieved the rare feat of winning their third successive title in the country’s only international TSD (Time, Speed, Distance) rally.

In the national category, Ajgar Ali and Mohammed Musthafa ended with a final tally of 1110 penalty points. Securing the second position were the team of Gagan Sethi and navigator Rajkumar Mundra with 1847 penalty points, while veteran rallyist Jogendra Jaiswal and co-driver Nagarajan Thangaraj were unlucky to end their JK Tyre Himalayan Drive 7 campaign in third position with 2035 penalty points.

In the open category, the team of Govind Dalmia and Anand Agarwal emerged victorious edging past Rohit Agarwal and Kunal Joshi to finish with 9149 penalty points. The Agarwal-Joshi team scored 9691 penalty points securing the second position. Finishing third in this category were the team of Suyash Raj and Mohammad Sharif with 10796 penalty points.

This year’s title battle saw a nail-biting finish. The team of Jogendra Jaiswal and Nagarajan Thangaraj who started the final day (Day 4, Saturday) as championship leaders lost their bid to the crown in the very final moments of the rally by missing the penultimate time control, picking up 900 penalty points due to this single error. The Jaiswal-Thangaraj team had a score of 690 penalty points at the start of leg 5 (Day 4) of the rally that was flagged off on Saturday morning from Kalimpong. They were followed closely by Ali-Musthafa duo with 703 penalty points and at distant third place were the team of Gagan Sethi and Rajku6mar Mundra with 1147 penalty points.

“We made a big mistake (by missing the second-last time control) and we handed the championship title to them (Ajgar and Musthafa). It is a disappointment for us, but the winners deserve the title. Such things happen and we have to take in true sportsmanship spirit,” said Nagarajan Thangaraj.

“We are very happy to score this hat trick. It was a very exciting rally and I can say that the seventh edition of JK Tyre Himalayan Drive was the best TSD rally in the country till date. The competitive sections were superb and posed a tough challenge to drivers, navigators and our cars. The rally routes were meticulously planned to ensure that tricky and tough challenges were thrown at the competitors and tested both man and machine,” said Ajgar Ali. He was also all praise for Just Sportz, the rally organisers. “This rally is always well-organised and everything is transparent,” Ali added.

This year’s victory takes the total winning tally of Ajgar Ali and Mohammed Musthafa to four Himalayan Drive titles (2013, 2017, 2018 and 2019) since the event was first held in 2013. The team of Sudip Ghosh and navigator Arindam Ghosh were the only other team to have won this title more than once (2014 and 2016). Anubhav De and co-driver Chandan Sen won the title in 2015.

The last leg of the rally was flagged off from the Kalimpong stadium by the Chairman of Kalimpong Municipality, Ravi Pradhan, in the presence of senior officials of Kalimpong district. Saturday’s leg was a tough one starting with a steep climb on the road from Mungpoo to Jorebungalow that was lined with verdant forests and offered majestic views of snow-capped peaks of the eastern Himalayas for a few kilometres. This was followed by another competitive section downhill through winding mountain roads of Rohini. The third and last competitive section was a tough drive stretching over nearly 23 kilometers through the bed of the Mechi river that forms the border between India and Nepal.

The JK Tyre Himalayan Ddrive 7, which was organised in association with EXPERIENCE BENGAL (West Bengal Tourism), covered 880 kilometers over four action-packed days. Competitors traversed through the verdant Dooars area of North Bengal to enter Bhutan to reach the enchanting Paro Valley before returning through the Dooars to climb up the Darjeeling Hills till Kalimpong and then descend to Siliguri in the final leg of this premier rally.

JK Tyre Himalayan Drive 7 not only promotes motorsports, but also showcases the enormous tourism potential of North Bengal and Bhutan. This rally has been playing a stellar role in developing ‘People To People’ connect between Bengal and its neighbours in this part of South Asia, besides being an important driver for tourism in the region. Apart from being the only international TSD rally from India, JK Tyre Himalayan Drive 7 is unique and distinct from all other motorsports rallies in the country since it covers a wide variety of terrain ranging from tarmac, river beds, dirt tracks, forest roads and mountainous roads.

After four challenging legs stretching over three hectic days and two countries, the title battle for the JK Tyre Himalayan Drive 7 is going down the wire with Jogendra Jaiswal and co-driver Nagarajan Thangaraj edging past defending champions Ajgar Ali and Mohammed Musthafa by a slender margin of 13 points.

In the national category, the Jaiswal-Thangaraj finished the fourth leg (on Day 3) with a total score of 690 penalty points, closely followed by Ali-Musthafa with 703 penalty points. At a distant third was the team of Gagan Sethi and Rajkumar Mundra with 1147 penalty points.

In the open category, the team of Rohit Agarwal and Kunal Joshi were leading at the end of Day 3 with 6364 penalty points, followed by the team of Govind Dalmia and Anand Agarwal, and the duo Suyash Raj and Mohammed Sharif occupying the second and the third positions in the leaderboard with 6829 penalty points and 7097 penalty points respectively.

With the competition for the top spot getting hotter, the final leg of the rally from Kalimpong to Siliguri on Saturday will prove to be the decider.

After a thrilling night leg that saw the competitors tackle dirt sections and sharp bends while traversing from Siliguri to Murti on Wednesday (February 27), defending champion duo of Sk. Ajgar Ali and navigator Md. Musthafa got off to a winning start finishing leg 1 with 311 penalty points. Closely following on their heels and separated by only nine penalty points were the team of veteran rallyist Jogendra Jaiswal and co-driver Nagarajan Thangaraj. In a distant third, but still in title contention, were the team of V Santosh Kumar and C Sakhtivel with 380 penalty points.

Having navigated through a night leg for the first time in Himalayan Drive, the competitors seemed visibly happy. Some of teams are locked in tight battle, being separated by only a handful of points, making the next leg crucial to stay relevant in the title contention. However, the first leg also saw two DNFs, one on account of hose pipe damage and having to head back to baser due to a personal emergency.

The second leg of the rally, India’s only international TSD (Time, Speed, Distance) rally, was flagged off on Thursday morning from Murti. The competitors drove through tarmac that sliced through the Gorumara National Park which is home to the one-horned rhino and the Asiatic elephant, and then through dirt tracks beside a river, past Binnaguri army base and the Hasimara Air Force station before crossing tea estates and then a river bed till the end of the competitive section just short of Jaigaon on the Indo-Bhutan border.

After completing immigration formalities at the Bhutanese border town of Phuentsholing, the rallyists started the climb up steep mountainous roads for over three hours to reach Paro. This stretch of the drive was thrilling with temperatures plummeting to below freezing point. A stretch of the highway to Paro was blanketed in thick fog that reduced visibility to near-zero.

The third leg of the rally from Paro to Kalimpong in the Darjeeling Hills will be the longest, covering over 300 kilometers.

The name Kamiq continues the already familiar nomenclature of Skoda SUV models. The names of the larger models, the Skoda Karoq and Skoda Kodiaq, both also start with the letter K and end in a Q and owes it origin to the language of the Inuit people.

ŠKODA AUTO CEO, Bernhard Maier, said, “By introducing the ŠKODA KAMIQ, we are completing our successful European SUV portfolio at the lower end. As our first city SUV, the ŠKODA KAMIQ will captivate new customer groups for the ŠKODA brand and it is therefore an important component of our model campaign. The ŠKODA KAMIQ offers an attractive overall package and combines SUV‑typical characteristics such as the elevated seat position and a good view of the road with agile handling, an emotive design, a high level of safety and state-of-the-art connectivity. Furthermore, its generous amount of space and many Simply Clever features make it a real ŠKODA.”

The Skoda Kamiq continues the successful SUV design language from the Kodiaq and the Karoq and comes with new visual highlights such as the split headlights featuring the daytime running lights above the main headlights. The city SUV is based on the modular transverse matrix (MQB) and, with a length of 4,241 mm, offers the Skoda-typical generous amount of space.

Modern assistance systems, environmentally friendly and efficient drive systems, the latest infotainment systems and state-of-the-art connectivity solutions ensure the Skoda Kaniq perfectly fulfils the requirements of modern individual mobility – all whilst further consolidating the emotiveness of the Skoda brand.

“With the expansion of our SUV family, we have not only focused on a uniform design language, the clear line of the names containing a K and a Q also accentuates the coherence and has a high recognition value. In the language of the Inuit, KAMIQ embodies something in which you feel comfortable in any situation and that has its own character. That suits this car perfectly,” explained Alain Favey, ŠKODA AUTO Board Member for Sales and Marketing.

With the Kamiq, Skoda is tapping into a new, younger target group that pursues a modern, adventure-oriented lifestyle in the increasingly popular city SUV segment. Apart from a car’s off-road appearance, a high level of efficiency is especially important in this segment and the Kamiq is therefore exclusively available with front-wheel drive.

Top rallyist from across the country are set to prove their mettle in India’s only multi-nation TSD drive that gets underway here on Wednesday morning.

The 880-km JK Tyre Himalayan Drive 7, which is being organised in association with Experience Bengal (West Bengal Tourism), will see the competitors drive their mean machines for four days through majestic locations in North Bengal, scenic hills in Darjeeling and various picturesque routes in Bhutan.

The TSD drive which draws inspiration from West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s vision of connecting Bengal to its neighbours and encouraging people to people connectivity in the region, will cover a wide variety of terrain, ranging from tarmac, river beds, dirt tracks, forest paths to mountainous roads.

While the entire route will pose a great challenge to the competitors, it will test them to the hilt in Paro in Bhutan where the drivers might have to drive in extreme tricky conditions due to the impending snowfall prediction.

Sanjay Sharma, Head JK Motorsport, said, “We are really excited about the event. It is India’s only international TSD drive that provides a great opportunity to our top rallyists to stretch themselves to the limit, besides giving a huge boost to motorsports in the region.”

The drivers will take-off from Siliguri post the ceremonial flag-off and travel all the way to Murti, driving past North Bengal’s lush forests, river banks and embankments and idyllic towns.

The second leg will see the drivers start their journey from Murti to Paro, going through tea gardens and forests that are home to a rich variety of flora and fauna, including the Royal Bengal Tiger, the one-horned rhino and the Asiatic elephant before entering Bhutan through Phuentsholing.

From Phuentsholing, the competitors will hit the mountain roads filled with hairpin bends and steep gradients that offer spectacular views of the Himalayan heights, before entering the breath-taking Paro Valley.

On the third day, they drive back from Paro Valley through Dooars and cross the iconic Coronation Bridge over Teesta river to reach Kalimpong.

The final leg of this rally on Saturday will have the competitors drive down from Kalimpong, cross the Teesta bridge, Mungpoo, Jorebunglow and Kurseong before descending into the plains through Rohini.

After reaching the plains, they will go through Dudhia and Panighata, the riverbeds of Menjha and Mechi, and touch Naxalbari before taking the Asian Highway 2 and then National Highway 27 to finish at the City Center at Siliguri, where the prize distribution will take place in the evening in a gala function.

Volkswagen is committed to the Paris Climate Agreement and is laying the groundwork for sustainable mobility with its electric offensive. The new ID. that goes into production in Zwickau at the end of the year will play a pioneering role.  As the Group’s first electric car it will be CO2 neutral throughout the entire life cycle if the customer consistently charges with green power.

Regarding the manufacturing phase alone, the carbon footprint of the ID. will be improved by more than 1 million tons of CO2 per year. This is roughly the climate impact of a coal- fired power plant that supplies 300,000 households with electricity. In addition, Volkswagen is working on a comprehensive decarbonization program that includes measures for other models. The brand will offer more than 20 fully electric models by 2025.

“Climate change is the greatest challenge of our times,” said Thomas Ulbrich, the Board Member responsible for e-mobility at the Volkswagen brand. “As the world’s largest car manufacturer, Volkswagen is assuming responsibility: The new ID. will be the Group’s first climate-neutrally produced electric car. To ensure that it remains emission free during its life cycle, we are working on many different ways to use green power. Truly sustainable mobility is feasible if we all want it and we all work on it.”

Georg Kell, the founding director of the U.N. Global Compact and spokesperson for the Volkswagen Group Sustainability Council, says: “CO2 emissions produced by humans must be reduced as quickly as possible. Since its foundation, the Volkswagen Sustainability Council has worked hard to ensure that the company makes climate protection one of its strategic priorities. Volkswagen is taking the right approach with its electric offensive and the ID. Now it’s time to powerfully put this plan into motion.”

For the ID., Volkswagen has focused the entire value chain on the goal of avoiding and reducing CO2 emission. The battery cells will be produced in Europe, the energy will come from green power sources. More savings potential in the supply chain that extends all the way back to raw material production is being examined with the help of direct and indirect suppliers. The plant in Zwickau is already using externally produced power from renewable sources. Unavoidable emissions in the manufacturing process are offset by investments in certified climate projects. As a result, the ID. will be manufactured CO2 neutral right from the start.

For charging, Volkswagen recommends the use of energy from renewable sources like wind power and hydro-power. The new Volkswagen subsidiary Elli has recently begun to offer regeneratively produced electricity called Volkswagen Naturstrom. The IONITY fast-charging network created by Volkswagen and other car manufacturers will offer green power at about 400 charging locations on European motorways – wherever available.

Because electric cars are only as clean as the power that is used to produce and charge them, Volkswagen expressly supports Germany’s planned transition to sustainable energy supplies. Even beyond the energy transformation, the breakthrough of electric mobility can be achieved only in an alliance with political leaders. From residential property law to the expansion of public charging infrastructure, the goal should be to quickly remove the barriers standing in the way of electric cars.

Volkswagen wants to make the electric car attractive and affordable for as many people as possible. The compact ID.1 will roll off the assembly line in Zwickau starting in late 2019. The SUV ID. CROZZ1, the ID. BUZZ1 and the sedan ID. VIZZION1 will follow soon thereafter. The Volkswagen brand alone plans to invest about €9 billion in e-mobility by 2023.

Having earned accolades and admiration of competitors and media alike, Just Sportz Management Pvt. Ltd. is back with yet another edition of their flagship event – JK Tyre Himalayan Drive 7. The TSD (Time, Speed, Distance) Car Rally is undoubtedly the biggest motor sporting event of eastern India and will witness nearly 30 teams battling for glory which includes some of the biggest names in this part of the country.

The four-day event will be flagged off on February 27 from City Centre in Siliguri and will traverse through the picturesque landscapes of North Bengal and neighbouring Bhutan. Each year, motor sports enthusiasts ardently look forward to this thrilling action and adventure which promises some challenging terrains and breathtaking beauty, all in the beautiful backdrop of the mighty Eastern Himalayas.

For the first time in HD’s history, this year’s rally will feature a night stage which is likely to make this event even more exciting. A significant amount of dirt section will feature in the 800 kilometres rally route that will test the grit and determination of both man and machine. Each of the four legs will be equally important, with the battle for the top honours expected to go down to the final day of the HD7.

Hereunder is the tentative schedule for HD7:

27 February 2019 : 08:00 – 12:00 Hrs : Vehicle Scrutiny at Montana Vista, Siliguri
27 February 2019 : 13:00 Hrs : Driver’s Briefing at Montana Vista, Siliguri
27 February 2019 : 16:00 Hrs : Rally Flag Off from City Centre, Siliguri. Leg I from Siliguri to Murti; Night Halt at Murti
28 February 2019 : 08:00 Hrs : Leg II from Murti to Paro (Bhutan); Night Halt at Paro
01 March 2019 : 08:00 Hrs : Leg III from Paro (Bhutan) to Kalimpong , Night Halt at Kalimpong
02 March 2019 : 08:00 Hrs : Leg IV from Kalimpong to Siliguri
02 March 2019 : 20:00 Hrs : Prize Distribution at City Centre, Siliguri