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| Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm 2010 promises to be even tougher |
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| New Delhi, February 14, 2010 |
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India's leading car manufacturer Maruti
Suzuki flagged off the Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm 2010 here today. The participating
cars were flagged off by Mr. Shashank Srivastava, Chief General Manager
(Marketing), Maruti Suzuki, from Noida. The 8th edition of Maruti Suzuki
Desert Storm promises to be tougher than ever before as the terrain is worse
and the distances are longer this time around.
This year's edition of Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm is witnessing the highest
ever participation by motorsport enthusiasts. The 250 rallyists with 100
odd cars and 20 bikes will be traversing over 3,000 km through the interiors
of Rajasthan and along the Gujarat coastline before culminating at Udaipur
in Rajasthan.
Compared to the last edition of the Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm where rallyists
have had to drive 20-30 kms of tough terrain at each leg, rallyists will
now be driving through at least 100-200 kms of rough tracks every day. While
it will put the vehicles and the drivers under tremendous stress, the rallyists
with their cars and bikes are undeterred.
While flagging off the rally, Mr. Srivastava said, "Maruti Suzuki has been
the pioneer in motorsport in India. For over a decade, it has been making
serious efforts to bring motorsport to amateur as well as professional motorsport
enthusiasts. We organize the most challenging motorsport events in the country
such as Maruti Suzuki Raid-de-Himalaya and Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm. Recently,
we started Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare to expand the geographical presence
of our motoring events. These efforts are showing very encouraging results.
A striking feature of this year's Desert Storm is the highest participation
and over 35 per cent participants are first timers."
"Maruti Suzuki will continue its efforts to create more motoring opportunities
for young Indians and popularise motorsport", Mr. Srivastava added, while
reiterating the company's increasing focus on motorsport in times to come.
Following the ceremonial flag-off in New Delhi, the rallyists will assemble
at Paota (on Delhi ¿ Jaipur highway) where the first competitive section
starts on February 14 night. The participants will be flagged off close
to midnight from Paota towards Bikaner.
The rally will thereafter halt at Bikaner before proceeding towards the
sand dunes of Jaisalmer. As the desert sand of the mighty Thar greets the
rallyists in the backdrop of the medieval fort, the four-wheel drive vehicles
will come into their element. After the Rajasthan desert, the next halt
will be at Bhuj, which is at the periphery of the Great Rann of Kutch in
Gujarat.
Here, the participants will rev up their vehicles and sprint across the
wet and dry sand along the beach on Gujarat coastline. The rallyists will
spend two nights at Bhuj in a specially setup tent camp site. The camp site
at Bhuj is very close to the Indo-Pakistan border and has the reputation
to be fairly inhospitable. The rally will finally culminate at Udaipur.
The weary rally drivers will get an opportunity to unwind finally at the
Rally Ball and the prize distribution ceremony on the evening of February
19.
Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm participants include doctors, engineers, businessmen
and even homemakers, across age groups. There are also a few all-women teams
and husband-wife teams as well. The Indian Army will be also sending its
teams.
The six-day rally is one of the toughest motor-sports events in India. The
rally is a mix of adventure, thrill and fear for the participants as they
tread through uncharted territory and experience the rocky and uncertain
Aravalli, the formidable Thar Desert, and the slippery white sands of the
Rann of Kutch in quick succession.
The route will take the 250 rallyists through competitive and transport
sections. The competitive section includes tough, off-road terrain that
has gravel, sand and rocks, while the transport section is run on normal
inter-city state highways.
Under the Xtreme category, there will be 11 stages: Quake Zone, Tropic Of
Cancer, Beach Run, Twilight Zone, Bad Max +, Nuclear Zone, Airport Express,
Never Ending Saga, Twister, Runn off Kutch and Wild Cat. The Xplore category,
on the other hand, will have six stages: Morning Light, On to the sea, Night
& Day, Sand Dunes, Pilgrim Passage, and Bad Max +.
Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm is being organized in partnership with Northern
Motorsport for the 8th year in the running. Northern Motorsports is one
of the leading motorsport organizations in India. It organizes a range of
motorsport events for Maruti Suzuki including Autocross, Rally of the North,
etc. With a team of well-known automotive enthusiasts, Northern Motorsport
and Maruti Suzuki are together exploring the unexplored terrains of motorsports
in India. Northern Motorsport has upped the difficulty quotient of the Desert
Storm this year again to justify the tag line of `the ultimate adventure'.
On the first leg itself, the rallysists will be greeted by the prospect
of driving some 70 kms through the night on boulder strewn roads across
the Aravallis, crossing semi-dry river beds, etc. |
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