The fourth edition of the Jangalmahal car rally proved to be an action-packed road thriller as the route took the four-wheeler participants through some challenging terrains.
It was a test of skill and manoeuvrability for the drivers and competence for the navigators in the Time Speed Distance (TSD) rally, where reaching the finishing point first does not necessarily fetch the highest points. One needs to reach the finishing point at the right time to be declared the winner.
A total of 20 four-wheelers were flagged off from Calcutta Rowing Club on Friday for the Ultratech Cement Presents Jangalmahal on the Move 4 in association with The Telegraph.
The vehicles did a free run from Calcutta to reach Jangalmahal Rajbari, from where the rally started on Saturday.
It was a 180-km roller coaster through jungle terrain, moram tracks, tarmac and hills in Jhargram.
After starting from the Rajbari, the cars moved through Doijhudi, Silda, Belpahari, Kankrajhor, Churimara, Gulabeda, Dharsha, Chilkigarh Rajbari and Jamboni before reaching an abandoned airstrip in Dudhkundi, a 5-km stretch where the closing ceremony was held.
Of the participating cars, a few met with accidents and could not complete the rally. There were 36 time-control zones, including self-time control zones.
Time control zones are spots along the rally route where stewards note the time the participants reach the zones. Participants are penalised for reaching a zone early or late.
Among the participating cars, there were several Jimnys, Swifts, Thars, Esteems and Gypsys. Well-known rally drivers from the east who took part in the Jangalmahal included Asgar Ali, Somdeb Chanda, Manish Chakrabarti and Joginder Jaiswal.
One of the participating teams had only women members. The driver was Mili Oraon.
The first prize in the expert category was won by Asgar Ali, who paired with navigator Mk Mohammad Mustafa. Joginder Kr Jaiswal won the second prize in the same category with Prakash Muthusamy as navigator.
The third prize went to Subhamoy Roy, whose navigator was Souradeep Dutta.
Mili Oraon and navigator Indrani Rudra Chandra aced the amateur category, while Sagarnil Sengupta and navigator Sanjit Chaudhuri came second in the same category.
Manish Chakrabarti, paired with navigator Soham Pal, aced the club and corporate category.
“In this fourth edition of the Jangalmahal rally, we had a fantastic rally route. The Indian Air Force permitted us to use an abandoned airstrip at Dudhkundi. The rally ran through dense forest areas and many lost their way there. It was quite challenging this
time,” said Debasish Bhattacharya of the Kolkata Automotive Sports Association (KASA), which organised the rally.