Click to play videoChikmagalur (Bangalore): Be it a Cedia, a Baleno, a Gypsy or the low cost Esteem, the car is stripped to its bare minimum, no back seat, no add on accessories to turn it into mean machines for car rallies.
But the engines and tires are replaced with rally tyres with extra treads specially made to traverse the dirt track. Even the engines of the cars are high-powered.
"You see a rally car, it is actually just a shell that looks like a normal street car but all the internals are different. Most are imported from different parts of the world. And we get different gearboxes, engines, tyres supplied by MRF; they are for rally use only and suspension components as well,” says winner, Team MRF, Coffee Day Rally Championship, Gaurav Gill.
And there are some special specifics to suit the terrain, which boasts of dangerously narrow and meandering tracks.
"There are the basic rules which we have to do before entering the rally. First of all, the car, we have strengthened the entire car so that it can withstand the terrain and then we made a road kit so that when we have a turtle, we should be safe inside,” says winner, 1600 cc category, Coffee Day Rally Championship, Arjun Rao.
And these are rules that apply to all rallyists and their cars - not just the few Cedia's and Balenos but also the low cost Esteems that make up for over half the rally market.
So while you can tinker with the engine, change the tyres and strip the car to it minimum, but to reach the chequered flag what you need, is speed.
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter and Google+)
displayed with permission. Use of the CNN name and/or logo on or as part of CNN-IBN does not derogate from the intellectual property rights of Cable News Network in respect of them.