Dust of 'Mysore Safari' settles in City

Soaring heat of the sun and trails of dust raising as cars drifted and raced to set the fastest lap was the setting at Hotel Lalitha Mahal Palace Grounds on Sunday. The occasion was the Mysore Safari Autocross, in which 49 participants competed in four categories to set the fastest lap time.

A healthy audience that came to witness the rally had their share of thrill and humour, thanks to some good rally cars participating in the contest. The race was held in novice class, 1400cc class, 1600cc class and Indian Open class.

Flying lap

In the Autocross competition, local lad from Mysore, Sayed Salman emerged with the fastest lap of the day at the circuit. Riding a Honda City, the driver took a mere 1 min 13 secs and 17 millisecs, to drive around the 1900 metres track, with bends and tight curves at an average speed of 93 km per hour, which was well appreciated by the crowd. He was the winner in the 1600cc class. Druva Chandrasekar, a driver from Bangalore took the top prize in 1400cc class and Indian Open Class, clocking 1 min 17 secs 35 millisecs and 1 min 13 secs 71 millisecs in a Honda City and Maruti Baleno respectively.

The demo run of a mean 2200cc Mitsubishi Lancer from Lohith Urs from Mysore took the crowd to their feet. Though he clocked a lap in 1 min 06 secs, the car stalled in the second lap, owing to technical glitches.

The tyre of a car participating in the rally, detached from the car at the start line as the driver pushed the throttle to set a fast lap. The fate of the driver, though unfortunate, caused bursts of laughter at the venue, while the tyre came to rest, a good half a kilometre from the starting line. Prize distribution of the first ever national level Time Speed Distance (TSD) rally was also held at the end of the demo Autocross.

The team of a husband-wife pair from Bangalore, Satish Gopalkrishnan and Savera D’Souza won the overall championship of the event held in six stages around the country.