Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm is organized by motorsport club, Northern Motorsport who are also behind the famous Maruti Suzuki Autocross and the India Baja (qualifier to Dakar 2018).
Desert Storm has unmatched patronage in the country and has produced some excellent rallyists over the years like Sunny Sidhu, Suresh Rana etc. Each year it sees over 100 participants from Indian Army, Maruti Team, and many from all across the country congregate to take part in the battleground of a desert. Since its inception Desert Storm has been an event to look for as the rally traverses from Bikaner, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer for over 2000 km in a period of 7 days.
Desert Storm 2018
The rally in 2018 shall run in four formats, Xtreme, Xplore, Endure and Moto, following gives a lowdown on each one of them :
- Xtreme – Open for 4 *4 rally prepared vehicles, this remains the classic format of Desert Storm and challenges the participants to the maximum as one has to cover the entire rally in fastest time.
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Moto– the category is meant for bikes and tracks are same as that of Xtreme format and runs on fastest time concept. Moto in Desert Storm gets extremely challenging with sand dunes playing it tough on competitors and navigation being a key component.
- Xplore (2 wheel drive) & Endure (4 wheel drive) – the two formats run on a TSD (Time- Speed- Distance) format Rally is not a Race. A Roadbook is provided to Driver and Navigator, which has all the instructions on distances and directions, while a Speed Chart is provided to ascertain ideal speed and time they should move on. Now, the Navigator in a TSD has an important role to play, as he/ she calculates the ideal time to reach at every point as per designated speed, with which they need to move.
The tracks in Desert Storm are handpicked and pass through small picturesque villages and offroad tracks which are challenging, beautiful and will test one’s driving as well as navigational skills. As per difficulty level of tracks, the whole TSD competition in Desert Storm is divided into two categories Xplore(2WD) and Ndure(4WD).
Source: https://desertstorm.in
Image Source: https://www.flickr.com
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