Kalinga Green car rally makes a splash

After two days of revving engines and muck-raking driving, a couple of airfields on the outskirts of Baripada in Orissa finally fell silent on Friday, as the Kalinga Green Car Rally drew to a close with driver Prasanta Paul and navigator Prasenjit Roy emerging winners.
The time-speed-distance (TSD) rally routed in and about Rasgobindopur and Rajabasa airfields over two days tested the vehicles over 250 km, on terrain including morum, grass, concrete and broken tarmac.With average speeds going well-over the usual pace, the 10 cars in contention were compelled to floor the pedal throughout the Kalinga Motor Sports Club's maiden rally.
While Day One involved flat concrete surfaces with a smattering of morum thereby, eliciting high speeds, the following day had the vehicles dealing with a sticky mud circuit cut through a grassy field, making it primarily a drivers' race.
"The set-up of the circuit, the kinds of surfaces involved and the speed controls made it one of the most exciting rallies that I've done in recent years. After a long time, the thrill factor was reintroduced into a rallying event in this part of the country. And it feels even better since we won," Prasanta Paul, the winning driver, told TOI.
Further, Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India official Ravi Singhania, who was also the official steward of the rally, felt that though it was TSD event, it had many features of Special Stage rally. "As far as I can remember, there hasn't been an event like this in Eastern India in at least the last 20 years," he added.
The Kalinga Motor Sports Club is now looking at upgrading the event to Special Stage rally and making it an annual affair. "We want to get out of the rut of slow-speed rallies here and give an opportunity to enthusiasts to test themselves and their machines," veteran rallyist and rally co-organiser Mitil Chakravarty said.