20 Days of Adventure in the Subcontinent - Pearl of India 2025
India speaks many things to many people, a birthplace of religions, a symphony of culture and a cacophonous bombardment of one’s senses as eyes, ears and noses are flooded by the colour, the noise and the scents of a land that appears to function on chaos. Look a little deeper though and there is serenity to be found, far from the madding crowd into India’s extensive rural regions, that offer desert, and jungle and mountains and so much more. What could possibly make all of this more exciting? Well, seeing it all on a 6000-mile rally, of course.
That is what is in the offing when the Pearl of India 2025 commences on the 16th of February. A loop of this mystical land, beginning and ending in the coastal city of Mumbai, one of the planets largest populaces and perhaps offering the competitors a baptism by fire on the first few miles of the event, as they experience the thrill, if thrill is the correct adjective, of India’s cosmopolitan traffic for the first time.
Before them are 20 days of travel, competition and camaraderie through the land that Martin Luther King described as being somewhere he does not visit as a tourist, but as a pilgrim. But what can they expect? Well, according to HERO-ERA Competition Director, Guy Woodcock, India will play games with the competitor’s senses, with the navigation through the cities putting the drivers and navigators under far more stress than he could ever hope to design into a regularity, but that the countryside, where we will spend most of our time, is stunning, with great driving and unbelievable sights. I should make it clear here that there isn’t trepidation in his voice whilst describing the urban driving experience, indeed there is a smile on his face and after designing the route he sees it all as just part of the rich tapestry of entertainment presented by life on the road in this country.
Competition wise, the crews will test their wits against two or three regularities a day, that will be on the easier side of difficult, to mask the miles purely with competition would somewhat defeat the point of coming to India, but, as Guy points out with a wry smile, the pair in the cockpit will still need to be on it to remain on the good side of the stopwatch, as there is plenty to draw their attention away from the route book.
A scan through the entry reveals that whilst it is on the petit side, it is well formed and bustling with characters that will no doubt add a tremendous element of camaraderie to the travelling caravan. There are also representatives from across the world, with entries from the States, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and even Jamaica. There are P2P veterans throughout, including last year’s winner Andy Buchan, who has switched allegiance from Bentley to Ford, although remains in the vintage camp with 1939 3.5l Coupe. Indeed, there are six more competitors in the category with him, including a return to action for Martin Hunt and Olivia Hunt, in one of three Bentleys, the oldest of which is a machine from 1922 crewed by Jonathan Turner and James Blackhall, a car that also holds the accolade of being the eldest in the field and so will wear the number 1 plate.
Another name to note in the Vintage Category is Dreelan, as brothers Mike and Tommy return to rallying less than a year since Mike and navigator Bob Pybus’ accident on the Peking to Paris Motor Challenge. I think we will leave this in the ‘if you know, you know’ category, but we are all delighted to have Mike and Bob, and Tommy and George back in the fold, and back on the road with us.
Elsewhere in the classic categories Patrick and Pam Watts are back after their debut on last years P2P, this time in a Merc, rather than the diminutive but noisy Tiger. Their 450 SLC is one of five machines in Class 3 that are emblazoned with the famous three-pointed star, including Martin and Francis Dippie also in an SLC, after they completed last year’s Peking Paris in another Mercedes, which was a car that it’s fair to say Marty learned to love. No doubt they will be hoping for an easier time of it this time round.
The largest car in the event is the 7L Mustang of Aussie pairing Paul Darrouzet and John Gray, which will be a tremendous sight thundering along the Indian roads and will perhaps even frighten one or two of the fearless urban drivers into giving way in the cities. Two cars that will be at home on any parts of this journey will be the two Hindustan Ambassadors, the earliest of which is the ’68 2.2 litre entered by Marco Fila and Stephanie Gout. The other, a newer but smaller capacity model, is crewed by Navin Chandiramani and Pradeep Vaswani, and due to its 1.8L power plant finds itself in Class 2, so the rally could yet see Hindustan’s winning two of the three classes on the event. Whatever happens, they certainly shouldn’t suffer for a lack of spares.
Elsewhere, there is also a triple helping of Volvo’s, the obligatory Escort and even an Alfa, but for the first time since I can remember there are no Porsches entered, which may prove to be a good thing with the heat experienced in the cities.
So, India awaits, and a route that will leave lasting memories on all of us that are taking part. In truth, who knows what we will find.
However, the rally will find time to support HERO-ERA’s new official charity, the New India Church of God (NICOG) with a couple of events planned around the Pearl of India.
The NICOG organisation is a long established and high performing religious charity in India to add to HERO-EA’s charitable support programme. In general terms the NICOG provides belief, care, hope, education and vocational training, and even an engineering company for employment.
This is a country once described by author Mark Twain as ‘the grandmother of legends’. Well, come the finish line on the 7th of March, no doubt a few more legends will have been born, the stories of which will be told far beyond our 20 day flirtation with this most enchanting of lands.
