Khemuka, Patel scale Satpuda Escapade

NAGPUR: Anurag Khemuka and Deepak Patel earned fewer penalties than other drivers to emerge victorious in a Time-Speed-Distance (TSD) car rally with surprise check points on Sunday.
The two-day car rally titled — The Satpuda Escapade — was organized by Adventure Achievers under the aegis of Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI).
While the duo of Khemuka and Patel maintained the given time over the specified route in the 600-km stretch of Hingna to Chikhaldara to emerge victorious with less penalty points.Both were penalized for just 23 minutes and 28 seconds to take home the honours.
With a penalty time of 32 minutes and 39 seconds, a four-member team of Sandeep Shirkhedkar, Sarang Paranjpe, Satish Raipure and Sanjay Vishwakarma finished second while Agrawal couple — Nitin and Nidhi — completed the podium finish by achieving a penalty of 36 minutes and 18 seconds in both the rally days. Having failed to understand the given set of rules the team that finished last earned a penalty time of 4-hour, 6-minute and 47 seconds in the rally that saw 24 surprise check points. On the concluding day, the participants were surprised with 13 check points while on Saturday 11 surprise check points welcomed the drivers.
Taking forward the mantra, 'adventure is a way of life' the rally was flagged-off from Hingna MIDC to Chikhaldara in the scenic Satpuda mountain ranges on Saturday. The challenge of the rally was in maintaining the time taken (recorded in seconds), the distance covered and the speed with which a participant reach at every surprise check points on the route. With street smart thinking, the duo of Khemuka and Patel excelled in the technique that was tested.
Around 29 teams consisting of a driver and navigator took part in the event. The participants included two all women teams including a mother-daughter duo, five couples team and teams from Mumbai, Bhopal, Satna, Chandrapur, Raipur and Hyderabad were the highlights of the rally. The rally was undertaken on tarmac and dirt tracks with long stretches of secret untamed and untraversed routes of the forests of Central India under the strict rules of Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI).
Later, in a late night concluding ceremony Amit Panchmatia of Auto Hangar gave away the prizes. On the occasion, Purvesh Patel, a Limca Book of record holder, of Adventure Achievers and other club members were present.