CHENNAI: There were just hours left for the opening round of the Indian National Rally Championship in Chennai last week and Chandramouli M was running around, asking questions of the man he would be a co-driver to. “If I get something wrong, will he hit me?” was his question to everyone.
It’s not that Vicky Chandhok has a history of hitting people — indeed, he says he’s never lifted a hand on his own children — but in a way, Chandramouli could be forgiven for being tense. The man he was going to share a car with was 25 years older than him and had been one of the biggest names in Indian motorsports for the past few decades. After putting a successful racing and rallying career behind him, Chandhok had transitioned into administration, heading the country’s motorsports body through turbulent times, when it was locked in a power struggle with a parallel outfit. He had looked on as his son Karun resumed from where he had left off and went on to become only the second Indian to race in Formula One. But now, at the ripe old age of 61, when most people look forward to the prospect of waking up every morning and doing absolutely nothing, Vicky Chandhok had decided that he was going to make a return to the world of competitive rallying, eighteen years after he had last donned racing gear.
“After I stopped racing, I never missed it,” Chandhok says. “I got into administration and I ran the federation. But at the last MRF Challenge in February, the Volkswagen R2 was on display. I drove it and that experience whet my appetite. I told Sirish Vissa (Volkswagen’s head of motorsport) that it would be great to drive this in a rally. And he said let’s do it.”
It was not long before Chandhok started having second thoughts about it. But it was his family — normally the voices of caution in such scenarios — who insisted that he go through with it. “My wife came up to me and said, ‘Don’t be a wuss! You were such a great driver before. Now get in that car and do it’,” Chandhok says. “My younger son Suhail, he is an anchor with Star Sports, was also all for it.”
But it was Karun, now analysing the Formula One season for Channel 4, who was the most enthusiastic about his father’s decision. “I had no racing gear as whatever I had, I had given away over the years,” Chandhok says. “So Karun sent me some stuff. The INRC event was initially supposed to be held a couple of weeks ago, so Karun was going to come down to watch me. But unfortunately, it was postponed and it clashed with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. But he was still sitting in Baku and following my race here while being at the Formula One race.”
“I had to just drive around the Madras Motor Racing Track for a few weeks with my helmet on, just to get used to it. And then, there was the small matter of finding a co-driver. My old co-driver was now an official at this event! Luckily, I found Chandramouli and he had enough experience rallying.”
Despite all the constraints, Chandhok’s performance at the rally surprised everyone. In a race won by multiple-time Asia Pacific Rally Championship winner Gaurav Gill, he came eighth in the overall classification and even finished on the podium — third — in the INRC-1 class. “I think I was the oldest guy who was competitive,” Chandhok laughs. “It was hard initially, on the opening day, I had to take in nine litres of water. But at the end of the first day, all the other drivers were coming up and telling me ‘not bad!’. And I think other drivers can look at what I’ve done and think about extending their careers well beyond their initial targets.”
But is this a one-off or is he going to be donning the gear regularly? “I would love to do it again,” Chandhok says. “Maybe not at the very next event — that’s in June and I am busy then. But I would definitely love to do it again if I get the opportunity. And yes, we will do much better than this!”
COMEBACK STRUGGLES
While the decision to come back was easy, the actual process of doing that was much harder. Chandhok went on a rigorous training regime to strengthen his back so that he could handle the demands of a multi-day ten-stage event. In the initial comeback days, he had to drink nine litres of water. He also had to recover from claustrophobia that came with wearing the helmet for long hours