The third edition of 'Utsav de Hampi', a mega motorsports festival that comprises many motor championships, was flagged off from Bengaluru on Saturday.
As per a press release, the first championship of the event, JK Tyre Indian National Regularity Run Championship (INRRC) South Zone Round one was kicked off today with a vintage car rally sprint for about 10 kilometres where around 40 vintage cars will be paraded from Kanteerava Stadium to Vidhana Soudha and back.
The second round of INRRC will begin in Hampi on Sunday. A week later, an exciting 4x4 off-road challenge will take place and finally, the event will end with the MRF Mogrip Indian National Rally Championships (INRC) for 2-wheelers on October 17 and October 18 in Hampi.
The objective of the event is to promote tourism, safe driving and improve driving culture in the state. The event also holds special relevance as it was flagged off on Gandhi Jayanti.
"We're promoting tourism and safe driving. This is a good initiative to improve the overall ecosystem of road safety. With this initiative, I am sure the driving culture will improve," said Rajendra Kataria, Principal Secretary to Government, Transport Department.
"We are organising this event on a very special day, that is, Gandhi Jayanti and International Day of Non-Violence. The speciality of today's event is that we have to regulate speed, time and distance. It is unfortunate that almost 11 per cent of cases are because of road rage accidents," said Shalini Rajanish, ACS, Department of Youth Empowerment and Sports.
Organised by ProSports in Bengaluru and Motorsports Academy of Vijayanagar in Hampi, the TSD (Time, Speed and Distance) rallies are a popular format, which is returning as Nationals under the aegis of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) and backed by JK Tyre.
The TSD National, which was virtually forgotten and off the list of 12 National Championships is back with a new name, INRRC.
There are 29 entries with 58 drivers including champion drivers like Karthik Maruthi, and navigator Sankar Anand from Erode. The event will also see the popularisation of the concept 'Women in Motorsport' by the lady doctor-pair from Davangere, Dr Shivani Pruthvi, and her navigator mother Deepthi.
"At the end of the day sitting inside the car feels like a home and we enjoy what we are doing. So, there is no sense of competition between the both of us and what better team can you ask other than a mother and the daughter duo," said Dr Shivani Pruthvi.
( With inputs from ANI )
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