PREFACE :

On a beutiful summer day I stumbled into Andrew in a cafe on a bouleward of Budapest. I asked him about the Budapest Bamako race, and eagerly listened to his adventure story. By the way he told me that they are organizing a rickshaw challenge in India the next month. He promised that he will mail me the website of the race the next morning. When I got home I immediately started to search for it, so he didn’t have time to send it. The website told me that it was an amazing challenge for the clinically insane. I love riding my motorbike, and anyway a rickshaw is just like a motorbike, not to mention that India is my favourite country, so I felt myself insane enough to sign up immediately

THE COUNTRY :

India has the worlds second largest population, as they say it is the worlds largest democracy. It is 35 times larger than my homeland Hungary, and it streches from the Himalayas to the Indian ocean. It spans 2700 Km from north to south and 2200 Km form east to west. The population is 1,095,351,995 (2006 july estimate) The official languages are : Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Sanskrit and of course English. From the 28 states of India Tamil Nadu where the contest was held is the southest. India is colourful, amazing, and incredible.

THE TEAM :

As I didn’t feel myself enough for this race I needed a team. I tought my friend Joseph Kmetty was brave enough for this job. I called him and as a good insane he immediately said yes. As most of the teams had funny names (Tamil Devils, Curry in a hurry, Curry on regardless) we called ourselves HARDDRIVERS, becuse we both work in the IT sector.

József Kmetty István Gálfi

THE VEHICLE :

The Autorickshaw is the most popular vehicle in India. A strange combination of a motorbike and a car.

Not mentioning Indias six largest cities (the Metros) where there are conventional automobile Taxis, the Autorickshaw or Auto is the Taxi of India. The semi opened chassis is perfectly suitable for the climate of India. The 150 cc 2 stroke engine has a power of 7 HP and is capable of speeding the 3+1 passengers with 60 Km/h. It is so simple that even the famous Trabant seems an over complicated machine compared to it. Even the starter engine was spared, so the engine can be started by pulling a handbrake like lever. The empty weight canvas topped rickshaw is only 270 Kg heavy, barely more than a larger motorbike, with an engine power less than a scooter. There are 4 stroke, diesel, natural gas versions, and also Mega or Cargo versions. It has a turning radius of less than 3 meters (the width of a traffic lane). It has a 4 speed gearbox operated by turning the clutch handle on the steering wheel.

THE RACE :

The 1000 km long race lasted 7 days through the cities of Tamil Nadu form the capital Chennai (formerly Madras) to the lands end in Kanyakumai (formerly Cape Comorin) The challenge was an unforgettable experience, for those brave enough to bear the tropical heat in the madly busy trafic of India. For sure it was a perfect recreation for me, the best way to forget about the everydays problems.

The organisers of the race also fought against child labour in India.

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