The fifth edition of the Classic Himalayan Drive will be held from November 2-10 with 20 cars from the UK, France, Kenya and Bhutan participating alongside as many from India.
It will begin in Greater Noida and have night halts in Ramnagar, Rishikesh, Mussoorie, Theog, Manali, and Chandigarh, before concluding at Dwarka in New Delhi.
The Himalayan Drive Series is not a competitive rally, but is a throwback to the Himalayan Car Rally of the 1980s. It features car from 1958 to 2002, retracing the route of the erstwhile event.
“We’ve planned an exciting Himalayan Drive this year that celebrates the beauty of the Himalayas and builds a long-term association with Uttarakhand Tourism, one of our event sponsors. With a strong international line-up —including similar cars that once competed in the original Himalayan Rally,” Rajan Syal, veteran of eight Himalayan Rallies, from Team Firefox who are the organisers of the event, said in a press release.
The 2025 edition has been dedicated to Philip Young, who was part of the Himalayan Car Rally in the 1980s, and is considered one of the most influential figures in international classic rallying. He set a world record for driving from Cape Town to London in ten and a half days.
As founder of the Endurance Rally Association (ERA), Young – who passed away in a motorcycle accident in Myanmar in 2015 at the age of 67 – started over 60 such international events, including the Pirelli Classic Marathon, Peking to Paris Motor Challenge, and London to Cape Town Rally. According to supercars.net, Young gained permission for 70 rally crews to be the first to cross the land border from Thailand into Burma.
He himself competed in the London–Sydney Marathon (1977), Paris–Dakar (1986), and five Himalayan Rallies, and co-founded the Historic Rally Car Register, now the largest enthusiast organisation of its kind in the UK.
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Some of the notable participants in this year’s event include Surinder Thatthi and Hardial Kalsi (driving an ex-Safari Rally Datsun), Howard Paterson in a Jaguar XK8, and Shai Vyakarnam in a Mini. The home contingent features Sourabh Chatterjee, J.S. Chandel, Sudev Barar and Subhash Goel, who have all participated in the Himalayan Rallies.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
