Back in the Days of "Cars in Action", and before, it was very hard to even get a magazine of motor sport, in Calcutta so i would search the old book shops on freeschool streets and search for motoring mags and books, and i would marvle at the legends and cars that had rallied before my time, these were the guys that had given us a sport which i so loved, and had a fanatical involvement with for all my life.The books i collected had been gathering dust, once the "CIA" dream died...but thanks to this website i can now bring back the global history of motor-rallying to all of you. I really hope you guys enjoy this thread... It take a lot of time to search for the good pics, scan them .. and then load them onto this website... but im having fun.. so Join me....ill keep it to small quips , and pics... no order just random... and soon you will all be fimilar with names and cars you didnt know exist.... how many of you know that the STANDARD HERALD was once a "works" prepaired car....



here is Tiny Lewis on the 1960 montecarlo.. brilliant..


and how about this

A Jaguar Mk7 sideways... ohhh yes 1956 montecarlo.. even before i was born



I would catch and chase cars on the ghat sections of the himalayan but check this out... 1950....rome -liege-rome.. a Peugeot203. battles with a ......hang on... wait for it.... a Ford Zephyre un believable.. and i useto think only granddads would drive Zephyrs...



i will slowily build this thread up as i do have a lot of old rallying material, which i collected over the years, and which i can now share.[/b]

Great thread Niaz, waiting for more.

FINALLY .... -- But I wish you would turn it into a coffee table book !! Im sure it would get lapped up though it would mean that you would have to do some hard work putting it in order ...

Carry on ... we are watching

Amazing stuff as usual, Sir Niaz. Waiting with bated breath for the next instalment!

Has anyone noticed that Niaz's threads are by far the most viewed? And deservedly so!

.....and I second Khaadu!

BOOKBOOKBOOKBOOKBOOKBOOKBOOK!!

Nice stuff Niaz. Will be follwing this thread closely.

....as shall we all..
Carry on Unkel...!

gr8 Niaz... it will surely educate most of us on this forum

One of the things i most missed in all my rallying days was the competition of diffrent makes of cars.... we only had the fiat and the ambi.... but what made it interesting was that teams came from diffrent parts of India to compete in the same event... this made it like an inter city/state competition... when i cam back and did the events with the JK team (plug) .. i was horrified to see a one make championship, and privateers being second class citizens.... no hope of winning...look at this pic taken in the late 50's.. at the ALPINE RALLY... look how wonderful these cars look..and how interesting the competition would have been



lets see who can identify the cars... there is in this pic.. a Jaguar 3.4 (just heard the Jag is gonna be made by TATA) sunbeam Rapiers.. lovely name...Triumph Tr3...( Vijay Mallays first custom built race car wanna see a pic of that? )... Aston Martin DB2.. Austin Healy 6.. (philip young brought one to the Himalayan...mmmmm it was the arch bishop of Cantabury's car...ex works car...mabe one of these) .. and if you look carefully at the top right corner at the spectators cars you will see our Padmini's grand father.. the Milicento... i had one with the suicide doors... used them as air brakes at the end of red road when we would dragrace... .. i think the truck is an old bedfordmmm not too sure about that... great pic though... by the way ive improved on my scanning tec....

Great report Niaz, when can we expect your book?

Can't imagine why we cannot attract the crowds like the yesteryears.

Guys plz stop cribbing about the book.....niaz is showing us the history of rallying in these pages and i guess u all should acknowledge it and enjoy the ride rather than continuously telling him to write a book!!!!

Cheers.

@Aman, Thats right, but don't you think a book on the history of rallying hitting the news stands and bookstores will generate more interest in this sport instead of it being available only in this forum which is known only to very few people.

The ol man's not interested as he said somewhere before, so let him do something rather than nothing, u can take his permission and publish a book later on if ur so interested in a book!!!!!

Cheers.

mmmm not a bad idea. .
What do you say Niaz?

Ok guys ...a book..mmmmm I Had my time, and if there is one person in India who put his money where his mouth is .. it was me... In the days of 'Cars In Action' i wrote articles.. took pics...did interviews.. tried to make enthusiasts into jurnos...tried to give them a platform to share motorsporting ideas... tried to convince advertisers to use motorsport in their ad campaines....got local car makers to give us cars to test drive... got overseas hi-commisions to loan us their cars so we could do test drives... sat at the printers to get proof pages .designed layouts for pages... ...organised motorsport movie nights for enthusiasts to come and see.. organised real rally 16mm movies... hired projectors and invited sponsorers and rally organisers to come and speak at such nights... all this while actually competing at the higest level in as many events as physically possible in almost every state in India.. from Assam to Karnataka.. Tamil nadu.. Andhara.. Bombay.. Delhi.. up and over the Rotang pass.. and all the while i had a camera with me, and a small recording walkman.. where i consistantly made audio notes which i would come home and use in reports of events......lets not forget .. i tried to give all of you the VRC.... and ... one person the ride of a lifetime in the evo... i know money was involved...but i still believe it was a cheap deal.....You dont need me to write the book... what you need is someone who will match the enthusiasm and the drive...... here is my suggestion and its up to you guys to do this...

Publish a coffe table book once a year.. and call it

THE BEST OF http://WWW.RALLY.CO.IN -2008

you already have the material here and lots of exciting pix and stories... you could design the pages and the cover here online, and it could be a common effort, and sure ill give my suggestions ... and make it a annual affair... you have plenty of material... ask some of the motoring mags to give you a free plug... in their mags... get sponsors who will put adds in the book, to cover the costs of printing.... India now has the best of printing tech. avaliable... what do you guys think

HAVE WE GOT A GOOD IDEA HERE?

And oh yes before calling me an ...OLD MAN.... try and match my stage times either in a Virtual car... or a Real car.... then well see whos OLD