More torque, more action: How Indian off-roading is changing gear

Indians are developing a taste for it. Trade analyst Research and Markets estimates that India’s ATV and UTV market is expected to grow 6.8% of its current size to become a $536 million business over the next five years. The sport is no longer a closed rich boys’ club. It’s now a playground for anyone willing to get down, dirty and dangerous in the name of fun.

“Off-roading is basically trekking with your vehicles,” says Chennai-based Arkaprava Datta, co-founder of off-roading group Terra Tigers and organiser of India’s oldest off-roading competition, the 17-year-old Palar Challenge. “It’s a mix of adventure and motorsports,” he adds.

It’s also an increasing cause for concern for the environment. Kicking up all that dirt, driving through pristine terrain can spell ruin for a sensitive region. “We avoid driving in stagnant water, which is used for irrigation,” says Datta. “We don’t drive on land that is grassy or leafy because cattle graze there. We also check with nearby villages if it’s safe to drive on the terrain, as it is often categorised as a reserved forest.”

Datta was bitten by the adventure bug in his boarding school days in Dehradun. So, when a bunch of Jeep lovers got together on a Yahoo group in 2005 to discuss and arrange off-roading challenges, he became an enthusiastic member. A year later, he started the group’s Chennai chapter and organised the first off-roading challenge in the country, following the treacherous terrain around the Palar river.

Since then, every monsoon, 30-40 vehicles navigate through seven strategically laid points to show their skill, dexterity and mental acuity. What began as a recreational activity has since evolved into a profession. Through its Terra Tech vertical, the group specialises in vehicle prototyping, vehicle testing, and conducting training programs for budding off-roaders on the sport in general, and how to retrieve vehicles when they are stuck.

The Rainforest Challenge (RFC) India organised during Goa’s verdant monsoon, has many takers. It’s the official India chapter of one of the toughest motorsport events in the world. “We follow the RFC Global standards, which make the competition very challenging. The winner of RFC India gets a free automatic entry to the RFC mother event in Malaysia,” explains Delhi-based Ashish Gupta, director of Cougar Motorsport, the company that organises RFC India.

Participants spend months preparing themselves and their vehicles for the week-long event in July. “People go out of their way to help and support each other,” says Gupta. “Friendships of a lifetime are forged, and people wait eagerly to spend time with each other and exchange notes on off-roading and more when they converge in Goa.”

Monsoon-drenched roads are one kind of draw. For others, it’s driving across snow-clad peaks in impossible conditions. Kongkon Talukdar, 25, from Guwahati, Assam, is a superbike aficionado. He creates content (@kongkon_talukdar) about his adventures with his Kawasaki Z900. In January, Talukdar and his friends braved the extreme winter to ride the rocky trail up 13,700 ft to Sela Pass in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh. “It was the toughest ride I had done at the time,” he says. “The roads were icy and the freezing winds made us numb. That ride made me confident. Now I can go anywhere.”

But instead of pursuing organised challenges, Talukdar travels around the country, living rough with his posse of bikers: friends, neighbours, and people who have heard about their trips and want to join. “We want to explore India, especially the beauty of the seven sisters of the Northeast,” he says.

Off-roaders are spoilt for choice in India. There are snowy peaks, arid deserts and everything in between. The Ultimate Desert Challenge (UDC), organised every year in Bikaner, Rajasthan is one of the most popular off-roading challenges, drawing over 100 participants with off-roader vehicles and superbikes.

Gurugram-based Arvind Balan, the director of Maxperience, a boutique motorsports marketing agency, and founder of UDC, puts this down to the ease of participation. All one needs is a 4x4 stock vehicle straight out of the showroom, instead of the souped-up fripperies that are necessary to qualify for other challenges. “You don’t need to modify your vehicle. This puts the complete focus on the driver’s ability and skill set and makes it cheaper to participate,” he explains.

Since Balan entered the field in 2014, he’s watched Indian off-roading transform. Motorsports used to be dominated by rallies, which test speed on special vehicles. Today, off-roading events test skill on stock vehicles. “UDC and other challenges have given people easier access, so off-roading has become everyone’s game,” he says.

They’re striving to make it a sustainable game for everyone too. “We follow international standards to ensure environmental safeguards while organising our challenges,” he says. “Off-roading challenges are better for the environment than cross-country rallies, because they are organised in smaller spaces. We can control our tracks and the environmental impact of the vehicles.”

The average age of participants is 35, though Indians from age 18 to 65 sign up. Vehicles are tested and participants go through training sessions before major events. The challenges call for skill as well as maturity – so as to navigate the physically and mentally demanding routes. A handful of women have joined the ranks in recent years.

It’s still an expensive sport. The vehicles aren’t cheap to begin with. They are often outfitted with specialised gear to participate in certain challenges. Even preventive maintenance can cost ₹8,000 a month, in order to complete 30-40 off-road drives in a year. And in three to five years, vehicles have seen enough. They get what Datta calls the “grandfather’s axe” and are moulded and rebuilt, muddy rides now a distant memory.